Stand for painter while cutting fish (5)
I believe the answer is:
easel
'stand for painter' is the definition.
'easel' can be an answer for 'stand' (stand for an artist's canvas). I'm not sure about the 'for painter' bit.
'while cutting fish' is the wordplay.
'while' becomes 'as'.
'cutting' indicates putting letters inside (some letters cut their way into a word).
'fish' becomes 'eel' (eel is a kind of fish).
'as' put into 'eel' is 'EASEL'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for easel that I've seen before include "Lease it out to the artist" , "Lease out the stand" , "Artist's canvas suppot" , "Artistic tripod" , "Constable's stand?" .)