'Whan T;Hiio£ill£; 



\ 



Long as 

 there's a 

 sun that 



buildings into a mass of dark simplicity of 

 infinite value to the effect as a whole. 



The builder of cities, the necessities 

 of modern civilisation, may spoil the natural 

 beauty of sylvan scenery, but cannot rob 

 us of atmospheric effect ; sometimes the 

 very murkiness of the smoky clouds of 

 manufacturing towns will give us an effect 

 of surprising beauty. 



We have wandered some way from our 

 friends the spring bulbs pure and simple ; 

 let us return to practicabilit\- and the easel 

 and paint-box. 



The Di!!iculty of 

 Yellow Pigments. 



So far we have confined our attention 

 to white flowers ; suppose we try some 

 daffodils by way of a change. We shall 

 need to exercise great care in the study, 

 for most yellow pigments in water-colour 

 are very difficult to manage. In case you 

 have not yet found out all their weak- 

 nesses for yourselves, I had better put \-ou 



on your guard against some of their little vagaries. Gamboge must 



be shunned, and so must chrome, for, though brilliant in working, they 



have a tendency to turn black with time. Some while ago I came 



across a group of yellow narcissus I had painted and exhibited years 



before. I hardly recognised it again. The flowers wore a dejected 



brown paper hue on their poor little faces that 



surely could not have been there in their early 



days ; that wicked old pigment, chrome, was 



^ responsible for the change. 



Then lemon-yellow (a charming colour, and 

 absolutely indispensable for some flowers) has a 

 \^'' nasty trick of picking up on the brush if we 



attempt to work another colour over it. There- 

 fore I usually find it better, when painting 

 < daffodils, primroses, and light yellow flowers generally, 



to wash in lightly the modelling and shading of the petals 

 as if they were white ; and then, when dry, to put on the 

 yellow colour in a thin wash — lemon-yellow or primrose 

 \\ aureolin (according to the depths) — afterwards. This will 



ensure a far fresher appearance than mixing the colours. 

 j\ Daffodils make charming studies, both in form and 



I \ colour ; there is something so cheery and buoyant in their 



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