2j;i iliB Marry 

 'M'sythxiB 



of what colours j-ou should use for this ; yuu must rely upon j'our own 

 observation, for different conditions of light and atmosphere completcl)' 

 change the effect. F'or instance, if the sun is shining full on your 

 bush, the flowers are much lighter and brighter in tone than the blue 

 sky behind : if, on the other hand, the sun is near the horizon, the 

 flowers will show in dark masses against the 

 brighter light of the evening sky. Let us take a 

 may branch home for further study, and notice 

 carefully what a warm ycllounsh white the petals 

 are (test this by holding the flowers against a 

 bit of white paper), and how pretty are its little 

 brown and pinkish stamens. I do not par- 

 ticularly care for the double pink ma)- as a 

 painting stud\- ; the colour is somewhat crude 

 and monotonous ; but there is a single variety 

 of rich crimson hue (with white centres) that 

 would make a lovely contrast to the white. 



In the copse how many favourites await our 

 coming; the young hazels, in their dresses of 

 wrinkly unfolding leaves, are charming in them- 

 selves ; and then look at the floral carpet at our 

 feet ! The lovely hazy blue of a mass of blue- 

 bell, " the sapphire queen of mid-May," as Keats 

 calls the purple orchis, the " long purples " of 

 Shakespeare, the pink campion and stitchwort 

 arc showing in the hedgerow, and the primrose is 

 still with us, although its later blossoms are longer 

 stalked, and its leaves have lost some of their 

 crinkled charm since we hailed its advent with 

 delight last month. 



The stitchwort is one of the loveliest of our 

 spring flowers, and its botanical name of Stdlaria 

 seems to suit its starlike blossoms particularly 

 well. It takes its English name from the fact 

 that the old herbalists had great faith in its 

 curative powers " against the paine in the side, 

 stitches, and suchlike," as one writer quaintly 

 [)uts it. 



As a study in drawing, its perfectly graceful 

 form is a delight ; but I should advise you only 

 to make a simple pencil sketch of its beauties, for it is so fragile a flower 

 that, before you can get out \-our paint-box, it will be faded and gone. 



Take particular care to copy the graceful delicacy of the stems ; the 

 lovely modelling of the little starlike flower ; its five petals separating 

 into ten points after they leave the corolla ; while the grasslike leaves, 



Do noi forget the little Woodruff 



with its graceful bunches of starry 



while blossoms. 



38 



