A Chat on 

 Foliage 



Unwatch'd, the' garden bout<h shall 

 The tender blossom flutter down 

 Unloved, that beech will gather 1 



This maple burn itself away. 



Where the light is passing through them the leaves are translucent and 

 their brightest green. If the sun is shining this is so much enhanced 

 b\- its rays as to be almost golden, while the darkest parts of the study 

 arc those leaves so overshadowing each other that the light cannot 

 penetrate through. 



Although I am limited to black and white in these illustrations, 1 

 have my paint-box before me to enable me to make experiments and 

 give you some idea (in words) of the colours you may find useful in a 

 study like this, although you must not take me too liteially. 



So much depends on yourself, on the conditions of light under which 

 you work, and then again on the proportions of any mixture of colours 

 you are using, that it is almost impossible to give a formula for an\- 

 particular bit of colouring that is absolutely correct. 



I give the tints as they appeal to my sense of colour, but thai 

 may be quite different from _\-ours, and who shall sa\' which of us 

 is right? 



Well, then, the lime-leaves in their brightest parts seem to me a 

 mixture of aureolin yellow and Antwerp blue, in the sunlight the 

 aureolin predominating very largely. For the darker leaves and those 

 in shadow I should use raw sienna, Indian yellow, and Antwerp blue ; 

 while for the reflected lights from the sky I think a light wash of cobalt, 

 tempered with touches of rose madder and aureolin, would give the right 

 effect. The proportions you must find out by exi)erimental dabs on 

 your palette or a piece of white paper ; and do not forget these mixtures 

 admit of very great variety by altering their proportions, and the density 

 with which they are used. 



Beware of getting the leaves cold in colour ; a too lavish use of blue 

 is to be carefully avoided ; remember always to keep your shadows 

 warm in colour, and lights cool, 

 but not cold. 



The veining of the leaves we 

 drew so carefully in our outline 

 study must be very delicately 

 e.xpressed in our colour sketch ; 



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