150 THE BOOK OF THE LANTERN. 



therefore we must make the best of it, such as it is. We 

 have a far larger choice in yellows, for no less than four of 

 the colours quoted are, in spite of their names, yellow in 

 tint. These are Italian pink, the most useful of all 

 Raw sienna, not nearly so pure a colour ; Yellow lake, 

 rather a difficult colour to work with ; and Chinese 

 orange, a most valuable and rich tint. Brown pink may 

 also be described as a yellow, and brown madder has also a 

 great deal of the same colour in its composition. The reds 

 represent a great difficulty to the slide-painter, for, although 

 they appear to be very rich when spread on canvas, they are 

 very weak colours when we come to look through them in 

 a transparency. It is next to impossible to produce a real 

 scarlet as a transparent colour, but the nearest approach to 

 it can be made by using Chinese orange mixed with crimson 

 lake. A great variety of browns may be obtained by com- 

 bining burnt sienna with the other colours, and the ivory 

 black will be found most useful in this service. The best 

 brushes for general work are those of camel-hair, which 

 have the further advantage of being cheap. But a few 

 sables will be wanted for delicate markings. 



A thing of first importance is the selection of a suitable 

 medium with which to mix the tints. Canada balsam in 

 turpentine is of great value. Another good one, which I 

 believe many slide-painters use almost exclusively, is made 

 by diluting copal varnish with turpentine, while for dark 

 colours, japanners' gold size, diluted in the same way, is an 

 excellent medium, and is of special use in the foreground. 

 The colour should ba mixed up on the palette with the 

 medium selected with a proper palette-knife, so as to form 



