PAINTING. 



to sky, filling it with warm tints, and making the 

 landscape of totally different character : it wil 

 always be found that the tints of the sky prevai 

 over the landscape. In sketching, much attemp 

 at high finish is thrown away. The effects o 

 nature are so transient, that they should be seizec 

 with the greatest rapidity ; the touches should be 

 left sharp and clear ; softness should be gainec 

 by putting touch within touch, leaving sometimes 

 a little of the first at the edges. This will give 

 finish as well as transparency. The washes 

 should be thoroughly dry before others are placec 

 over them, as the working-up and unequal mixing 

 of the tints create muddiness. Variety of tin 

 should also be a matter of solicitude, as nothing 

 is less pleasing, and, indeed, less natural, than 

 flatness and monotony. Ruddy and yellow tints 

 should mix with green, and grays and browns 

 occasionally, when they occur. Every legitimate 

 means, consistent with truth, should be made to 

 secure this ; and by looking for variety in nature, 

 it is surprising how much will appear that other- 

 wise might entirely escape observation. In mak- 

 ing finished drawings at leisure, the process may 

 be somewhat different, if high tone and transpar- 

 ency are required. The paper should, first of all, 

 be well toned with warm colour, as ochre and 

 burnt sienna, making the tint stronger where 

 strength and warmth are required in the drawing. 

 It is also useful to blend in a variety of tints while 

 the paper is wet, running them together as near 

 as possible to the places where required. This 

 should be afterwards washed with water, using a 

 large flat brush to remove all superfluous colour ; 

 the remaining portion becomes incorporated with 

 the paper, and does not work up into the sub- 

 sequent tints. Each successive application of 

 colour should be followed by a slight washing, 

 which assists the atmospheric effect, and gives 

 clearness of tint ; the last washes alone may be 

 left undisturbed. As a preparation for this pro- 

 cess, the tints are put in stronger than nature, 

 and reduced by washing to their proper strength. 

 A soft sponge is sometimes used to wash away 

 colour, and secure softness ; but this is only in the 

 sky and extreme distance. 



OIL-PAINTING. 



Oil-paintings are executed on a variety of 

 materials, but principally on canvas stretched on 

 a frame, or on panels of wood, either mahogany 

 or oak. These are prepared with a smooth coat- 

 ing of paint, either white, or some lightish colour. 

 The pigments are ground with fine nut, poppy, or 

 linseed oil, and are ordinarily purchased in tubes 

 in a state ready for use. In painting, a small por- 

 tion of each pigment required is placed on a thin 

 hard board called a palette, which is held in the left 

 hand by passing the thumb through a hole at one 

 extremity. The canvas or panel is placed on a 

 stand, called an easel, and the colours are applied 

 by means of brushes of fine hog and sable hair. 

 The pigments are nearly the same as those em- 

 ployed in water-colour, the exceptions being sepia, 

 gamboge, and others derived from the animal and 

 vegetable kingdom, and the principal addition, 

 fine white-lead called flake white. As these re- 

 quire to be thinned, so as to give facility in using 

 them, some artists use a vehicle technically called 

 medium. It should be remembered, however, 



that as little vehicle should be used as possible, 

 too much oil giving ultimately a tawny hue to the 

 picture, and too much varnish rendering it liable 

 to crack. After the picture has thoroughly dried 

 and hardened, it should be varnished, to prevent 

 its being soiled, as it never can be cleaned without 

 a certain amount of injury. No precise rules can 

 be given for the mixing-up of the various tints 

 that must be acquired by experience ; all that can 

 be said is, that opaque pigments should be em- 

 ployed to represent dry opaque surfaces, and trans- 

 parent ones for rich transparent textures. They 

 may also be mixed as occasion requires. When 

 a transparent colour is passed over a lighter one, 

 the process is called glazing ; and when an opaque 

 one is passed thinly over any other tint, it is called 

 scumbling a process resorted to frequently in 

 skies and the distances of landscape, and in paint- 

 ing the human figure. 



As a general rule, the first painting should be 

 as light and warm as possible, for if these quali- 

 ties are once lost, they are very difficult to regain. 

 The tints should also be well blended together, 

 getting as much gradation and connection as pos- 

 sible. Much may be done after this, while the 

 paint is still wet, in modelling the parts and in 

 making out character ; and it will be found that 

 there is a certain clearness of tint in the first 

 working which subsequent painting-over tends 

 very little to improve ; as much, therefore, should 

 be done at once as can possibly be overtaken. 



In glazing and scumbling, care should be taken, 

 to use as little vehicle as can be done with con- 

 venience, as it is liable to change and give an 

 unpleasant yellowish tinge to the part where it is 

 employed, while the other portions of the picture 

 remain comparatively fresh. This has a very dis- 

 agreeable effect, whether in landscape or portrait 

 painting. 



We would recommend the student to begin with 

 the greatest attention to minuteness of detail,, 

 trusting to future experience for style as regards 

 freedom and boldness. The early works of Wilkie 

 were exceedingly minute in detail, and most elab- 

 orately studied, and those of Turner were models- 

 as simple, careful renderings of nature. 



We do not think that much good is to be derived 

 from a long-continued course of copying paintings. 

 Much valuable time is wasted, as the student is 

 unable fully to comprehend the works he is imi- 

 tating. It is better to go to nature as soon as 

 possible, and then, when difficulties occur, to refer 

 to the great masters for their solution. Gradually, 

 from time to time, he will be enabled to add more 

 of their experience to his own, and it is thus that 

 all great painters have studied, in many instances 

 rising far higher in their profession than those 

 they had studied from. 



The student should endeavour, as early as pos- 

 sible, to make himself acquainted with the works 

 of the great masters, both of ancient and modern 

 times. Since the revival of art, painting has 

 ;aken the character of schools, each possessing 

 something peculiar to itself. These have each 

 certain leaders, whose style has been adopted by 

 their followers. The Florentine School was com- 

 menced by Leonardo da Vinci (born 1452, died 

 1519), whose picture of the Last Supper is cele- 

 jrated throughout the world : he was famous for 

 lis power of design, and softness of light and 

 ;hade, of which it may be said he was the first 



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