280 



THE POPULAR EDUCATOR. 



PAINTING IN WATER-COLOURS. II. 



SEMI-TONES. 



THERE are one or two remarks to be made respecting 1 the 

 pencil to be used in drawing the outline. It must not be too 

 hard or too soft : if it is too hard, an impression is made upon 

 the paper which interferes with the surface, and is difficult to 

 remove ; if it is too soft, the lead is apt to dirty the tints ; 

 therefore a middle tone, as HB, used lightly, will prevent both 

 dangers ; and no attempt must be made to shade with the 

 pencil, as this will also destroy the purity of the tints. One of 

 tlie most important regulations necessary to observe in the 

 process of outline is that it be decisive, not black, but free 



attention will be required in studying their gradation and 

 harmony. It is a fact which beginners can scarcely appreciate, 

 as they are not in a position to comprehend its great impor- 

 tance, that it requires considerable experience to gain a just 

 estimate of intermediate tones. Continual obser-^ution and 

 much practice in using the brush together prepare the pupil to 

 discriminate tones and tints, as they lay side by side, which an 

 uneducated eye cannot perceive ; to acquire this constitutes the 

 course of study we wish our pupils to follow. In pursuit of 

 this they must especially notice that they will discern two con- 

 ditions under which they will find the various changes that 

 arise in connection with shade and colour. With the former we 

 may associate tone, with the latter tint; therefore, we trust 



ir b 



Fig. 1 



from scratchy trials, which betray either a want of confidence 

 in comprehending the exact form, or an imperfect ability to 

 represent it. Besides bestowing especial care upon the general 

 outline, the attention must be directed to the masses of light 

 and shade, which must be lightly and very correctly made out, 

 together with the positions and extent of all the most prominent 

 semi-tones, which evidently assist in giving character and expres- 

 sion to the subject. 



As the excellence of a picture essentially depends upon the 

 proper management of the semi-tones and half-tints, we propose 

 to make our first essays in sepia only ; it is a warm and agree- 

 able colour, transparent, flows freely, and is capable of producing 

 every gradation of tone that may be required. Our motive in 

 recommending the use of sepia before attempting colours is that 

 our pupils may more easily acquire the power of distinguishing 

 and the practice of representing semi-tones. By restricting our 

 first essays to this one simple colour we break the difficulties 

 attending the execution, and we shall be better prepared to 

 take up colours afterwards with more confidence when our whole 



there will be no difficulty in understanding why, at the com- 

 mencement of our lessons, we prefer to separate the difficulties 

 attending these two conditions respectively ; consequently, tone 

 will be our first consideration in this lesson. 



In all the broad and general masses of light and shade there 

 will invariably be found several degrees of brilliancy or ob- 

 scurity, sometimes arising from one part being more strongly 

 illuminated than another ; for if the face of an object is per- 

 pendicular or at right angles with the source or rays of light, 

 it then receives the greatest amount of illumination ; and as it 

 is gradually removed from the light the brilliancy decreases 

 until, when it has been turned altogether out of the course of 

 the light, it falls into shadow. Thus, when the surface is not 

 very even, it is evident that some parts receive more rays from 

 the light than others. These accidental causes will break up 

 the uniformity of the light or shade into a thousand different 

 and distinctive gradations of tone. So also in the shadows; 

 reflected light may strike more forcibly upon one part than 

 another. If, then, we connect these countless varieties of tone 



