OF PAINTING IN WATER-COLOURS 41 



rushes and water and the reflections in water, and 

 the gleams of weed beneath it. A certain dex- 

 terity having been acquired among these simple 

 subjects, I will with less trepidation attempt 

 to limn the thatch and brick of the populous 

 village. 



I have now sketched in water-colours. 



1 have been looking through the catalogue of 

 artists' materials, very generously included free 

 of charge with my recent purchases, and par- 

 ticularly at the list of colours. My unsuccess 

 is now explained. The tubes that have been sold 

 to me are dull, commonplace things. Cobalt Blue, 

 Yellow Ochre, Vandyke Brown, Dragon's Blood, 

 Raw Sienna, Burnt Sienna. These names carry 

 me back nearly half a century to the nursery 

 where, with a shilling box of paints, I tinted the 

 designs of the then fashionable Kate Greenaway. 

 How should I have rendered sedgy banks and 

 feathery willows and elusive tremulous reflections 

 with such trite matter ? What I need is a supply 

 of Oxide of Chromium and Italian Pink, Mars 

 Yellow and Scarlet Madder Alizarin, Hooker's 

 Green No. 2, and Purple Lake and Primrose 

 Aureolin. The very names are an inspiration. 

 What effects 1 might achieve with these! How 



