4o3 
<i ninth greater portion of what painters toun ; 
cooling tints -must be applied in crayon- j 
painting, than it would be judicious to use in j. 
oils. Without any danger of a mistake, it is j 
to be supposed, the not lieing acquainted with 
this observation is one great cause why so 
many oil-painters have no bettei success 
when they attempt crayon-painting. On the 
contrary, crayon-painters being so much used 
to thos'e tints which are of a cold nature 
when used \\ et, are apt to introduce them too 
much when thcty paint with oils, w hich is sel- 
dom productive ot a good ettect. 
We shall now endeavour to give the stu- 
dent some directions towards the attainment 
of excellence in this art. 
Of the application of the crayons, with some 
previous dispositions. — 1 he student must pro- 
vide himself with some strong blue paper, the 
thicker the better, if the grain is not too coarse 
or knotty, though it is almost impossible to 
get any entirely tree from knots. 1 he knots 
should be levelled with a penknife or razor, 
otherwise they will prove exceedingly trou- 
blesome. After tliis is done the paper must 
be pasted very smooth on a linen cloth, pre- 
viously strained on a deal frame, the size ac- 
cording to the artist’s pleasure : on this the 
picture is to be executed ; but it is most eli- 
gible not to paste the paper on till the whole 
subject is first dead-coloured. The method 
of doing this is very easy, by laying the pa- 
per with the dead-colour on its face, upon a 
smooth board or table, when, by means of a 
brush, the back side of the paper must be 
covered with paste •, the frame with the 
strained cloth must then be laid on the pasted 
side ot the paper ; after which turn the paint- 
ed side uppermost, and lay a piece of clean 
paper upon it, to prevent smearing it : this 
being done, it may be stroked gently over 
with "the hand ; by which means all the air 
between the cloth'and the paper will be for- 
ced out. 
When the paste is perfectly dry, the stu- 
dent may proceed with the painting. The 
advantages arising from pasting the paper on 
the frame according to this method, after the 
picture is begun, are very great, as the cray- 
ons will adhere much bettei than any other 
way ; which will enable the student to finish 
the picture with a firmer body of colour, and 
greater lustre. 
When the painters want to make a very 
correct copy of a picture, they generally 
make use of tiffany or black gauze, strained 
tioht on a frame ; which they lay flat on the 
subject to be imitated, and with a piece ot 
sketching chalk trace all the outlines on the 
tiffany. They then lay the canvas to be 
painted on flat upon the floor, placing the 
tiffany with the chalked lines upon it, and 
with an handkerchief brush the whole over : 
this presents the exact outlines ot the pictiue 
on the canvas. The crayon-painter may also 
make use of this method when the subject ot 
his imitation is in oils ; but in copying a crav- 
on-picture he must have recourse to the fol- 
low i ni T method, on account of the glass. 
The picture being placed upon the easel, 
let the outlines be drawn on the glass with a 
small camel’s-hair pencil dipped in lake, 
ground thin with oils, which must be done 
with great exactness. After this is accom- 
plished, take a sheet of paper of the same 
size and place it on the glass, stroking over 
all the lines with the hand, by which means 
CRAYON-PAINTING. 
the colour will adhere to the paper, which 
must be pierced with pin-holes pretty close to 
each other. The paper intended to be used 
for the painting must next he laid upon a 
table, and the pierced paper placed upon it; 
then with some line pounded charcoal, tied 
up in a piece of lawn, rub over the pierced 
lines, which will give an exact outline ; but 
great care must be taken not to brush this off 
till the whole is drawn over with sketching 
chalk ; which is a composition made ot 
whiting and tobacco-pipe clay, rolled like the 
crav ons, and pointed at each end. 
When -a student paints immediately from 
the life, it will be most prudent to make a 
correct drawing of the outlines on another 
paper, the size of the picture he is going to 
paint, which he may trace by the preceding 
method, because erroneous strokes of the 
sketching chalk (which are not to be avoided 
without great expertness) will prevent the 
crayons from adhering to the paper, owing to 
a certain greasy quality in the composition. 
The student will find the sitting posture, 
with the box of crayons on his lap, the most 
convenient method for him to paint. Ihe 
part of the picture he is immediately 
painting should be rather below his tace ; for 
if it is placed too high the arm will be fa- 
tigued. Let the windows of the room where 
he paints be darkened, at least to the height 
of six feet from the ground ; and the subject 
to be painted should be situated in such a 
manner that the light may fall with eveiy ad- 
vantage on the face, avoiding too much sha- 
dow, which seldom has a good effect in poi- 
trait-painting, especially if the face he paints 
from lias any degree of delicacy. 
Before he begins to paint let him be atten- 
tive to his subject, and appropriate the action 
or attitude proper to the age of the subject : 
if a child, let it be childish ; if a young 
lady, express more vivacity than in the ma- 
jestic beauty of a middle-aged woman, who 
also should not be expressed with the same 
gravity as a person far advanced in years. 
Let the embellishments of the picture, and 
introduction of birds, animals, &c. be regu- 
lated by the rules of propriety and consist- 
ency. . ,. 
The features of the face being correctly 
drawn with chalks, let the student take a 
crayon of pure carmine, and carefully draw 
the nostril and edge of the nose next the 
shadow; then, with the faintest carmine 
tint, lay in the highest light upon the nose 
and forehead, which must be executed broad. 
He is then to proceed gradually with the se- 
cond tint, and the succeeding ones, till he 
arrives at the shadows, which must be cover- 
ed brilliant, enriched with much lake, car- 
mine, and deep green. This method will at 
iirst offensively strike the eye, from its crude 
appearance ; but in the finishing it will be a 
good foundation to produce a pleasing effect, 
colours being much more easily sullied when 
too bright, than, when the first colouring is 
dull, to raise the picture into a brilliant state. 
The several pearly tints discernible in line 
complexions must be imitated with blue ver- 
diter and white, which answers to the ultra- 
marine tints used in oils. But if the parts 
of the face where these tints appear are in 
shadowy the crayons composed of black and 
white must be substituted in their places. 
Though all the face when first coloured 
should be laid in as brilliant as possible, yet 
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each part should be kept in its proper tone ; 
by w hich means the rotundity of. the face will 
be preserved. 
Let the student be careful when he begins 
the eyes, to draw them with a crayon inclined 
to the carmine tint, of whatever colour the 
irises are of; he must lay them in brilliant, 
and at first not loaded with colour, but exe- 
cuted lightly : no. notice is to be taken of the 
pupil yet. The student nnftt let the light of 
the eye incline very much to the blue cast, 
cautiously avoiding a staring w hite appear- 
ance (which when once introduced is seldom 
overcome), preserving a broad shadow thrown 
on its upper part by the eyelash. A black 
and very heavy tint is also to be avoided in 
the eyebrows ; ft is therefore best to execute 
them'like a broad glowing shadow at first, on 
which, in the finishing, the hairs' of the brow 
are to be painted ; by which method of pro- 
ceeding the former 'tints will shew them- 
selves through, and produce the most pleas- 
ing effect. 
v l'lie student should begin the lips with pure 
carmine ancl lake, and in the shadow use 
some carmine and black ; the strong vermi- 
lion tints should belaid on afterwards. He 
must beware of executing them with stiff 
harsh lines, gently intermixing each with the 
neighbouring colours, making the shadow be- 
neath broad, and enriched with brilliant 
crayons. He must form the corner of the 
mouth with carmine, brown ochre, and 
greens, variously intermixed. If the hair is 
dark, he should preserve much of the lake 
and deep carmine tints therein; this may 
easily be overpowered by the warmer hair 
feints, which, as observed in painting the eye- 
brows, will produce a richer effect when the 
picture is finished ; on the contrary, if this, 
method is unknown or neglected, a poverty 
of colouring will be discernible. 
When the head is brought to some degree 
of forwardness, let the back-ground be laid 
in, which must be treated in a different man- 
ner, covering it as thin as possible, and rub- 
bin'* it into "the paper with a leather slump. 
Near the face the paper should be almost free 
from colour, for this will do great service to 
the head, and by its thinness give both a soft 
and solid appearance. In the back-ground 
also no crayon that has whiting in its compo- 
sition should he used, but chiefly such as are 
the most brilliant and the least adulterated. 
The ground being painted thin next the hair, 
will give the student an opportunity of paint- 
ing the edges of the hair over in a light and 
free manner when he gives the finishing 
touches. 
The student having proceeded thus far, the 
face, hair, and back-ground, being entirely 
covered, he must carefully view the whole at 
some distance, remarking in what respect it 
is out of keeping, that is, what parts are too 
light and what too dark ; being particularly 
attentive to the white or chalky appearances, 
which must be subdued with lake and car- 
mine. The above method being properly 
put into execution, will produce tiie appear*' 
ance of a painting principally composed of 
three colours, viz. carmine, black, and white, 
which is the best preparation a painter can 
make for the producing a fine crayon pic- 
ture. 
The next step is to complete the back- 
ground and the hair, as the dust, in painting 
these, will fall on the fuse, and would much 
