Nature and Art, October 1, 1866.] 
OIL PAINTING WITHOUT A MASTER. 
140 
of anatomy is very desirable, if the pupil wishes to 
produce a face or figure that will appear alive, 
instead of a wooden doll, prettily coloured. Taking 
for granted, then, that drawing has been properly 
acquired, I shall begin by suggesting that the pupil 
should put aside all ideas of washes and floating 
colours, and understand that oil colours are only to 
be dabbed on (thinly or thickly as the case may be) 
and the lights put in, not left, as in water-colours. 
The first thing to be done, then, is to procure 
the following colours in tubes : — 
Flake white. 
Yellow ochre. 
Burnt sienna. 
Raw umber. 
Cobalt. 
Prussian blue. 
Indian red. 
Lake or rose madder. 
Indian yellow. 
Vandyke brown. 
Light red. 
Ivory black. 
V ermilion. 
These colours are sufficient for everything, as the 
fewer varieties that can be used the better. Get 
also, a bottle of copal varnish. This should be 
pure and free from resin, or the picture will in time 
crack. That bought at a coach-maker’s is said to 
be the best, but it sometimes requires thinning with 
a little turpentine, and may be troublesome to 
manage. A bottle of pale drying oil, and a cup or 
wide-mouthed bottle of common sweet oil ; one or 
two hog’s hair brushes, and three or four sables, 
all of different sizes; and one large round brush of 
the best camel’s hair ; an old silk handkerchief, and 
a piece of linen or calico ; a wooden palette, and a 
palette knife ; and a prepared mill-board or canvas, 
make up the list of the apparatus required. 
Now, begin by squeezing out on the palette a 
small quantity of raw umber, with one or two drops 
of copal varnish : mix them well with the palette 
knife (as you would mix salt with butter on your 
plate), and paint over the prepared millboard with 
a hog’s hair brush, till it is as dark as brown paper. 
Then take the large round brush, and holding it 
perpendicularly to the board, strike it quickly all 
over the painted surface until it has an even, slightly 
granulated appearance : let it remain till the next 
day, when, if quite dry, the picture may be begun. 
This should be first sketched on a piece of paper, 
and from this a tracing may be taken. Put out on 
the palette a very little flake white, with a small 
drop of copal mixed in it ; twist a corner of a cloth 
round the finger, dip it in the white, and rub it 
hard on a sheet of writing-paper, as thinly as 
possible, working it well in, to pi-event too much 
coming off. Lay this, face downwards, on the pre- 
pared board, place the tracing-paper over, and draw 
the lines again hard — take off the paper, and the 
sketch ought to be seen clearly in white on the 
brown board. Sometimes the white paint will 
come off in spots where the pencil has not traced, 
but they may be wiped off carefully with a silk 
handkerchief, without injury to the outline. Com- 
mon black paper will do instead of white, but the 
outline is not so distinct. Any one, however, who 
can draw readily and correctly, had much better 
make the sketch at once irpon the board, in the 
flake white, with a small sable brush, having first 
rubbed a little drying oil on it and wiped it off 
thoroughly, with a silk handkerchief — this is to 
enable you to wipe out the outline from time to 
time, if incorrect, while wet. The sketch should 
now be left till the next day to dry, and then the 
colouring may be begun. 
Suppose you are going to paint a head. Put out 
on the palette small quantities of flake white, burnt 
sienna, vermilion, and raw umber. Add some copal 
to them, and mix it well with each colour, wiping 
the knife carefully, after every mixture, with the 
cloth. The use of the copal is to make the colours 
dry hard and firm, which they ought to do in 
twenty-four hours, unless too much copal is used. 
The proper proportion is, one drop of copal to 
about four times the quantity of paint, and great 
care must be taken to mix them well together with 
the palette knife ; for where the copal and paint 
are separated, one part will dry much slower than 
the other, and must be more perishable, as it is not 
protected by the varnish. Never be tempted to 
paint any part of your picture without copal, to 
save time ; for, although it will look quite as well 
as the other parts at first, it will not dry as quickly, 
and in a few years (or even months, sometimes), 
the picture will show the difference. 
Now, rub some drying oil over the sketch, and 
wipe it off again as before ; and do this before 
beginning each day’s work ; only be sure that the 
picture is dry when you oil it. Take a little of the 
flake white, and a touch of burnt sienna ? blend them 
together with a sable brush, just to make a pale 
flesh tiut, and paint very thinly the light parts of 
the face, neck, &c., leaving all the broad shadows 
in the brown ground. You will find that wherever 
the flesh tint is very thin, it will give a delicate, 
pearly grey tint over the dark ground, which will 
serve in most cases instead of blue, and can never 
look dirty, as blue sometimes does. Subdue the 
white outline with raw umber. Mix, and use, 
vermilion and white for the cheeks and lips, and 
do not let any other colour get into this while 
wet, or it will look dirty. Then put in, very thinly, 
the reflected lights, with the flesh tint, and the 
bright high lights on the forehead, nose, chin, (fee., 
with white alone, according to the high lights of 
the copy, the whites of the eyes, and the tint of 
the eyeballs, blue and white, raw umber and white, 
(fee., according to their colour, and the pupils in ivory 
black : only leave the ground for the shadows, and 
paint thinly, so as to allow it to shine through, 
except in the very high lights, which may be 
painted thicker. Then paint a little of the back- 
ground round the face with whatever colours are 
in the copy, or that you may choose, if painting 
from nature; only, if you use cobalt, you must also 
use cobalt in all the blue-greys of the flesh, and the 
same with Prussian blue. The latter is the best 
colour to use. Cobalt, raw umber, and white, 
or Prussian blue instead of cobalt, make a good 
background. If you have much ground to cover, 
mix the tints on the palette with the knife, as the 
brush will not do it so evenly and effectually where 
