A plain guide to landscape painting and sketching from nature in water color
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'V A vv1 • m@m>> ° «i * ^'V ^v\, * * * 5 % a O' <‘ ,0V c0'!0'* o A> . t . » > a-h ^. • O *■ -UW- -\ +,'•-• <y %, *»•’• f° ^ V “ v * ° ^ .0^ V A ro^ o°v, -*b aO. C • o S» / ^0 <v> * * ^ ^ - ; ^0 o aV^ l V V* - 0 • yJ^L, \ < V* 0V *<\ .’ / r> *. -^-r v ^-»-« SV ^ *..’• ^0 ^ v' b'*o. CV .9’ «,s*sL/* > W * ° V o .9 > \ >. % .£ y^- ^ a^v * o . % v- .0^ C 0 N 0 -» *y V • <~xA\^vVv,x<!h^ • / °-. tO *' 'X^yJ' B A r » K> *0*0^ <v» O * _ , ^ VV 9 ' ’ / [WITHOUT A MASTER.] — ™- Ml A PLAIN GUIDE Landscape Fainting ANO Sketching from Nature With Helpful Hints for Viewing Nature and Art. 1IY J- Y 1 1 ©ttnlialr School of iglUater ®olor. Art Superintendent, University of Southern California. -'rr~~ lag PRICE 50 CEETTS. PUBLISHED BY FOWUKR COUWKUL, L,os Angeles, C f» 1 • O' TO DEWICK HUNT, of Garston, Lancashire, England, (the best of boys,) This handbook is inscribed by his loving Uncle. Eos Angeles, Cal., May, iSgi. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1891, By J. Ivey, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PREFACE. The author of this ‘ Guide ’ to a most fascinating art justifies its publication on the modest ground of its sim¬ plicity. It is compiled with the endeavour to impart to the amateur the fundamental knowledge which is neces¬ sary to enable him to become a master, and to help all lovers of nature to discern her subtlest beauties and her most secret revelations, in order that they may be quali¬ fied to estimate the excellencies and faults of landscape pictures. The limits and scope of this handbook preclude the possibility of including instruction in drawing, and its omission must not be held to imply that we do not ap¬ preciate the importance of drawing and design. Experience has taught us, however, that the study and practice of colour frequently serve to awaken an interest in Art, which the drier study of drawing would not, and they certainly help a student to select that branch or form of Art for which he is best fitted. Moreover, the charm of colour encourages the beginner to more frequent prac¬ tice of drawing from nature than he would otherwise do, while concurrently with the practice he will use one of the many admirable handbooks on Perspective, to acquaint himself with its rules, and it must be admitted that it is only by practice that the facility of drawing can be acquired. Since water colour has asserted itself in the hands of 4 preface. many of the world’s great modern masters as the best medium of interpreting the tenderest and most charming passages of atmospheric effects, and, moreover, has been proved to be absolutely permanent in character, there is naturally a rapidly increasing interest exhibited toward it on the part of all lovers of pictures and of wealthy collectors, and the author would humbly hope that this little handbook may contribute, in some measure, to the development in America of an art which is particularly adapted to transcribe and repeat the atmospheric glories of the ‘ Golden West.’ J. I. University, Los Angeees, Caeifornia, U. S. A., May , i8gi. CONTENTS. PART i. Chapter I. PAGE A few General Remarks, with Table of Harmony of Colours . 9 Chapter II. Explanation of Some Terms Used in Painting . 1 1 Chapter III. List of Materials, with Uses of the Various Colours Described . 19 Chapter IV. On Mixing Colours, with List, of Useful Combina¬ tions . 27 Chapter V. On Broad Washes for Skies, Sea, Flat Distances, etc. 39 Chapter VI. On Various Means and Methods, ‘Taking out,’ ‘Scumbling,’ ‘Glazing,’ ‘Sponging,’ ‘Scraping,’ ‘ Painting Over,’ etc. . 44 Chapter VII. On Sketching From Nature . 48 PART II. Helpful Hints for Viewing Nature and Art . 59 t PART I. A Plain Guide to Landscape Painting AND Sketching From Nature. i CHAPTER I. A FEW GENERAL REMARKS, WITH TABLE OF HARMONY OF COLOURS. In Landscape Painting the artist studies the reality of the model in each of the elements that compose it; but he idealises the real by making it express some senti¬ ment of the human soul. The proof that faithfulness of imitation would not alone suffice is, that if the instru¬ ment of the photographer could seize colors as it does forms, it would give us a certain view of a certain coun¬ try, but it would not produce the work of art, which is a landscape painting. In order to achieve this, the painter, master of reality, enlightens it with his eyes, transfigures it according to his heart, and makes it utter, so to speak, what is not in it — sentiment and thought. colours. In reality there are only three original or primary colours : yellow , red and blue; and three composite or binary colours : orange , green and violet. White light containing the three primary colours, each of which serves as the ‘complement’ of the two others, in order to form the ‘equivalent’ of white light. Each has there¬ fore been called complementary in respect to the binary colour corresponding to it. Thus, blue is the comple¬ mentary of orange , because orange is composed of yellow and red, and blue would make white light. For the same reason, yellow is the complementary of violet , and red the complementary of gireen. In return, each of these mixed colours is the complementary of that pri¬ mary colour which does not enter into its composition. Therefore orange is the complementary of blue. 2 IO A GUIDE TO LANDSCAPE PAINTING. A remarkable property of colours, which it is very important to know, and which should always be remem¬ bered in using them in furniture or dress, as well as in painting, is that which regulates the well-known law of the ‘simultaneous contrast of colours.’ It may be ex¬ pressed thus: Complementary colours are mutually height¬ ened when placed in juxtapositio7i. Red, for example, put by the side of green, appears still redder ; orange deepens blue ; violet brightens yellow, etc. Another law, not less curious, is this, — an especially important one in painting : Every colour lightly reflects its comple?ne?itary on the space surrounding itself. For example, a red circle is surrounded with a light green aureola ; an orange circle with a blue, etc. This was observed by Veronese and Rubens long before the science of to-day had discovered the law — when they carefully covered with a violet tint the shadows of their yellows. TABLE OF HARMONY OF COLOURS. A useful table of reference in painting landscape and draperies, and for all decorative purposes. Scarlet with blue or green. Gold or yellow with blue or violet. Violet with light green or yellow. Blue with yellow or red. Carmine with green or orange. Brown with blue or red. Neutral tint with red or yellow. Rose with light blue or yellow. Orange with violet or blue. Blue grey with buff or pink. Olive green with red or orange. Flesh with blue or dark green. Dark green with crimson or orange. Fight green with rose or violet. CHAPTER II. AN EXPLANATION OF SOME TERMS USED IN PAINTING. Aerial Perspective. — See PERSPECTIVE. Antique. — This term is applied to the paintings and sculptures which were made at that period when the arts were in their greatest perfection among the ancient Greeks and Romans. But it is generally used for statues, basso-relievos, medals, intaglios, or engraved stones. It has been doubted whether the finest works of antiquity have come down to us, but the principal of those which have been the guide of the most distin¬ guished artists are the Apollo Belvedere, the Laocoon, the Antinous, the Torso, the Gladiator, the Venus of Medicis, the Venus of Milo. The Elgin Marbles in the British Museum form a treasury of knowledge of the antique school. A profound study of the antique was the source from which the greatest artists of modern times, as Michael Angelo and Raffaelle, drew the perfec¬ tion which has immortalised their names. Background. — This term denotes the field or space round the groups in historical pictures, or that which is placed to set off a single figure ; and it is likewise ap¬ plied to the places and buildings in the distances of landscapes. The invention of backgrounds is considered one of the most difficult as well as the most important parts of paintings. Beauty , Ideal. — This term is made use of to express that degree of perfection in form which does not actually exist in nature, but only in the creative fancy of the artist. ‘It is this intellectual dignity,’ says Reynolds, ‘ that ennobles the painter’s art; that lays a line between him and the mere mechanic; and produces those great effects in an instant, which eloquence and poetry are scarcely able to attain.’ 12 A GUIDE TO LANDSCAPE PAINTING. Breadth. — This term, as applied to a picture, denotes grandeur of expression or distribution, as opposed to contraction and meanness. Breadth is usually indicative of a master, as the want of it almost always accompanies the performance of an indifferent artist. When the lights in a picture are so arranged that they seem to be in masses , and the darks are massed to support them, so that the attention of the spectator is powerfully arrested, we have what is called breadth of effect or breadth of light and shade. Breadth conveys the idea of greatness. Correggio is perhaps the master in whose works breadth appears pre-eminently conspicuous. Carnations are the flesh-tints in a picture. Cartoon (from the Italian car tone, pasteboard.) Hence the word came to be applied to the drawings or coloured designs on paper, intended to be transferred to the walls in fresco painting, or wrought in tapestry. The most famous cartoons in the world are the celebrated cartoons of Raffaelle , designs for tapestry executed for Pope Leo X., which were for many years admired at Hampton Court Palace, and are now in the South Kensington Museum. Chalky is that cold or unpleasant effect which arises from an injudicious combination of colours that do not agree well together. Thus, white mixed with vermilion, without being tempered with the ochres or burnt sienna, will appear crude and chalky. Chia?o-Oscuro, (Italian) light and shade. This term refers to the general distribution of lights and shadows in a picture, and their just degradation as they recede from the focus of light. ‘It comprehends,’ says Pro¬ fessor Phillips, in his Lectures, ‘not only light and shade, without which the form of no objects can be perfectly represented, but also all arrangements of light and dark colours in every degree ; in short, in accordance with the compound word composing its name, which we have adopted from the Italian, the light and dark of a picture.’ Chiaro-oscuro particularly refers to the great masses of SOME TERMS USED IN PAINTING. 13 lights and shadows in a painting, when the objects are so disposed by artful management, that their lights are together on one side, and their darks on the other. The best examples among the Italians are to be found in the works of Correggio, Leonardo da Vinci and Giorgione ; among the Dutch, in those of Rembrandt, Adrian Ostade and De Hooge. A composition, however perfect in other respects, becomes a picture only by means of the chiaro- oscuro, which gives faithfulness to the representations, and therefore is of the highest importance to the painter ; at the same time, it is one of the most difficult branches of the artist’s study, because no precise rules can be given for its execution. The drawing of a picture may be correct, the colouring may be brilliant and true, and yet the whole picture remain dry and hard ; as we find it is the case in the works of painters who preceded Raffaelle and Leonardo da Vinci ; and it was one of the great merits of those sublime geniuses, that they left their masters far behind them in chiaro-oscuro, though since their time many great artists have surpassed them in this respect. Colourist is a painter whose peculiar excellence is his colouring, but not therefore his only excellence. Titian"., Veronese, Rubens, are considered the best of colourists.. Compositio?i is the arrangement of objects and the dis¬ position of the parts so as to form an harmonious union of the whole ; hence anything extraneous, that disturbs the connection and diverts the mind from the general subject, is a vice. Composition, which is the principal part of the invention of a painter, is by far the greatest difficulty he has to encounter. The compositions of Raffaelle are said to be grand , those of Veronese rich , those of Poussin classical , those of Teniers natural. Demi- Tints. — This term implies the various gradations of which a colour is capable. Distemper is a preparation of colours without oil, only mixed with size, white of egg, or any such proper glu¬ tinous or unctous substance. All ancient paintings were 14 a guide: to landscape painting. executed in this manner before the year 1460, when oil painting was first discovered. The Cartoons of Raffaelle were painted in distemper. Drawings. — There are several kinds of drawings ; in a general sense, the term is applied to any study or design made with black-lead pencils. In the English school, frequent use is made of the designation ‘ water-color drawings.’ Dryness is a term by which artists express the common defects of the early painters in oil, who had but little knowledge of the flowing contours which so elegantly show the delicate forms of the limbs and the insertion of the muscles ; the flesh in their colouring appearing hard and stiff, instead of expressing softness and pliancy. Effect. — By effect in painting is understood the energy and beauty of the optical results of the combinations, accidental or arising from calculations wrell understood, either of the lines, of the tones, bright or dark, or again of the colours of the tints. But it is especially to the combinations of the chiaro-oscuro that the effect owes its energy, its suavity and its charm ; and what proves it is the appearance of engravings which offer colour without much effect ; but it is optically subordinate to that which is obtained b}^ the bright and dark, semi- bright and semi-dark masses, and we thus distinguish the effect of Rubens and the colouring of Titian. The pictures of Poussin and Raffaelle have but little effect ; those of Vandyke, Velasquez, Gerard, Reynolds and Prud’hon have a great deal of effect. Expression principally consists in representing the human body and all its parts in the action suitable to it ; in exhibiting in the face the several passions proper to the figures, and marking the motions they impress on the other parts. Frequently the term ‘ expression ’ is confounded with that of passion ; but the former implies a representation of an object agreeably to its nature and character, and the use or office it is intended to have in the work ; while passion in painting denotes a motion of SOME TERMS USED IN PAINTING. 15 the body, accompanied with certain airs of the face, which mark an agitation of soul. So that every passion is an expression, but not every expression a passion. Foreshortening is the art of representing figures and objects as they appear to the eye, viewed in positions varying from the perpendicular. This art is one of the most difficult in painting, and though absurdly claimed as a modern invention, was well known to the ancients. Pliny speaks particularly of its having been practiced by Parrhasius and Pausias, two Greek painters ; besides, it is impossible to execute any work of excellence with¬ out its employment. In painting domes and ceilings, foreshortening is particularly important. The meaning of the term is exemplified in the celebrated ‘Ascension ’ in the Pieta di Tarchini, at Naples, by Luca Giordano, in which the body of Christ is so much foreshortened that the toes seem to touch the knees, and the knees the chin. (Will be known to many readers by engravings.) Harmony is that congenial, accordant and pleasant effect in a picture, resulting from an intelligent distribu¬ tion of light and shade, a judicious arrangement of colours, and a consistency and propriety in composition. v Horizo7ital Line , in perspective, is a line that marks the horizon, or the place of the supposed horizon, and which is always on a level with the eye. Linear Perspective. — See Perspective. Loading is a term applied to laying colours in thick masses on the lights, so as to make them project from the surface, with a view to make them strongly illumin¬ ated by the light that falls on the picture, and thus mechanically to aid in producing roundness and relief, or to give a sparkling effect to polished or glittering objects. Local Colours are such as faithfully imitate those of a particular object or such as are natural and proper for each particular object in a picture. Colour is also dis¬ tinguished by the term local, because the place it fills requires that particular colour, in order to give a greater character of truth to the several tints with which it is contrasted. 1 6 A GUIDE TO LANDSCAPE PAINTING. Manner is that habit which painters acquire, not only in the management of the pencil, but also in the princi¬ pal parts of painting, as invention, design, colouring. It is by the manner in painting that connoisseurs decide to what school it belongs, and by what particular master of that school it was executed. Some masters have had a variety in their manners at different periods of life, others have so constantly adhered to one only, that those who have seen even a few of their pictures will immedi¬ ately know and judge of them, without the risk of mis¬ take. The variety observable among artists arises from the manners of the different schools in which they have received their instruction, or of the artists under whom they have studied ; for young painters, feeling a parti¬ ality for those masters they have imitated, prefer what they have long accustomed themselves to admire. Yet there are instances among the great artists, of painters who have divested themselves of that early partiality so effectually as to fix on a manner far better adapted to their particular genius, and by this means have arrived at a greater excellence. Thus Raffaelle proceeded, and acquired a much more elevated manner after he had quitted the school of Perugino and seen the works of Leonardo da Vinci. Ma?i7ierism is an affected style, contracted by an imita¬ tion of the peculiarities of some particular master, instead of a general contemplation of nature. Pe? spective. — The art of representing the appearance of objects as seen from a certain point of view. It is divided into geometrical or linear perspective and the perspective of colour or aerial perspective. Both are subjected to perfectly scientific rules, and without the observance of those rules no picture can have truth or life. Linear perspective describes or represents the posi¬ tion, form and magnitude of objects, and their diminu¬ tion in proportion to their distance from the eye. Aerial perspective is the degradation of the tones of colours, which throws off the distances of grounds and objects. SOME TERMS USED IN PAINTING. 1 7 and which judicious artists practice by diffusing a kind of thin vapour over them, that deceives the eye agree¬ ably. It shows the diminution of the colours of objects in proportion as they recede from the eye by the inter¬ position of the atmosphere between the eye and the objects. The proportion of this degradation is regulated by the purity of the atmosphere. Hence, in a fog, it will be greater at the distance of a few feet, than in a clear sky at as many miles. Distant objects in a clear southern air appear to an eye accustomed to a thick northern atmosphere much nearer than they really are. Thus, as the air changes, the aerial perspective must change. Morning, noon, evening, moonshine, winter, summer, the sea, etc., all have their different aerial- perspective. In aerial perspective, the weakening of the tints corresponds to the foreshortening of the receding lines in linear perspective. In the illuminated parts of objects, the tints are represented more broken and fluc¬ tuating and the shaded parts are often aided by reflection. By aerial perspective, two results are obtained: i. Each object in a picture receives that degree of colour and light which belongs to its distance from the eye. 2. The various local tones are made to unite in one chief tone, which last is nothing else than the common colour of the atmosphere and the light which penetrates it. The charm and harmony of a picture, particularly of a land¬ scape, depend greatly on a proper application of the laws of perspective. Reflected Lights are the borrowed lights, or lights coming from one object to another ; and those reflected lights always partake of the tint of the object from which the light is reflected. Not only the atmosphere, but every object in nature reflects light. Relief or Relievo denotes those objects which are repre¬ sented on a plane surface, and yet appear to project from it, by the judicious application of the principles of chiaro- oscuro. Still-Life. — The representations of inanimate objects,. 1 8 A GUIDE TO LANDSCAPE PAINTING. as dead game, vegetables, fruits and flowers, musical and sporting instruments, weapons, tankards, glasses, etc., or of fishes and domestic animals of every descrip¬ tion, when forming compositions by themselves, are called still-life . When living persons are principals in the compositions, the introduction of such things are called accessories. Style. — Sir Joshua Reynolds says that ‘ in painting, style is the same as in writing ; a power over materials, whether words or colours, by wdiich conceptions or sen¬ timents are conveyed.’ Styles vary in painting as in writing : some are grand, others plain ; some florid and others simple. The word very often signifies only the manner peculiar to a school or master, in design, com¬ position, colouring, expression and execution. Tone is the harmony of colouring in a painting, or the happy effect produced by the proper degradation of light and shade, so as to cause all harshness and crudeness to disappear. Vanishing Points. — A term of perspective. In order to understand its meaning, it is necessary to bear in mind the following facts : (i) The horizo7ital line is always on a level with the eye. (2) The point in the horizontal line directly opposite the eye is the point of sight , and the ray issuing from this point, which forms a right angle with the horizontal line, is called the principal visual ray. (3) The point of distance is the actual dis¬ tance of the eye from the plane of the picture, as meas¬ ured on the horizontal line, from the point of sight. Now the vanishing points are the points in which parallel lines converge perspectively, which points, in level planes, are in the horizontal lines, viz. either in the point of sight itself, or more or less distant from it, according to the position of the observer. When, owing to the obliquity of the surface, these converging points do not meet in the horizontal line, but strike above or below it, they are called accidental points. Vehicle is any liquid used to dilute colours to render them of a proper consistence to spread on the canvas. CHAPTER III. LIST OF MATERIALS, WITH USES OF THE COLORS DE¬ SCRIBED. Where expense is a matter of little or no moment to the student it will be best to secure the materials of the best old-established makers, such as Windsor cf Newton or George Rowney & So?is , but it by no means follows that the beginner should adopt the most expensive out¬ fit, for the author has tested several of the less expensive colours issued by the leading artists’ colourmen of America and while some are certainly to be avoided, the use of which would render it impossible for the most painstaking student to produce satisfactory results, there are others which may quite safely be adopted as possess¬ ing most of the excellent qualities of the highest priced European pigments. One of the most satisfactory boxes of colours, among such preparations, is called the “Murillo” and is, I believe, imported from Paris. It contains eighteen moist colours and three brushes and is sold for a dollar. The colours are pure in tone and well ground and I have no reason to doubt their ordinary permanency, but the Chinese white which it contains had better be replaced by a bottle of superior make. Moist colours in half-pans are the best adapted for all ordinary work, and the student who overcomes the temptation to possess a large number of colours in the belief that he thereby is able to easily produce any required result, but who resolutely confines himself to a limited number — say, at most, twenty — will make the best and quickest progress ; for he will be constantly proving the capacity and power of the colours in their numerous combinations. While I approve of the selec¬ tion of colours in the box referred to, I think it advisable to recommend the addition to it of the following : brown 20 a guide: to landscape: painting. pink, orange vermilion, and cadmium yellow. With this outfit you will possess a wizard’s wand, to beckon into being ‘things of beauty,’ joys for ever. The colours marked thus * in the following list may be omitted. Yellow Ochre. — for sunny clouds, in thin washes mixed with vermilion, scarlet or crimson lake ; for roads, mixed with light red or madder brown ; for distant greens mixed with blues and browns, thin ; very useful to express extensive flat middle distance. Raw Sienna. — Very valuable to express rich, sunny and autumnal tones, mixed with the blues and browns ; as a glaze (thin) over sunny green foliage is very effec¬ tive. Gamboge is gummy in substance and must, therefore, not be used too thick ; produces a juicy green when mixed with Antwerp blue ; alone, or only tinged with orange vermilion, it is fine for the high lights in grasses and near foliage. Cadmium. — An intense yellow ; mostly useful in sun¬ set effects, but will mix with Antwerp blue or indigo for very bright greens. Italian Pink* — Mixed with indigo or Antwerp blue for rich grass greens ; alone, in medium wash, it makes a sunny effect upon near foliage and grasses ; with a little Vandyke brown it makes a charming transparent shadow wash for middle distances ; never use it thickly, but it may be strengthened sometimes by repeating the wash. Broivn Pink. — With Antwerp blue or indigo it makes a series of rich greens for herbage and foliage ; with gamboge in light washes will produce very pretty sunny effects on sappy grasses and in the half lights of all rich brown foliage. It will be found a useful colour in repre¬ senting extensive distances and foot hills at the time when the grasses are changing into brown in early summer, and used carefully nothing will exceed its beauty and truthfulness in depicting the brown shadows LIST OF MATERIALS WITH USES. 21 in pools and running brooks where rich brown soil prevails. Naples Yellow * is opaque ; hence must never be used in composing foreground greens ; it is very effective in giving the pale yellow light in morning skies and with a little vermilion added it represents the soft light lines of cloud frequently seen in an otherwise blue sky. Indian Red. — A useful dull red, valuable for composing purplish greys by mixture with French blue or cobalt. Care must be observed in its use as it is with difficulty removed from the paper when once dry. Light Red. — One of the most useful colours ; mixed with blues almost every kind of grey can be made ; with Vandyke brown rich, old, broken ‘Adobe’ and earth banks can be represented. Orange Vermilion. — Much more useful than the or¬ dinary vermilion ; an expensive colour to grind, there¬ fore care should be exercised in selection ; when a land¬ scape is intended to be very bright and sunny, or a sunset, the preliminary wash over the entire paper, as recommended in Chapter 4, may be made of this, instead of the mixture there recommended ; in very thin washes it is useful for whitewashed houses or barns on the sunlit sides, particularly when the sun is low down in the afternoon ( the sides in shadow then to be in neutral purple, composed of blue, red and ivory black or sepia. Carmine gives very truthfully the delightful sunset reflections upon the snow-clad sierras, seen at their best during the rainy season ; makes delicious shadow com¬ binations with French blue, Antwerp or indigo ; useful in brilliant touches of drapery, and just tinging a weak wash of emerald green will give a very beautiful passage of distant, sunny, rolling meadows. This should be done by applying it in very delicate tint over the green when dry, called a ‘glaze.’ Crimson Lake. — Heavier than the above ; more useful in mixing with French blue or indigo for very dark markings, but, on the whole, should not be preferred to vCarmine. 22 A GUIDE TO LANDSCAPE PAINTING. Rose Madder .* — A beautiful tender colour, useful in forming warm shadow clouds and greys with the various blues and black. Burnt Sie?i?ia. — Invaluable. Mixed with Antwerp blue it makes a warm sunny green ; with indigo a deep, rich-toned, shadow green ; if a picture nearing comple¬ tion is found to have a too green or crude appearance, a thin wash of burnt sienna over the parts in light will very materially help it ; with madder brown every variety of red cow can be painted ; of constant use also in roads, brick, tiles, and interwoven with Vandyke brown it breaks up large surfaces of green herbage so as to give the appearance of grasses and multiplicity of weeds, etc. ; in very thin wash it gives the smooth bark of the eucalyptus in sunlight, and with a little carmine it gives the berry of the pepper tree ; mixed with a little madder brown, it makes a good colour for the side of the orange in shade, while the lightest part is of orange vermilion. Real Ultramarine. — The most perfect blue, but washes badly and is therefore not the best for beginners. It is, moreover, very expensive, and on this account alone is not often to be found in ordinary pallets. The French blue and cobalt are very satisfactory substitutes. Cobalt Blue. — One of the indispensable colours in the water color box ; it is semi-opaque and, therefore, should not be used heavily in composing foreground greens, but in skies and distances, in composing greys with any of the reds, and purples with any of the lakes, and neutral greys with sepia for rocks, stems of trees and other broken foreground items it is most valuable. In com¬ bination with gamboge it makes very brilliant greens. Aiitwerp Blue. — In addition to its usefulness in the creation of greens, by admixture with the yellows, and a beautiful transparent green by mixture with Vandyke brown, it makes a series of valuable greys for rocks and cliffs when mixed with madder brown, or Indian red, or light red. It is not supposed to be very permanent, hence is not used so freely as French blue or indigo. LIST OF MATERIALS WITH USES. 23 French Blue is much used because of its transparent quality and moderate tone. It makes good shadow tints for clouds in combination with madder brown, Indian red, light red or ivory black, and a range of useful shadow tints, with crimson lake and ivory black, or with sepia and carmine ; it is serviceable at times to streng¬ then the blue in skies. This is often called French ultramarine. Indigo. — In mixing indigo it must be used sparingly, because of its tendency to blackness. It is an intensely cold color, hence is applicable to making sea washes and running water ; mixtures of indigo (very light) with light red, orange vermilion, or madder brown, make a series of cool greys, for objects in distances ; with crimson lake or carmine in thin washes it makes good purplish shadows for middle distance objects. Madder Brown has a tendency to redness ; makes a good wash for near rock masses on which the sun falls, for this purpose a very small portion of French or cobalt blue should be added, when the wash is dry ; put in the forms that are in half-light with same mixture slightly strengthened, then, when again dry, the darkest touches with additional strength of same colour. Madder brown is also useful for putting in the dark rich touches among brambles and herbage, for markings in roads and ruts, and for making slender tree branches, where they possess any colour. Vandyke Brown. — Perhaps the most useful brown ; with gamboge it makes a pretty colour for tree masses ; with the blues it makes very quiet greens for low toned pictures ; it is much used as a glaze over greens to subdue them ; for masses of brown, which frequently exist in middle distances, it is unequalled ; it should be used in thin washes generally and repeated when neces¬ sary, instead of laying it with full strength in one wash. Sepia is colder than Vandyke brown ; makes splendid cool greys, mixed with cobalt for distances, and is useful in roads, banks of earth, tree stems, etc. 24 a guide: to landscape painting. Ivory Black is serviceable in reducing the brilliancy of some intense colours where it is necessary to make very dark masses or markings ; with the reds it makes a series of greys, useful in some winter skies or masses of distant rocks or cliffs, and mixed with cobalt or French blue it makes a colder tint for similar purposes. It must be used sparingly. Emerald Green. — For bits of brilliant drapery, such as a woman’s shawl or a rug, when it is necessary to introduce it ; for that indescribable tint in deep sea water, under certain aspects, and for such exceptional passages of colour as I have indicated under ‘ Carmine.’ If kept moist, a half pan will last for years in ordinary practice. Purple Madder .* — Useful in sunset effects chiefly ; a very beautiful colour, but, like all the madders, is not permanent. Chinese White. — This is best kept in tube and it is advisable to use only the best make, as there are many sold which do not dry perfectly white and some which do not dry thoroughly at all ; it should never be used where it can possibly be avoided, nevertheless there are occasions when its use is inevitable and effedtts which cannot be represented truthfully without it, such, for instance, as the morning effect treated of in Chapter 4. The student will discover in time that it must be used occasionally to assist in the production of floating mists and the dreamy hazy mysteries of distant hills and valleys. It would be too bewildering to the beginner to attempt a description of its use to produce the most subtle effects in landscape ; as we have said, it is a pig¬ ment the use of which, to an appreciable extent, it is a virtue to ignore rather than to encourage. It is useful, however, to lay on small high lights which cannot be judicially either ‘left out’ or ‘taken out’ (see Chapter 5) and for putting in figures or cattle under same conditions. Now, the beginner will not act wisely if he encumbers himself with more than the colours enumerated above. LIST OF MATERIALS WITH USES. 25 The writer lias found, in an experience of a quarter of a century, that every requirement of the art can be met by this combination. The colours should be arranged in his box in the fol¬ lowing order, so that, as he holds it in his left, the yellows should be nearest his right hand, the reds next, the blues next, and such colours as Vandyke brown, ivory black, green, sepia and Chinese white last ; by ever keeping them in this order he will soon acquire a rapid facility of fixing his brush upon the colour he desires, without having to refer to their position and names on a chart, which it is advisable he should make as soon as he has placed them, for use will soon make their surfaces look very much alike. PAPER. Always use Whatman's ‘Extra Stout Not,’ which means that the surface is not hot pressed. This is better in many particulars than a smoother surface. Most artists’ colourmen keep this paper in what are known as ‘Sketch Blocks,’ containing many sheets of paper fastened securely at their edges on a thick cardboard, and when a drawing is finished it is easily removed by passing a knife around the edges when the block presents a fresh sheet again ready for another picture without trouble of mounting. This of course, has its advantage in saving of time and labour, but this is more than compensated for in the ease of working and the more satisfactory flow of the washes upon the paper, if the student will adopt the following method : Obtain a drawing board, perfectly square, (say 15 x 10 inches ) ; have your paper large enough to fold over the back of the board one inch all round ; damp the paper on both sides with a very soft sponge ( applying the water by taps, not by rubbing) ; allow it to become nearly dry, but take care that it is not quite dry ; then place the board upon it, cut the corners so that the end shall overlap the sides when they are pasted over on the back 26 A GUIDE TO LANDSCAPE PAINTING, without forming a crease at the corner, this is done, ot course, by cutting out a right angle ; then paste the edges firmly on back of board and place the board with pasted edges downward on a flat surface to dry. If this is properly done the paper when dry will present a flat dead surface and will not pucker during the progress of the drawing, which occurs, more or less, with the blocks. 