Arrange the paper for the painting, after sponging it, by stretching
upon a drawing board, and then turn to the mixing of the colors.
[Illustration]
Colors Used for Skies and Distances.
FOR BLUE OF SKY.—Cobalt Blue, lowered with Pink Madder and Gamboge, to
the hue required. Ochre may be substituted for Gamboge.
CLOUDS.—The same mixed so as to form a variety of warm and cool pearly
greys.
FOR EXTREME DISTANCE.—Cobalt and Venetian Red.
FOR LOCAL TINTS.—Blend the colors so that the tints produced may incline
toward yellow, red, or any tint required.
FOR MIDDLE TINTS, use Indigo, Pink Madder and Ochre on the same
principle for the light parts, and Indigo, Pink Madder and Gamboge for
shady portions.
SETTING SUN.—Use Yellow Ochre and Pink Madder, or Venetian Red and
Yellow Ochre; sometimes Vermilion and Gamboge or Indian Yellow in small
proportions, when a strong effect is to be given.
TREES.—In painting trees use Indigo, Burnt Sienna and Gamboge. These
colors will make tints for the light; Indigo mixed with Vandyke Brown
becomes a fine deep grey, of a green hue. Purple Lake may be added when
you want the tint more neutral.
FOREGROUND.—Green in foreground is made by mixing Sepia with Olive Green
in the shade, and Olive Green and Burnt Sienna in the lighter parts. A
light transparent yellow, raw Sienna or Italian Pink may be carried over
the foreground where herbage is to be represented, when a bright sunny
effect is desirable to give fullness and richness to the colors that
come afterward; it also answers for high lights upon leaves, and the
brilliant specks which are left sharp. Indigo, Indian Red and Ochre for
the ashy grey of loam; Burnt Umber alone, or mixed with Burnt Sienna,
pure Ochre, and Ochre mixed with Sepia alone, and mixed with Purple Lake
for dark parts; also, Vandyke Brown and Purple Lake, or pure Brown
Madder for very dark touches.
Indigo, mixed with Gamboge, makes a cold green well suited to dark
leaves; Purple Lake may be added for cool reflected lights; Indian Red
mixed with Indigo to a pale tint for willow leaves or foliage stained
with dirt, or for the grey back of a leaf.
These cold greys and greens are of great value in foregrounds to repeat
the cool greys and cold lights of the sky in pictures composed of much
warm color in the middle distance, as midday effects, sunsets, etc. The
foreground should show a great deal of relief, distinctness and accuracy
in the drawing of these small objects which are particularly marked, but
are merged into masses when further removed. With regard to _roads_ in
your painting, Yellow Ochre, mixed with Burnt Sienna, and lowered with
Indian Red and Indigo. Indigo and Brown Madder being transparent colors,
will allow a wash of Cobalt Blue and Pink Madder to alter the hue
without danger of opacity.
WATER.—The same as for clouds, blended with the local color of the water
(greenish) and with the reflected objects.
DARK SEA is indicated by combining Indigo, Vandyke Brown and Lake.
DARK SKY.—Indigo, mixed with Pink Madder and Gamboge.
IN BRICK WORK.—Mix Ochre with French Blue and Indian Red, Indigo and
Venetian Red, Ochre and Pink Madder for bright part of brick work. When
the color is more of red, Vermilion may be used, with caution, and in
small quantities for lights. For shades, mix Sepia and Purple Lake, or
Sepia and Indian Red; Sepia alone is used for light shadows from trees.
We will now paint a landscape, the foreground composed of rocks lying
near and dividing a stream of water from a road; the margin of the river
skirted by trees; beyond a range of hills, and still beyond another
range of mountains with high points extending above all else; cattle
standing at the foot; flock of sheep coming along the road, cottage,
etc.
=Direction.= Cover the entire surface of your board with a tint of
Yellow Ochre of moderate strength; when this is dry a tint is formed
from the mixture of Cobalt Blue and Pink Madder, the blue predominating;
use it in a very diluted state, on the side whence the sun is supposed
to shine, graduating the tint as the opposite part of the sky is
approached, so that the ether may appear of a clear and rather strong
color; the lights of the cloud to be left, and care to be taken to
diminish the strength of the tint in the lower part of the sky. The same
tint may be carried over the mountains, leaving small, brilliant lights
if there be any.
A wash of Pink Madder and Ochre, or Venetian Red and Ochre may be given
to the lights on the clouds, afterwards they may receive their middle
tint, composed of Pink Madder, Yellow Ochre and Cobalt Blue.
THE CLOUDS may be finished by shading with Cobalt Blue and Venetian Red;
the water should receive its tints at this time; any very bright lights
should be left. Clouds that are darker than the ether, lay on with
Venetian Red and Ochre. If the clouds are meant to show lighter than the
blue of the sky, they should be left. Mix in one dish Ochre and Pink
Madder with more strength than the sky tints; and in another Cobalt,
Pink Madder and Gamboge, with as much strength as possible, so that it
will work freely. Having the brush charged with the first paint, proceed
to lay in the light parts of the mountains, varying the color by the
addition of Cobalt Blue where a greenish line is wanted, Pink Madder
where the granite prevails. Now, with a brush filled from the other
saucer, lay in the shady parts, varying the colors. These opposite tints
of light and shade should be made to blend imperceptibly where they
meet. Indigo, Pink Madder and Gamboge, mixed, will be found useful for
dark touches in shadows, and Cobalt mixed with Indian Red may be used
for the same purpose in the lights.
FOR THE HILLS, mix Indigo and Yellow Ochre, so as to make a light green;
lay in the light parts with this, adding Ochre when a brighter and
warmer light is to be expressed, and Pink Madder when the surface is
broken by rock. Any bright projecting rocks may receive a touch of
Yellow Ochre and Indian Red, mixed. A few broad touches will bring this
sufficiently forward; they may be given with a brown, produced by the
mixture of Indigo, Purple Lake and Gamboge, inclining to Orange or
Purple.
THE TREES, skirting the stream, should be covered at the same time with
the first and lightest tint, varied in the same way and brought into the
water, leaving a sharp strip of light at the edge for a bank or path.
Any very light stems of trees should be left. When this has become quite
dry lay in the trees with Gamboge, Burnt Sienna and Indigo, mixed, for
the light; Purple Lake, mixed with Indigo and Gamboge, for stems;
stronger and browner for dark touches. The rocky masses lying in the
water near the promontory may be covered by a tint of Indigo and Brown
Madder, mixed; a little Olive Green will vary the tint, if a greenish
hue is wanted. Gamboge, mixed with Indigo to a light green, and varied
with Purple Lake and Indigo, will serve for the parts of the rising
ground seen through the branches of the trees, which may receive a tint
of Indigo mixed with Burnt Sienna and Olive Green.
THE FOREGROUND may be laid in with Indian Red, mixed with Yellow Ochre,
and broken by Sepia or Indigo; shadows across the road may be rendered
by washes of Indigo mixed with Brown Madder, and Lampblack mixed with
Purple Lake for cool slate colored rocks in shade.
Birch trees should be covered with a tint of Indian Yellow and Burnt
Sienna, and shaded with Brown Madder and Indigo mixed, or Sepia and
Purple Lake. _Bring out the stems_ by dark touches of Vandyke Brown
mixed with Purple Lake, in shade. The dark greens about the foreground
should be composed of Sepia and Indian Yellow. The figures in the
landscape may have some red in the drapery; the sheep, a little Yellow
Ochre. In mixing the colors always incline towards warmth, because a
little more coolness and atmosphere may be given by a wash of Cobalt
Blue mixed with Pink Madder or Indian Red. Reflections in water should
be painted similar in hue to the objects, but lower in tone and more
transparent. Large stems of trees may be colored effectively by applying
varied greys, browns (made by a mixture of Indian Red, French Blue and
Ochre), for light sides, leaving any very bright features shown in the
bark. Brown Madder and Brown Pink, and sometimes Vandyke Brown mixed
with Indian Lake, will be found of service for markings. When laying on
the blue in the sky, be careful to leave the shape of the light parts of
the clouds, then with another brush wash in the middle tint and suffer
it to blend with the blue on the shady side of the cloud. Add a little
Venetian Red, as the tint is carried down to the horizon; mix more
Cobalt for distance. Give a first color to the road and cottage; pure
Yellow Ochre for the light of the plaster, with white paper left, and
with very small portions; the shade, Sepia or Brown Madder, mixed with
Indigo; the hedge by the cottage, brown-pink, olive-green, mixed with
Burnt Sienna.
WHEN THE DRAWING IS DRY, begin with the sky, and heighten or subdue as
seems best; give the shade to the clouds, taking care that the
indications of shadow, and feature generally, grow lighter the nearer
they come to the horizon; the country is distinguished from the sky by
outline—a dark touch of blue in the shadows, from the clouds. Dark
touches on the roof, chimneys and windows of the cottage, will give it
relief from the sky, and give distance to the small objects; they may be
made with Vandyke Brown, mixed with Purple Lake. Brown-pink, mixed with
Purple Lake, gives a very dark transparency to water.
FOR MOONLIGHT SCENES, _wash in_ the general effect of sky with Burnt
Umber, mixed with Cobalt Blue and Pink Madder, and Cobalt Blue for dark
clouds and distances; Indigo, mixed with Vandyke Brown and Pink Madder,
for the general landscape. The learner, before commencing at once upon a
landscape, will do well to practice upon blending colors; commencing
with Cobalt Blue and Pink Madder you will produce a purple; add Gamboge,
the purple will be grey, etc. In the combination of the following
colors, a great variety of tones adapted to skies and distance may be
found: Sepia and Gamboge, Sepia and Indian Yellow, Sepia and Italian
Pink, Lampblack and Indian Yellow. Chinese White is of service when
tinted paper is used for sketches.
IN SELECTING THE PAPER it should be as natural as possible, either cool
or warm in hue, according to the effect intended. The tint may serve as
middle tint in light of buildings, stems of trees, banks, etc. Cold
pressed imperial paper is the best for landscape. There are several
other kinds of paper which are used, such as Whatman’s extra thick, of
140 lbs. to the ream; or Creswick paper, if white; or pale cream color,
are good; but if much opaque color is used in the picture, any common
paper will do, especially if of a warm grey or brownish color; and very
good pictures are painted on the ordinary brown paper used for wrapping.
The most convenient form of paper for sketching in the outlines of a
scene is that made up in blocks or tablets.
BRUSHES should come to a fine point of their own accord, and not bulge
out in the middle. Sables are the best for general use. The brushes
necessary are two or three red Sable, or goose quill size, and a black
Sable of large swan-quill size for flat washes; or where these are too
high price for the beginner, a large swan-quill French camel’s hair with
good points. Do not allow the color to dry on them, or they are spoiled;
but wash as soon as used and allow them to dry with the hair in its
natural position.
OTHER MATERIALS, such as a drawing-board, a sponge, an HH pencil for
outlining, India-rubber, a sharp penknife for mixing up opaque colors
with Chinese White, a tin water-bottle to hold water when sketching,
prepared ox-gall to use in small quantities where the paper is greasy or
woolly, a quill pen, will also be found useful.
[Illustration]
THE COLORS USED ARE Indigo, French Blue, Cobalt Blue, Purple Lake,
Indian Red, Indian Lake, Pink Madder, Indian Yellow, Gamboge, Yellow
Ochre, Vandyke Brown, Brown Madder, Sepia, Burnt Sienna, Venetian Red,
Olive Green, Brown Pink, Vermilion. One of the principal points in which
water-color painting differs from oil, is the laying on of the flat
tints by means of washes.
THE ART OF
LANDSCAPE PAINTING
IN
OIL COLORS.
TECHNICAL NAMES AND MATERIALS USED. MIXING OF TINTS, AND HOW TO APPLY
THEM.
No doubt you are sufficiently acquainted with the general principles of
Drawing and Perspective at the time you reach this branch of art work,
as to be able to apply them with facility and certainty to the
representation, in outline, of a given view or subject. The rules here
laid down will place within your reach the power of securing to yourself
one of the most delightful and agreeable of accomplishments.
In the production of a painting in Oil Colors, there are certain modes
of operation, in introducing a beginner to the practice of the art, the
operations are distinguished by the technical names of glazing,
impasting, scrumbling, and handling.
A GLAZE is a thin transparent film of color, laid upon another color to
modify the tone, or to aid the effect of the latter, the work thereby
appearing distinctly through the layer of glaze, from which it receives
a characteristic hue. This process of glazing is effected by diluting
proper transparent color with megilp, or other suitable vehicle. Thus
diluted, these colors are laid upon portions of the work, either in
broad flat tints, or in touches, partially and judiciously distributed.
The object is to strengthen shadows, and give warmth or coldness to
their hue, to subdue lights that are unduly obtrusive, or to give
additional color and tone to those that are deficient in force and
richness.
IMPASTING. In oil painting, the dark shadows, or dark portions of the
picture, are painted thinly, while the lights are laid on, or
“impasted,” with a full pencil and a stiff color. In the lights of the
foreground, and of parts not intended to be remote or to “retire,” the
impasting should be bold and free; while in the more brilliant lights it
cannot well be too solid. The palette knife has always been a favorite
instrument of this “impasting,” or laying on of color, capable as it is
of producing an agreeable brightness on, and of giving an appropriate
flatness to, the pigment. A clear and appropriate tint, skillfully swept
across a sky by these means, often produce a brilliant and charming
effect which is surprising.
SCRUMBLING, the opposite process to that of glazing, is done by going
lightly over the work with an opaque tint, generally produced by an
admixture of white. For this purpose a hog-hair brush is used, charged
with color but sparingly, and with it the tints are drawn very thinly,
and somewhat loosely, over the previous painting, which should, as in
the case of glazing, be dry and firm.
The judicious combination of glazing and scrumbling will produce
richness, brilliancy and transparency.
HANDLING. By “handling” is meant the mechanical use of the pencil or
brush, exhibiting the artist’s power of adopting certain modes and
processes in the expression and representation of the different textures
of objects, such as foliage, wood, water, etc.
LIGHT. The position of a painter at his easel should be such that his
work may receive the light from his left, falling upon it only from the
upper part of the window of his room, the lower part being darkened by a
piece of green baize. A light proceeding from the north is the best, it
being most uniform through the day.
The first thing to be done in painting a landscape is to select a canvas
of moderate size, let the design be drawn upon it with a firm and well
defined outline. This being done, tint the lower part of the canvas in a
clear, warm tone with a mixture of Yellow Ochre and Venetian Red, or
with a pale hue of Burnt Sienna, in water colors, mixed with a little
ox-gall to make it adhere to the oil ground.
[Illustration]
The upper, or sky part of the canvas, being left clear, commence the
work lightly about where the horizon will appear, and gradually
strengthen the tint as you descend. The sketch being laid in, the
painting of the picture may now be commenced.
Have near your easel a slab of ground glass, on which you can prepare
your tints to a proper consistency or hue. A set of tints, of the hue of
the sky, and for the distances, is now mixed, and you commence with the
blue of the sky, working downwards, and securing a proper gradation of
color; then follow the distances, mountains, &c. This being done, the
work is left to dry. The mode of applying the color to the canvas is
chiefly by touches, or pats of the brush in succession, from left to
right. The color should be tempered with a proper quantity of vehicle,
that it may work crisply, and above all, that it may be laid sparingly
upon the canvas.
Short hair brushes are best adapted to painting with little color. In
laying on, or “impasting” the lights, the brushes should be rather
longer than those used for general painting—such a brush will yield the
color more readily. Unless the colors be allowed to harden between the
first and second painting, also between the second and third, they will
be liable to be rubbed off by the application of the oils and glazing
used in the after painting.
When the first painting is dry, the picture should have a damp cloth
passed over its surface. Being then wiped dry, let it be rubbed over
with a small portion of poppy oil, for this makes the after painting
unite with the first. It is a mere moistening of the surface that is
required—no excess of oil to remain. All that is not necessary should be
removed by the moderate application of a piece of silk or linen.
In the second painting we advance by giving more attention to the
details of various objects; their drawing, light and shade, reflected
hues, and various tints in coloring are more elaborately made out; the
relative distances of objects from the eye are most carefully preserved,
and the shadows, which are yet painted thinly and transparently, are
carefully united, with half-tints, so as to produce a roundness.
The third, or finished painting, is commenced by wiping and oiling the
picture in the manner before described as necessary for the second
painting. We then proceed to complete the details of form and color,
which were brought forward in the former painting, employing for this
purpose delicate touches of glazing and scrambling alternately, not to
conceal, but improve and render as perfect as possible what has already
been done. Sharp, vigorous touches where the markings of the details
require them. These touches must be made with freedom and decision, or
they fail in producing the desired effect. They should be of a warm
tone, not cold—not grey. In this stage of the work do not attempt too
much at one sitting. It is best to allow the colors to dry gently, and
to repeat the operation when necessary.
Lastly, a mode of aiding the finish is by passing over a portion of the
work with light, delicate tones, which are left only on the projecting
touches of texture objects.