HOW TO PAINT IN OIL-COLORS.
THE difference between oil- and water-color painting lies in the
fact that, although especially well adapted to the portrayal of some
subjects, water-color has its limitations, while with oil-colors
any subject, from the simplest study in still-life to the grandest
conception of a great artist, can be represented, and no limit has yet
been reached in its possibilities.
But there are first steps to be taken in all things, and the
greatest artist who ever lived had to make a beginning and learn the
preliminaries of painting before he could produce a picture. To these
steps, then, we will turn our attention, and the first will be the
necessary
=Materials.=
The following list of colors, with their combinations, will be found
sufficient for most purposes.
YELLOWS. REDS. BLUES. GREENS.
Yellow Ochre, Vermilion, Permanent Blue, Terre Verte,
Naples Yellow, Light Red, Cobalt, Emerald Green,
Light Cadmium, Indian Red, Antwerp Blue. Light Zinnober Green.
Orange Cadmium. Venetian Red,
Burnt Sienna, Rose Madder.
Silver White, Raw Umber, Vandyke Brown, Ivory Black.
Winsor & Newton’s colors are acknowledged by most artists to be the
best, but the writer personally prefers German white, as in her opinion
it is not so stiff, and mixes better with other colors than the Winsor
& Newton.
=The Easel=
may be simply a pine one, which can be purchased from any dealer at the
cost of about one dollar. More elaborate easels are, of course, more
expensive; but as the merits of a picture do not depend upon the easel
which holds it, a common pine one will do.
=The Palette=
should be light in weight and not too small; oiled and not varnished. A
very light-colored wood is not desirable; one of walnut or cedar, about
eighteen inches long, is the best to use, and will cost from thirty to
sixty cents.
=Brushes,=
both of sable and bristles, are used, but we would advise a beginner
to work with bristle brushes only, for the first attempt should be to
obtain a broad style of painting, without the finished details which
the sable brushes are used for.
About four different sizes of flat bristle brushes are needed to
commence with; there should be two of each size, the largest one inch
wide, and the smallest not more than a quarter of an inch in width.
=The Palette-Knife=
is used for taking up color on the palette, for cleaning the palette,
and sometimes for scraping a picture after its first painting.
It should be flexible, but not too limber. The cost will be from
twenty-five cents upward.
=Oil-Cups=
are fastened on to the palette, and are used for oil and turpentine.
The double ones range in price from eight cents to twenty. The single
ones, without cover, can be bought for five cents.
=A Paint-Box=
for holding colors, palette, and brushes will cost from one dollar and
twenty-five cents up. It is convenient to have one, and necessary when
going out sketching, but for painting at home any kind of tin box will
answer for the paints. The palette can be hung up, and the brushes put
in a vase or jar, handles downward, which will keep them nicely.
=Mediums.=
Boiled linseed-oil or poppy-oil, siccatif Courtray, and turpentine.
=Canvas.=
In selecting canvas choose that of a warm-gray or creamy tone, for it
is difficult to give warmth to a picture painted on a cold-gray canvas.
The German sketching-canvas is quite cheap, and does very well to
commence on. It is best to buy it on the stretcher, as a girl’s fingers
are seldom strong enough to stretch the canvas as tight as it should
be. A very good sketching-canvas, 18 × 24, can be bought in New York
City for twenty-five cents.
Several clean pieces of old white cotton-cloth are necessary for wiping
brushes, cleaning knife and palette, etc.
=The Light=
in the studio, or room in which you paint, should come from one
direction only, and fall from above. This can be managed by covering
the lower sash of the window with dark muslin, or anything that will
shut out the light. A shawl will answer for a temporary curtain.
Most artists prefer that while painting the light should come from
behind over the left shoulder.
Our advice to beginners in all the departments of art is the same:
commence with simple subjects.
Your first study should be from still-life (which means any inanimate
object used for artistic study), and let the object selected be of a
shape that requires but little drawing; for your aim now is to learn
to handle your colors, and it is not desirable to have your mind
distracted by complicated drawing. A vase placed on a piece of drapery,
which is also brought up to form the background, is a good subject;
the drapery should be of one color, and of a tone that will contrast
agreeably with the vase and give it prominence.
Arrange whatever object you have decided to paint so that it will show
decided masses of light and shade; place your easel at a sufficient
distance from it to obtain the general effect of shape and color
without seeing too much detail; arrange your canvas on the easel so
that you will neither have to look up nor down upon it, but straight
before you; then sketch in the object you are about to copy in outline.
Observe the edges of the heaviest shadows, and draw them also in
outline. Charcoal is better than a pencil for sketching on canvas,
as it can be easily rubbed off with a clean cloth if the drawing is
incorrect. When the sketch is finished, dust off the charcoal lightly
and go over the lines again with a camel’s-hair brush and India ink.
=Setting the Palette=
is a term used for arranging the colors in a convenient manner upon the
palette. The colors should always occupy the same position, so that,
the places once learned, you will never be at a loss to find the color
you want. Fig. 161 shows a convenient arrangement of colors, as well as
the position of the oil-cans.
[Illustration: Fig. 161.—Manner of Arranging Colors on Palette.]
Fill one of your oil-cans one-third full of turpentine, to which add
enough siccatif Courtray to turn it the color of strong coffee. Dip one
of your good-sized brushes in this mixture and scrape it off on the
edge of the can, that the brush may not be too wet; then take up some
burnt sienna on the brush and put it on your palette about an inch or
so below the terre verte, add some terre verte, and mix the two with
your brush. Lay in all the shadows of the vase, or whatever object you
are about to paint, in a flat, even tone with the color thus formed,
keeping it thin with the turpentine and siccatif.
Mix a tint as near the required color as you can, and go over the whole
background without regard to light or shade; cover all the background;
do not leave any white or bare canvas showing.
The general effect being thus obtained, it is easier to see what colors
are needed for further painting.
Select a medium tint between the high lights and half-tones, and paint
in the lights of the vase in a flat, even tint; then go over the
shadows again with a medium tone, still keeping them in one flat, even
mass. Should you lose the outline at any time, dip a rag in turpentine
and wash off the paint that covers it.
Having progressed this far, the painting should be left to dry.
The turpentine and siccatif Courtray have such drying properties that
by the next day you may work again on the study.
Begin the second painting by putting in the half-tints. These unite the
decided light and shade, and should be dragged over their edges, but
not blended with them. Once more go over the shadows, strengthening
them and putting in the reflected lights.
Add more color in the lights where it is needed, and put in the high
lights with clear, crisp touches. Work on your background in this
second painting. Indicate the shadows, but do not make them strong,
except the one which will probably be cast by the object; that can be
strengthened, as it helps to set the object out from the background and
gives the idea of space. Do not make the background strong; keep it
toned down, that it may not become too prominent. Drag the background
a little over the edges of the vase, or whatever it may be you are
painting, and then paint over it again with the colors of the vase. Do
this while working around the edges of the vase, or object, to prevent
its looking flat, as if it were pasted on.
These directions are to be applied to painting any subject; but after
you have learned how to manage the colors and wish to really paint
a picture, the medium must be changed from turpentine and siccatif
Courtray to oil, either linseed or poppy, using the turpentine only for
the first effect of shadow.
When oil is used it will require two or three days for the picture to
dry. Many advise the use of but little oil, and there are artists who
dissapprove of any medium at all.
Before commencing the second painting, a coating of poppy-oil should be
put all over the canvas with a large, flat camel’s-hair brush. Every
bit should be covered without touching the brush twice to the same
spot. This softens the first coat of paint sufficiently to allow of its
blending with the next. If a raw potato be cut in half and rubbed over
the painting before the oil is put on, it will prevent the oil from
crawling, or separating into drops on the canvas.
Do not use the same brushes for dark and light tints, but keep them
separate. Mix your tints on your palette, the dark tint below the dark
colors, and the light tint below the light colors.
In putting away your work after painting, be sure that the tops are
screwed on to all your color-tubes, and arrange them neatly in their
box. Clean your palette with the palette-knife, and then wipe it off
with a rag. Dip your brushes, one by one, in turpentine and wipe them
on a rag; this removes most of the paint and makes them easier to wash.
Warm, not hot, water should be used for washing the brushes. The best
way is to hold several brushes in the right hand, their sticks being
in an upright position, dip them in the water, rub them on a piece of
common soap, and then scrub them round and round on the palm of the
left hand; rinse them in clear water, and wipe dry with a clean rag.
Our limited space will not allow of our going more fully into the
details of painting; but we hope that these directions will give some
idea of how to make a beginning as a painter in oil-colors, and after
you have made a start you will find two good professors at your elbow
to help you along and encourage you—Prof. Judgment and Prof. Experience.
[Illustration]