The Portland daily press., 1883-12-25

Opaque color, using cobalt and gan, hr.s for
the light parts, aud indigo AMI ganboge tor
the shadows. So much tor H.. frs, washes.
| which were allowed 10 dry fhocuuqhIv
| then went over the higl lights with more
Opaque color, and work, Il in Some unre car
mine and cobalt for the shadows. After If
! was dry, | began carefully TO aotk up what
/ had done. With 4 fine brush put in the
| shadows the veins down he petals which
are clearly defined, the side-vrlHs, aud the
| cross-Veins, some Of which ade so fine Won
| can hardly see Them but all helping to give
| the character OF the flower. The petals
which stood out most prominently worked
down from the middle, III order give them
a rounded appearance. | indicated the Jag
ged edges, and the little irregularities on the
surface, by gently pressing The coors ont of
the brush here and there; and | put in the
plstils with gamboge ana flake white. with
faint greenish hue for the >hadOw After /
had worked it up with the smallest touches.
| using soft linen rag oiake off any appear
ance of streakiness, put in a touch Of pure
carmlne on the vein OF the petal which
caught the light. / think from these direc-
tions you will be able 10 paint thu flowers.
above all remembering to avoid that streaky.
Washed-out appearance which characterizes
SO many amateur attempts. The leaves, you
Will remember, had had their first wash of
gamDoge and cobalt put on as wet as posi-
Die, in order to give them that transparent
look without which you will never paint a
leaf ike nature. | mixed some more cobalt
and gamboge, adding little indigo, and
with that put in the dark parts of the
leaves. still using the color rather wet The
leaves which were away from the light. or
overhung by the flowers or other leaves, I
carefully noted, aud put in the shadows as
they fell, darkening the under side of the
cfallr l,.<l i. j
the effect, l placed the drawing at little
distance from me, and stood back TO see
what more it required. A light fern in the
foreground, and a dark background, was
the decision arrived at.
Nothing so graceful as a maiden-hair
fern so picked piece of maiden-hair and
arranged it hanging downwards from under
the flowers. family sketched it in with
the pencil, and with some Chinese white,
yellow chrome, and cobalt, l put it in, using
the white rather thickly to make it stand
out well. put III the background with
light red and cobalt, using burnt sienna and
indigo for the shadows
The background was an imaginary one
and represented the ledge of greenhouse,
and the flowers were lying upon it; the wall
OF the greenhouse had slight cracks in it
here and there, which were put IL with
burnt sienna. The ledge on which the flow
ers were lying l washed over with yellow
ochre, using cobalt and light red for the
shadows. The lower part Of the wall was
chiefly in shadow, and the maiden-hair fern
hung over it. For the dark parts of it I
used light red and indigo for the light
parts, burnt sienna. cobalt, and light red. 1
represented moss growing on the wall in
patches, using brown-pink and little yell
low. All those leaves on the ledge, or hang
ing down over the wall, naturally cast
c1,olN
flowers; these carefully uoted and put in
with the deeper tint already mixed on my
palette.
Now background such as I have de-
scribed is all very well If you want an ella
borate background, but if you want one that
is easily done, simply to throw up your flow
ers, advise you to get some real moss, and
few lichen-coyered sticks from the woods.
You will find it much easier than putting in
background from imagination, which is
apt to be unmeaning and confused in color
ing; and without a harmonious, pleasing
background the effect of good drawing is
lost.
II you live in the country you will not be
at loss for subject--fowers, berries, and
even the common fungi form perfect little
pictures of themselves; and if you live III
town, moss is generally attainable either in
the streets or at Coyent Garden. Or perhaps
you have some friend in the country who
will send you some feathery green ferns, or
silvery-grey lichen off the stump of a tree.
for background. And while on the sub
Ject OF backgrounds, let me advise YOU al
ways 10 paint your cards on tinted paper of
warm buff color or grey shade, which you
can procure at ony artists shop, cut to the
size you require. The colored paper forms
background in itself to small cards of sim
gle flowers, and gives them warmer and
brighter tint than you could obtain on white
paper. Thus spray of holly, a branch of
mistletoe, a sprig of winter jasmine, on a
colored background, will make an effective.
but very easily executed, Christmas card
and 1T will take so little time to do that, af-
ter you have done one or two, you will have
little dlfhculty in painting your Christmas
cards yourself The words of greeting
should be neatly put in, in printing letters,
with pen loaded with warm sepia or burnt
sienna, and you might also insert your ini-
tails in the corner of the card.
If you have taste for landscapes In pref
erence to flowers, by all means do them.
Sea-pleces, sunsets, winter" with the
snow on the trees and on the frosted earth,
are some of the most effective designs.
You will find plenty of subjects for your
self as soon as you begin to try to originate.
OF course, if you can do figure subjects, or
heads OF animals, you need never be at a
loss for subject. But ANNA. painting is a
distinct talent, as well as figure, flower, and
landscape painting, and unless you have a
decided love of animal painting, / advise
you to keep to what you can do well.
Horses and dogs. cats and kittens, if clever
ly done, are the favorite cards amongst chill
dren, but few artists excel in them. Let us
all develop our natural talents, and try to
excel in them, rather than attempt what we
can never achieve.
| have merely given few hints, slight
sketch OF what an ordinary amount of skill
may accomplish; but if it has suggested any
ideas as to the way in which a talent NAV
be developed, shall not have written in