The herald., 1898-06-19
FOR HOME DECORATION
FRESCO PAINTING BY THE AID
OF A SHADOW
A FASCINATING ART WORK
beautiful Fresco Work With Pot of
Paint, Brush, Lamp and
a Growing Plant

They call It shadow ornamentation- 1t
is an entirely new way of decorating the
home artistically; it requires no training,
and when done it is something you will feel
proud of calling in your friends and neigh
bors to criticise. The outfit is inexpensive.
If you want to ornament your walls with
frescoes in red, get pot of red paint and
paint brush. If you prefer black or green,
or blue or yellow, take your choice and pur-
chase paint of your favorite color Then
darken the room to be decorated light
lamp and study out the general outlines of
the fresco work that you propose to try and
paint on the wall.
TO get the outline of the ornamentation,
place plant in front of the light so that
shadow is thrown on the WALL Study the
shadow until you have an outline that suits
your artistic fancy. If one plant does not
throw a pretty shadow, try another. Or,
II your plants do not throw shadows that
meet with your approval, discard the plants
and try the effect of some cut flowers or
tree branches. If both have pretty features
and you can't choose between them, try the
effect of combination of both, If you have
sufficient wall space. The most interesting
part of the new idea in ornamentation Is
the scope it gives for exercising natural
taste in the arrangement of the outline.
1t Is necessary to use for ''shadowing"
those plants that throw large and many
branched outline, as otherwise the prettiest
effect will not be obtained when the filling
In is DONE The more delicatt the tracery
work the better and it is therefore well to
select flowers like begonias, ferns or
branches like those of the horsechestnut
tree.
However, the selection of the plant to be
used to throw the shadows can be left to the
taste of the artist. 1t is impossible to adj
wise, as so many plants are equally good for
this purpose. Having decided on the ground
work. the next thing to do is to paint the
outline of the shadows very methodically.
This is the most important part of the work,
and great care should be taken over 1t, as
upon the outlining depends the success of
the fresco. The filling In is comparatively
easy Go very carefully around the out
lines of the leaves and branches, following
the veins and tracing the outlines Of the
leaves and blossoms carefully.
When you have done this the rest of the
work can be finished in the daytime, when
the light will enable you to work with less
strain on the eyesight. Having the outline
before you, you will be able to judge of the
appearance of the work when completed.
You will be surprised and delighted at the
result even at this stage. 1t is not all plain
sailing. Some necessary part of the plant
will fail to show in the shadow in spite of
the most painstaking care to have the light
just right. This leaves room for artistic
effort on the part of the one doing the
decorating and this to many will prove the
most fascinating feature of the whole un-
dertaking. To merely daub in an outline in
q perfunctory way will not suit the indi-
vidual with an artistic SOUL 1t Is the finding
out that what has all the appearance of the
finest art work when completed can be ac-
oomplished with so little training that
proves the chief charm to the one who tries
the effect Of this frescoing by shadow.
In painting in the outlines great care must
be exercised to follow the lines correctly A
warning is here given that what will appear
very plain when the shadow is painted in
outline will seem an incomprehensible ar
rangement of lines when the plant has been
removed and the work of painting in the
outline is begun on the following day. With
care, however, it will be found to be an
easy matter to follow the lines correctly.
Some idea of the result to be obtained by
the shadow fresco artist is shown in the
accompanying Illustration, taken from a
photograph. The artist first colored the
wall pink, and on this delicate groundwork
painted the fresco work with paint of a
browninsh green. The effect was remark
ably pretty