Ladies' manual of art; or, profit and pastime. / A self teacher in all branches of decorative art, embracing every variety of painting and drawing on china, glass, velvet, canvas, paper and wood the secret of all glass transparencies, sketching from nature. pastel and crayon drawing, taxidermy, etc.

by Anonymous

For the past few years a great improvement has been made in the execution of portraits in black and colored crayons. Crayon painting is much easier in its execution than oil painting, and pictures may be completed at one sitting, owing to the fact that dry colors are used instead of oil, which may easily be removed or changed at will, left and resumed again at any time desired. In this department of art crayon takes the place of brush and paint, in all the different places where colors are used.

Crayon painting is said to have been practiced for a century or more after it came into use, and during the past few years it has had a “big run” in this country.

Crayons, or Pastels, can now be purchased by the box, in all varieties of tint, each box containing a graduated series.

The Paper upon which the drawing or painting is made, is manufactured for this purpose in such a manner that the texture becomes loosened and forms a woolly surface, which assists the blending of the tints, and receives the crayon.

As soon as a crayon picture is completed it will necessarily have to go under glass, for so slightly tenacious is the crayon, in some places where it may have been repeatedly applied with a view to brilliancy, that it may be blown from the surface of the paper.

Exposure to the Sun, which may brighten pictures painted in oil, will in a short time destroy the delicacy of crayon colors. They must also be kept free from moisture or dampness, as it is sure to change the color and produce spots on the face of a portrait, or the sky in a landscape.

Colors. The colors employed in pastel painting are about the same as used in oil painting, with some exceptions. The best for crayon work are the following:

Oxide of Zinc, White Chalk, Spanish White, Naples Yellow, Mineral Yellow, Chromes, Cadmium Yellow, Gallstone, Soft Red Chalk, Chinese Vermilion, Venetian Red, Chrome Red, Carmine, Lakes, Indigo, Prussian Blue, Smalt, Cobalt, Terre Verte, Cobalt Green, Brunswick Green, all the Greens from Copper, Green Oxide of Chromium, Lampblack, Umber, Ivory Black, Blue Black, Black Chalk.

Color of Paper. In regard to the use of paper, any color may be used, it being wholly a matter of taste with the artist.