Palettes are usually made of mahogany or satin wood. The latter are the best, the colors being better seen on the lighter colored wood. The rectangular shape is the most convenient, and packs best into the lid of a color-box. A wooden palette should have plenty of raw linseed oil rubbed into it before being used, and be allowed to dry. This will prevent the colors sinking into the wood and staining.
A Dipper is a small tin cup made to fix by sliding on to the palette, to contain oil, turpentine, varnish, or any other vehicle used.
The Rest Stick is used to rest the right hand upon, while painting those parts of the picture that require great steadiness and care. It should be as stiff and as light as possible, and is held in the same hand as the palette.
Palette-knives are necessary implements for mixing and manipulating the colors on the palette. It is convenient to have two of different stiffness.
Easels are inconvenient usually in proportion to their cheapness. They should be tolerably firm and heavy, and should allow the picture to be raised easily and quickly.
Vehicle is the diluent used to temper and thin the colors for the purpose of bringing them to a proper state. Linseed oil, rendered drying by boiling with certain metallic oxides, is the vehicle generally used. Drying oil should dry quite free from stickiness in two or three days, in ordinary weather. Copal varnish is also an excellent vehicle, but dries so rapidly that it will not do where the colors require considerable manipulation with the brush—as in skies and broad tints generally. Colors used with varnish will require frequent thinning with spirit of turpentine. Megilp is a most pleasant vehicle to use; so pleasant, indeed, that one is apt to use far too much of it. It is made by mixing strong mastic varnish with drying oil.
The beginner should bear in mind that all oils and varnishes have a strong tendency to turn dark brown with age, and should therefore learn to use as little as possible; indeed, the colors, as generally sold, are ground with sufficient oil for use with a hog’s-hair brush; and it is only where greater freedom is required, and when using sable brushes, that an addition of vehicle is of use. It is absolutely necessary, however, in the process called “glazing,” which is where a transparent color is rubbed thinly over parts of the picture, the general tone or color of which it is desirable to modify. And in this case, too, as little vehicle as possible should be employed.
MIXED TINTS.
The following are given as examples of some of the tints that may be obtained by mixture of the more important colors.
Rose Madder and Cobalt. With these colors a variety of delicate tints of great purity and permanence may be produced; of general use in distances, skies, water, etc.