COLORING.
Under the head of materials, are given colors recommended for illumination. Besides the colors in that list, several others are requisite, that are only to be obtained by mixing on the palette. These broken hues are employed in backgrounds, and as shading for the more brilliant colors and tints on the ornamentation.
There is only space in this book for a few practical directions for laying on such colors as are named.
First, then, everything connected with the painting should be scrupulously clean and free from dust. Distilled water should be used, or at least soft water that is perfectly clear. A very little gum water, in some cases, should be added to the color as it is mixed. The sable pencils should be in readiness, two or three, or more, according to the work and habits of the operator.
Perhaps this is the best place to mention the manner of using the Chinese white. On being taken from the bottle, it is found to be exceedingly viscid, and troublesome to work, clogging the point of the pencil. Of course it should be diluted with pure water, but as this renders it too thin for the firm and fine lines and dots so often wanted, it must be left a few moments to evaporate and thicken; if still viscid, it should be thinned again and left. White thus put out of the tube and thinned, will be found to be even better for working a day or two afterwards than at first. All that is required, as it will be dry, is to dip the pencil in water before working it upon the white, and make a good point before transferring it to the illumination. Unless these precautions be observed, the use of white will be attended with continual vexation.
When a compound color is required, sufficient for the work in hand should be mixed up at one time, lest, more being required, the second tint differ from the first, when a disagreeable patchy appearance will ensue.
Compound tints should be kept extremely clean in tone, muddy or dirty tints being fatal to that exquisite purity of colors for which illumination is so famed. It is a great mistake to suppose that dark tints are necessarily somewhat dirty; · on the contrary, they can be kept as clean and clear in tone as the most vivid combinations.
The following is a list of colors and mixed tints, stated without technical phraseology, as far as possible: