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DRAWING AND SKETCHING in COLORS : how to draw AND CHOOSE GOOD COLOR COMBINATIONS FOR YOUR ARTWORK
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CHOICE OF COLOURS FOR SKETCHING.
Even with the small list of pigments given in the previous chapter there is such an abundance of choice that it is necessary to give a beginner some idea of the best to choose for special purposes. It is extraordinary with what few colours a great result can be produced, twelve or fourteen being the utmost any one requires for producing the most complicated effects of colour. In fact very few artists are able to use more, for if they have them in their box they are never likely to use them all in one sitting, or even over one picture. A new colour usually takes the place of an old one, which is discarded for the time being.
The subjoined is a list of the palettes as used by some of our principal artists, and it will be observed with what very few colours they contrive to give their effects :—
LIST OF PALETTES, 1879.
Sir F. LEIGHTON, P.R.A.
Landscape.
(14 colours, 3 supplementary.) Ivory Black.
Cappah Brown.
Burnt Sienna.
Raw do.
Roman Ochre.
Yellow do.
Jaune de Naples (French). Aureolin.
Cadmium.
(Supplementary.)
Lemon Yellow, Pa,le and Dark. Flake White.
Vermilion.
Venetian Red
supplementary.
Indian do.
Rose Madder.
Cobalt.
Emerald Oxide of Chromium. (Nara.—These colours are given in the order in which they are placed on
the palette.)
For Skies.
Cobalt.
Pale Lemon.
Vermilion.
For Flesh.
Cobalt and E. Mixed with white in
Oxide of Chromium
gradations,
Vermilion Mixed with while Lake in gradations.
Yellow Ochre. Roman do.
Burnt Sienna.
ALMA TADEMA, R.A.
(13 colours).
White.
Naples Yellow.
Yellow Ochre.
Raw Sienna, or Brown Ochre. Cadmium (rarely).
Orange Vermilion.
Chinese do.
Light Red, or burnt Yellow Ochre.
Madder Lake (seldom used). Burnt Sienna.
Cobalt.
Green Oxide of Chromium. Ivory Black.
VICAT COLE, R.A.
(14 colours).
(All these colours are permanent, and may be mixed together freely without fear of deterioration, as they do not act upon each
other chemically.)
Zinc White. Cobalt Green. Cobalt Blue.
Ultramarine. Lemon Yellow. Yellow Ochre. Raw Sienna. Burnt do.
Light Red.
Indian do.
Madder Lake. Raw Umber. Cadmium Yellow.
Cappah Brown.
Cobalt.
French Ultramarine. Vermilion.
Indian Red.
Purple Madder.
Vandyke Brown.
Plumbago.
(Exclstional.)
Real Ultramarine.
J. C. Hoox, R.A.
(Figure.)
White.
Naples Yellow. Yellow Ochre. Roman do. Vermilion.
Indian Red.
Rose, or Crimson Madder. (Deep Lemon Yellow and Co-
balt, mixed.) Purple Madder. Cobalt.
French Ultramarine.
Vandyke Brown. Plumbago.
(Landscape.)
White.
Naples Yellow.
Deep Lemon.
Yellow Ochre.
Roman do.
(Deep Lemon Yellow and Ceru-
Hum or Cobalt, a mixture.)
ORCHARDSON, R.A.
(9 colours, 5 supplementary).
White.
Lemon Yellow. Yellow Ochre. Vermilion.
Indian Red.
Crimson Lake, or Madder. Vandyke Brown.
Antwerp Blue.
(Supplementary.) Cadmium.
Raw Sienna.
Light Red.
Gold Ochre.
Black.
W. W. OULESS, R.A.
(1 t colours, 2 supplementary).
Flake White.
Lemon Yellow (not for flesh). Yellow Ochre.
Raw Sienna.
Burnt Sienna (never for flesh). Raw Umber.
Vandyke Brown.
Ivory Black. Extract Vermilion.
Ordinary do. Pink Madder.
(Supplementary.)
Cobalt.
French Ultramarine.
PETTIE, R.A.
(I I colours, 4 supplementary).
White.
Lemon, or Yellow.
Raw Sienna. Yellow Ochre. Cadmium.
Vermilion.
Crimson Madder.
Cobalt.
Vandyke Brown.
Ivory Black.
(Supplementary.) Purple Madder.
French Ultramarine.
Antwerp, or Prussian Blue. Caledonian Brown.
H. STACY MARKS, R.A.
(12 colours, 4 supplementary).
White.
Naples Yellow.
Yellow Ochre. Brown do.
Vermilion.
Light Red.
Cobalt.
Antwerp Blue. Burnt Sienna. Raw Umber. Caledonian Brown.
Black.
(Supplementary.) Lemon Yellow.
Cadmium.
Oxide of Chromium.
Madder Lake.
LUKE FILDES, A.R. A.
(14 colours, 7 supplementary).
Flake White. Yellow Ochre. Roman do. Raw Sienna. Citron Yellow. Light Red.
Cobalt.
Ultramarine Ash. Terra Verte.
Oxide of Chromium.
Brown Madder. Bitumen (much used).
Verona Brown. Ivory, or Blue Black.
(Supplementary.) Yellow Lake.
Burnt Vermilion.
Rose, or Carmine Madder. Raw Umber.
Caledonian Brown.
Real Ultramarine.
Emerald Green.
PETER GRAHAM, A.R.A.
Identical with Fettle's, except
Ultramarine (Real).
Oxide Chromium.
and occasionally Black Lead, for skies.
VAL. PRINSEP, A. R. A.
(r s colours, 2 supplementary).
Flake White. Lemon Yellow. Pale Cadmium. Raw Sienna.
Vermilion.
Rose Madder. Indian Red.
Venetian do.
Cobalt.
Antwerp Blue. Oxide of Chromium.
(Snpplementary.)
Naples Yellow. French Ultramarine.
MARCUS STONE, A.R. A.
(so colours, 5 supplementary).
Flake White. Yellow Ochre. Raw Sienna. Burnt do. Vermilion.
Indian Red.
French Ultramarine.
Raw Umber.
Terra Verte.
Ivory Black.
(Supplementary).
Cobalt Green.
Caledonian Brown.
Lemon Yellow, or Cadmium. Crimson, or Rose Madder. Field's Extract of Vermilion.
COLIN HUNTER (15 colours).
White.
Naples Yellow. Lemon do. Yellow Ochre. Raw Sienna.
Cadmium, pale and deep. Vermilion.
Rose Madder. Cobalt.
Antwerp Blue. Burnt Sienna. Madder Brown. Vandyke do. Caledonian do., or Cappah do.
For what is ordinarily known as " Sketching from Nature," viz. landscape painting, it would scarcely be possible to have a better list than Vicat Cole's. Perhaps for quite a beginner it would be well to suppress Raw Sienna and Indian Red, for they are colours rather difficult to work with, and our number of pigments would then be reduced to twelve.
For Water-Colour Sketching the denser colours must not be used. A very useful list is the following :— Reds.
I. Vermilion.
2. Carmine Madder.
3. Crimson Lake. Yellows.
4. Yellow Ochre.
5. Lemon Yellow.
6. Middle Cadmium.
7. Aureolin. Browns.
8. Burnt Sienna.
9. Sepia.
to. Purple Madder.
Blues. Sufifilenzentary.
xi. French Blue. 12. Cobalt. 13. Blue Black.
14. Antwerp Blue.
With these almost any effect of colour that is seen in nature can be imitated. If Chinese white be mixed with all the colours, as when grey paper is used, then Nos. 2, 4, 7, 9, and 14 should be suppressed as too transparent. For, if they be mixed with the Chinese white in sufficient quantities to colour it well, they will in time (the course of years) sink into the white and lose nearly all their strength. Instead of these we should use Indian red, burnt umber, and cerulium.
This does not make up the full number fourteen, but only twelve. It is well to work in tempera (i.e. solid with Chinese white) with as few colours as possible, as the tendency to produce muddiness with the mixture of many colours is far greater in solid than transparent water-colours. It should also be recollected that with tempera the colour should be laid on at once as nearly as possible what it is intended to be when finished, and not touched afterwards. Beware of washing one colour over another, especially if the former be mixed with white. Dulness and muddiness is almost sure to result. A transparent colour may be washed over an opaque one to intensify it or alter it slightly, but it must be done with extreme caution.
There is a prevalent idea that water-colour paintings are not so permanent as oils, that they have a greater tendency to fade.
This is certainly erroneous, if the colours be rightly chosen, and then water-colours, if properly protected from damp, are even more permanent than oils, as there is no medium that turns dark with the air. Damp, however, is the great enemy alike to both.
With water-colour it soon produces mildew, and with oils it finally rots the canvas upon which the picture is painted. If the picture is very valuable it may be worth while to remove the old canvas and put new in its place. As this cannot be done with water-colours care should be taken to make the frame as dust and damp proof as possible.
The only medium required in water-colour painting is water. Though many are sold and seem at first to be useful, the practised artist very soon puts them on one side. Gum, for " bringing up " the shadows, should be avoided as it is certain to crack and spoil the picture. Water-colour varnish may be used for this purpose, but generally ends in yellowing the parts covered. A transparent and very permanent species of varnish may be made by dissolving isinglass in boiling alcohol, but it dries up so quickly in bottle that few will persist in its use. A thin solution of isinglass in water washed over a water-colour will add greatly to the transparency of the pigments, and fix it permanently when work has to be done over it.
All these schemes for making water-colours stronger will have but a transitory interest to most artists, as they will soon learn that strength is got by a just regard to the relative colours and tones, and not to the particular brilliancy or intensity of all the colours.
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