How to amuse yourself and others

CHAPTER XXIII.
HOW TO PAINT IN OIL-COLORS.

THE difference between oil- and water-color painting lies in the fact that, although especially well adapted to the portrayal of some subjects, water-color has its limitations, while with oil-colors any subject, from the simplest study in still-life to the grandest conception of a great artist, can be represented, and no limit has yet been reached in its possibilities.

But there are first steps to be taken in all things, and the greatest artist who ever lived had to make a beginning and learn the preliminaries of painting before he could produce a picture. To these steps, then, we will turn our attention, and the first will be the necessary

Materials.

The following list of colors, with their combinations, will be found sufficient for most purposes.

Winsor & Newton’s colors are acknowledged by most artists to be the best, but the writer personally prefers German white, as in her opinion it is not so stiff, and mixes better with other colors than the Winsor & Newton.

The Easel

may be simply a pine one, which can be purchased from any dealer at the cost of about one dollar. More elaborate easels are, of course, more expensive; but as the merits of a picture do not depend upon the easel which holds it, a common pine one will do.

The Palette

should be light in weight and not too small; oiled and not varnished. A very light-colored wood is not desirable; one of walnut or cedar, about eighteen inches long, is the best to use, and will cost from thirty to sixty cents.

Brushes,

both of sable and bristles, are used, but we would advise a beginner to work with bristle brushes only, for the first attempt should be to obtain a broad style of painting, without the finished details which the sable brushes are used for.

About four different sizes of flat bristle brushes are needed to commence with; there should be two of each size, the largest one inch wide, and the smallest not more than a quarter of an inch in width.

The Palette-Knife

is used for taking up color on the palette, for cleaning the palette, and sometimes for scraping a picture after its first painting. It should be flexible, but not too limber. The cost will be from twenty-five cents upward.

Oil-Cups

are fastened on to the palette, and are used for oil and turpentine. The double ones range in price from eight cents to twenty. The single ones, without cover, can be bought for five cents.

A Paint-Box

for holding colors, palette, and brushes will cost from one dollar and twenty-five cents up. It is convenient to have one, and necessary when going out sketching, but for painting at home any kind of tin box will answer for the paints. The palette can be hung up, and the brushes put in a vase or jar, handles downward, which will keep them nicely.

Mediums.

Boiled linseed-oil or poppy-oil, siccatif Courtray, and turpentine.

Canvas.

In selecting canvas choose that of a warm-gray or creamy tone, for it is difficult to give warmth to a picture painted on a cold-gray canvas. The German sketching-canvas is quite cheap, and does very well to commence on. It is best to buy it on the stretcher, as a girl’s fingers are seldom strong enough to stretch the canvas as tight as it should be. A very good sketching-canvas, 18 × 24, can be bought in New York City for twenty-five cents.

Several clean pieces of old white cotton-cloth are necessary for wiping brushes, cleaning knife and palette, etc.

The Light

in the studio, or room in which you paint, should come from one direction only, and fall from above. This can be managed by covering the lower sash of the window with dark muslin, or anything that will shut out the light. A shawl will answer for a temporary curtain.

Most artists prefer that while painting the light should come from behind over the left shoulder.

Our advice to beginners in all the departments of art is the same: commence with simple subjects.

Your first study should be from still-life (which means any inanimate object used for artistic study), and let the object selected be of a shape that requires but little drawing; for your aim now is to learn to handle your colors, and it is not desirable to have your mind distracted by complicated drawing. A vase placed on a piece of drapery, which is also brought up to form the background, is a good subject; the drapery should be of one color, and of a tone that will contrast agreeably with the vase and give it prominence.

Arrange whatever object you have decided to paint so that it will show decided masses of light and shade; place your easel at a sufficient distance from it to obtain the general effect of shape and color without seeing too much detail; arrange your canvas on the easel so that you will neither have to look up nor down upon it, but straight before you; then sketch in the object you are about to copy in outline. Observe the edges of the heaviest shadows, and draw them also in outline. Charcoal is better than a pencil for sketching on canvas, as it can be easily rubbed off with a clean cloth if the drawing is incorrect. When the sketch is finished, dust off the charcoal lightly and go over the lines again with a camel’s-hair brush and India ink.

Setting the Palette

is a term used for arranging the colors in a convenient manner upon the palette. The colors should always occupy the same position, so that, the places once learned, you will never be at a loss to find the color you want. Fig. 161 shows a convenient arrangement of colors, as well as the position of the oil-cans.

Fill one of your oil-cans one-third full of turpentine, to which add enough siccatif Courtray to turn it the color of strong coffee. Dip one of your good-sized brushes in this mixture and scrape it off on the edge of the can, that the brush may not be too wet; then take up some burnt sienna on the brush and put it on your palette about an inch or so below the terre verte, add some terre verte, and mix the two with your brush. Lay in all the shadows of the vase, or whatever object you are about to paint, in a flat, even tone with the color thus formed, keeping it thin with the turpentine and siccatif.

Mix a tint as near the required color as you can, and go over the whole background without regard to light or shade; cover all the background; do not leave any white or bare canvas showing.

The general effect being thus obtained, it is easier to see what colors are needed for further painting.

Select a medium tint between the high lights and half-tones, and paint in the lights of the vase in a flat, even tint; then go over the shadows again with a medium tone, still keeping them in one flat, even mass. Should you lose the outline at any time, dip a rag in turpentine and wash off the paint that covers it.

Having progressed this far, the painting should be left to dry.

The turpentine and siccatif Courtray have such drying properties that by the next day you may work again on the study.

Begin the second painting by putting in the half-tints. These unite the decided light and shade, and should be dragged over their edges, but not blended with them. Once more go over the shadows, strengthening them and putting in the reflected lights.

Add more color in the lights where it is needed, and put in the high lights with clear, crisp touches. Work on your background in this second painting. Indicate the shadows, but do not make them strong, except the one which will probably be cast by the object; that can be strengthened, as it helps to set the object out from the background and gives the idea of space. Do not make the background strong; keep it toned down, that it may not become too prominent. Drag the background a little over the edges of the vase, or whatever it may be you are painting, and then paint over it again with the colors of the vase. Do this while working around the edges of the vase, or object, to prevent its looking flat, as if it were pasted on.

These directions are to be applied to painting any subject; but after you have learned how to manage the colors and wish to really paint a picture, the medium must be changed from turpentine and siccatif Courtray to oil, either linseed or poppy, using the turpentine only for the first effect of shadow.

When oil is used it will require two or three days for the picture to dry. Many advise the use of but little oil, and there are artists who dissapprove of any medium at all.

Before commencing the second painting, a coating of poppy-oil should be put all over the canvas with a large, flat camel’s-hair brush. Every bit should be covered without touching the brush twice to the same spot. This softens the first coat of paint sufficiently to allow of its blending with the next. If a raw potato be cut in half and rubbed over the painting before the oil is put on, it will prevent the oil from crawling, or separating into drops on the canvas.

Do not use the same brushes for dark and light tints, but keep them separate. Mix your tints on your palette, the dark tint below the dark colors, and the light tint below the light colors.

In putting away your work after painting, be sure that the tops are screwed on to all your color-tubes, and arrange them neatly in their box. Clean your palette with the palette-knife, and then wipe it off with a rag. Dip your brushes, one by one, in turpentine and wipe them on a rag; this removes most of the paint and makes them easier to wash. Warm, not hot, water should be used for washing the brushes. The best way is to hold several brushes in the right hand, their sticks being in an upright position, dip them in the water, rub them on a piece of common soap, and then scrub them round and round on the palm of the left hand; rinse them in clear water, and wipe dry with a clean rag.

Our limited space will not allow of our going more fully into the details of painting; but we hope that these directions will give some idea of how to make a beginning as a painter in oil-colors, and after you have made a start you will find two good professors at your elbow to help you along and encourage you—Prof. Judgment and Prof. Experience.