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 Ulrich Middeldorf 
 

 

 
 
 
SR AOS TE 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 | 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 
AN 
 
 ILLUSTRATED LECTURE 
 
 SKETCHING 
 
 FROM NATURE IN PENCIL AND WATER COLOUR: 
 
 WITH 
 
 HINTS ON LIGHT AND SHADOW, 
 
 ON A METHOD OF STUDY, ETC. 
 
 TO BE PRACTICALLY ILLUSTRATED, WHEN POSSIBLE, BY A SERIES OF LESSONS 
 OUT OF DOORS. 
 
 BY 
 
 GEORGE STUBBS, 
 
 OF ALEXANDER SQUARE, BROMPTON. 
 
 WITH SEVENTEEN PLATES IN TINTED AND CHROMO-LITHOGRAPHY. 
 
 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PUBLISHED BY DAY AND SON, LITHOGRAPHERS TO THE QUEEN, 
 6, GATE STREET, LINCOLN’S INN FIELDS. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 LONDON : 
 PRINTED BY DAY AND SON, LITHOGRAPHERS TO THE QUEEN, 
 6, GATE STREET, LINCOLN’S INN FIELDS. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 A 800K written to give beginners instruction in sketching from nature must be concise or it 
 will not be read, and must be illustrated or it will not be understood. Even then such a 
 book is too frequently only cursorily read, not patiently studied, and something more seems 
 required to make an adequate impression to prove to beginners their deficiencies, and to put 
 
 them on the right road to excellence. 
 
 These considerations suggested the following lecture; any master may deliver it 
 modified by his own opinions and practice, illustrated by drawings as the reading goes on, 
 and followed (where practicable) by lessons from nature out-of-doors. The lecture is, 
 however, complete as a little work of preparatory instruction, without these lessons out-of. 
 doors, and will, I think, be of much assistance to beginners, and to those even well advanced 
 
 who feel that they should have begun more at the beginning. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 
 CHAPTER. I. 
 EXPLANATORY, 
 
 I nave usually found that my pupils, however advanced in practice, have been much retarded in their 
 progress by want of method. By method I mean a good plan of study resolutely carried out. Now, a know- 
 ledge of the value of drawing, that is, correct outline, a clear comprehension of light and shadow, and a 
 facility in the use of chalk or black-lead pencil, are indispensable to all who aim at an ultimate and a 
 satisfactory success in painting from nature in water-colours, I purpose, therefore, before proceeding to the 
 use of colours and the application of this method out-of-doors, to give, first, some advice on drawing in black 
 and white on tinted paper; on tinted drawings, as preliminary to the full use of colour; and, finally, to lay 
 down some rules for a progressive plan of study with these materials, from a simple pencil outline to a 
 finished water-colour drawing. 
 
 These subjects will be illustrated as I proceed by various examples; and this lecture and these 
 examples may in their turn be practically illustrated and enforced by the master, accompanied by a class, in 
 a series of sketches made by him from nature. In my own practice these sketches are six, done on alternate 
 days, two each day. The intervening days are employed by my pupils in repeating the same subjects alone, 
 and with occasional reference to my drawings. 
 
 
 
 The six sketches should be, two in pencil or chalk on gray paper touched with white; one very 
 careful but slight in execution, the other more difficult and finished. Two should be tinted drawings; 
 these will be explained further on. Two should be in water colour; one of them slight with much pencilling 
 —a foreground subject; the other finished—a complete view, with distance, middle distance, and foreground. 
 
 The subjects of course can easily be modified to suit the age, knowledge, and requirements of any 
 class. 
 
 ‘ 
 
 CHAPTER II, 
 DRAWING IN CHALK OR PENCIL. 
 
 I wu here repeat that a facility in the management of chalk or black-lead pencil is the basis of all success 
 in the art of sketching, in the first instance, and ultimately of success in painting from nature. The first step 
 in all pictorial art is drawing, that is, expressing in outline the form or boundary lines of any object to be 
 represented. I shall speak of Drawine in this sense further on. Supposing, for the present, that my pupils 
 have acquired to a certain extent this necessary accomplishment, I shall proceed to sketching from nature 
 in pencil or chalk, dividing the progress of the drawing into three operations—viz., First, the placing of the 
 parts; second, the sketch, or work of the line; and, third, the finish and work of the shadowing. I will first 
 explain the placing of the parts. 
 
 1. Placing. 
 
 Tn copying a drawing it will usually be found that the ultimate success of the imitation depends entirely 
 on having at the commencement put the parts of the subject into their proper places. However carefully 
 separate portions may be finished, the entire work will be defective unless these separate portions are 
 relatively right. 
 
 Indicate, then, your subject, considered as a whole, by slightly dotting in the places of objects with 
 regard one to the other. The places, movement (that is, slopes or leanings—the attitude, so to speak), and 
 relative proportions being indicated, proceed in the same light, free, and indistinct manner to place the 
 smaller details of the subject, remembering that much of this should be expressed by points or dots only, and 
 that generally this portion of your work should be so slight and light that although it will serve to guide 
 you, it will not interfere with the clearness and beauty of the firm and characteristic sketch touch which is to 
 follow and pass over it. Figure 1, Plate 4, in the bridge subject is an example of the first, or placing process. 
 
 The value of the proper adjustinent of parts relatively, will be clearly understood by reference to the 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 6 
 
 figure example (Plate 5). No finish of hand, head, or foot can compensate for either being out of its place 
 or out of proportion to the entire figure. This is equally true in every department of pictorial art, but of 
 course most obvious and fatal, if defective, in the human form. 
 
 2. The Sketch. 
 
 The beauty of a drawing isin this process. In the placing we study, we reflect, we note carefully where 
 everything is to be, what it is to be, and consider how todo it. In the sketch we do it. First, take especial 
 care to express in your outline the relative distances of objects by a variety in the line, or colour of the 
 line, more particularly by a gradual increase of force as the foreground is approached. The pencil will 
 produce a great variety of line in breadth and strength. Vary these constantly to suit your purpose. If 
 possible express as explicitly the near and far portions of single objects as the greater distances and larger 
 intervening spaces—between a few feet as between a few miles. 
 
 The three broken pillars (Plate 6) illustrate my meaning here; where, as well as the perspective 
 of line, the perspective or degree of distance in the colour of the line is also expressed. Remember that the 
 same kind and quality of line cannot adequately express every part of any subject. 
 
 The jagged edginess of broken and grassy foreground, the clean outline of the beech or rough bark 
 of the oak tree, the formal modern building, and the rugged ruin, must each be represented by lines 
 expressive of their quality and character. ‘This appropriateness and variety in the line and touch will 
 prevent even the slightest sketch looking insipid, while the most elaborate will appear cold and formal 
 without them. Different masters have different styles in their touch, and will express the same truth by methods 
 very dissimilar. Constant practice from nature and close observation of good drawings will alone form an 
 expressive style of outline, which can never be considered satisfactory until variety of objects, degrees of 
 distance, and quality of surface are properly distinguished one from the other. 
 
 It is impossible to overrate the beauty and value of a good outline drawing in pencil. Many a good 
 sketcher, especially among amateurs, has never gone beyond this point in art; and from the beauty and 
 variety of subject and manner in simple pencil outline found in their sketch-books, one feels glad that they 
 never attempted more. I have heard it said that Prout seldom made more than a careful pencil sketch for 
 any of his pictures, however elaborate. A good sketch, in fact, goes very far to ensure a good painting, and 
 it is scarcely an exaggeration to say that a good picture is impossible without a previous good sketch. 
 Certainly beginners must rarely hope to produce a good water-colour drawing from nature without a 
 previous good sketch in pencil to work on. 
 
 3. Shading and Finish. 
 
 For the sake of clearness, I have divided the sketch and the shading into two distinct processes; but in 
 practice it will often occur that much of the shading may be worked in with the outline, or rather without an 
 outline: as, for instance, in the soft and vague distance of hill or water, where a clear line isoften to be 
 avoided. Generally, however, keep the two processes distinct, and terminate the one before proceeding to 
 the other. 
 
 Shading should invariably be effected by lines—lines of as great variety as possible, both as to 
 breadth and colour. This lining of the shadows will always give an expressive firmness and masterly 
 character, not to be obtained by any looser method, such as the stump or cotton wool, both of which, 
 however, may sometimes be used to produce particular effects. 
 
 The power to execute in pencil a variety of line is, therefore, a mechanical difficulty that should be 
 mastered by exercises, until the hand can draw firm lines, of any kind or length, in every direction; fitting 
 into certain spaces, as in the examples (Plate 6), even flat masses of various colour and breadth of touch. 
 
 These lines, expressive of shadow, should rarely appear distinct and separate, yet should nevertheless 
 be sufficiently separate, in some cases, to suggest the slope or leaning and curves of objects, somewhat in the 
 manner of a line engraving. Thus a stone, lined as in the example (Plate 6), expresses its true leaning, 
 sides, and slope, which lines in any other direction on the same surface will fail to do. 
 
 The shadows once put in, be satisfied with your drawing, even though it appear very slight and 
 unfinished, as retouching is usually detrimental; slightness at first is no fault, if your sketch be clear and 
 firm, and apparently done at once. 
 
i 
 On Colour in Chalk and Pencil. 
 
 Having now gone through the process to be followed in executing a pencil-drawing from nature, or 
 making a copy in pencil, I will offer some remarks with reference to the power of the material, and other 
 matters connected with this part of our subject. First, as to the material:—Tinted paper should always 
 be used for drawings in black-lead pencil, with white chalk in addition. The most important consideration 
 in the use of these materials is to have a clear comprehension of their power of colour (or different 
 degrees of strength), and the proper employment of them. Presuming, then, that tinted paper and white 
 chalk are used, we obtain with black, white, and grey six degrees of colour, or varieties of tint—thus, white, the 
 colour of the paper, extreme black, and three tints of grey. I consider in the illustration (Plate 7) the three 
 tints of gréy as distance, middle distance, and foreground. The colour of the paper isa medium or middle 
 tone between each; white, in degrees, serves for clouds, sky, water, and points of high light to relieve and 
 sharpen certain passages, and extreme black for deep hollows, or holes, and bits of positive local colour 
 anywhere. The three trees express the same effect. Be careful to keep your darkest shadows below positive 
 black—that is, never let your shading on the surfaces of objects be so dark but that you have the power 
 of making a black or blue dress, an open door, or a deep hollow still darker. Out-of-doors nothing can with 
 truth be imitated by touches, or masses of colour positively black, except in these or other instances of 
 a like nature—holes, open windows, colour of clothing, a black horse, a cow, &c. &c. As an illustration, 
 the roof of the shed in this example is dark, the chimney darker, but only the black dress of the figure 
 and the open doorway are as black as the pencil can make them, that is, No. 6 in our scale of tints or 
 colour, and then only nearest to the extreme white. 
 
 This principle should be well understood and carefully remembered, as it will always determine 
 comparative darkness or strength in the colour of your pencilling, and enable you to ayoid working up 
 your drawing into a monotonous blackness without air, or an insipid pallor without force, both equally 
 disagreeable and false. Moreover, in all cases extreme black and white are most effective when used in 
 small quantities and isolated points, not generally diffused over the entire subject. 
 
 Learn to select the subjects best adapted for pencil sketches. If I say that views, general landscape 
 scenery, with much distance, are the worst, or subjects least adapted to the material, I suggest at once those 
 subjects which are appropriate—viz., what is called “ objective,” near foreground subjects, positive masses, 
 found commonly in construction, ruins, old cottages, coasts, rocks, boats, &c., bits, not pictures, objective, 
 not aerial. 
 
 
 
 In conclusion, on this part of my subject let me urge that a sketcher, especially while a learner, should 
 as much as possible refrain from scribbling. Whatever you do let it be well done. However few the lines, 
 let them be clear, well-considered, and correct as possible, firm from the beginning to the end, whether dark 
 or light, and not scratches. It is only great masters that are allowed to astonish by blots and scrawls, 
 which may suggest a great deal, but frequently represent nothing. 
 
 Do not despise trifles for your study; on the contrary, seek them, and execute them with as much 
 care as the most ambitious subject, making even an old wheelbarrow, or a bit of wreck, a little picture 
 complete in itself. Bits, picturesque trifles, thus treated will lead on to higher efforts, and serve hereafter to 
 fill up a corner, or enrich a foreground in many a composition not at present contemplated. 
 
 My meaning as to bits and various modes of treatment will be better understood by reference to the 
 examples (Plate 8). 
 
 
 
 PARI LE 
 LIGHT AND SHADOW. 
 
 To draw from nature in pencil, or even to copy a drawing properly, certain principles of light and 
 shadow are absolutely indispensable. 
 
 If we take any number of objects proper for sketching, either of still life, or out-of-doors subjects, 
 it will be found that, however dissimilar, they are all influenced by the same laws of light and shadow. In 
 these examples (Plate 9), the egg is simplest in form, the human head the most complex. Each has its light, 
 its shade in gradations, its cast shadow, its reflections. The head, with all its complexity of parts, can have, 
 
 as regards principles, nothing more than the simple egg. The egg, notwithstanding its simplicity of form, 
 
 
 
 
 
can have nothing less. The cup, the 
 construction, but each is affected by the 
 
 8 
 
 tree, the tower, are all totally dissimilar in material surface and 
 light in precisely the same way. 
 
 There is, however, a vast difference in the apparent clearness or obscurity of these effects; to an 
 
 unpractised eye the light and shadow o: 
 light and shadow on a cloud, on foliage, 
 
 n a simple cube, or on any rectangular form, is obvious at once; the 
 on a face, is far more difficult to comprehend, and to express when 
 
 comprehended; but if the principles be studied and understood on the simplest forms, to them refer the difficult 
 
 and complicated, and uncertainty will i 
 
 mmediately cease. But remember that this simple theoretical know- 
 
 ledge of the principles will be of little use practically out-of-doors, unless preparatory studies are first made 
 
 This should be done on wha 
 such as cups, bottles, vases, objects, or 
 
 at home. 
 
 as giving more variety of surface, and 
 These ex 
 Place your groups under a single lig 
 shaded. Difficult and uninteresting at 
 
 ere. 
 
 2g, even the humble potato. 
 
 is called still-life subjects. On simple globular and oval forms, 
 namental and domestic, found in every house, the rougher the better, 
 often of colour—jugs, a few leaves of ivy and vine, an apple, an 
 amples will suggest my meaning, and induce you to imagine others. 
 ht, and execute them in various styles, large or small, outline or 
 first, this practice soon becomes agreeable; and the Sketcher will, 
 
 
 
 with perseverance, be very soon astonished at the pictures he 
 
 produces and the knowledge he acquires— 
 
 studying at once Drawing, Light and Shadow, Colour and Composition. 
 
 
 
 of-doors. 
 
 You must not suppose that by this kind of study you are not improving yourself for practice out- 
 On the contrary, you will find the benefit at your very first attempt at colouring from nature, 
 
 and the copying of even a difficult drawing will be quite easy to you after you have laboured and thought 
 
 over half a dozen groups of still life. 
 
 
 
 attempt clearly to explain it to you. 
 In every work of art the wHotz is to be considered of 
 
 light and shadow can never have a true and effective breadth if there has beena 
 ordination is the secret, the difficult secret of breadth. 
 ispensable, of course; but immediately the effort 
 
 defining of detail or parts. Su 
 detail, surface 
 on portions in light, or portions in shadow, destroys the positive 
 the other—then breadth is lost. 
 
 
 
 all these are in 
 
 
 
 Too much has been done or improperly done, and the 
 
 The term breadth is so constantly used with reference to light and shadow, that I shall here make an 
 
 more importance than the parts. Now, 
 00 minute or a too obtrusive 
 Character, incidental 
 o expressthem too distinctly 
 distinct effect of truth of either the one or 
 
 important whole 
 
 has been sacrificed for sake of the less important parts, instead of these less important parts (that is, detail 
 
 accessories) having been subdued and made subordinate for the sake of the whole. 
 
 meaning appears necessary here. In this example (Plate 11) the 
 
 masses of light and shadow. 
 
 and effective, but there is not a single leaf detailed, no bark ont 
 
 It is well lit, the shadows powerfully expressed, 
 e trunk, and no roughness on 
 
 An illustration of my 
 trees are what is called blocked out in bold 
 he holes and hollows deep 
 the road—there 
 
 is no detail in fact; masses there are, certainly, broad and powerful, but such masses without character of 
 
 the objects apparent, and without minutiz, are false to nature and very bad art. Thisis monotony, not breadth. 
 
 Now, then, put leaves on the tree, bark on the trunk, and stones on the roa 
 
 in the light, without destroying the effect of the ligh 
 the problem to be solved. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 or the shadow: 
 
 
 
 , both in the shadows and 
 without destroying breadth. This is 
 
 
 
 This example is as good as a thousand to explain my meaning and to make you puzzle over your 
 
 next sketch from nature, when you desire to retain the striking effect of light and shadow, to retain its 
 
 breadth, and at the same time express the necessary detail. 
 been solved by Hubert, Calame, and Harding. 
 
 
 
 the same excellence by very different roads. I leave it to your 
 remember that styles must vary, and that all manners are goo 
 Breadth and subordination are of the higher qualities of art, 
 
 to enter; but what we have here explained will serve to sugges 
 
 all great masters of light and shade in penci 
 
 You will observe how some such problem has 
 
 , and all reaching 
 judgment which to prefer, begging you to 
 that approach the truth. 
 into which this work has not the pretension 
 
 
 
 
 
 that there are other and higher qualities 
 
 in art more. important to understand and to acquire than the power, however necessary, of mere literal 
 
 The cultivation of the taste is far more difficult than 
 judgment and treat appropriately is far more difficult than merely 
 
 imitation. 
 
 it anyhow. 
 No doubt all art must begin by literal imitation—as far 
 this is only a rudimentary exercise of the eye and hand, learning 
 
 he discipline of the hand. To select with 
 sitting down before anything and treating 
 
 as it is possible to imitate literally—but 
 o see correctly, and to express accurately ; 
 
 
 
 the means and not the end of art. Indeed, beyond a single objec 
 
 or two set up as studies near the eye, or 
 

 
 9 
 
 portions of out-door scenery very limited in range, literal imitation is impossible. In a subject with space, 
 in atmospheric phenomena, in the creation and composition of a picture, in the movements of life and nature, 
 in skies, in waves, in falling water, in the infinity of foliage, and the intricacy of gothic ornament, it is 
 impossible: and as we advance in our knowledge, and as we labour and think, we feel more and more the 
 necessity of subordination, of generalization, of rejection of convention. A sketch from nature is the 
 sketcher’s rendering of nature. It is nature translated—it is yours, it is my version of nature only—more 
 or less well, more or less complete and satisfactory, according to our power to see and to understand, 
 and our ability to translate her. Each of our works may be good in-point of art, yet all different as 
 regards exact resemblance. Were art only the power to reproduce mechanically and literally a certain 
 portion of nature; laboriously to represent every object that could be seen in this given portion; every 
 leaf on a tree, every stone in a wall, every pebble on a road, then the power of art would be circum- 
 scribed indeed, and a photographic plate would be its very highest example, leaving nothing to be hoped for 
 or to be attained by exercise of the most cultivated mind, practice of the most masterly hand, or effort of 
 the highest imagination. 
 
 
 
 PART III. 
 
 ON A PLAN FOR STUDY—TINTED DRAWINGS, ETC. 
 
 Brrore proceeding to the concluding chapter of colour, I shall now attempt some advice on a method of 
 study to be pursued in the absence or in the want of a master. First, learn to draw—that is, to express 
 form in outline—and always keep up your power of drawing by occasional practice on still-life subjects, and 
 plaster casts. This advice is for those who are well advanced in the practice of colour, whose drawing has 
 been neglected, and may be accepted by those even who can draw well, for drawing, like the power to 
 perform on any musical instrument, must be “ kept up,” or it will fail us when wanted. Lines can be but of 
 two kinds—the curved and the straight—but their combinations may be infinite, and the boundary lines of 
 everything found in nature are to be described by these two lines. Without shadow, without colour, 
 everything that can be seen, you can to a certain degree represent by them. A precise truth, or a precise 
 uniform quality of line, is not to be obtained by all alike; yet, as we may read writing and make out the 
 sense, whether it be cramped or free, round or running, clean or blotted, so every one who chooses to take 
 the trouble to represent by lines what he sees, may, to a very great extent, learn to draw. Let your practice 
 be from curved forms, for there is little difficulty in producing vertical or horizontal lines; these are 
 mechanical, and can be done by mechanical means; but curves try the eye, hand, and taste, and combine 
 every kind of beauty. JI will refer you here to what I have already said on the subject of still-life subjects, 
 which usually contain all the qualities necessary for the study of drawing. Doubtless, those who learn to 
 draw usually do so with the wish to take to colours as soon as possible, and generally this is done much too 
 soon. It is very unwise in the beginner who has no facility in drawing, knows nothing of light and shadow; 
 in short, who knows nothing of the theory of art, to endeavour to master all these difficulties at once out-of- 
 doors, and with colour, the greatest difficulty of all, in addition. In any case it is always wise to vary water- 
 colour drawing by pencil drawing on tinted paper. Much is found out-of-doors available for the employment 
 of these materials, as well as excellent for outline only, that is in no way appropriate for representation by 
 colour. To make a coloured sketch agreeable, it always appears to me that the subject should really be good 
 in colour. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Moreover, sunshine is required for an advantageous study in colour, and this we cannot always 
 ensure. Let beginners, then, devote their first season or two to drawings, black and white, on grey paper; 
 and when they do proceed to coloured sketches, alternate them with these pencil drawings. Remember 
 that the difficulties of a subject are increased by the extension of the landscape into distance; nor are 
 extensive flat distances the best adapted for pencil drawings. Choose at first near foreground subjects— 
 say a cottage, for example—and fill in the entire paper, or nearly so, with each study. “ Place” the objects, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 10 
 
 sketch them, and shade them on the spot (see Plate 12). Go on to subjects somewhat similar, but with 
 the addition of a bit of distance, or middle distance, making two distinct distances clearly expressed in your 
 study; and only undertake to complete complicated views when you have thus felt your way to their 
 proper delineation. ‘Thus I will suppose that one season out-of-doors has been devoted to black and white, 
 and the winter to copies in pencil and water-colour, studies from various objects, the head, &c. If this plan 
 is industriously followed, it is certain that when the sketcher next takes the field he will be fully pre- 
 pared to describe readily with the pencil whatever he feels the power to undertake. Next season, as a 
 medium manner betwixt pencil and water-colour, practise tinted drawings for some time. You will see 
 three examples. These should combine a firm, partially shaded drawing, with the easier effects of colour, 
 such as broad flat washes, and small positive tints, and touches of bright and high lights. The sketch 
 should be completed first as a pencil drawing, generally done on tinted paper, and the colour washed 
 on freely, but not so strong as to hide or obliterate it. Near foreground objects—rocks, old houses, 
 streets, the picturesque that is found in construction, especially the Gothic—are good subjects for this style 
 (Plate 13). The colour of the paper may be varied to suit the general tone—of old ruins, for instance; 
 and the judicious use of white; firm, clear pencilling; and bright touches of colour here and there, where 
 nature suggests them, will always enable you by this method to bring away a bold and interesting sketch 
 from any sufficiently well adapted subject. 
 
 
 
 
 
 PART IV. 
 COLOUR. 
 
 Drvinz the execution of a water-colour sketch from nature into three distinct operations, each one as carefully 
 finished as possible, corrected and retouched again and again, if requisite, before the next is begun; but, 
 as a rule, be satisfied in the beginning with free sketchy efforts over good pencilling. Finish is knowledge, 
 and will only come with practice. 
 
 Whatever has been said respecting the sketch for a pencil drawing is applicable to the sketch required 
 for a water-colour, only the force must be limited and modified, care being taken not to overdo the drawing 
 in extreme distances, or on portions in bright light; and especially refrain from giving with the pencil those 
 touches of minute detail which require to be executed with the brush in the finishing. 
 
 Of the three operations mentioned, the first is the application of the local colour—the true colours 
 of every object in every part of the subject; the second operation is the application of the shadows worked 
 over the colour; and the third operation is general finish and touching everywhere. 
 
 First Process.—Local Colour.—(Examples A and B, Plates 14 and 15.) 
 
 If in broad sunshine a landscape is studied, it will be observed that everywhere the local or natural 
 colours of objects, however dissimilar in tone or varied by distance, blend one into the other at their lines 
 of conjunction almost imperceptibly. Even the colours most strongly contrasted, and even those near the 
 eye, meet and combine under the influence of sunshine with a soft obscure blending, and in colours of a 
 similar nature as in rocky coasts and shingly shores, or when more under the influence of atmosphere 
 or distance, this blending of tone becomes so perfect, that it is difficult to define where one colour ends 
 and the other begins. In short, suppose a picture painted in oils in which all larger objects or masses 
 are first painted in side by side, each in its true colour, and then the whole gently softened or brushed 
 together, we shall have the general appearance of local colour as seen out-of-doors in the light of the sun. 
 In some atmospheres this effect is stronger, in some weaker; on some colours, and at certain distances, it will 
 vary; but, leaving extreme cases out of the question, that is the general effect, and upon that general effect 
 we shall found our method. 
 
 As much of the success of the first process depends on the various colours being, especially in the 
 distances, floated one into the other, proceeding from the top to the bottom of the paper, while the paper 
 is more or less wet, begin your work by wetting the paper with a large brush, and then with a piece of 
 blotting-paper drying any portion of your picture that it is desired to leave with a sharper edge. For, 
 
 
 

 
 ial 
 
 remember, that all rules have their exceptions; and that this general softness of the preparation is always 
 to be more or less modified by circumstances. Begin, then, by placing the different colours of your 
 subject side by side on the damp or wet paper: the colour of the sky joining on and blending with the colour 
 of the hill, the hill into the next object nearer—the tree, or tower, or rock—and so down to the foreground. 
 The colours must not run too much, nor the blending be overdone ; and here is the difficulty in first 
 attempts. Observe that only the larger, or general tone, is meant or can be given at this stage of the 
 proceeding. All the minor tints, combinations, and points of brilliant colour are after-considerations. It 
 is the larger masses only that we have first to execute. All trifling defects, also, such as blots, hard edges 
 here and there, too much softness or running together of parts, are for the next process to correct, and 
 need not be much regarded in this. You may be satisfied with your work if, blending over, but not altogether 
 obliterating, an accurate sketch, you have a soft, clear, and varied general effect of colour. Fields, trees, 
 hills, water, each something of its true tone, and each encroaching, as it were, on the tone adjoining—sharing 
 and thereby harmonising with it, yet not entirely losing its own individual quality. Recollect, finally, that 
 this colour has passed over the paper everywhere ; alike over what is in light and what is in shadow, with, 
 sometimes, the exceptions I have before observed, of certain cutting lights, as in foreground example of 
 this illustration (Example B, Plate 15), the first process of water-colour. 
 When the paper is thoroughly dry, begin the second operation; that is, the application of the 
 
 Shadow.—(Example C, Plate 16.) 
 
 But before proceeding to the second, we may correct, retouch, and improve the first operation of our 
 drawing to any extent. Brush with water any portion requiring alteration, and then tint on the colour 
 wanting into the wet spot. Sometimes the whole may be gently washed with clean water, and the colours 
 once more floated over every part. This may be repeated again and again, letting the paper dry between 
 each operation. This is indeed very necessary in working from a copy; but out-of-doors it is best for 
 beginners to be satisfied with first free efforts, and when “colour” is dry, proceed at once to shadow. 
 
 We found our first process on the principle that various objects and distances, no matter what the 
 diversity of tint, mix in the light of the sun with a soft edgeless blending, without hard or cutting lines 
 anywhere. 
 
 The principle of shadow is the contrary—viz., that shadow upon light is cutting, sharp, and clear : 
 mind, not always everywhere and against everything, but, in principle, as opposed to the soft blending of 
 colour in light and in the manner of its execution by the brush. 
 
 In the work of the first, or colour, process, there is little difficulty in the handling or putting on, but 
 much difficulty in the choice and combination of colours. In the work or execution of the second, or shadow, 
 process, there is little difficulty in the combination of colours but much in the handling. A little practice 
 will enable almost any one to blot into the damp ground a good effect of colour, but only much practice and 
 previous preparatory exercises with chalk or pencil will give the power to “touch” and finish artistically. 
 
 Colour is natural, execution must be acquired ; colour is feeling; execution is art, study, labour, 
 taste, and a ready hand. It is only those who fail in execution, that decry facility and call it mechanism. 
 The orator is pardoned his faults of deliver - If his matter be valuable, his manner is of little importance. 
 For a musical composer an ebauche is sufficient; he may be great, however blotted his score and stiff his 
 fingers, for others perform what he designs; but the painter must himself execute as well as compose, and 
 that scientifically and artistically, or his conceptions, his poetry, his melody is nothing but a blurred canvas 
 or a bit of paper spoiled. F eeling without execution is not enough to make a complete artist. This may 
 appear somewhat a digression, but it is not 3 for where amateurs generally fail is in their execution; and, as 
 Thave before said, the execution of a water-colour drawing is when the colour is blotted in and toned, and the 
 shadows and touches are required to finish it. 
 
 Colour being over then, the execution of your work begins—in shadows, in gradations, in charac- 
 terizing, in surfacing. Every touch denoting shadow should be clean, clear, and spirited, although it may 
 be hereafter required to be toned down, softened, or corrected. For however positive as a general rule 
 this sharpness and clearness, it is infinitely modified by various causes. 
 
 The larger masses of shadow must be first washed in, then the smaller, cast from and falling on separate 
 objects; and in this stage the drawing will have that broad and effective light and shadow I endeayoured to 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 12 
 
 explain in the subject of “breadth” in pencil. I need not here recapitulate, that you must take the same care 
 not to destroy the general effect of truth by over-work with the point of the brush, as you did with the point 
 of the pencil. The handling should be free, light, and of as much variety as possible in touch and tone. 
 Clearness and precision are imperative, but exact boundary of shadows and precise terminations of lines are 
 neither to be discovered nor executed in a water-colour drawing from nature. A blot, a shapeless drop or 
 rub of colour, will frequently, especially in distances, be a better rendering of the effect of shadow or a fact 
 of detail, than a more careful, accurate, and laboured definition. 
 
 But freedom and lightness in handling can only be acquired by labour, by many a failure, and many 
 an effort repeated, ending only at first in hard, stiff, and formal studies. To be properly free, and properly 
 bold, you must first be accurate; you will never be accurate, never artistically free, if you begin by being 
 “bold.” 
 
 In regard to colours, for your colour process endeavour to imitate what you think you see. I have 
 given a list of those colours absolutely necessary, but if you try to imitate the truth of nature, you will 
 be independent of any particular selection or any master’s special list. Only enough aim at simple truth, 
 and forget all convention. I mean do not, because you have heard such and such a master uses such 
 and such composed tints to represent old wood or old stone, or anything else, be satisfied with their com- 
 pounds however good. Compound for yourself—mix your own tints, and, as I have said aboye, aim at 
 simple truth and forget all convention. But with tints for the shadows it is different. Positive rules, 
 sufficiently true to begin with, may be laid down for compounding these. The varieties of local colour are 
 infinite. The tones of shadow are limited to neutral tints, modified by distance and atmosphere. For a 
 landscape, gradating through distance, middle distance, and foreground, I class my tints for shadows and 
 touches into three. Thus, for 
 
 Den ee ee ) : I have nine tones for touching 
 eo . Blue {add to either Lake or Rose Madder. di 
 Tdi ) istances. 
 ” . nd 120 
 Middle distance . . Light Had Pld etc cher Cabal Buplue T have eighteen or twenty different 
 and Adis or pene BI, tones, or tints, for touching 
 Indian Red] too) = é middle distance. 
 Foreground . . . Cobalt Add to either . Pare Sepia, T have as many strong browns or 
 F. BL ry . Van Brown, cool greys as I require for 
 +b + te, 2EsuBlue 
 &) . BurntSienna. foregrounds. 
 
 Moreover, it is not simple tints made from the combination of any two of these colours, bat an immense 
 scale of strength and colour, from the palest blue, for example, up to the strongest brown. 
 
 FINIS H.—(Example D, Plate 17.) 
 
 Qur picture has now been brought up to the point beyond which description by words will carry it very 
 little further. Much may be written, but to very little purpose, describing how to finish. It is only by 
 practice, observation of nature, and drawings by good hands, that finish is to be understood and acquired. 
 Frequently, I may say, that ever so little of what is called finish will spoil a good sketch. Often a 
 good sketch is spoiled for want of finish. A subject will sometimes appear full, complete, and satisfactory 
 without a single touch of what, by the ignorant, would be considered finish. It depends entirely on the 
 nature of the subject, style of execution, and intention of the sketcher. Between a slight sketch and a 
 finished study there are many degrees of style, each of which may be perfect in itself, and should be judged 
 according to its intention. 
 As to our drawing, all that could not be done in the two former processes should be attempted in this. 
 Edges are to be rubbed down, distances softened, textures produced, lights rubbed out or put in. Incident 
 of every description made out in the foreground, the darkest dark strengthened, and the high lights still 
 heightened. Finally, if the drawing is unsatisfactory, which it very likely will be, do not destroy it, but 
 take it home and put it by. In a few days, on referring to it away from nature, it will appear to have 
 improved, and will look less discouraging, because everything done carefully and conscientiously after 
 
 
 
 
 
 nature will always contain some degree of truth, and consequently possess some value and merit. 
 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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1010 STUBBS (George). An illustrated Lecture on Sketching from Nature in Pencil and Water 
 Colour: with Hints on Light and Shadow. 
 
 Folio, 12 pp.,,with 17 plates in tinted and chromolithography ; the edges of some plates a little 
 
 frayed; original:cloth. ‘Day & Son, [1862] £42 
 
 BOUND BY 
 BONE & SON, 
 
 76, FLEET STREET, 
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