64 
 
 DRAPERY FOR PORTRAITS. 
 
 bonnet ; the same colour should also be placed on the out¬ 
 side of the bonnet. 
 
 Between the extremes of the two types named above, 
 there are many intermediate varieties, wliich the artist must 
 distinguish, and estimate the harmony most suitable to the 
 model; he must decide whether the predominating tint in a 
 complexion had better be exalted or diminished, either as 
 a whole, or in one of its elementary colours, or whether it 
 must be altogether neutralized ; in case he wishes to weaken 
 it, he must ascertain whether this can best be done by 
 means of drapery of a darker tone, and so to form a 
 harmony of contrast, either of scale or of hue, or whether, 
 on the contrary, it is preferable to attain the same end by 
 opposing to this tint a drapery of its complementary colour, 
 taken at a sufficiently high tone, to produce the double 
 effect of weakening by contrast of tone, and at the same time 
 to produce contrast of colour with that portion of the tint 
 wliich is not neutralized. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 LONDON! 
 
 Printed by Schulze and Co., 13, Poland Street. 
 
 &h-p)M>s~3 
 
HINTS 
 
 SKETCHING IN WATER-COLOUIi 
 
 FROM NATURE. 
 
HINTS 
 
 FOR 
 
 SKETCHING IN WATER-COLOUR 
 
 FROM NATURE. 
 
 BY THOMAS HATTON. 
 
 FOURTH EDITION. 
 
 Srs junta! ariifinm. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 WINSOR AND NEWTON, 38, RATHBONE PLACE, 
 
 artists' ©olour JRaiters, lip Spetial appointment, to $jer Jitajeatp, 
 anb to prince albert. 
 
 1S55. 
 
LONDON: 
 
 Printed by Schulze and Co., 13, Poland Street. 
 
The following pages are intended for the use of such 
 Students as are accustomed to copy Water-colour drawings, 
 and find no difficulty in sketching natural objects in Black- 
 and-white; yet who feel, when trying to represent Nature in 
 her proper colours, that they require something more to 
 guide them than their own perception, which is probably 
 not sufficiently developed to enable them to seize the 
 effects that Nature presents, and they are consequently 
 disappointed at finding their productions devoid of that 
 brilliancy which they have been able to attain in their 
 copies of pictures. 
 
 The excellent Manuals on Water-Colour Painting by 
 Messrs. Penley and Eowbotham, being devoted to more 
 finished productions, do not supersede the present attempt, 
 which endeavours to meet such difficulties in Sketching in 
 Colour as have been overlooked in works of greater preten- 
 
VI 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 sion. Just as Mr. Rowbotham’s highly practical little 
 Treatise, “ The Art of Sketching from Nature,” directs the 
 Student’s pre-supposed facility in the use of Black-and- 
 white to the production of Sketches in that medium, but 
 leaves Colour untouched, so does the present Work seek to 
 extend to Sketching out of doors the knowledge necessarily 
 acquired in copying pictures in "Water-Colour; while, by 
 avoiding what is unnecessary to the Sketch, however essen¬ 
 tial to the finished picture, it points out the shortest and 
 most direct course to the attainment of the desired object. 
 
 Should the writer succeed in facilitating in any degree 
 the delightful study of Nature, he will feel that he has not 
 laboured in vain. 
 
 BRIGHTON, APRIL, 1853. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Want of Perception the first difficulty in Sketching in Colour—Perception to be acquired 
 by study and observation—Wherein the tyro’s sketch differs from the colours of 
 Nature—Forcing the effect—The study of scene-painting a means of acquiring a know- 
 edge of effect—Stanfield’s facility in sketching acquired by scene-painting—Knowledge 
 necessary to decision—The method used in Block Printing a means of securing effect 
 rapidly—Boldness of style to be learnt from its observation—Materials used in 
 Sketching .......... 9 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 ATMOSPHERE. 
 
 A practical belief in the existence and influence of atmosphere necessary to perception— 
 Its different densities and their effects on local colour—The atmosphere a veil—Abstract 
 knowledge blinds the Student’s perception—Extremes of density in the atmosphere— 
 The colour of the atmosphere changed by the sun’s light, also by smoke and fog—The 
 effect of sunset—-Evening haze—Not all effects fit for imitation—An artificial scale of 
 colouring necessary to brilliancy ...... 19 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 KEEPING. 
 
 The preservation of relative distances most important in Sketching—The Neutral Tint 
 system advantageous to beginners—This system employed by Turner as a means of 
 educating his eye—Air, space, and freshness, to be sought before colour—The Neutral 
 system furnishes aids to their acquirement—An illustration, with remarks on its 
 treatment—The system a stepping-stone to Colour, though used only for commencing 
 the sketch—Boldness to be aimed at—Hurry is not speed—Memory an aid to speed— 
 A grammar of effect necessary to rapidity of execution—Tone—Relief—The Brush 
 superior to the Pencil ........ 27 
 
vm 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 CONTRAST. 
 
 Contrast of colours to be seen in tlie lights and shadows of Nature—The Beginner 
 thwarted in practice by his previous habits in Black-and-white—Sunrise or sunset the 
 best time for sketching—The secret of colour hes in shading: the true colour to be 
 seen in half-tint; light “ pales” the colour, and shade “ dulls” it—Bold style of 
 colouring seen in Burford’s Panoramas useful to the Sketcher—How his effects are 
 obtained—Instances of positive contrast in hght and shadow—What to avoid in colouring 
 —Harmony, and how far necessary to a sketch .... 43 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 VARIETY. 
 
 Variety essential to a bright sketch—Nature constantly varies her hues—The “ coloured 
 print” style an example of monotony—Breadth—Means of variety afforded hy different 
 objects, and hy the pigments employed—An occasional discord effective—Unity not to 
 be sacrificed to variety—The anatomy of foliage—Crayons useful in sketching: an 
 illustration—A word on composition—Conclusion ... 52 
 
HINTS 
 
 FOE 
 
 SKETCHING IN WATER-COLOUR. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 WANT OF PERCEPTION THE FIRST DIFFICULTY IN SKETCHING IN COLOUR—PER¬ 
 CEPTION TO BE ACQUIRED BY STUDY AND OBSERVATION—WHEREIN THE TYRO’S 
 SKETCH DIFFERS FROM THE COLOURS OF NATURE—FORCING THE EFFECT—THE 
 STUDY OF SCENE-PAINTING A MEANS OF ACQUIRING A KNOWLEDGE OF EFFECT— 
 STANFIELD’S FACILITY IN SKETCHING ACQUIRED BY SCENE-PAINTING—KNOWLEDGE 
 NECESSARY TO DECISION—THE METHOD USED IN BLOCK PRINTING A MEANS OF 
 SECURING EFFECT RAPIDLY—BOLDNESS OF STYLE TO BE LEARNT FROM ITS 
 OBSERVATION—MATERIALS USED IN SKETCHING. 
 
 A desire to sketch in Colour implies that the student 
 is no longer satisfied with imitating coloured drawings— 
 an art which, after mastering the use of the pencil, requires 
 little more than an acquaintance with the mixtures of the 
 various tints as we see them on paper; but he now takes his 
 stand before Nature herself, resolved to transfer to his sketch¬ 
 book in its true colours the scene before him, and expecting, 
 no doubt, to make as good and effective a drawing as he has 
 hitherto produced by copying pictures. But as you proceed 
 
10 
 
 INTRODUCTION, 
 
 you find yourself at a loss. You copy very correctly, and 
 put down all you see, but when you have finished your 
 sketch you have before you a tame, dull transcript of what 
 is perhaps a bright and glowing scene. Why? Because 
 although you have put down all you have seen, you have 
 not seen all that is there. Numberless little touches of 
 variety of colour you have passed over as one tint. Many 
 beautiful instances of contrast, both of colour and of light 
 and shade, you have taken no notice of. Your distance is 
 perhaps too green, or too brown, perhaps too much made 
 out; the middle distance pale and unmeaning; the fore¬ 
 ground wanting in power. There is a sameness throughout 
 your work—a dullness and poorness you cannot account for. 
 How is this? From want of knowledge and from want of per¬ 
 ception. In copying pictures you have been able to produce 
 the effect of the original—that is, you have given colour for 
 colour, and tint for tint as you found them there; and you 
 wonder why you cannot do this out of doors, and give the 
 colours of Nature in the same manner. But when you 
 copied those pictures you did not know what made them 
 beautiful. You did not understand the construction of the 
 picture. They were painted by one who knew why he used 
 those particular colours in conjunction—why he placed one 
 colour in opposition to another; why that dark mass was 
 placed there, and that light spray relieved it—unobtrusively 
 perhaps, because cleverly, and for that very reason more 
 difficult to analyse. 
 
 You must go to Nature again and again, and search for 
 beauty. She furnishes plenty of instances if you will but 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 11 
 
 gather them. That bold rock is not grey all over: part 
 of it stands out, it is true, as pale and gaunt as a ghost, 
 but observe more closely:—does not blue creep in here and 
 there among the grey ? Does not a little moss adorn that 
 ledge ? Is there not a rich brown on the further side of 
 that angle—a sharp shadow below that hint of vegetation ? 
 These are the beauties that Nature shows to her attentive 
 admirers, and these minute touches, carefully noted, bring 
 a conviction of truthfulness to every beholder. Look at 
 those trees again: are they absolutely green all over—or 
 at least of the same even tint of green ? Are the trunks 
 of one unvaried brown or neutral tint as you have rendered 
 them ? Look at that pale lichen, which gives a break to 
 the monotony of the colour; at the knots here and there, 
 and the stumps of lopped boughs. Here the bark is more 
 rugged and corrugated; there a hollow gives a sharp shadow, 
 and the edge a high light. The road, you will say, is 
 brown, and you have made yours so. It is brown, but of 
 an infinite variety of shades; pale yellow here, reddish there 
 —in one place broken by ruts—and a grey shadow stealing 
 across the further end. 
 
 So much for the foreground. Now for the distance. You 
 may take it for granted that blue prevails over a very large 
 portion of the scene, and you may safely err on this side, 
 as an excess of this hue is readily detected, but a deficiency 
 of it betrays a want of atmosphere. The common fault of 
 young sketcliers is, that they make their landscapes too 
 green, not too blue. They know, for instance, the local 
 colour of trees to be generally green, and they paint them 
 
12 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 so—not from wliat they now see, but from abstract recol¬ 
 lection of the colour of the leaves of which the tree is 
 composed—forgetful that the tree itself assumes all kinds 
 of hues according to the light that is cast on it, and the 
 density of the atmosphere through which it is seen. This 
 is the grand failing of which you must try to divest your 
 eye. Let your eye alone guide you. Put away previous 
 knowledge, and be taught by what you really see now. 
 Endeavour to see with the eye of an artist. Look for the 
 variations of colour you see artists use; you may be sure 
 they exist in Nature, or else the pictures you admire could 
 not be so life-like. True, they may be a little exaggerated, 
 but how would your sketches look if they were simply ex¬ 
 aggerated? Would they not look more green, more un¬ 
 natural than they do at present ? Howard says : “ As 
 it is impossible with pigments to rival the brightness of 
 light, it has been found necessary to adopt some method 
 of forcing the effect of colours, so as to conceal or to 
 supply a compensation for this deficiency, and apparently 
 to produce the vigour of truthyou must learn, then, 
 how to exaggerate, or “ force the effect” of colours by con¬ 
 trast, (see Chap, iv.), but this without impairing the truth 
 and purity of the lights. Your touch may be heavy at 
 first, but if you once get power, gentleness of contrast 
 will follow with practice and study. Power is the quality 
 that strikes the eye, and places the savans above the tyro. 
 
 A resident in Ceylon brought to this country a collection 
 of very correct but utterly spiritless coloured drawings— 
 illustrations of his travels in the island. On placing them 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 13 
 
 in the hands of an engraver, he said : “'Give me those 
 charming magic touches, which I have never been able to 
 attain.” How was his request complied with ? They were 
 handed over to a scene-painter to “ put in the effect,” and 
 the amateur was satisfied. This is essentially the scene- 
 painter s study, and a careful observation of Scene-Painting 
 forms an excellent preparation for Sketching from Nature. 
 Here you find no superflous finish, and the work is on so 
 large a scale, that the effect may be anatomized as it were, 
 and the understanding more readily takes in the intention 
 of what is left so bold and bare. “ Distance” it is that 
 “ len( l s enchantment to the view,” in this case certainly. 
 When closely inspected, a well-painted scene may look, 
 to a casual observer, an unintelligible daub; but the careful 
 student will soon find out the value of each touch, and will 
 apply this knowledge to a more decided style of sketching 
 than he has hitherto pursued. The celebrated Stanfield 
 is said to owe much of his wonderful facility in sketching 
 to his practice as a scene-painter. When Macready was 
 the lessee of Drury Lane, most of the scenes were produced 
 by this eminent artist, and formed to the lover of art not 
 the least enjoyable ingredient in the evening’s entertainment. 
 Some years after, when Stanfield belonged to the Sketching 
 Club, he painted a scene from memory which did not occupy 
 him two hours, and yet so effective as to fetch ten guineas 
 with perfect readiness! So much for the value of study. 
 He wasted no time in abortive efforts. He made every 
 stroke with decision, because he knew exactly what effect 
 he wished to produce, and he knew also exactly how to 
 
14 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 produce it; and this is attainable by every student who 
 will patiently observe Nature in connexion with the effects 
 be sees produced by Art. Knowledge is the grand element 
 of decision in all things, and no less so in Painting; and we 
 should neglect no means placed at our disposal of attaining 
 that element. The same sources of information are open 
 to us that suppbed the minds of Bubens and Titian, if we 
 will but resolve to apply them. 
 
 Now the peculiar feature of Scene-Painting is what may 
 be called roughness, and what some people would apologize 
 for on the score of to ant of finish, by saying that more 
 finish is unimportant, for that at a distance it would not 
 be seen. But this is a very unfair and insufficient view of 
 the matter. Not only is there no occasion for more 
 “ finish" in Scene-Painting, but, properly speaking, it is 
 highly finished already. It is a mere question of focus, 
 for the most highly finished painting would look rough if 
 viewed through a microscope. To finish a picture is to 
 regulate and complete the various parts in conformity to 
 the whole; and this effect once accomplished, all beyond 
 tends to undo, instead of completing the picture. By 
 attempting more finish, you would obtain less; for the 
 real finish in Scene-Painting is gained by keeping the tints 
 hold and firm, that they may blend well when viewed from 
 a distance; if you softened them you would lose the 
 charm of transparency. This is seen to be the case, 
 indeed, where scenery is painted by a timid hand. Por 
 want of knowledge, the painter is afraid to leave his 
 colours bold and bare, and the consequence is insipidity: 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 15 
 
 by adding, softening, and covering down, he destroys the 
 crispness and effect of liis work. 
 
 And so it is with Sketching. A bold hand gives the 
 salient features of the piece—he has not time to graduate 
 and polish up the tints; and if he did so, the sketch 
 would not be so effective as by the bolder and more crude 
 treatment. Finish may be given at home; out of doors 
 it is waste of time: power is what we want to carry away, 
 as a kind of inspiration for our after guidance. It is too 
 fugitive, after all; and I have known artists whose out¬ 
 door sketches are preferred to their finished pictures, 
 because they are apt to lose the freshness and spirit of the 
 original in imparting this same coveted finish. We may 
 see the same error in the sickly productions of the en¬ 
 gravers for the fashionable Annuals and other works of 
 that class twenty years ago. If polish was finish, we had 
 finish to our hearts’ content then, for everything looked 
 as if it was made of plate glass: the floors looked dan¬ 
 gerous to walk on, and the general tone of the engraving 
 showed the same formality and want of texture. Com¬ 
 pared with these productions, the fine engravings of the 
 last century would have been, and I dare say, were condemned 
 as rough; but in truth they were more really finished, in 
 the proper sense of the term, than their fashionable rivals. 
 A sketch requires no further finish than the dead colouring 
 of a picture receives, but all the force which the finished 
 picture is to possess. 
 
 As the surgeon gains comprehensive notions of the struc¬ 
 ture of the human frame by the study of that of the lower 
 
16 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 animals, so may the artist take a hint from the humbler 
 arts, which sometimes develop an important principle with 
 great distinctness. This is the case with the Aid of Paper¬ 
 hanging, for instance, or rather, of the production of designs 
 for paper-hanging. Facility of effect is especially aimed at 
 in this art, as variation of tint cannot be produced without 
 additional cost; and as all the colours employed are 
 opaque, there is no opportunity for blending by glazing. 
 The designer is, therefore, restricted to a few tints, often 
 only three—high light, middle tint, and shade—and must 
 produce an effective design with no further assistance. 
 See how effectively he uses his scanty resources ! His 
 middle tint is judiciously spread, leaving the high lights 
 to stand out, and his shadows are bold and firm, and 
 placed at the most telling points. No farther finish is 
 possible, for the block-printer will have but three tints 
 to work with, and no means of blending them. All the 
 blending is anticipated from the eye of the spectator, as 
 in scene-painting; and yet the effect of foliage and 
 flowers produced by this process is so successful, that many 
 an artist might take a lesson from the truth and boldness 
 of the shading. 
 
 Designers in this art acquire a decided style of drawing 
 which would be very useful to the Sketcher. An artist is 
 too apt to trust to vagueness in shading—getting the effect 
 he cannot tell how; but the draughtsman for block¬ 
 printing knows it would he useless for him to “ flatter” his 
 drawing—he would not be understood and could not be 
 followed by the block-cutter : his line must be left decided 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 17 
 
 and firm, and without the slightest vagueness. If this 
 precision were adhered to in sketching out of doors, we 
 should not lose time in undecided touches with feeble tints, 
 but should feel compelled to put in the effect boldly and 
 at once, and not without due consideration. 
 
 Before proceeding to point out the essentials of Sketching 
 in Water-Colours, we may just say a word or two as to the 
 materials employed. And first, of the Paper. Whatman’s 
 rough Drawing Paper, made up in blocks, is decidedly 
 preferable for Sketcliing. The rough grain of the paper 
 helps the atmosphere, and furnishes the lights in the 
 foreground in the most ready way. As to size, let it not 
 be too small—not smaller than an eighth of a sheet of 
 Imperial Drawing, nor larger than a quarter. A need¬ 
 lessly large pad takes up time by requiring more labour, 
 but it cramps the faculties to sketch on too small a scale, 
 and hinders rapidity of execution. Many an effective 
 shadow may be dashed in if on a broad scale, which would 
 never be ventured on in a cramped, pocket-size pad. 
 Howard, it is true, in his “ Sketcher’s Manual,” recom¬ 
 mends a small size to beginners, but only for pencil sketches, 
 and to such as have no knowledge of detail. Too small a 
 block gives a puny, niggling style; no grand subject was 
 ever sketched on such a scale. Moreover, the size of 
 every work should have reference to the size of the tools 
 employed. With moderate sized brushes, you have no room 
 to move in a small block. You must let the brush have its 
 way, for cramping its freedom has an injurious influence on 
 the spirit of your sketch, and makes you anxious lest the 
 
 c 
 
18 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 brush should work clumsily. Besides, your eyes get weary 
 of their work, and you lose the readiness in transferring to 
 paper the impression made on them by the scene. 
 
 The Brushes should be of sable, and a larger brush 
 should be reserved for clouds. 
 
 As to Colours, the Moist Colours in Tin Sketching 
 Boxes are the very thing, and the Water Bottles complete 
 all you require in the way of materials. 
 
 A tube of Chinese white, for after thoughts, is very useful, 
 and the use of Indelible Brown ink, for outlines, often gives 
 facility for strengthening an after-tint without disturbing 
 the previous touches. 
 
 Also a piece of card cut out like a frame, to show you 
 the boundaries of the view you wish to represent, by holding 
 it between your eye and the scene. 
 
 All these facilities should be furnished beforehand, that 
 you may not feel hampered by extraneous matters when you 
 are in the presence of Nature, and your whole attention is 
 demanded by the beauties she unfolds. 
 
 In Sketching, we have four principal objects to keep 
 in view: 
 
 1. Atmosphere. 
 
 2. Keeping. 
 
 3. Contrast. 
 
 4. Aariety. 
 
 In the finished picture, there are other considerations, 
 but for rapid sketches out of doors we shall be content if 
 we secure these important points. 
 
ATMOSPHERE. 
 
 19 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 ATMOSPHERE. 
 
 A PRACTICAL BELIEF IN THE EXISTENCE AND INFLUENCE OF ATMOSPHERE 
 NECESSARY TO PERCEPTION—ITS DIFFERENT DENSITIES AND THEIR EFFECTS 
 ON LOCAL COLOUR—THE ATMOSPHERE A VEIL—ABSTRACT KNOWLEDGE BLINDS 
 THE STUDENT’S PERCEPTION—EXTREMES OF DENSITY IN THE ATMOSPHERE— 
 THE COLOUR OF THE ATMOSPHERE CHANGED BY THE SUN’S LIGHT, ALSO BY 
 SMOKE AND FOG—THE EFFECT OF SUNSET—EVENING HAZE—NOT ALL EFFECTS 
 FIT FOR IMITATION—AN ARTIFICIAL SCALE OF COLOURING NECESSARY TO 
 BRILLIANCY. 
 
 We can never fully apprehend or perceive the colouring 
 of Nature till we are thoroughly and practically convinced 
 of the all-pervading and perpetual though changeful 
 presence of the atmosphere, and its effect on the local 
 colour of all objects, but especiaUy of those remote from 
 the eye. This is particularly the case with the atmosphere 
 of the British Isles, because it is more charged with hu¬ 
 midity, and consequently more dense, than that of the 
 continent. In Italy and the East, where this excessive 
 moisture is unknown, distant objects appear nearly as 
 
 c 2 
 
20 
 
 ATMOSPHERE. 
 
 distinct as those in the foreground, and the chief difference 
 between them consists in size; but in our own country the 
 atmosphere is seldom without a considerable degree of den¬ 
 sity, which, acting as a veil hung between the spectator and 
 the object, gives it the colour of the medium through which 
 the light is cast, and at the same time renders the object 
 itself more or less indistinct. 
 
 Now this fact, although it seems very simple and rea¬ 
 sonable, is never practically observed and acted on till the 
 student can see with the eye of an artist. His previous 
 knowledge so blinds his present perception—he so constantly 
 takes for granted, instead of examining, the colour and ap¬ 
 pearance of the objects before him, that, so far as truth of 
 colouring is concerned, he might as well content himself 
 with making on the spot mere general memoranda of the 
 colour of the different parts of the scene, and put the 
 colours in afterwards from previous knowledge (as he 
 thinks) at home. But he is under a delusion. Almost all 
 the objects he sees appear of a different colour to what he 
 thinks they appear. He sees, for instance, a meadow, the 
 grass of which he knows abstractedly to be green, and 
 therefore colours it of a uniform green throughout: whereas 
 the different density (or quantity) of atmosphere between 
 him and the object (and which he calls air, and thinks 
 of no consequence) really alters the appearance of the 
 colour of every few feet of land, and instead of being 
 of a uniform green throughout, the meadow really appears 
 less and less green by every foot that it recedes from 
 his eye. 
 
ATMOSPHERE. 
 
 21 
 
 So with other objects. Let him place himself so that 
 a tree in the foreground shall stand between his eye and 
 some one or more trees in the background, and then let 
 him closely compare their respective colours. The distant 
 tree is many degrees more blue than the near one, which 
 of course arises from the interposition of the medium— 
 vapour, atmosphere, cloud, mist, fog—call it what you will, 
 according to its density; the veil is made of the same 
 material, but of different thicknesses. The tops of moun¬ 
 tains, for instance, are hidden from view altogether by this 
 very same veil, till the sun removes it. At other times, 
 the vapour will roll away from the mountains and pass off 
 like steam from an engine. In Wales and Scotland, when 
 the atmosphere is thin, the dark mountains appear decidedly 
 blue, and sometimes even purple; but when the vapour 
 thickens into fog, a milky appearance occurs. It is vapour 
 or atmosphere which limits the field of our vision, because 
 the accumulation of it for miles and miles is as if you 
 looked through a long tube full of vapour, and when 
 the tube is extremely lengthened the object becomes 
 hidden by the accumulation. This is one extreme, when 
 nothing is visible but undefined forms in grey. The op¬ 
 posite extreme is of course the smallest quantity of vapour 
 or atmosphere: on a fine day, the objects in the foreground 
 have really no perceptible vapour at all between them 
 and the spectator, and they consequently appear in their 
 local colour, so far as atmosphere is concerned. Every 
 part of the scene is of course liable to be influenced by the 
 colouring imparted to it by the sun’s rays, independent of 
 
22 
 
 ATMOSPHERE. 
 
 the effects of atmosphere; but even in foreground objects 
 it is quite apparent that the parts that recede are more grey 
 than those near the eye: a tree appears most green in the 
 near parts, and greyer at the top and sides; the extremities 
 of a white object are less white, and of a black object less 
 black, as they retire from the eye. 
 
 So far we have considered the colouring that atmosphere 
 itself gives to objects, apart from the influence of the sun’s 
 rays, and this colouring we find to be generally more or 
 less blue. But when under the influence of the sun it 
 ceases to be blue and takes a yellowish, and occasionally at 
 sunset even a red tint, similar to the effect produced on it 
 by the light of a fire or a candle. A smoky atmosphere 
 again, such as we see at Sheffield and the Potteries, is tinged 
 with black or brown; and objects viewed through the medium 
 of a London fog must be represented by various degrees 
 of dingy yellow or yellow brown. All these variations 
 in the colour of the atmosphere must of course alter the 
 apparent colour of objects viewed through its medium, just 
 as a landscape or even a picture alters in appearance when 
 looked at through stained glass. 
 
 The yellow tinge given to the atmosphere by the sun’s 
 rays does not turn, as might be expected, its blue tints 
 into green, because the pearly grey still left in the shadows, 
 untouched by the yellow light, interposes a neutral tint, 
 which from its opacity prevents the mingling of the 
 colours. 
 
 Although the light of the sun increases the density of the 
 atmosphere, yet distant objects are not hidden by it, because 
 
ATMOSPHERE. 
 
 23 
 
 the increased light falling upon them makes them more dis¬ 
 tinct to the eye, just as a sudden gleam of sunshine reveals 
 objects on a distant plain that were before hidden by the 
 veil of the atmosphere. The effect of the slur’s light upon 
 the bluish shadows is to light them up with a warm golden 
 hue; and when the sun’s rays, as at sunset, approach orange 
 or red, the shadows assume a decidedly purple tone, the red 
 colour of the ray being blended with the blue of the atmo¬ 
 sphere. As the golden light declines, it deepens into red, 
 until, the sun losing its power, the purple gradually loses 
 its richness until absorbed and overcome by the shades of 
 twilight, which deepens the colour of the vapour into a 
 dull grey, or even brownish black. 
 
 The opacity of the atmosphere caused by the sun’s rays 
 may be seen in the relative colours of the sky, which is 
 least blue where nearest to the sun; and all beams of 
 light, whether proceeding from the sun or moon, or from 
 the artificial light of a candle or lamp, may be seen to 
 be so opaque as to hide from view all objects beyond 
 them. 
 
 Occasionally, in a fine sunset, the atmosphere is loaded 
 with grains of light, which diffuse a glowing haze over every 
 object, and reduce them all to one broad and even greyish 
 tone, however varied the local colour of the objects may be. 
 A similar effect is sometimes seen with regard to light and 
 shadow in the distance, which are so blended by the opacity 
 of the glowing rays as to present no opposition except 
 in colour, the shadows appearing equally resplendent with 
 the lights, a slight variation in tint being all that marks 
 
24 
 
 ATMOSPHERE. 
 
 the light from the shadow ; thus in this instance destroy¬ 
 ing the contrast of light and shadow, but replacing its 
 exciting effect by a soft and delicious repose, which 
 amply compensates the departure from the general prin¬ 
 ciple. 
 
 We may see a proof of the effect of the atmosphere upon 
 the colour of the light in the ever changing appearance of 
 the sea, as seen from the shore. If we spend a few minutes 
 in steady contemplation of this grand object on an unsettled 
 day, we may perceive its surface assume almost every variety 
 of tint in as many minutes, according as the light passes 
 through clouds of different density, Tor though cloud is 
 not, strictly speaking, the atmosphere, yet it is composed 
 of the same material and is only different in density, and 
 shows the principle in a more emphatic because somewhat 
 exaggerated way. The light itself is of course yellow, but 
 the different densities of the atmosphere cause the surface 
 upon which the light is thrown to assume the several 
 variations of colour alluded to. 
 
 By a constant endeavour thus to trace the cause of so 
 great a change in the appearance and colour of objects 
 during the progress of the sun from east to west, and by 
 observing how certain colours are affected by the opposition 
 of those of a different hue, and the beautiful gradations 
 occasioned by the intervening and ever varying atmosphere, 
 the student may at length, by adding practice to his obser¬ 
 vations, acquire so true a feeling for colour, as to be able 
 to rely upon his eye with confidence. 
 
 In thus dissecting , however, the various appearances oX 
 
ATMOSPHERE. 
 
 25 
 
 Nature, we are not to suppose that all effects we may 
 witness are worth preserving. Something more than the 
 mere common look of Nature is necessary to call forth 
 admiration—a knowledge of Nature in her happiest mo¬ 
 ments; either when the combinations of colour and atmo¬ 
 sphere are in most perfect harmony, or, on the other hand, 
 when by a powerful opposition the same scene acquires a 
 greater interest and increased splendour from the broad 
 masses of warm and cool colour. 
 
 Besides this, as we cannot by means of paper or any 
 artificial medium rival the brightness of light, and as there¬ 
 fore by following the true gradation of the colours we see 
 we should sink into blackness in the shadows, we are com¬ 
 pelled to adopt a certain artificial scale of colouring, and 
 introduce arbitrary methods by which to force the effect 
 which we cannot imitate in its true gradation; and we thus 
 obtain brightness by using more positive colours than the 
 tints we see in Nature. Thus distance will on this principle 
 be represented by blue, a church tower by dark grey, dark 
 mountains by purple, and so on, as may be suggested by 
 the subject, instead of adhering strictly to the more modest 
 and sombre hues of Nature. 
 
 If this licence be objected to on the score of departure 
 from truth, we must remember that Painting is an art, and 
 therefore requires some contrivance and ingenuity: that 
 could scarcely be called an art which requires no study, 
 no contrivance, no mental ingenuity to accomplish; and 
 it is fairly and legitimately the province of the Artist to call 
 in such aids as will enable him the more readily to complete 
 
26 
 
 ATMOSPHERE. 
 
 his picture, which should be a selected assemblage of 
 beautiful incidents. 
 
 These remarks become necessary for sketching out of doors, 
 because attention to them will induce us to seek brightness in 
 the sketch, without which we shall never attain brightness 
 in the finished picture. 
 
KEEPING. 
 
 27 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 KEEPING 
 
 THE PRESERVATION OF RELATIVE DISTANCES MOST IMPORTANT IN SKETCHING— 
 THE NEUTRAL TINT SYSTEM ADVANTAGEOUS TO BEGINNERS — THIS SYSTEM 
 EMPLOYED BY TURNER AS A MEANS OF EDUCATING HIS EYE—AIR, SPACE, 
 AND FRESHNESS, TO BE SOUGHT BEFORE COLOUR — THE NEUTRAL SYSTEM 
 FURNISHES AIDS TO THEIR ACQUIREMENT—AN ILLUSTRATION, WITH REMARKS 
 ON ITS TREATMENT—THE SYSTEM A STEPPING-STONE TO COLOUR THOUGH USED 
 ONLY FOR COMMENCING THE SKETCH—BOLDNESS TO BE AIMED AT—HURRY IS 
 NOT SPEED—MEMORY AN AID TO SPEED—A GRAMMAR OF EFFECT NECESSARY TO 
 RAPIDITY OF EXECUTION —TONE — RELIEF — THE BRUSH SUPERIOR TO THE 
 PENCIL. 
 
 The first care of the Sketcher, after securing his pencil 
 outline, will be to prevent confusion in the various 
 distances. Without this, however correct in form, or 
 elaborate in execution, the sketch will be a huddled mass, 
 disagreeable to the spectator and unsatisfactory to the 
 student, who may, nevertheless, have spent much time and 
 pains in elaborating the scene. 
 
 “ The extreme and middle distances of a picture are so 
 important and so beautiful, that considerable care and 
 thought should be devoted to them. Such mystery, such 
 
28 
 
 KEEPING. 
 
 softness, such grandeur, such simplicity are their charac¬ 
 teristics, that the best efforts of the mind must be directed 
 to the just representation of each class. The indications 
 of form are often so faint that we must loot again and 
 again before their meaning is comprehended; and we must 
 yet always give such intention to our work that, however 
 indistinctly the form may have been rendered, the spectator 
 can only imagine the object to be that which it was 
 positively our intention he should imagine it to be.”* 
 
 When your general outline is finished, get a tint of 
 colour over everything. Use as little water as possible : this 
 saves time in drying, and gives a bolder effect at once. Shut 
 out the white paper as soon as you can, except in the sky and 
 the high lights in the foreground; this gives you confidence 
 by getting solidity, and unites the scene and realizes it. Begin 
 tinting with the distance, and work towards the foreground, 
 or you may get the distance awkwardly strong. Always begin 
 with a tint of blue, however pale, as it imparts confidence 
 by securing at once some resemblance to the atmosphere, 
 which is generally more or less blue in the remote distance. 
 I recommend beginners always to lay in a first tint of grey 
 and brown throughout the subject: the Keeping is made 
 certain by this plan, and the colours may be added 
 afterwards with so much greater confidence when you have 
 thus prevented confusion in your distances, by using a 
 pale grey to express the distance, and gently graduating 
 this with yellowish brown up to the foreground, which may 
 be a tolerably strong tint of this neutral colour. “The 
 
 * Penley. 
 
KEEPING. 
 
 29 
 
 shade and the distance, on this system, are rendered in the 
 general hue which best expresses their attributes of coolness 
 and transparency ; and the lights and the foreground are 
 executed in that which best expresses then’ warmth and 
 solidity. The idea of space, warmth, and freshness not 
 being successfully expressible in a single tint, and being 
 perfectly expressible by the admission of three or four, the 
 student may allow himself this advantage when it is pos¬ 
 sible, without embarrassing liimself with the actual colour 
 of the objects to be represented/’’* 
 
 This theory, as a means of educating his eye, was 
 carried out by the celebrated Turner with great severity for 
 some years, till it became more or less modified by the 
 cautious introduction of colour as the painter felt his 
 liberty increasing. “ Gradually and cautiously the blues 
 became mingled with delicate green, and then with gold; 
 the browns in the foreground became first more positive, 
 and then were slightly mingled with other local colours; 
 while the touch, which had at first been heavy and broken 
 grew more and more refined and expressive, until it lost 
 itself in a method of execution often too delicate for the 
 eye to follow, rendering with unexampled precision both 
 the texture and the form of every object/’* 
 
 We must not forget that a far higher attainment than 
 the practice of Colour merely, is that which Colour itself 
 cannot represent—which cannot be strictly said to have 
 even form—namely, air, space, freshness. These are the 
 magic charms in a landscape, and to re-present these is 
 
 * Ruskin. 
 
30 
 
 KEEPING. 
 
 to enable one to enjoy over again tbe charms of a favourite 
 scene, and to call up all the associations with which it is 
 connected. Therefore, any system which gives facility in 
 representing these effects, is, without doubt, a valuable aid 
 in acquiring the Art of Painting. Turner was content to 
 labour' on in this limited medium for many years, and 
 refused to add more complicated colours to his palette till 
 he had thoroughly acquired the faculty of representing 
 Nature in all her forms; and to such an extent did he 
 carry this abstinence, that his fellow-students at the 
 Academy, who were conscious of his superior power in 
 drawing, thought he could not colour at all; and they 
 expressed this hope loud enough for it to reach his ears. 
 “ The engraver of one of his most important marine pictures 
 relates that one day Turner came into his room to examine 
 the progress of the plate, not having seen his picture for 
 some months. It was one of Iris early pictures, executed 
 in the severe manner described; but in the foreground 
 was a little piece of luxury—a pearly fish wrought into 
 hues like those of an opal. He stood before the picture 
 for some moments, then laughed, and pointing joyously to 
 the fish, said, ‘ They say Turner can’t colour !’ and turned 
 away. About this time, he began to introduce colour in 
 tender passages with evident joyfulness and longing in Iris 
 rude and simple studies—just as a cliild, if it could be 
 supposed to govern itself by a fully developed intellect, 
 would cautiously, but with infinite pleasure, add now and 
 then a tiny dish of fruit, or other dangerous luxury, to 
 the simple order of its daily fare. Whenever the hues 
 
KEEPING. 
 
 31 
 
 of nature in anywise fell into his system, and could be 
 caught without a dangerous departure from it, he threw his 
 whole soul into the faithful rendering of them. Thus the 
 usual brown tones of his foreground became warmed into 
 sudden vigour, and were varied and enhanced with inde¬ 
 scribable delight, when he found himself by the shore of a 
 moorland stream, where they truly expressed the stain of 
 its golden rocks and the darkness of its clear Cairngorm¬ 
 like pools; and the usual serenity of his aerial blue became 
 enriched into the softness and depth of the sapphire when 
 it would deepen the distant slumber of some Highland 
 lake, or temper the gloomy shadows of the evening upon 
 its hills.-”* 
 
 In the same cautious manner should the student gradually 
 acquaint himself with the less obvious but more really telling 
 powers of his art before he passes on to Colour. Indeed, 
 the Neutral Tint system, much in vogue in the last century 
 and now revived, may be viewed as a necessary intermediate 
 step between Black-and-white and Colour. Not only are 
 the tints employed very expressive, but the system gra¬ 
 dually familiarizes the mind with Colour, by the use of a 
 smaller number of tints at first, and prevents being dazzled 
 and perplexed by having a multiplicity of colours at com¬ 
 mand before the mind has power to command them. It 
 teaches the student also to value Air and Space, and not to 
 be ensnared by gaudy colours to the neglect of those much 
 more real and important essentials to Art. This is advisable 
 for those persons even who are capable of copying coloured 
 
 * Ruskin. 
 
32 
 
 KEEPING. 
 
 drawings, because, as before stated, you do not really know 
 the value or proper use of colours till you come to apply 
 them to the actual representation of objects out of doors. 
 You will therefore find it best to begin with one or two 
 colours at first—say Indian ink, with Indigo for the back¬ 
 ground—thus first, and in some small degree, identifying 
 the colour of your drawing with that of the visible object. 
 This, if carefully used, will give you a satisfaction and an 
 interest in your work you have not felt before; and you 
 are more likely by these gradual steps to acquire a feeling 
 for atmosphere and effect, and the more subtle and spiritual 
 parts of the Art, which must not be allowed to settle down 
 in your mind as a mere capability of copying natural objects 
 without regard to pictorial effect, or you will miss that 
 brilliancy and power which is your especial aim. 
 
 Of the two colours mentioned, the Indian ink alone will 
 furnish every tint you require for the foreground, and you 
 may venture to introduce delicately a warmer tint, (Bistre, 
 for instance) where you feel it will bear it, and especially in 
 the parts in sunlight; and the mixture of Bistre and 
 Indian ink will give you a mellow T greenish hue for the 
 trees, the Indigo alone, reduced to a pale tint, serving for 
 the sky and distance. When you find you know your way 
 so far, you may add a yellowish tint in your next attempt, 
 but go no further till you feel you have mastered these. 
 The next step will be an olive or citrine for any deep tones 
 in the middle distance, and this enlargement you must 
 practise again and again if you wish to lay a sound found¬ 
 ation. Afterwards you may add a greater variety, but do 
 
KEEPING. 
 
 33 
 
 not venture to use a colour freely till you feel its value 
 for expression. 
 
 As illustrations of the happy effect of the neutral style 
 of tinting, even for finished landscapes, I may mention the 
 free use now made of it in printing in colours, especially 
 in illustrating musical publications, where three or four 
 tints afford ample scope for an effective picture. Most 
 of these are executed in lithography, but the illustrations 
 of a book called “A Woman’s Journey round the World,” 
 printed on the same principle from wood blocks, deserves 
 notice on account of the great softness communicated by 
 this method to the comparatively harsh and untractable 
 severity of wood-engraving. One of the best examples, 
 however, for our purpose is a lithographic drawing of the 
 Cove of Cork, printed in three neutral tints, brown, brownish 
 yellow, and grey, and the outline and shadow etched up by 
 a fourth, black. A description of the treatment may be 
 useful as an illustration of the system. 
 
 At the upper part of the picture the sky is clear, and 
 gradually warms towards the horizon, winch is closed by 
 distant hills. The sun, within an hour or so of setting, is 
 near the centre, flanked by clouds, and throws its rays 
 across the still waters of the intervening harbour, up to 
 the foreground, which consists of the open slope of a 
 hill overlooking the water and also an esplanade below. 
 The harbour is full of vessels of different sizes, some of 
 the sails of which catch a light from the opposite luminary. 
 On the left, and in middle distance, is the town, which 
 from the height of the foreground displays lines of roofs; 
 
 D 
 
34 
 
 KEEPING. 
 
 and beyond these, and still to the left, is the church tower. 
 From the foreground slope, and against the middle distance, 
 is reared a graceful acacia or similar tree, and other trees 
 of lower stature adorn the continuation of the slope. Be¬ 
 neath the acacia, and on the left of the foreground, are 
 several figures, in different positions and in various attire— 
 some seated, some walking, some standing; figures also 
 are seen on the esplanade below. So much for the de¬ 
 scription : now for the treatment. The sky is of a light 
 aerial blue, gradually warmed by pale yellow as it ap¬ 
 proaches the horizon; and the greenish hue otherwise 
 inevitable from the mixture of these colours is prevented 
 by the use of the slightest tint of black. The hills are 
 bluish, with a delicate tint of black for the shadows; and 
 at their base the distant edge of the water is defined by a 
 long line of pale yellow light, against which appears the 
 rigging of the vessels near the distant shore. The water 
 itself is principally composed of the bluish grey of the sky, 
 except the path of the sun’s rays across it, which is nearly 
 white up to the near shore, but retires into pale grey, 
 slightly warmed by yellow where it joins the horizontal 
 line of light. A small vessel is sailing across the broad 
 band of rays, and strongly opposed to this full light is a 
 building on the edge of the quay, the unpicturesque shapes 
 of whose roofs are judiciously lost in shadow. The broad 
 esplanade, of a brownish yellow, is dotted over with a 
 number of figures, whose long shadows thrown by the 
 setting sun towards the front of the picture give an air of 
 reality and vivacity to the drawing. On the right of the 
 
KEEPING. 
 
 35 
 
 quay appear tlie sails of a number of vessels in harbour, 
 the lights being yellow and the shadows brown, with the 
 rigging and markings sharply defined in black. The 
 roofs of the houses are in grey (the local colour of the 
 slates), and the front of the principal line is allowed to 
 stand out nearly white, to give relief to the dark building 
 before it. The bold tree in the foreground is executed 
 in yellow and yellow brown, with very positive touches of 
 black for shadow; and a strong yellow light falls on the 
 trunk near its base. The other trees retire into a half tint 
 composed of the yellow and bluish grey, which are here 
 allowed to form a neutral green. The foreground figures 
 have the benefit of all the tints in their full strength, to 
 give force and variety to this part of the subject; and 
 the white paper plays no insignificant part in strengthening 
 and enhancing the contrast. The grey colour is diffused 
 wherever it is at all admissible, for the purpose of giving 
 air and space; and the play of light on the water in a 
 portion of the dock cut off from the harbour by the dark 
 buildings is at once fresh and telling, and prevents a hot 
 and dusty effect from the. use of so much brown. The 
 prevalence of this aerial tint about the buildings forming 
 the town shows how much may be done by a judicious use 
 of a limited range of tints, while the depth of the per¬ 
 spective, entailing the difficulty of a bird's-eye view, is 
 prevented from detracting from the beauty of the drawing. 
 The tout ensemble has much of the force, richness of tone, 
 and atmosphere of a water-colour drawing, though composed 
 on this limited scale of tints and printed by the hundred. 
 
 d 2 
 
36 
 
 KEEPING. 
 
 The use of chalk in the lithographing is certainly a draw¬ 
 back, as it lessens the purity of the distance; but if copied 
 in water-colours this deficiency would disappear. 
 
 Such studies would be well worth the labour of the 
 student, if only as stepping stones to the higher range of 
 colour; and we shall make a better and fuller use of the 
 richer tints when we venture upon them, if we first learn 
 to husband and bring out such resources as we possess, 
 and resolve to employ the full powers of each medium. 
 But in any case, whether the student follows out the system 
 fully or not, it will assist him materially in commencing his 
 sketch by separating the distances, and when he has 
 secured them the true colours may be laid in; and the 
 neutral tints employed iu the first blot, if slightly touched 
 in, will not interfere with the effect of the subsequent 
 colours, but will on the other hand save time by preventing 
 confusion in the relative distances, and consequent re¬ 
 touching to recover them. Those who feel strong enough 
 may do without this stepping-stone, by using their colour 
 boldly at once : for the more advanced student it is not 
 intended, but for the timid hand who is at present feeling 
 his way, and would gladly grasp a friendly guide-post. 
 We know that Keeping is one of the first difficulties to 
 the young Sketcher in Colours, and this method may be 
 said to be suggested by Nature herself. 
 
 Passing on to the use of the more positive colours, 
 your next object is to get in the light and shadow, and 
 on them show the detail. “ The colours should be put in 
 at once with boldness, and should afterwards be as little 
 
KEEPING. 
 
 37 
 
 disturbed as possible. Lay tlie tints boldly at once to the 
 edge of tlie outline, and not by repeated touches, or timidly 
 dragging the brush backwards and forwards. Have plenty 
 of colour iu your brush, that it may float freely, for on this 
 the cleanness of the work depends/' Do not be afraid of 
 the depth of colour iu a first wash, even if you think you 
 have given it too strongly. To reduce it by blotting- 
 paper spoils its crispness: it will dry lighter than you 
 suppose, and the apparent depth of tone will be also dimi¬ 
 nished by the surrounding tints as your work proceeds. 
 This timid retracting is the ruin of many a promising sketch. 
 Get boldness first—never fear : if the tint should prove too 
 strong, avoid it in future, but by all means keep up the spirit 
 of your sketch now by refusing to soften. A little harshness 
 is a far less dangerous error than the habit of retreating 
 as fast as you advance. You will never get boldness and 
 decision by allowing yourself this contradictory hesitation. 
 
 Observe most rigidly the form of every portion of colour 
 you apply. Every touch should be decided in its intention, 
 and have a form consistent with the character of the object 
 to be represented. Be careful to leave the edges of the 
 tints undisturbed, as this gives air, and prevents the sketcli 
 from looking like a coloured print. Don’t be afraid of 
 the edge of the under tint not being covered; the raw edge 
 is the very thing that gives spirit to the drawing: let in 
 light wherever you can. 
 
 You will require at least three washes to express your 
 meaning—high light, middle tint, and shade. Take care 
 to get the first broad and flat, and the others will give 
 
38 
 
 KEEPING. 
 
 what finish you require for a slight sketch. You must not 
 expect to get the effect by one wash only—it is not to be 
 done in water-colours : you must wait between the washes 
 till each is dry. You might paint in the effect at once in 
 body colour, but of that we are not treating now. You 
 may get a bold effect now and then by using your colour 
 very thick, but not till after you have got in your general 
 effect, and are pretty forward with your work. Be 
 careful, then, about your first or under tints; remember 
 they will be your lights, and must serve you in good 
 stead throughout your sketch. Have them bright enough: 
 they are easily subdued if too staring, but you cannot get 
 brightness out of dulness. Have them pure, for you 
 cannot get purity afterwards. Have them flat, or they 
 will not tell when shut in by the after tints. Be patient, 
 and let your tint dry before you touch it again. Many a 
 good sketch is spoilt by hurry. If you have a good clean 
 tint, be fearful of disturbing it—it turns muddy if you 
 touch it before it is dry: you don't save time by that, 
 but lose it; you want to seize the effect as it flits past; 
 but this will not do it—you only flurry yourself by 
 dashing at nothing. Painting must take time. You 
 can do nothing in colour worth looking at in less than 
 two hours, so don’t be deceived : if you have not this 
 time at your disposal, be content with a pencil outline. 
 But supposing you have time, and the effect should 
 pass while your wash is drying, you must colour from 
 memory : drying takes but a minute or two, and it will 
 exercise your powers of retention. It is related of the 
 
KEEPING. 
 
 39 
 
 famous Turner, that his memory was so true that he painted 
 a man-of-war from recollection between breakfast and 
 dinner, and put in with exactness and truth all its rigging, 
 masts, and spars. 
 
 First learn how to produce certain effects, and you will 
 not then find it difficult to store them in your memory for 
 use as you require them. You are learning nothing new 
 in the Art of Painting—thousands have gone through this 
 process before you; you are only seeking to chronicle 
 your own experience. The scenes you commit to paper 
 have, and will have, a peculiar charm to you, and perhaps 
 to your friends if you represent them faithfully. They 
 may be new scenes, but they are not seen under new effects. 
 'fliese have been already witnessed again and again; you 
 yourself have seen the same effect represented in former 
 pictures; but the charm lies in producing them yourself 
 from Nature. You recognise, in fact, the effect that you 
 see—you have admired it elsewhere. Aim, then, at facility 
 in producing these effects in general, and you will easily 
 apply and vary that knowledge as you require it. Aim at 
 acquiring a kind of grammar of effect, just as in reading 
 music the habitue recognises a certain set of notes from 
 their frequent recurrence, and which is even called by 
 musical people a phrase, alluding to the similar re¬ 
 currence of certain words in the composition of a sentence. 
 This habit will tend to rapidity of execution far more than 
 any hurried manner of using the brush. It is knowledge 
 that leads to decision, which is the secret of rapidity. 
 
 Tone is scarcely to be expected in a Sketch, which is 
 
40 
 
 KEEPING. 
 
 more a rough memorandum for a future work than an 
 object to bear criticism; yet still there mnst be sufficient 
 indication of the relative bearings of the parts of the 
 painting, to allow of tone being infused when the sketch 
 comes to be nsed as the foundation of the finished pictnre. 
 The Foreground, for instance, should be paler generally 
 than the other parts of the work, and should contain more 
 absolute high lights, though the shadows may be deep and 
 sharp, which then aid the paleness of the light. This 
 gives a freshness which nothing else can produce, and 
 tends very much to breadth of effect. The white paper 
 should be allowed to give the high light in the foreground, 
 as this not only saves time but gives a brightness to the 
 work, and aids the Keeping. All lights in the middle and 
 remote distance, having been covered with a tint, will 
 therefore retire, and allow the raw lights in front to stand 
 boldly forward. By this plan you gain all the force your 
 medium allows you. Every picture, to be sparkling, must 
 embrace both ends of the scale—the highest light as 
 well as the deepest shade, however few and wide may be 
 the steps between them, however boldly the range may be 
 bestrode; though there are, alas! too many instances to 
 the contrary. 
 
 The Middle Distance, again, should be especially deep in 
 tone, for this may be considered the principal shade in the 
 picture, as the sky is the principal light ; and if any lines 
 occur, they should be kept as horizontal as possible, to aid 
 the effect of retiring. But in order to counteract the 
 heaviness inseparable from a large mass of shade, it is 
 
KEEPING. 
 
 41 
 
 necessary that some objects much darker in tone than the 
 general shade of the middle distance should be introduced, 
 and in the effective placing of these lies the skill of 
 the Artist. A little experience will suggest where these 
 dark points should appear. Howard, in his “ Sketched s 
 Manual,” gives positive rules for their introduction, or, at 
 any rate, tells us where they ought not to be—for instance, 
 not in the centre, or equidistant between any two principal 
 divisions of the picture. As to what to make these points 
 of, that must be left to your ingenuity. The sudden deep¬ 
 ening of the heart of a shadow may do much to give relief 
 to a mass. You may venture to introduce a figure, perhaps; 
 or, if you have not time to make out the detail, put yopr 
 point of effect in, at any rate, and trust to your ingenuity 
 to give it form at home, where you may turn it into any 
 shape you choose that is consistent with the scene; but 
 the dark spot you must have , to give the feeling of space 
 and relief to the mass. 
 
 A variety of effects of light are frequently the result of 
 accident. The colours run together in a manner altogether 
 unexpected, and with an effect not to be produced by aim. 
 This is particularly the case with the remote distance : 
 where separate tints are placed on the damp paper, they 
 run together and harmonize without destroying each other's 
 hue, and when dry will suggest the idea of corn-fields, 
 ploughed lands, and meadows, of which an ingenious artist 
 will readily avail himself. It requires, certainly, an ardent 
 imagination, as well as skill and practice, to seize these 
 accidents and turn them to the best advantage, but 
 
42 
 
 KEEPING. 
 
 the opportunities frequently occur from the rapidity with 
 which the work is necessarily carried on. This is where 
 Colour has a decided advantage over Black-and-white. No 
 pencil sketch could ever be thus suggestive of fine effects. 
 Indeed, Colour is the most natural and simple way of 
 representing Nature : Black-and-white, and its modifica¬ 
 tions, give but a conventional translation of her effects, 
 and her various colours are but studiedly and labouredly 
 represented by tints of grey. It may be the best medium 
 for elementary instruction in Art, and, indeed, is most 
 essential for outline at all times ; but it is a medium 
 elaborated by professors, and not immediately suggested by 
 Nature. 
 
 But apart from Colour, the use of the brush gives power, 
 from the facility of getting a mass of tint at once. Even 
 in Sepia, or Indian ink, harsh as it is, we gain more 
 readiness of effect by these means : while niggling with the 
 point of the pencil you lose the effect, and your imagina¬ 
 tion cools. Imagine a scene-painter doomed to produce 
 his fine bold effects with a point, instead of dashing them in 
 with a tool charged from a pailful of colour! Every one 
 must have felt, in the use of the black-lead pencil, a 
 certain degree of impatience at the slow progress he is 
 compelled to make by using a point merely, and has 
 naturally wished for a more expeditious manner of ob¬ 
 taining effect; and this is obtained by the use of the 
 brush, which gives the power of producing a breadth of 
 tint of whatever strength or delicacy may suit the purpose. 
 
CONTRAST. 
 
 43 
 
 . CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 CONTRAST. 
 
 CONTRAST OF COLOURS TO BE SEEN IN THE LIGHTS AND SHADOWS OF NATURE— 
 THE BEGINNER THWARTED IN PRACTICE BY HIS PREVIOUS HABITS IN BLACK-AND- 
 WHITE—SUNRISE OR SUNSET THE BEST TIME FOR SKETCHING—THE SECRET OF 
 COLOUR LIES IN SHADING ; THE TRUE COLOUR TO BE SEEN IN HALF-TINT ; LIGHT 
 “PALES*’ THE COLOUR, AND SHADE “DULLS” IT—BOLD STYLE OF COLOURING 
 SEEN IN BURFORD’S PANORAMAS USEFUL TO THE SKETCHER—HOW HIS EFFECTS 
 ARE OBTAINED—INSTANCES OF POSITIVE CONTRAST IN LIGHT AND SHADOW— 
 WHAT TO AVOID IN COLOURING—HARMONY, AND HOW FAR NECESSARY TO A 
 SKETCH. 
 
 The next important point in a sketch, and that which 
 gives it value and character, is Contrast. In the practice 
 of Black-and-white this is confined to light and shadow 
 and to the disposition of lines. Though both are necessary 
 in works of Colour, yet, as you are supposed to have mas¬ 
 tered them already, we pass them by, and confine our 
 attention to contrast of colours, which gives the principal 
 charm to Painting, and places it above the practice of Black- 
 and-white. As our present object is to avoid the dullness 
 complained of by the student, we shall be content, if we 
 can but obtain brightness, to err on the side of crudity. 
 
44 
 
 CONTRAST. 
 
 and will leave mellowness of tone to follow as a natural 
 result of the education of the eye. 
 
 Power does not consist in strong and gay colours, but 
 is entirely the result of proper combinations and contrasts. 
 Two contrasting tones must be brought together, and the 
 power of each will then be felt. “ In aiming at opposition 
 of colour, we must select that which gives force to the 
 foreground, and consequently communicates the appearance 
 of air to the distance. Thus, if the general tone of the 
 light be warm and yellow, we should have blues and purples 
 in the foreground; if the lights be cool, reds and yellows 
 in the foreground give atmosphere to the distance, as neither 
 of these colours in a positive state is found in the middle 
 or remote distance. Some subjects possess a milder har¬ 
 mony than others, or rather, admit of less opposition, as 
 in the effect of early morning or after sunset, where the 
 force arises from opposing light and shade rather than 
 colour, and where cool and warm colours are brought 
 into harmony by a more tender gradation/’* 
 
 A good first lesson in Sketching in Colour will be to 
 put in your shadows with the colour opposite to the object 
 in light. You are already aware of the three principal 
 contrasts—blue opposed to orange, red to green, yellow to 
 purple; and by carrying out this principle of opposition 
 throughout the scale, you will obtain an endless variety of 
 contrasts.! Remember, a colour and its opposite mutually 
 
 * Phillips. 
 
 f See Field’s “ Grammar of Colour,” for the elucidation of this 
 principle. 
 
CONTRAST. 
 
 45 
 
 increase in interest as they approach, bnt when once they 
 mingle they destroy or neutralize each other. 
 
 Comparatively, all shadows in Nature are true contrasts 
 to their lights. ( Comparatively , because the colour of each 
 is modified by the effect of atmosphere.) Proceeding on 
 tliis principle will prevent the tame and dull effect produced 
 so often by forming the shadow with a deeper tone of the 
 same colour as the part in light. It is this principally that 
 distinguishes the sketch of the artist from that of the learner. 
 The tyro is so accustomed to form his shadow' in Black-and- 
 white by merely using a greater depth of the same tint, that 
 he insensibly carries this practice into Painting, and thus 
 loses the advantage of contrast that an opposite colour 
 would give him, and his work is tame and feeble in pro¬ 
 portion. Let him begin by taking extreme cases, and he 
 will gradually acquire the power of perception of the colours 
 of Nature, which are really contrasted when the inexperi¬ 
 enced eye does not detect the fact; and this because his 
 perception is blinded by his knowledge of the local colours 
 of the objects as seen independent of the effect of the atmo¬ 
 sphere. He is apt to colour things, not as he sees them 
 under particular effects of light, but as he knows their 
 local colour independent of light. Por instance, in a warm 
 sunset, the corner of a white house in light is absolutely 
 yellow, and the side that turns the corner in shadow' 
 is absolutely purple—a most direct and intense contrast. 
 In this case, perhaps, the learner would perceive the colour, 
 but in a less obvious instance he would probably render 
 the light by a pale stone colour, and the shadow by a 
 
46 
 
 CONTRAST. 
 
 deeper tone of the same, and thus lose the beauty of the 
 contrast. Take another instance. In the autumn, by the 
 sea-side, the sun sets in clouds of rich crimson, and opposed 
 to this mass is the surface of the sea, a cool, pale greyish- 
 green ; and every wave and ripple is a repetition of this con¬ 
 trast, every light being pink, and every shadow a pearly 
 
 grey. 
 
 It may be said that these contrasts arise from the warmth 
 of the sun’s light at his rising or setting. Granted; and 
 I would choose no other time for Sketching from Nature 
 than when the shadows are long, and the atmosphere is 
 enriched by the glories of the rising or sinking luminary. 
 Then we catch the bright sparkling lights on the stems and 
 leaves in the foreground; then the distance is rendered 
 more enchanting by the cool mist of early morning, or the 
 warm haze of sunset; then the deep tones of the middle 
 distance are strengthened and brought out, and a solemnity 
 obtained which by contrast gives brilliancy to the fore¬ 
 ground, and throws back the extreme distance. In the 
 mid-day, on the contrary, the light is too strong and pale, 
 the shadows are short and central, the stems are covered 
 from the light, and a great means of beauty is thus lost to 
 the eye. 
 
 The principal art in colouring may be said to lie in the 
 shading, which indeed forms by far the largest part of the 
 picture. The light, except on flat surfaces, occupies but 
 a tip of the object; all the rest is more or less in shadow, 
 and therefore the local colour is more or less modified and 
 altered by it. In high lights you may plainly see that the 
 
CONTRAST. 
 
 47 
 
 local colour is diminished by the light; indeed, it is asserted 
 by some that colour is the absence of light, but this is at 
 least paradoxical. However, if you look at a soldier’s 
 scarlet jacket in the sunshine, you will observe that the 
 high light, though brighter, is less intensely scarlet than 
 that part which retires into half-tint, or rather which is 
 between the high light and half-tint. You may see this 
 very clearly in the folds of satin ; and in velvet it is so 
 striking, that the part where the light falls is many degrees 
 paler than the absolute colour of the stuff. Indeed, the 
 true colour is to be found just where it passes into half¬ 
 tint. The high light is pale, and the shadow is always 
 more or less grey or neutral: the light pales the colour, 
 and the shade dulls it. 
 
 Dark objects in light are often paler than light objects in 
 shadow, as may be seen in the instance of a stone-coloured 
 house at sunset. The dark slates on the roof are positively 
 paler than the shadow side of the yellow walls under it. Under 
 a broad glare of light, the local colour of the sea is only seen 
 in the interruption of the light caused by the shadow of a boat 
 or other object on its surface; all else partakes of the lumi¬ 
 nous glare of the sky, and its own local colour is entirely lost. 
 
 The practice of painting on a large scale would be of great 
 assistance to the Sketcher. Some of Burford’s panoramas 
 —examined by a strong glass, if you cannot get near enough 
 with the naked eye—will show you how he uses colour. 
 The scarlet robe of an Asiatic has but a touch or two of 
 pure scarlet throughout; the high lights are orange, and 
 the rest is purplish, or dull brown, or absolutely black; 
 
48 
 
 CONTRAST. 
 
 yet how wonderfully effective is his colouring when viewed 
 at a proper focus ! An amber robe is treated iu the same 
 way—very pale yellow, almost white, for the high light, 
 passing through gradations of golden hues in the half-tints, 
 till the shadows in the deepest folds are nearly black; and 
 yet all is transparent and true, and the colours all separate 
 and distinct as block-printing, without the slightest attempt 
 at softening or mingling or finish; that is done by the 
 eve of the spectator, and it would spoil the transparent effect 
 to attempt it by the hand of the artist. 
 
 The following instances of positive contrast are taken at 
 random from the works of good colourists. The cast 
 shadow of a pink bow on a white dress expressed by warm 
 brown. An old castle, the lights in the colour prevailing 
 in the atmosphere, half-tint in grey, shadows in rich brown. 
 A reddish-brown shadow to green drapery. Purple shadows 
 to flesh. As a general ride, warm shadows to cool lights— 
 cool shadows to warm lights. Rubens and Sir Thomas 
 Lawrence both used pure lake as shadows of green leaves in 
 the foreground. Reflections may be of any colour that 
 suit your purpose. 
 
 There are plenty of pictures, doubtless, to be found where 
 the colour of a shadow is produced by a deeper tint of the 
 colour of the light; but this is not an advisable style to 
 follow, nor is it following Nature, nor the best artists. 
 G. Barret says : “ It appears to me that the faulty represen¬ 
 tation of flowers consists merely in painting those parts in 
 shade with positive colour—the shade on a blue flower with 
 a stronger tint of blue—of a red with a darker red, &c. 
 
CONTRAST. 
 
 49 
 
 Sorely this is a great error, seeing that colour is the res nit 
 of light; and in proportion to the decrease of light, colour 
 will be diminished, and be finally nearly lost in the depth 
 of shade.” 
 
 We must, in conclusion, add as a caution, that there are 
 certain effects which may invariably be set down as dis¬ 
 agreeable, and therefore to be avoided. Such are greenish- 
 blues and greenish-yellows, they both appear sickly. “ Never 
 place such a green between blue and yellow as would result 
 from the mixture of the particular tints of those two colours 
 that are made use of. Bluish-greens must either be very 
 pale, or so moderated with black as to be nearly neutral. 
 Both blue and yellow become agreeable as they incline to 
 red. Bed becomes rich as it inclines to blue, brilliant as 
 it inclines to yellow. All shades of purple and orange are 
 agreeable, but only such greens as incline to yellow. All 
 shades and tints of the tertiary compounds—citrine, olive, 
 and russet—are agreeable in their places, receive value by 
 contrasts of their own shades, and are only difficult to 
 manage when they approach full bluish-green. Green 
 must be sparingly used, even in landscape, whose greatest 
 charm consists of luxuriance of vegetation; yet so it is, 
 and such experience shows to be the case. The general 
 tone of a picture may be yellow, red, blue, grey, or brown; 
 but a green picture, however true to Nature, becomes 
 instantly disagreeable, and if ever a green picture has 
 been admired, it has been, not in consequence, but in spite 
 of its being green.”* 
 
 * Howard. 
 
 E 
 
50 
 
 CONTRAST. 
 
 Both white and black give value to all colours and tones 
 by contrast, and are particularly useful to the Sketcher, as 
 they give force of effect at once, without disturbing the 
 relation of the tints to each other. 
 
 As the word Harmony has been occasionally used, it may 
 be as well, before taking leave of Contrast, just to point 
 out how far it affects the Sketcher, although its principal 
 use has reference to the finished picture. 
 
 Harmony is the art of uniting the extremes of light and 
 shadow or of warm and cool colour in a picture, by the 
 introduction of such intermediate tones as will subdue the 
 crudeness of effect caused by the use of opposites alone 
 and unbroken. The crude masses of light are broken 
 down by introducing half-lights, which partially unite them 
 to the dark masses; and the strong and positive raw 
 colours in contrast are united by a half-tint made of the 
 colours so opposed. Thus the primary colours (red, 
 yellow, and blue) are opposed or in contrast to the 
 secondaries, (green, purple, and orange) respectively, when 
 standing together, but become united and harmonised by 
 the friendly intervention of a neutral interposed between 
 them. This is the case with all compound tints, however 
 far removed from the primary colours and first mixtures, 
 the qualities of colour being always brought out by 
 harmonious opposition; but a further mixture beyond the 
 tertiaries (citrine, olive and russet) without great caution 
 produces blackness, as the degrees of neutrality are then 
 scarcely observable. 
 
CONTEAST. 
 
 51 
 
 Harmony, then, consists in using such neutrals between 
 those colours or tones that are opposed, as may diminish 
 the violence of the contrast and conceal the aim of the 
 artist in bringing them together, which would otherwise be 
 so obvious as not only to offend the eye, but to diminish 
 the interest of the picture. This is all we want to know 
 of Harmony in sketching from Nature; a more intricate 
 system would only puzzle the beginner, and could not be 
 used to any purpose out of doors. Considered with refer¬ 
 ence to Sketching, it is simply that expedient which the 
 force or contrast we especially seek compels us to 
 adopt; and is useful to this extent—that by it we secure 
 that force -without which our work would be tame, and with 
 which, unsubdued by the harmonizing neutrals, our pro¬ 
 ductions would be so crude as to be displeasing. 
 
VARIETY. 
 
 52 
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 
 VARIETY. 
 
 VARIETY ESSENTIAL TO A BRIGHT SKETCH—NATURE CONSTANTLY VARIES HER 
 HUES—THE “COLOURED PRINT” STYLE AN EXAMPLE OP MONOTONY—BREADTH 
 —MEANS OF VARIETY AFEORDED BY DIFFERENT OBJECTS, AND BY THE PIGMENTS 
 EMPLOYED—THE ANATOMY OF FOLIAGE—AN OCCASIONAL DISCORD EFFECTIVE— 
 UNITY NOT TO BE SACRIFICED TO VARIETY—CRAYONS USEFUL IN SKETCHING ; AN 
 ILLUSTRATION—A WORD ON COMPOSITION—CONCLUSION. 
 
 Another source of pleasure to the eye in works of colour 
 is Variety. This principle must be constantly kept in 
 view if you wish to see your work look bright and 
 spariding. You may take it as a rule, that to continue the 
 same tint over a space of any size, without varying the 
 strength or hue, or breaking the monotony of an even 
 wash, is sure to produce tameness and insipidity. We are 
 too apt to fall into this error from being taken with what 
 may be thought a lucky hit in colouring—a tint perhaps 
 particularly appropriate to the part first touched on, and 
 therefore supposed to he generally applicable—a par- 
 
VARIETY. 
 
 53 
 
 ticularly rich tint perhaps, as it appeared at the first touch 
 (and it might be so from the force of contrast), but which, 
 as you will find, could not possibly be effective in all parts 
 of the picture. Music may furnish an illustration of this. 
 I remember, as a boy, being particularly struck with a fine 
 old tune in a minor key ; I admired especially one or two 
 notes, which I thought I had never heard before ; and it 
 was long before I could be convinced that it was their 
 relative position that gave them a value they never appeared 
 to possess apart from that masterly and harmonious arrange¬ 
 ment. 
 
 There is a temptation, too, on the score of ease, to harp 
 too long on the same strain. It taxes our ingenuity less 
 to be satisfied with the same tint, and relieves us of the 
 searching scrutiny of Nature's effects, which I have before 
 recommended. If we look to Nature we find her con¬ 
 stantly varying her hues; and the more we carry out this 
 principle (with discretion), the more satisfactory will our 
 work be. A uniform tint destroys the brightness and 
 individuality of a water-colour drawing, and reminds us of 
 a coloured print; for there, indeed, we always find it, 
 because greater variety does not pay. But this is not our 
 drawback, and we should for this reason, if for no other, 
 seek to place our work above this low scale of value for 
 productions in colour. Even in Pencil we seek variety, 
 and in Colour we have so many more opportunities of 
 accomplishing this desirable object. Broken lights assist 
 very much to lessen the monotony of large surfaces, but 
 we must take care we do not sacrifice to this aim, though 
 
54 
 
 VARIETY. 
 
 desirable, the great and all-pervading principle of Breadth. 
 Still, breadth must not be confounded with monotony. 
 Though we must avoid losing breadth in cutting up the 
 masses, yet we can carry a broad effect through the picture 
 without losing variety. In trees, for instance, there is such 
 an endless variety of available tints, that we may be 
 chargeable with indolence if we do not make use of them. 
 In pencil we can only give the varieties of light-and- 
 shade and reflection; but in painting you need not 
 proceed an inch without varying, if you choose, the colour 
 as well as the chiaroscuro. Some parts of trees are in 
 light, and others in shadow—some leaves are tinged with 
 autumnal gold, and others are still green—here a catching 
 sunlight effect on a spray, and there a solemn, sombre depth 
 of foliage. The parts in light, again, afford opportunity for 
 variety of hue; the retiring parts falling into half-tint, 
 which is more or less grey, and the local colours varying from 
 the palest yellow, through rich greens, to the fullest reds and 
 browns. 
 
 In studying them, we should, like the figure draughts¬ 
 man, study the anatomy. We cannot properly clothe 
 the tree, any more than the human form, unless we 
 know where the limbs are. Bor this purpose, sketches 
 of trees should be made in the winter, when the leaves 
 are off: dry as may be the study, it will amply repay 
 you. Sketch the same tree again in summer, and compare 
 the two: this will teach you more than a dozen copy 
 books. 
 
 It may generally be observed that foliage, especially of 
 
VARIETY. 
 
 55 
 
 trees remote from the eye, appears in masses of layers, 
 rising one above another; each mass being tipped with 
 light and based with shadow, which again throws ont the 
 tip next below it. In some trees these layers are very 
 distinct, as in the fir, the beech, the cedar, and others; 
 but in all the tendency of growth is rather in a horizontal 
 direction than in any other; and this hint may assist the 
 unpractised eye in dissecting, so to speak, the masses of 
 foliage that seem at first sight impregnable. It does not 
 follow that we should stiffly lay bare their anatomy in the 
 finished picture ; but in sketching from Nature the masses 
 should be given boldly, avoiding details, and showing just 
 the markings of the clumps in light, and the shadows very 
 positive and in an intelligible manner to finish from within 
 doors, where we want clearness suggested rather than 
 finish. 
 
 In banks and roads, again, channelled with ruts and 
 water-courses, we shall find plenty of variety of colour, as 
 well as of light and shade. The strata of an earthy bank 
 may always be traced—one part decidedly grey, another 
 darkish red, another brown, all giving the charm we seek. 
 Even in artificial roads there are the rats and markings— 
 perhaps the paler sand washed up by a fall of rain—at 
 any rate the gradation of light-and-shade; and we can 
 here accomplish much by breaking the tint, and thus get 
 crispness in the lights. We have also the variety given by 
 the tendency of the ruts, following the line of the road 
 and straggling out of the picture. Many of the cuttings 
 on our turnpike-roads are channelled down the sides by 
 
56 
 
 VAEIETY. 
 
 water-courses, which keep the colour of the earth fresh by 
 destroying vegetation; and the lines of these ridges are 
 another source of variety of form, and sometimes also of 
 colour. 
 
 Houses, too, though built of brick, and covered with 
 so-called red tiles, display, unless exceedingly fresh and 
 new, a fine rich purply hue here and there, where exposed 
 to the action of the weather. Many of the old red brick 
 houses, even in London, stained by the smoke and weather, 
 furnish a fine lesson on variety in colouring, and possess a 
 richness of tone very favourable to effect. Old dilapidated 
 cottages in the country afford examples of picturesque 
 beauty, not only from the irregularity of their outline, and 
 the depth of shadows in the broken parts, but the roofs 
 are generally moss-grown (giving patches of rich green), 
 or here and there covered with lichen (which varies from 
 a rich golden-yellow to a pale silver-grey), or patched with 
 tiles of another colour, or showing the rafters in places 
 where the tiles have fallen; forming, in short, a perfect 
 study for a colourist. 
 
 It may be said that these instances are all supposed to 
 be in the foreground, or the objects would not be near 
 enough to be thus minutely examined. True: it is 
 in the foreground principally that variety of colour is 
 expected. Beyond that distance the objects fall more 
 into half-tint, and the effect of atmosphere tones down 
 the colours of the small portions, and blends them into 
 harmonious masses. But were it not so, the painter 
 who is educated by the study of “little bits,” when once 
 
VARIETY. 
 
 57 
 
 familiar with objects in the foreground, and therefore in 
 detail, knows how to put in a touch or two with effect 
 when he finds them in the background. Still, variety of 
 colour in parts of objects is principally to be found 
 in the local colour of the foreground; while variety 
 in the colours of masses, often the effect of atmosphere, 
 belongs more particularly to the middle and remote distance. 
 
 Again, you have the variety afforded by the qualities 
 of the different pigments you employ—almost every colour 
 being varied by the earths and minerals furnished by the 
 colourman; several tints of yellow, for instance, cool, warm 
 and opaque ; many varieties of red, from pale pearly pink 
 to crimson, and from scarlet down to purply-red, the 
 yellow reds and the blue reds, and transparent as well as 
 opaque, each with its separate quality and appropriate 
 use. So of the blues and greens, and most particularly 
 of the browns, an almost endless range of rich colours of 
 various powers and fitness. 
 
 A wonderful freshness and brilliancy may sometimes be 
 imparted to a sketch by a dash of cool colour in the midst 
 of a foreground glowing with all the radiance of sunshine. 
 A play of light and air may thus be produced, and the 
 opposite tint, though not harmonized by neutrals, enhances 
 the brilliancy of the warm tones, and prevents the fore¬ 
 ground looking hot and dusty. There is a similar charm 
 sometimes produced in music by a single note in dis¬ 
 cord, not prominent enough to displease, but yet of 
 sufficient power to bring out the depth and beauty of the 
 other tones. 
 
58 
 
 VARIETY. 
 
 Your colours must of course be chosen so as to produce 
 unity, or you again endanger the breadth of the subject; 
 but there is such an infinity of links by which colours are 
 allied to each other, that with care this danger may be 
 avoided. “ As with light-and-shadow, whatever variety of 
 tints may be introduced into the picture, the colours must 
 be so blended and incorporated with each other that they 
 still form parts of a whole. Whether the lights be white 
 and the shadows black, or whether both be differently 
 coloured, the same necessity for gradation exists, so that 
 colours must not be in flat patches.” 
 
 The various forms of trees, also, are a great help to variety 
 —whether round and massive, or free and spreading, or 
 open and feathery, or tall and aspiring. 
 
 A very effective sketch may be made on tinted paper 
 with dry colours in the form of crayons. They have all 
 the advantages of body colour or oil as regards the lights, 
 without the disagreeables attending the others out of 
 doors. The ease with which the colour is laid on is 
 very favourable to rapidity. The abruptness of the touch 
 gives crispness to the foreground, for ripples, markings, 
 &c; the blending the tints after they are on the paper 
 allows a softness of expression and a dreaminess of effect 
 in the distance which no other medium possesses for rapid 
 working; and a certain depth of tone, which has been 
 considered a deficiency in this method, may be given by 
 deepening the shades with black chalk. If judiciously 
 chosen, the colour of the paper will serve in many cases 
 for the middle tint, and thus save much time. A de- 
 
VARIETY. 
 
 59 
 
 scription of the treatment in a simple landscape may be 
 useful. 
 
 It is a river scene at sunset. A mountain capped by a 
 castle forms the background, with a sky passing from 
 yellow light on the right to bluish-grey on the left, and 
 these tints reflected by the water in the foreground; a bold 
 headland overhung by trees jutting out on the right in 
 deep shadow in the middle distance, also reflected; and 
 on the left, approaching the foreground, a boat with figures 
 and a tan sail, flanked on its left by another mountain in 
 light; the ripples of the river, also in light, coming up 
 to the front of the picture. The colour of the paper, a 
 neutral greenish-grey, serves for the middle tint of the 
 water. The lights of the ripples are put in crisply with 
 yellow ochre, and here and there a short line of white chalk 
 gives relief and brilliancy, especially at the foot of the head¬ 
 land, which opposes to the light its deep shadow. Beyond 
 this, the river resumes its half-tints, and recedes to the foot 
 of the mountain, becoming bluer as it retires. The moun¬ 
 tain itself is a neutral green (rubbed in), with light touches 
 of yellow here and there at the base, showing the tips of 
 trees in the sunlight. The mountain grows more grey as 
 it rises, till it mingles with the colour of the sky, illumined 
 with yellow on the sunny side, and cooler on the side away 
 from the light—the outline being purposely left indistinct 
 to give an idea of distance and atmosphere. The castle 
 is touched in with light red in the half-tint, a sharp line of 
 white marking the high light, and its outline also indistinct 
 but gently relieved by the touch of white against the greyish 
 
60 
 
 VARIETY. 
 
 sky. A light falls on the mast and sail-yard in the fore¬ 
 ground, which stand boldly out against the neutral mass 
 of the mountain; and the colour of the tan sail forms 
 a contrast to the background, slightly supported by the 
 reddish-yellow light falling on the nearer mountain on 
 its left, by the colour of the dress of one of the figures, 
 which is in light while the rest fall into deep shadow 
 (black chalk), and by the reflection of the sail in the 
 water. 
 
 All this is readily given with dry colour, and of course 
 with greater rapidity than if the colours had to be prepared 
 with water before using; and with this additional advantage, 
 that the tint does not alter after it is put on, as is the 
 case with water-colour in the process of drying. The 
 rubbing in with the finger, too, if judiciously done, gives 
 the effect of atmosphere, which we cannot expect or hope 
 for in a water-colour sketch; and the softness of outline 
 consequent on the nature of the material is also very favour¬ 
 able to the same object. The sharpness of touch in the 
 lights too, and the facility of putting them on over the 
 middle tint, are a necessary consequence of using a dry 
 substance and not a fluid ; while variety follows as a matter 
 of course from the method of working the under tints, 
 because they are here and there left more or less unmixed. 
 The advantage of mass is as rapidly produced as by a brush, 
 though with the firm and mellow touch of a pencil; so that I 
 cannot but think that for sketching out of doors crayons are 
 to be preferred, for advanced students. Crayons require 
 perhaps a greater knowledge of effect for rapid use than 
 
VARIETY. 
 
 61 
 
 water-colours, because from want of decision the drawing 
 is apt to become smeary, and the transparent effect of the 
 original middle tint of the paper gets obscured; by the 
 passing over, it of colours not afterwards suffered to remain. 
 Tor beginners, therefore, who cannot yet draw with 
 decision, and are merely feeling their way, the use of 
 crayons is perhaps unsuited; and they had better make 
 their experiments with transparent tints, where a mistake 
 is less fatal, because more easily remedied. 
 
 Where it is necessary to preserve faithfulness of locality, 
 the situation or disposition of objects will occasionally be 
 unfavourable to the arbitrary arrangements of art, and in 
 such cases we must resort to ingenuity to endeavour to 
 unite the objects artificially and throw them into mass. 
 Where the objects are so much separated that the idea 
 of mass is not attainable, a low-toned background if the 
 objects be dark, or a light background if the objects be 
 light, will unite them and throw them into mass. By this 
 contrivance the arrangement of crude and objectionable 
 forms will be partially concealed, and the eye will rest on 
 the more agreeable objects in the picture. We must never 
 forget that the Art of Painting consists not only in repre¬ 
 senting the greatest beauties that Nature displays, but such 
 a combination of them as shall convey the most pleasing 
 impression, and present her under her most attractive 
 aspects. 
 
 Lastly, never touch your original sketch after you leave 
 the spot. A sketch on the spot possesses a reality and 
 freshness that you will seek in vain to give it afterwards. 
 
62 
 
 VARIETY. 
 
 You will have to be taught by it, though it is your own 
 work, for you were learning, when you made the sketch, 
 of the great teacher, Nature. What you then put down 
 was Nature's lesson to you; and if you touch it when 
 away from her influence, you may obliterate the result of 
 her valuable instructions. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 LONDON t 
 
 Printed by Schulze and Co., 13, Poland Street. 
 
A SYSTEM 
 
 OF 
 
 WATEB-COLOUB PAINTING. 
 
 BEING 
 
 A COMPLETE EXPOSITION OF THE PRESENT ADVANCED STATE 
 OF THE ART, AS EXHIBITED IN THE WORKS OF THE 
 MODERN WATER-COLOUR SCHOOL. 
 
 By AARON PENLE.Y, 
 
 MEMBER OF THE NEW SOCIETY OF PAINTERS IN WATER-COLOURS, AND PROFESSOR OF 
 DRAWING AND PERSPECTIVE TO THE HON. EAST INDIA COMPANY’S MILITARY 
 COLLEGE AT ADDISCOMEE, ETC. ETC. ETC. 
 
 Thirteenth Edition. 
 
 ARS PROBAT ARTIFICER!. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 WINSOR AND NEWTON, 38 RATHBONE PLACE, 
 
 artists’ *ffolour=.£aatiers, lip Special appointment, to tier IRaiests 
 ano to Sj.K.Jft. IBnttce aifiert. 
 
 1855.