picture is intended to be, as all colors sink, more or less, into the ground as they dry, and it can easily be glazed and toned down to the proper color. The shadows should be put on thin in color, the lights with a greater body of paint, with a sharp and firm touch. The brightest lights may be painted quite white, and glazed to the required hue; beautiful effects are produced by glazing, but it is dangerous for the student to be too free in the use of it.
"Scumbling" is the reverse of glazing, and is done by going over the painting, when quite dry, with opaque tints of a lighter hue, generally with a mixture of white. Colors that are too bright can thus be cooled down, and objects made to appear more distant; smoke mist, and the haziness of far-off hills, can be thus produced. The color should be laid on very thinly, with a hog's bristle brush, and should not be laid over shadows.
When painting, often retire from your work and look at it from a distance, so as to judge of the effect. When copying from nature, as in painting flowers, look at them sometimes with your eyes half closed, or through a tube formed of rolled up paper. This will isolate your subject, and help you to see the lights and shadows more correctly.
Much of the comfort, and success also, of an amateur depends on their keeping their painting materials in good working order. Brushes put away with paint in them will soon spoil, while if much paint is left on the palette considerable waste is involved. You can save your pure colors by taking them off the palette with your knife, placing them on a plate, and then covering them with water; they can be kept for several days in this condition. Now scrape all the waste color and oil off your palette; wipe it off with a rag and pour a little linseed oil on it (I believe kerosene oil is often used for this purpose); wash all the color out of your brushes, wiping~them with a rag, and then dip them in clean oil. Some prefer washing them in soap and water. Wipe the dirty oil off your palette and then rub it with a little clean oil. Put brushes and palette safely away from the dust.
If possible, paint from nature; take simple objects at first which will await your time, as flowers and landscapes will not. A bit of drapery is excellent practice. If you are at fault in drawing get a good copy of a flower, and by it learn how to draw the real flower, but copy the color from the natural object. I have found this method very helpful. Don't destroy first attempts; they may serve to keep up your courage in times of apparent failure; date these attempts, that you may note the progress made.
Painting, now-a-days, is used for decorating almost everything. It is so much more effective, for the time spent on it, than embroidery that, in this go-ahead age, it is not strange it should be popular. On silk and satin, decorative painting can be quickly executed by one who has a good eye for color, and command of the brush. The method is much the same as above described, only that some means often have to be taken to prevent the oil from spreading. Some use a mixture for this which can be obtained at the stores where artists' supplies are sold. Others paint over the design with oxgall, and others again find that by taking out their paints on blotting paper and using turpentine as a medium, all danger of this kind is averted. Satin, for painting, should be of a firm, even texture. The gloss on its surface is very trying to the eyes, and for this reason many have had to give up using it. Plush and velvet are also used to paint on. The aim must be to produce effective rather than delicate work. The plush must be firmly fastened on the drawing-board, the pile running downwards. The paint should be taken out on blotting paper, and about ten times as much will be needed as for ordinary painting. Use siccatif de Oourtray as a vehicle instead of megilp or turpentine. Sketch your design in Chinese white, and then press the colors down with a stiff bristle, poonah, or pounce brush, until they fairly take hold. Dog-wood, coreopsis, cactus and other large blossoms are most available for this kind of painting. Care should be taken that the shape of the plush left by the leaves or flowers laid on it is graceful.
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