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 TALKS IN MY 
 STUDIO 
 
 The Art of S 
 
 eeino 
 
 Facts and Fancies About Art 
 Pictures ^ <? ^ # # 
 
 TOGETHER WITH 
 
 A PLAIN GUIDE TO 
 
 SKETCHING FROM NATURE IN 
 
 WATER COLOR 
 
 By J. IVEY 
 
 THE WHITAHER . RAY CO, 
 SAN FRANCISCO 
 
LIBRARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. 
 

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TALKS IN MY STUDIO 
 
 &rt of Seeing 
 
 JFarts anfc Janncs about 3lrt 
 
 TOGETHER WITH 
 
 A PLAIN GUIDE TO WATER-COLOR PAINTING 
 AND SKETCHING FROM NATURE 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN IVEY 
 
 UN IV SITY 
 
 SAN FRANCISCO 
 THE WHITAKER AND RAY COMPANY 
 
 (INCORPORATED) 
 
 1903 
 
COPYRIGHT, 1903 
 BY J. IVEY 
 
 ALL BIGHTS BESEBVED 
 
TO THE MEMBERS OF 
 
 THE JOHN IVEY WATER-COLOR CLUB 
 
 OP 
 PORTLAND, OREGON 
 
 THIS HANDBOOK IS INSCRIBED BY THEIR 
 DEVOTED SERVANT 
 
 THE AUTHOR 
 
 MONTEKEY, CALIFORNIA 
 January 1, 1903 
 
 118996 
 
SENEflAl 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 THIS little volume is intended to replace the author's 
 Plain Guide to Landscape- Painting in Water-Colors, With 
 Helpful Hints for Viewing Nature and Art, which met 
 with a flattering reception, and is exhausted. In the 
 original preface to the " Guide" the author said: 
 
 " The author of this ' Guide ' to a most fascinating art 
 justifies its publication on the modest ground of its sim- 
 plicity. It is compiled with the endeavor to impart to 
 the amateur the fundamental knowledge which is neces- 
 sary to enable him to become a master, and to help all 
 lovers of nature to discern her subtlest beauties and her 
 most secret revelations, in order that they may be quali- 
 fied to estimate the excellencies and faults of landscape 
 pictures. Its limits and scope preclude the possibility of 
 including instruction in drawing, and its omission must 
 not be held to imply that we do not appreciate the im- 
 portance of drawing and design. 
 
 " Experience has taught us, however, that the study 
 and practice of color frequently serve to awaken an 
 interest in Art, which the drier study of drawing would 
 not, and they certainly help a student to select that 
 branch or form of Art for which he is best fitted. More- 
 over, the charm of color encourages the beginner to more 
 frequent practice of drawing from nature than he would 
 otherwise do, while concurrently with the practice he 
 will use one of the many admirable handbooks on Per- 
 spective, to acquaint himself with its rules, and it must 
 be admitted that it is only by practice that the facility of 
 drawing can be acquired. 
 
 " Since water-color has asserted itself in the hands of 
 many of the world's great modern masters as the best 
 medium of interpreting the tenderest and most charming 
 passages of atmospheric effects, and, moreover, has been 
 
 5 
 
6 PREFACE. 
 
 proved to be absolutely permanent in character, there is 
 naturally" a rapidly increasing interest exhibited toward 
 it on the part of all lovers of pictures and of wealthy 
 collectors, and the author would humbly hope that this 
 little handbook may contribute, in some measure, to the 
 development of an art which is particularly adapted to 
 transcribe and repeat atmospheric glories of the * Golden 
 West.'" 
 
 To the instruction intended for beginners is now pre- 
 fixed the substance of some lectures delivered before 
 the Chautauqua assemblies of the Pacific Coast, and 
 other literary associations, as well as some talks in my 
 studio, which generally were suggested by the eager 
 inquiries of pupils. J. I. 
 
 MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA, 
 January, 1903. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PART I. 
 TALKS IN MY STUDIO. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 THE AET OP SEEING 11 
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 FACTS AND FANCIES ABOUT ART 26 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 PICTURES 35 
 
 PART II. 
 
 A PLAIN GUIDE TO WATER-COLOR PAINTING AND 
 SKETCHING FROM NATURE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 A FEW GENERAL REMARKS, WITH TABLE OP HARMONY OP 
 COLORS 43 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 EXPLANATION OF SOME TERMS USED IN PAINTING ... 45 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 LIST OF MATERIALS, WITH USES OF THE VARIOUS COLORS 
 DESCRIBED 53 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 ON MIXING COLORS, WITH LIST OF USEFUL COMBINATIONS . . 62 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 ON BROAD WASHES FOR SKIES, SEA, FLAT DISTANCES, ETC. . 73 
 
 7 
 
8 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. PAGB 
 
 ON VARIOUS MEANS AND METHODS, "TAKING OUT," "SCUM- 
 BLING," "GLAZING," "SPONGING," "SCRAPING," "PAINT- 
 ING OVER," ETC 78 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 ON SKETCHING PROM NATURE . . 83 
 
PART I 
 
 TALKS IN MY STUDIO 
 
PART I. 
 
 TALKS IN MY STUDIO. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE ART OF SEEING. 
 
 THE study of Nature and Art is so full of pure and un- 
 alloyed enjoyment, so wrapped about and intertwined 
 with what is most enchanting to the eye and heart of 
 man, touching by mystic charm of light and form and 
 color the higher sentiments, that it must at least be 
 interesting to all; but it is my endeavor here to make it 
 as practical as possible, so that those who may desire to 
 tread in the pathway, and to listen to the message of 
 the Great Spirit of Beauty in the world, may be helped in 
 their devotion and encouraged in their practice. 
 
 There are few places on God's earth where the art of 
 seeing can be better fostered than in California. 
 
 It is not alone in the transcendent sublimity of her 
 mountains, climaxed in the snowy summits of the Sierras, 
 surrounding the awe-inspiring grandeur of the Yosemite, 
 where rainbows are multiplied, and the eternal voice 
 of many waters from falls and cataracts speaks out 
 the message of indescribable sublimity, nor in her 
 cultivated valleys, where orange blossoms fill the soft 
 atmosphere with their seductive perfume, and the ram- 
 pant glory of her roses, and almost every other flower 
 that blooms on this fair earth; 'tis not alone in these 
 extremes of her favored grandeur and beauty that one is 
 transfixed with admiration and delight, but in her more 
 commonplace garb and environments. The sunshine 
 and soil, the ozone and the zephyrs gently borne from 
 the measureless sea which kisses her coast, make life one 
 continuous pleasure; and those provided with means of 
 
 11 
 
12 TALKS IN MY STUDIO. 
 
 modest dimensions the poet and painter, the preacher 
 and toiler may almost everywhere find their highest 
 ideals, to some, presenting visions of poetic fancy, and 
 to others, of practical, unexampled plenty. 
 
 It is interesting to note the rapid development, in these 
 Far Western homes, of those things which mark the high- 
 est standard of culture and refinement in the older cities 
 of the East and in Europe. In no country and in no age 
 of the world's history has there ever been exhibited such 
 a quick cultivation of literature, music, and art among 
 new and mixed and busy colonists as this state of Cali- 
 fornia reveals, and it should be its happiest and most de- 
 lightful feature, that with the natural haste to grow rich 
 its people should laudably desire to surround themselves 
 in their homes with the beautiful and artistic, without 
 which riches are valueless indeed. 
 
 Now, there is nothing which so surely indicates the 
 measure of a people's advancement in the more culti- 
 vated phases of civilization and refinement as the home, 
 just as there is nothing which yields so much pleasure 
 and actual enjoyment to its possessor. 
 
 The home in which books, pictures, and music are con- 
 sidered the most essential embellishments must neces- 
 sarily hold in closer affection, and foster in nobler 
 instincts, the growing sons and daughters of the house- 
 hold, than the home whose glory is only decorative tin- 
 sel and showy furniture. There are homes in every 
 Western city, of course, in which such things are found, 
 but it must be confessed they are much rarer than the 
 size and condition of our cities warrant one to expect, 
 and in multitudes of cases the lavish expenditure exhib- 
 ited in the showy decorations of mantels, carpets, uphol- 
 stery, etc., is a bitter rebuke to their owners for the 
 total absence of literature and pictures. Such a house 
 is like a pretty idiot. It is not, however, the writer's in- 
 tention to discuss the matters of artistic decoration and 
 intellectual appointments of a home, but rather to di- 
 
THE ART OF SEEING. 13 
 
 rect attention to some of the silent revelations of beauty 
 which are so constantly before us, and which are so 
 eminently qualified to educate a discerning mind into 
 just and enjoyable judgment and appreciation of things 
 beautiful both in nature and art. 
 
 There is nothing so conducive to true judgment in 
 matters of pictorial art as the practice of watching the 
 phases and moods of nature, whether of atmosphere upon 
 the landscape, or of passion upon the human face and 
 figure. An eye trained to such watchfulness will soon 
 discover both the meaning and the faults of pictures 
 which the ordinary beholder of nature's surface will be 
 unable to discern, and will revel in enjoyments to which 
 the other is necessarily a stranger. 
 
 Let me recall to your mind's eye a very common effect 
 in this country, after the rains, when the parched brown 
 of the foothills responds to the magic touch of the rain- 
 drops in a burst of rapturous color. If you have not 
 stood exactly where I will take you for a moment, you 
 have stood before similar effects many times each 
 winter. 
 
 A few days after my arrival in Los Angeles in Novem- 
 ber, 1887, and just as soon as I was miraculously deliv- 
 ered from the tender mercies of a host of Philistines, 
 called real-estate men, I found myself, one Sunday morn- 
 ing, strolling cityward on Washington Street, far out 
 beyond the Rosedale Cemetery. It was after the first 
 rains, and I felt full of the delicious vitality and charm 
 which the first rains give. 
 
 Sauntering off the road to peruse an interesting an- 
 nouncement which offered a big bargain to the first man 
 who came quick enough with a deposit, I came to the 
 edge of a pool, a lodgment of the rain in a hollow, a 
 pool just sixteen yards across, and in it, or upon it, was 
 a vision of loveliness that I shall never forget. I have 
 lingered by the silvery mirrors of other lands, and have 
 haunted the richest bits of dear old England's lakes and 
 
14 TALKS IN MY STUDIO. 
 
 streams, the inspiration of poets and the paradise of 
 artists, but, except on one occasion, when, riding past 
 the garden of the poet Wordsworth, I saw the glory of 
 a most perfect reflex in Rydal Water, I had never seen 
 anything surpassing this. Such a vision of pure and 
 tender color in water, with such perfect definition of 
 detail, it is impossible to describe, and until you take an 
 opportunity of looking into that or a similar pool, with 
 your face cityward, you cannot realize the enchantment. 
 
 At my feet was the ethereal blue of a rapturous sky, 
 and against it was the spotless snow of Old Baldy's 
 crown, glistening under the sheen of the water like a 
 celestial thing. The pearly gray shadows of the mon- 
 arch beneath it came out with the sharpness and clear- 
 ness of a touch of a pencil, while all the great range from 
 Garvanza to Rialto was as clear and defined as the 
 stones in the foreground. The city came next, its turrets 
 and towers clear-cut against the gray of the mountains; 
 its red-painted roofs and the interspersed foliage looking 
 as bright as the blush of a maiden. Then, fringing the 
 face of the city, were line upon line of pepper and tall 
 eucalyptus, interspersed with the gables, and chimneys, 
 and windmills which stretch 'twixt Washington Gardens 
 and Rosedale; then, sombody's tomb, glistening white in 
 the sunlight, surrounded by others less pompous, and at 
 the far edge of the mirror, the tender, sweet shoots of 
 new herbage and grasses reflected their modest new 
 beauty, and when I looked up, and glanced at the vision 
 reflected, I fell into wondrous amazement, and knew 
 not which most to admire, the substance, or only the 
 shadow. 
 
 The undefined and inexpressible thrill of the artist as 
 he looks out upon the rolling foothills in their vernal 
 beauty, or upon the mountains melting in the golden 
 glory of our common sunsets, is as much above the pleas- 
 ure of the millionaire as he counts his gold as is the 
 reality of the rippling laughter of your little child at 
 
THE ART OF SEEING. 15 
 
 play to the forced guffaw of a salaried clown. It is a 
 pleasure which sweetens life in poverty, lightens life in 
 care; and although art is not religion, nor a substitute 
 for religion, yet it is religion's noblest and most spiritual 
 handmaid, inasmuch as she interprets to multitudes of 
 men who are too blind to see, or too indifferent, the won- 
 derful revelations of sea, and sky, and land; catching 
 the sweet whisperings of the tender leaflets, and the 
 music of the sea-wave on the beach; translating the 
 awful splendor of the sky at eventide, when piled-up 
 clouds rise above the mountain tops, both cloud and 
 mountain capped and fringed with the radiance of tinted 
 light, or when, in the lower sky, great plains of molten 
 silver seem to tremble in dazzling brilliancy, until the 
 flashing, throbbing, twinkling rose, and purple, and ame- 
 thyst are blended into the pearly grays and tender sea- 
 greens of the sun's final whispered "good night." 
 
 And even the solemn pleasures of the night season 
 she interprets, when day-dreams of imaginary wrong are 
 dispelled by the host of stars which in their silent twin- 
 klings remind us of the hope in the sublime allegory, 
 " As one star differeth from another star in glory." 
 
 It is my humble, delightful province to sit always at 
 the feet of the Great Master in the world's landscape- 
 studio, and my duty here is to reveal something of the 
 glory and the teaching of that phase of beauty alone. 
 Do not think that I place this branch of art above all 
 others, or that I insufficiently esteem the rest. One 
 artist will linger most about the modest lilies of the field, 
 and make them repeat the sweetest message of the uni- 
 verse, "Consider the lilies," etc.; another will translate 
 the charm of a pretty waking child at sunrise, and pos- 
 ing the little one before a world, will repeat again the 
 everlasting utterance, "For of such is the kingdom"; 
 while another must needs look out upon the general face 
 of nature, remembering that first grand verdict, He "saw 
 that it was good." So each in his special sphere shall be 
 
16 TALKS IN MY STUDIO. 
 
 opening blind eyes, touching silent chords, and leading 
 the multitude into the inner courts of the great temple 
 of beauty. 
 
 I deem it advisable at once to define what Landscape 
 Art really is, that is, what the art of landscape-paint- 
 ing really means, and some readers may be unprepared 
 to hear that it is not a mere reproduction of a given area 
 of the surface of nature; it is not merely a copy of a given 
 scene or view, however faithfully and truly it may be re- 
 produced; if it were that only, it could not claim superi- 
 ority over the mechanical art of the photographer. It is 
 more than an accurate transcript of nature's surface; it 
 is not compassed or expressed by the cranky methods of 
 Preraphaelites or Impressionists (although the latter 
 school is infinitely nearer the truth than the former), but 
 it is the translation into color of the artist's emotions as 
 they are invoked by the influence of the scene, as the 
 great spirits of light, and wind, and moisture play upon 
 it. What wizards of enchantment these are! Let but a 
 solitary beam of morning's silvery light fall upon a green 
 rush by the gray water's edge, and the true artist catches 
 the inspiration, and with it unfolds a picture of nature's 
 harmony in silver and grays, which captivates a multi- 
 tude. Wind! Let but a cool breath sweep up from the 
 sea at hot noontide, making the dry ripe corn rustle like 
 the leaves of a forest in an Eastern October, and the neg- 
 lected dead leaves of your eucalyptus to whirl in crisp 
 music as in the joy of a glad resurrection, and the artist 
 will need no further incentive to touch into lovable 
 beauty of action the flowers and grasses and leaves of a 
 commonplace " lot." And then the Moisture! What an 
 immeasurable, unutterable, thing to the artist! How in- 
 significant is everything else in comparison! Without it, 
 the world could be done in chalk, but not in color. 
 
 An artist practicing landscape-painting without a 
 poetic appreciation of the effect of moisture ! What a 
 parody! How pitfable! But the artist, looking out 
 
THE ART OF SEEING. 17 
 
 upon the jagged and rugged fringe of the Sierras yonder, 
 sees moisture woven into tender gossamer garments about 
 their feet, and into thinnest veils of floating mists; and 
 his translation of that mountain view is not a correct 
 outline of its altitude and features only, or chiefly, but 
 is a revelation of the charm of its beauty, as his keen 
 perception saw moving light, and soft cloud-shadows, 
 and filmy, fleecy things of sky and sea play hide and seek 
 among the crevices and hollows of the great mountain's 
 side. It is not the subject of a picture which charms and 
 captivates most, but its treatment. A little rivulet caught 
 babbling among the nodding grasses and blushing violets 
 of its shady bed, and dropping with only whisperings of 
 its sweet music o'er a common stone, can be made, by one 
 who sees and feels the thing, and who knows that in his 
 palette-box he has a chord responsive to every sweet 
 utterance of the rippling rill and to every enchantment 
 of its flower and moss strewn pathway, a picture worthy 
 of a nation's honor; while he who sees only the material, 
 and has not realized the truth that in landscape art a 
 shadow is more important than the substance, and a 
 poem is more worthy than mechanical exactitude, may 
 paint a cataract upon a mile of canvas, yet fail to touch 
 a single chord or sentiment of human hearts. 
 
 Just as the temperament, passions, and circumstances 
 within and without a man play upon his features, so do 
 atmosphere and its conditions play upon the face of 
 nature, and no true portrait-painter would consider a 
 measured outline, with careful interlineation of observant 
 marks and shadows, of a sitter the highest art. His art 
 enables him to breathe the spirit of his subject on the 
 canvas, and the same principle is good in landscape to 
 an extent far beyond popular appreciation; and not only 
 can no student ever take a step toward success in art 
 who does not, at the commencement of his study, accept 
 and understand this principle, but no person can ever 
 become a judge of any picture or even ever acquire the 
 
18 TALKS IN MY STUDIO. 
 
 faculty of enjoying a good picture to the fullest extent 
 without recognizing this principle, and it is in the ex- 
 pression of this poetic element of nature in landscape 
 that water-color excels. It is not difficult to understand 
 that a medium so delicate and pure in character should 
 be found the best adapted to express the tenderer and 
 more subtle effects of atmosphere and color, while at the 
 same time its wonderful transparency gives it a capacity 
 of any required strength and force. 
 
 Of course, all accept the above proposition in the mat- 
 ter of violent agitations in nature, such as storms, both 
 on sea and land, and in such plain variations of effect as 
 morning and evening; but I desire to make plain to you 
 far subtler things, and for the purpose (in the absence of 
 actual illustrations) must rely on description. Some 
 years ago, four artists of my acquaintance all good 
 landscapists, three of them men of considerable reputa- 
 tion were together in a very popular hunting-ground 
 of men of the brush. At a turn of the road they came 
 upon a simple cottage, with barn, stable, and other simple 
 outbuildings, which appealed to them all as a good fore- 
 ground subject, and, true to the sudden instinct, they 
 pitched their sketching-stools on a bit of rising ground, 
 and each deciding on his composition, found themselves, 
 in a few minutes, removed from each other only a few 
 yards, perhaps the two farthest from each other only 
 fifteen yards. At the next annual exhibition of water- 
 colors, the four pictures were hung in the same room, 
 and although they attracted considerable attention be- 
 cause of their merit, they were only recognized as being 
 transcripts of the same location by & few of the public, 
 because each artist had revealed in color what lie felt in 
 the subject most, although he had not in the slightest 
 degree falsified the subject. The cottage was on the 
 fringe of a corn-field which sloped toward the west, and 
 at that western boundary was the shadowed bed of a little 
 stream, from which, on the opposite side, rose abruptly a 
 
THE ART OF SEEING. 19 
 
 hillock, fern-covered, and with jutting bits of gray gran- 
 ite. One artist caught the play of light upon the golden 
 waving corn, and wove upon his canvas a harmony of 
 rich yellows, with telling chords of gray and purplish 
 olive in the shadowed distance, using the front of the 
 cottage only to strengthen the composition. Another 
 was struck most by the mysterious shadows in that hol- 
 low beyond the field, and he subtly worked out their 
 sympathetic utterances, using the corn only as a path- 
 way for the eye up to and into the soft hollows of the 
 thick brush and sleeping willows. The third caught the 
 glinting sunlight on the little window-panes; the half- 
 opened lattices with white blinds telling wonderfully 
 against the dark shadows of the room; the gate, half- 
 open, seemed really to swing upon its hinges; a strag- 
 gling bit of creeping ivy which grew over the gable 
 chimney-top caught the bright sunlight, and a few 
 touches of orange light upon its vivid greenness made it 
 almost move to the soft wind, the whole emphasized by 
 a deep shadow across the rough yard. He produced only 
 the bright country homestead, the important elements 
 of the other works being here treated very simply and 
 subserviently. The fourth artist sat the lowest, and he 
 was moved most by the tender outlines of the semi- 
 distant hillock, with its broken crevices against a sky 
 trembling in all the beauty of opalescent light; making 
 the cottage a strong foreground; the corn-field became 
 partially blotted from his view; he united his strong fore- 
 ground to the tender distance by an imaginary narrow 
 pathway through the corn (the only liberty taken with 
 the truth of the subject by the whole four men), and his 
 composition became a totally different thing from the 
 other three. The pictures naturally suggested such 
 characteristic titles as 
 
 "The Poetry of Motion." 
 
 "There is no Place like Home." 
 
 "A Golden Pathway." (You see, he gave most promi- 
 
20 TALKS IN MY STUDIO. 
 
 nence to his bit of idealization, yet led the beholder to 
 the point of distance which was his inspiration.) 
 
 "The soft and silent shadows lure to love and dreams." 
 Now, there is no desire in the heart of a young art 
 student greater or more earnest than that of being able to 
 sketch from nature. There is a fascination in the thought 
 of being able to put on paper or canvas a pictorial repre- 
 sentation of the things we see, particularly of the scenes 
 which, through the eye, fill us with pleasure and admira- 
 tion; yet how few are there among those who learn the 
 principles of drawing and perspective, and who learn to 
 paint from copies with more or less degree of excellence, 
 who are able to sketch and color the landscape which 
 they most admire, or any part of its appealing beauty; 
 and it would be amusing, if it were not so painful, to 
 see the young beginner engage on his first and even his 
 twentieth essay. 
 
 His first great difficulty is to decide where to begin, 
 how much to put in, and after an almost sickening wan- 
 dering from point to point in search of something that 
 he cannot define, he either gives the matter up, and con- 
 soles himself with the thought that it is not just the 
 scene, after all, to make a picture of, or that his paper is 
 not quite large enough to embrace the view he selected, 
 or that the time of day is not favorable to begin, or that 
 he will be able to select a more suitable and an easier 
 subject, he folds up his materials and awaits another op- 
 portunity. He knows all about the base line, the hori- 
 zontal line, the point of sight, the vanishing-point, and 
 the rest of it, but they all get so mixed up in his contem- 
 plation of the multitude of things he sees in that land- 
 scape, that his ambitious spirit quails, and his artistic 
 capacity seems smaller than he thought it to be. Many 
 times the world has had to lose an artist because such 
 eager, loving efforts have not been helped by a word 
 of true and practical suggestion. It is not because that 
 young beginner does not know the rules which should 
 
THE ART OF SEEING. 21 
 
 guide him in deciding where and how to begin his sketch, 
 but he does not know how to apply them. Perhaps the 
 simple illustration given under " Sketching from Nature " 
 may be useful to such persons in the future, and serve to 
 make their study of perspective, etc., plainer and easier. 
 
 In helping your child to the practice of a noble char- 
 acter you are not incessantly reiterating the decalogue, 
 nor intoning a creed, but by a sweeter, subtler process 
 show him the beauty and simplicity of nobility, honor, 
 and truth; so to that eager, trembling aspirant to artistic 
 fame there is a more practical method of guidance and 
 help than by the eternal insistence upon scientific law, 
 yet which must, of course, be in accord with and illus- 
 trative of that severe law of linear perspective, which 
 must ultimately become his easy, friendly, infallible 
 guide. 
 
 Now, a few words of advice as to how, and where, and 
 when to look for revelations of beauty and of tender 
 shadowings as from out of the invisible. In the con- 
 stant sunshine of these Western skies it is specially need- 
 ful to watch for the occasions of atmospheric changes, for 
 they are fewer and more fleeting than in more humid 
 climes. Each day presents the sublime panorama of 
 mountain peaks, and rolling foothills, and valleys gar- 
 nished with the luscious fruitage of a second Eden; but 
 to-day, yesterday, and to-morrow the unwatchful ones 
 will see only the same face, the same glory, while he 
 who is wise enough to look will see that face move and 
 radiate with passion and pathos, smiles and tears. The 
 sea-fog comes up at eventide, and with silent finger 
 touches in places the fringes of palm and the gum trees, 
 and trickles its moisture into the folds of the corn stalks ; 
 then up in the morning betimes, and looking out east- 
 ward, see Earth throwing kisses to a silvery sunrise, or 
 from the pearly shadows of a canon see that solemn sea- 
 fog rise up in sparkling cloudlets, like incense ascending 
 to wreathe itself about the bright Shekinah. Or if, at 
 
22 TALKS IN MY STUDIO. 
 
 eventide, before the sun lies down upon the glittering 
 liquid couch of yon Pacific, you have perceived a fog 
 dispersed out seaward, or have discerned some broken 
 clouds in the north and northwestern sky, then look for 
 the sure transformation that will follow, when color 
 rampant will sometimes overawe the soul, at other times 
 will whisper cadences of heavenly lullabies to troubled 
 minds. 
 
 But not only at sweet-smiling morn, or at the poetic 
 time of evening's blushes, shall the watcher be rewarded. 
 No! no! At times there is a sleepy, dreamy haze 
 about the mountain crests and chasms which must be 
 reproduced on canvas by grays of poetic tenderness and 
 purity; at other times they clothe themselves in deep- 
 toned vaporings of blue, or bluish purples, or neutral 
 bluishness, and seem to stand so near that you can fancy 
 you hear their echoes of your voice; while here, by the 
 silvery beach, the artist looks not upon an eternal mo- 
 notony of tumbling waters, but ever and anon he catches 
 in the liquid mass a passage of unusual color, a deepened 
 shadow in the hollow of the swell, an opalescent sparkle 
 of a bit of wind-swept foam, an emerald green behind the 
 curve of a breaking wave, and in the receding snowy 
 little foamlets at his feet he sees a frolic and hears a 
 laughter like the charm of little children at their play. 
 
 The world is very beautiful. To all of us, the Great 
 Spirit of Beauty passes at times very near, and we see 
 and feel the sweep of her ethereal garments; but to those 
 only who look for the vision, and who seek to understand 
 her message, does she vouchsafe her greatest, her sweetest, 
 witchery and revealment. In all ages everywhere the 
 love and cultivation of art has sweetened and uplifted 
 the generations of men; but it was reserved for the nine- 
 teenth century to prove and proved it has that land- 
 scape art reveals most of the glory of God, and has the 
 noblest mission in the interpretation of the infinite mes- 
 sage of creation. 
 
THE ART OF SEEING. 23 
 
 These are no common platitudes; ask the youngest 
 student of the art if his first lessons have not opened his 
 eyes to see daily visions to which he was blind before, and 
 to receive pleasures from the perusal of the world's great 
 poet-painters of which he had not conceived the possi- 
 bility. 
 
 Whether you cultivate the art and power of making 
 pictorial memoranda of the things you see and love, or 
 not, do this, at least : try to discern the variety of hue 
 and color of light, half-lights, and poetic shadows in 
 which the world is clad ; wait not for the rampant glory 
 of a crimson sunset, or the quiet beauty of a new crea- 
 tion, as in the morning (each morning) God speaks a 
 new day, "Let there be light!" but from your cottage 
 porch see revelry of silent shadows as the mid-day breeze 
 sweeps in among your garden trees, and watch the 
 countless changes of color in the restless radiance of the 
 breaking waves. See how dancing sunlight blots out 
 the green upon your corn-leaves and makes them glitter 
 with the burnished whiteness of a Damascus blade, and 
 the thick stalks of the dead mustard-brush glitter 
 'mid its branch tracery, like the sheen of silver rods. 
 Be not content to count the golden fruitage of your 
 orange trees, nor rest quite satisfied with the discernment 
 of their ripening beauty, but look into the deep, dark 
 shadows of the leafy hollows, and see how wondrously 
 the juicy greens are multiplied by the reflected lights. 
 Everywhere try to discern the half-hidden . passages of 
 beauty, and listen ever to the whisperings of the great 
 Teacher's message; so shall your hearts throb with a 
 purer joy, your understandings be quickened, your an- 
 ticipations be intensified, of the glory which "eye hath 
 not seen, nor ear heard." 
 
 And now a final word directly upon the method of 
 viewing Art. (Of course, the scope of my remarks is 
 limited in this special handbook to landscape art, or that 
 branch particularly.) 
 
24 TALKS IN MY STUDIO. 
 
 I repeat that it is a degradation of the conception of 
 art to hold that the essence of art is imitation. It is the 
 function of the artist to create. It is the representation 
 of the ideal under the forms of the actual; of the 
 spiritual within the material. This must be acknowl- 
 edged and felt by every one who would see the artist's 
 meaning in his work. 
 
 In first looking at a picture, view it as a whole, and 
 from a distance of several times its own length, where 
 possible. You may afterwards look into it minutely, 
 for purposes of criticism or of education, but first try to 
 discern the main character of the picture. It is true, 
 you may not discover any distinctive character in it, for 
 the reason that it has none, but let us suppose that it 
 has, that it is the work of a competent and conscientious 
 poet of color, and that in it there lurks a sentiment of 
 that poet's soul. And let me here ask you to assent to 
 this philosophy without reserve and to enforce your 
 assent by historic proof. In a man's works we can 
 recognize the man. Take, for instance, such examples 
 as Fra Angelico, who painted angel-faces and sweet 
 forms of perfect purity in such a way as to perpetuate 
 their chaste dreams through generations of men, because 
 he lived a life of transparent simplicity and truth; while 
 Salvator Rosa painted strong canvases of revolting 
 ghastliness and depression, because he was defiled by 
 malignant passion, and lived a boisterous revel life with 
 the bandits and brigands of Abruzzi. 
 
 This spirit and life of the man in his work is what 
 should be seen, and the capacity for such discernment 
 should be first eagerly cultivated; by this means the 
 color-utterances of their respective canvases will have 
 special meanings, and their messages will, by their 
 poetry and music, convey sweet understanding. The 
 religious aim and perfect artistic power of Giovanni 
 Bellini, the solemn and severe spirit of Michael Angelo, 
 the sweet joyousness of Raphael, the luxurious high- 
 
THE ART OF SEEING. 25 
 
 toned temperament of Rubens, and the marvelous com- 
 prehensiveness of the culture of Sir Frederick Leighton, 
 are the first things exhibited to connoisseurs by their 
 respective works. 
 
 It may be urged that opportunities for the study of 
 such high examples are few and distant; let this be 
 granted, yet the principle remains, and in your oppor- 
 tunities there shall be found examples of spirit and life 
 behind paint and manner, and a "still, small voice" of 
 enchanting solace and enjoyment shall speak to you 
 from out the canvases of many neglected geniuses. 
 
 It will be well always to remember that it is the pre- 
 eminent duty and aim of all true artists to reveal to men 
 the half-hidden beauty and glory of the universe; but 
 the multitude too often disdains their efforts, and denies 
 their power, until they pass into the greater and sublimer 
 glory of the unseen. David Cox was humbled to the 
 painting of a sign-post for his daily bread, and only after 
 his death could the blind host of boasted connoisseurs see 
 wind and moving vapors, with wonderful expansiveness 
 of feathery moorlands and mottled skies, in the bits of 
 rapid water-colors which now they buy with heavy 
 checks; and " Millet, from his modest cottage, did noble 
 work, and preached to France for years, under the dis- 
 piriting silence and contempt of his country, the doctrine 
 of the true intrinsic grandeur of manhood and the 
 sanctity of toil," but when the " silver cord was loosed " 
 and the deft fingers silent, the mob of educated art 
 patrons flung useless roses on his tomb, and vouchsafed 
 their vulgar honor of his worth by giving a fortune for 
 The Angelus to a stranger who probably had never con- 
 tributed a cent to the great artist's toil. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 FACTS AND FANCIES ABOUT ART. 
 
 Landscape Art. 
 
 I WOULD almost claim for landscape art a proud pre- 
 eminence, for several reasons; the first being that it 
 reflects most of the glory of God, and again, it is always 
 chaste, and pure, and elevating. " Landscape, in its most 
 naked simplicity, can never be lewd or immodest." The 
 nude CAN be made revolting; landscape, never! While, 
 in every other realm of art-creation and its utterance, 
 realism can become something worse than vulgar, in this 
 there is only one spirit, one message. It is the spirit of 
 light moving among the trees of the garden. 
 
 It was upon outline, form, the human figure, that the 
 great artists of the past devoted their genius and achieved 
 their immortality. And I would direct your attention 
 to the fact not always appreciated that to-day no 
 artist hand is cunning enough in this wide world to 
 outvie the perfect conceptions of the old Grecian sculp- 
 tors, such as have outlived the long centuries; and that 
 the most ambitious students of art in this vaunted nine- 
 teenth century, the world over, are sitting at the feet of 
 artists dead for two thousand years, and are faithfully 
 copying the clear lines and proportions of the human 
 form laid down for them on the banks of the Mediter- 
 ranean centuries before Christ pointed men to the lilies 
 and the corn-fields. 
 
 The universal consensus of cultivated people is, that in 
 beauty of outline, in matchless expression, in absolute 
 perfection of delineation, the art of the ancient Greeks 
 stands unapproachable, as yet, in the history of the 
 world. But no landscape had been pictured, lusterful 
 with the radiance of light and tuneful with the melody of 
 
 26 
 
FACTS AND FANCIES ABOUT ART. 27 
 
 motion. The Raman artists ministered to the sensuous 
 senses of a later people with gorgeous palette and glowing 
 hues; Rubens, Titian, and Raphael made the after cen- 
 turies radiant with their brilliant devices of color and 
 the poetic composition of their groups: but yet no land- 
 scape. And for many centuries after the Christian era 
 the world's art was unequal to the task of painting either 
 the majesty of a mountain, the awful power of a sea-wave, 
 or the checkered lights and shadows of a moving forest. 
 
 Color in Dress. 
 
 There came into my studio to-day a perfect vision of 
 beauty, a very dream of fair womanhood, radiant with 
 the sweetness of health, and a voice like the music of 
 silver chords ; but, oh ! what a spasm of murderous 
 color, not vulgarly loud, but with silent profanity out- 
 raging every canon of taste, and despoiling this goddess 
 of exquisite charm. Why will not the builders of dresses 
 and head-gear acquire the knowledge of contrasts in 
 delicate tintings and shadings ? And why will culture 
 and wealth perpetuate spasms and colic in color? 
 
 Now, if I were a sweet little blonde, I would dictate to 
 my milliner thus, and my dressmaker thus: "I shall 
 have a black bonnet this time, M'selle, with a tip of the 
 softest white ostrich, and just one or two flowers of red 
 shaded deep in their hollows; not pink, M'selle, because, 
 you see, I have just a wee bit of color." Or, "A light- 
 blue bonnet this time, M'selle, very light, if you please, 
 like that bit of sky yonder, below that delicate light 
 cloud; and put in a few flowers of white, but be sure not 
 to mix them with pink or with violet." Or, "A green 
 bonnet this time, for a change; for, you see, I have been 
 in the country, and have grown quite rosy; and trim it 
 with pink flowers, if you please, not red." 
 
 Again, if I were a pretty brunette (or homely), I 'd 
 say: "No ! not that, thank you ! it has too much blue in 
 it; nor that, for I cannot look well in so much violet; 
 
28 TALKS IN MY STUDIO. 
 
 but this cream-yellow is just what I need, particularly as 
 the front hair is now so heavily shown. And just trim it 
 quite loosely with ribbons, not flowers, of violet or blue." 
 
 Or, "JVo, I prefer this broken-orange hat. I know it 
 suits a brunette. And trim it with ribbons and flowers 
 of a soft, quiet blue, which have no glisten or glinting 
 upon them, but the colors quite dead." 
 
 And with my gown I 'd be just as exacting, and all, of 
 course, should be matched with the bonnet, and the bon- 
 net to it. This is an element of woman's rights I heartily 
 advocate, and would have them renounce a thousand 
 others to master this. 
 
 Practice of Color. 
 
 I think it can be abundantly proved that too long 
 delay in painting from nature, while the whole attention 
 is confined to severe study in perspective, the antique, 
 and modeling, produces academicians instead of artists; 
 frequently blots out the inner conceptions and ideals 
 which would have expressed some of nature's most poetic 
 inspirations. 
 
 The wondrous charms of nature are certainly designed 
 to convey thoughts, and ideas, and poetic sentiments to 
 the human mind, far beyond those of the mere sense, and 
 the student is not likely to make less progress in the 
 mechanical department of his study because he at the 
 same time is cultivating the capacity and aptitude of 
 giving expression to the higher elements of truth and 
 beauty. 
 
 While it is incumbent upon us to adopt the best-known 
 rules and methods for the guidance of students in art 
 generally, we are equally bound to admit that conven- 
 tional methods are not always to be preferred. Were 
 that the case, originality would suffer, and genius fre- 
 quently be smothered. Indeed, America would suffer 
 immeasurably, for her artists could not study the models 
 adopted in the European schools, and would be denied 
 
FACTS AND FANCIES ABOUT ART. 29 
 
 the possibility which I claim for her, of establishing a 
 new school, as original and as true as that of the Greek 
 or the Dutch. 
 
 Character. 
 
 A more incorrect statement was never uttered than 
 that which is too generally believed, that the life of the 
 artist is proverbially marked by passion, vice, and loose 
 morals. It is not to be wondered at, that men absorbed 
 entirely by the charms of their imagination should often 
 throw aside the prejudices, and some of the rules, which 
 govern the lives of other men; but, search through the 
 lives of those who really deserve the name of artists, and 
 you will find they are mostly worthy men not scorning 
 religion, although maybe holding rather contemptuously 
 the rigid formulas of theology, but in their natures and 
 their lives cherishing and fostering the fruits of patience, 
 long-suffering, brotherly kindness, and charity. Tell me, 
 who most (beyond their mothers) influence the hearts of 
 your darlings in the prattling time of their nursery 
 education, and touch their sensitive impulses to love 
 things beautiful, and guide their instincts toward kindly 
 treatment of the dumb creation? Why, the artist, whose 
 pencil, touched by the innocent sentiments of childhood, 
 designed the pictures of brutes, and birds, and flowers, 
 which are the gospel of the babes. Who first leads the 
 youth into the restful places of the poets, and helps him 
 easiest to realize the music of their song and the deep 
 wisdom of their rhythmic utterance? Why, the artist, 
 whose deft pencil pictures the enchanting bits of sleepy 
 hollows, and laughing hillsides, and babbling rivulets, 
 and nodding daffodils, thus making the world to the 
 little ones appear "a thing of beauty, a joy forever." 
 
 Romance in Nature. 
 
 In nature, as in life, are woven facts and fancies; truth 
 and fiction; action and repose; love and fear; the "still, 
 small voice," and the hurricane of sound; the love-songs 
 
30 TALKS IN MY STUDIO. 
 
 of nestling birds and the death-dirges of the solemn deep; 
 the laughing, dancing frolic of the wild flowers, and the 
 somber, silent shadows of the primeval forests, all, in 
 their respective ways, appealing to human hearts. 
 
 In nature, as in life, are smiles and tears; sweet 
 cadencies of song and wail of angry element; romance of 
 light and shadow, of form and vapor; stories and pictures 
 of witching mirages, as real as many tales of human love; 
 great dramas, painted in lurid colors on western skies; 
 and palaces of such ethereal splendor and enchantment 
 as Arabian Nights ne'er conceived, piled up against the 
 skies in snowy purity of pinnacle, dome, and minaret, 
 peopled with ghosts and skeletons of the hoary past, and 
 echoing stories more profound and thrilling than pen can 
 translate. 
 
 Sir Walter Scott. 
 
 What a flood of understanding is thrown upon the 
 sweet, simple, constant poetic utterances of Sir Walter 
 Scott, when we learn that his invitations to close friends 
 at Abbotsford were couched thus: "The pleasure of your 
 company is invited for tea and sunset." When the labor 
 of his day was ended, and he sought to intensify the joy 
 and peace of rest by the companionship of friends, he 
 knew that the pleasant babble of congenial friends could 
 be hushed into a perfect ecstasy of intellectual expression 
 and enjoyment by the shifting splendors of declining day. 
 
 Pacific Grove and Del Monte. 
 
 Such inspirations as I have just been describing may be 
 enjoyed almost anywhere, but there are places where it is 
 even hard to escape them, and of such places Pacific Grove 
 is queen. Peaceful as the consecrated cloisters of an abbey, 
 glittering with a more delicate sheen of liquidity than the 
 garden slopes of a Venetian palace, odorous with health- 
 giving pine incense, fringed with a border of exquisite 
 beauty, being an interlaced pattern of rock-work and 
 herbage, with vistas of sand-dunes and cypress within 
 
FACTS AND FANCIES ABOUT ART. 31 
 
 easy stroll of her gates, she offers a more perfect repose, 
 associated with the tonic of social and intellectual vitality, 
 than any other resort on our Coast. And again, does not 
 Del Monte belong to the Grove? Either that, or the Grove 
 to Del Monte; and where or what will you challenge 
 against itf A palace of luxurious appointments equal- 
 ing in charm the dream of Claude Melnotte, half-hidden 
 by cypress, pine, beech, and magnolia, which now, in the 
 gathering gloom of the evening, look solemn and somber 
 as they cast their long shadows across the serpentine 
 pathways, and dappling the velvety lawns with lines and 
 patches of purple. 
 
 Here and there are rustic, fantastic lounges for lovers, 
 all framed by interlaced tendrils and branches of vine- 
 creepers, and only disclosed at appropriate corners, or 
 peeps 'tween the bending branches of oak trees. To the 
 right, a road shaded by pines leads to the fringe of the 
 bay, whose waters are like opal and turquoise in solution. 
 Below the lines and clumps of young foliage, and lapped 
 by the whispering wavelets, sleeps the old-fashioned town, 
 Monterey. 
 
 The shadows are deepening, and one expects to hear 
 solemn-faced owls hoot to each other from out of their 
 secret corners. The deep crimson-red blossoms, which here 
 and there sparkle 'gainst the dark and polished magnolias, 
 look like fire-flies stopped on the wing, and the clusters of 
 violets which embroider the grasses are turning their faces 
 to sleep. A charming effect is produced by creeping and 
 clambering wood-vines, which, catching at each drooping 
 bough, climb stealthily upwards, anxious (like all weaker 
 natures) to hang on something sturdy. 
 
 Through their intertwined tendrils, in places, there 
 glitter the crimson and purple of the western sky. 
 Fringing the coast to the southward are the grand, old, 
 fantastic, and velvet-clad cypress, with the half-ruined 
 Mission of Carmel, the whole presenting, in one after- 
 
32 TALKS IN MY STUDIO. 
 
 noon, if needs be, but better if given a year, an antidote 
 to every ill that flesh or mind is heir to. 
 
 Love of Nature. 
 
 Of course, by this time, you must have perceived that 
 I consider the fundamental basis of all art to be an un- 
 quenchable love and an untiring study of nature. No 
 other genius than one gifted with such a love and devo- 
 tion could ever convey from his brain to his brush, and 
 by his brush to the common multitude, such emotions as 
 those pictures convey. It is true that many pictures are 
 made by labor and studious technique which are pro- 
 nounced good, and accepted as excellent in their detail 
 and pleasing color-arrangements; but I am compelled to 
 insist that their excellence is purely academic. 
 
 You will admire, of course, the lustrous, liquid eyes of 
 her to whom you 've pledged your life, and write long, 
 sickly sonnets to them, whether blue or brown; but only 
 when they speak to you the spirit-song of love, and from 
 their silent depths you hear the utterance of her heart, 
 do you perceive the highest beauty in them. So 't is 
 with nature and her devotees. To casual eyes, or even 
 interested ones, she seems a pretty dame with whom a 
 gay flirtation may be had on holidays, and to whose 
 general charm they pay the tribute of conventional praise; 
 but lovers true there are, who deeper look into her eyes, 
 and reverently share her smiles and tears; and who, in 
 turn, receive her secret confidence, and learn the subtle 
 meaning of her winsomeness, and all the pathos of her 
 changing moods; who learn the songs she sings to sweet- 
 tongued poets, and the lullabies she plays at eventide to 
 nestling birds; who love her when, in angry mood, she 
 flings great, foamy crests upon the sands, or makes the 
 forests tremble with the shock of rushing wind; who 
 linger lovingly about her path at all times and seasons, 
 and never cease to trace upon their canvases the witching 
 modulations of her form and flushes. 'T is in such art as 
 
FACTS AND FANCIES ABOUT ART. 33 
 
 this that genius flashes, an art which knows no school 
 and claims no fatherland. 
 
 Landscape and Seascape. 
 
 Of course, the term "landscape" embraces the sea, 
 which, if painted alone, should, with absolute correct- 
 ness, be called a " seascape." I embrace in the term 
 every inanimate vision under the sky; and with it, that 
 ethereal nothing called "sky," with the moisture and 
 mists it holds in changeful, bewildering motion. I em- 
 brace the solemn shadows of night, when tangible things 
 have no outline, and only the stars are reflected in still 
 pools of water. I embrace the cold rain, which dances 
 in bubbles fantastic, and blots out, as it falls, the trees and 
 the hills it enriches. I embrace the chilly, great fog- 
 banks, which rise in thick masses out seaward, and roll 
 in tumbling battalions o'er the hills of the coast-line; 
 which drown the bass roars of the sea-lions, and, passing 
 o'er city and bay, finally trickle their moisture into chan- 
 nels prepared to receive it, in the grass-blade and stalks 
 of the wild flower. I embrace every phase of creation not 
 instinct with animal life; for this great faculty of art can 
 summon forth upon the canvas the spirits of all things. 
 Solemnity, silence, and music can be as surely portrayed 
 as a rock, or an oak, or a mountain. 
 
 Shadows. 
 
 Study shadows, and see how much they tell of radi- 
 ances overlooked and contemptuously neglected. No 
 unimportant things are shadows in a landscape. With- 
 out them, art could not exist, and nature would be a 
 sickening, remorseless monotony. They stand behind the 
 grass-blades, setting off the brilliance of their emerald 
 beauty; they hide themselves between the fragrant petals 
 of your favorite rose, giving richness and softness to the 
 color's blush; they respond to your bidding on your cot- 
 tage porch, where, for the very purpose, you have twined 
 
34 TALKS IN MY STUDIO. 
 
 the eglantine and smilax, and in their dappled softness 
 you dream dreams and read tales of love. 
 
 Shadows ! They are the grandest things about us. 
 Marching in the heavens in cloud-battalions, sweeping 
 over golden corn-fields, or darkening the face of your 
 great fir forests; sleeping beneath the mirror-surface of a 
 pool, or peeping for an instant from the hollow of a burst- 
 ing sea- wave; guarding your tired eyeball with the tender 
 lid, or offering their repose to you from the feet of a great 
 rock in a weary land, shadows deserve your study and 
 profound esteem. And remember it is only in the shadow 
 of the rain-cloud that we discern the matchless arc of 
 beauty in the rainbow; and it is only through the final 
 shadow of the valley that we emerge into the radiance of 
 eternal light. 
 
 Impressionism. 
 
 Yes ! Impressionism is a worthy phase of art. A true 
 impressionistic picture is the work of genius actuated by 
 inspiration. But what an epidemic of fraud and non- 
 sense has the word occasioned in some places during 
 recent years. The greatest and grandest landscape- 
 paintings of all time were and are, in more or less degree, 
 impressionist pictures; but how absurd to attach the 
 word to things which indicate no impression at all, or 
 because no one can discern in them anything natural or 
 understandable ! The glory of a dissolving sunset, for 
 instance, must always have been an impressionist picture, 
 for it could not possibly have been painted at the time, 
 so evanescent are the changing revelations of the sky; so, 
 you see, "impressionism" in painting existed as a factor 
 an important factor in art long before the word be- 
 came hackneyed, and useful on the lips of frauds to bam- 
 boozle fools. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 PICTURES. 
 
 You ask, Is there a more beautiful spot anywhere than 
 this? Let me answer it by a general statement. There 
 is beauty everywhere, and it reveals itself always to those 
 who look for it, but only to those; and it requires not ex- 
 tensive travel, nor measured altitudes, nor silvery lakes, 
 to see and feel the romance, the poetry, or the pathos of 
 nature. Wherever a silvery beech whispers its music or 
 an oak casts its deep shadow; wherever a cottage porch 
 is crowned with its smilax, or honeysuckle, or a hedgerow 
 is blushing with modest spring blossom; wherever a 
 water-lily kisses its mirror, or a sprig of wild heather dis- 
 plays its darkening purple; wherever a corn-field bends 
 low to the reaper, or the matchless seed-dome of the 
 dandelion displays its architectural glory; wherever a 
 meadow is sweetened- by the dewdrops of morning, or a 
 clump of still trees is found hiding the shadows of sunset, 
 in them all is the Spirit of Beauty; and he is the 
 happiest man who woos her subtle bewitchment. 
 
 I have just returned from a sketching tour in old Eng- 
 land, and in one of its narrow corners, where there are 
 neither forests nor lakes, nor mountains, but only 
 stretches of moorland, and great masses of gray granite, 
 I have seen visions of loveliness not surpassed in the 
 taller continents of the world. I have seen sunlight 
 weave cords of golden threads on old, thatched cottage 
 roofs, and paint dreamy purple shadows in their eaves. 
 I have seen the August sunbeams convert the white- 
 washed walls of a laborer's cot into a symphony of color, 
 and burnishing the blossoms in its humble garden, trans- 
 form its poverty into the matchless thing called " Home, 
 sweet home." I have seen the simple mountain stream 
 from the gray "tors," dancing westward o'er its pebbly 
 
 35 
 
36 TALKS IN MY STUDIO. 
 
 bed, reflect the glory of an evening sky until it seemed a 
 thread of liquid crimson bespangled with countless beads 
 of fiery amber as the lights were broken on its tiny 
 splashes 'gainst the rocks. I have seen a quiet veil of 
 cloud hang o'er the whole western sky at eventide, as 
 though to enforce the sublime assertion, "It is the glory 
 of God to conceal a thing," and then a little rift, no 
 larger than a human hand, has opened and revealed a 
 fire more brilliant than the sapphire, most startling in 
 its effect, and making it just possible to believe that 
 behind that veil there was a glory too superb for mortal 
 eye. I have seen silvery mists play hide and seek among 
 the giant rocks of old Cams until with the morning's 
 resurrection they floated upwards like sweet incense. 
 A thousand things about us every day are full of beauty; 
 and dear old England, with its changeful seasons, and its 
 humid atmosphere, producing cadences of color in lichen, 
 moss, and leafage, and weaving songs of suggestive poetic 
 tenderness in wood and valley, is, and must ever be, the 
 home of the poet and the painter the birthplace and the 
 temple of landscape-painters. 
 
 It is commonly supposed that most people are alive to 
 scenes of natural beauty and phenomena; but observa- 
 tion disproves this theory, and demonstrates the fact, 
 that, while multitudes are ever ready to enjoy the 
 unavoidable beauty of their environments, very few 
 cultivate the faculty for seeing the more subtle, and 
 therefore the more delightful, phases of beauty and en- 
 chantment. I was much struck with this fact the other 
 day. I went to look out upon the bay from the heights 
 overlooking the Presidio. The day was exceedingly 
 glorious, and a stiff breeze was sent to help the living 
 white-sail yachts to enjoy their short regatta. 
 
 About us, here and there, were groups of pleasure- 
 takers, like ourselves, and constantly each other over- 
 heard remarks not uttered confidentially. The breeze 
 had touched the water in the narrow channel by the 
 
PICTURES. 37 
 
 fort, and, like a pouting child at being chidden, it spent 
 its humorous anger on the quay, and, by dashing foam 
 against the rocks, looked quite white with passion. The 
 white- winged yachts just came so far to see the frolic, 
 and then, as if in laughter at the sight, turned sharply 
 round the flag-ship, and shot before the wind like snowy 
 pigeons, eager to pass the winning-post at home, and 
 hear the loud hurrah of victory. A tug with belching 
 smoke, enough to mark the progress of a nation's fleet, 
 took a trim member of our merchantmen toward and 
 through the Golden Gate. Before the stern of the trim 
 craft was entirely hidden, dark shadows lengthened 
 across the opposite headlands and crept down the sides 
 until they seemed to huddle together at the edge of the 
 water, and the water turned into a semi-green color as if 
 with fright. Then up high into the sky were seen little 
 patches of color, like messengers hurrying eastwards, and 
 brighter they grew for moments, and after them fol- 
 lowed great arrows of delicate purple, as if in pursuit of 
 the flecks of transparent amber. All the while the cliffs 
 became darker, except on the top, which sparkled and 
 reddened like copper reflecting the sunlight. The fort 
 looked black as a demon, as the sky for a moment was 
 flushed with deepening purple; and as the glory had 
 ended, I turned to the eastwards, where glowworms were 
 stuck upon poles, and folly, and fashion, and greed were 
 huddling together for pleasure and gain. I could not 
 help wondering how many there were of this great city's 
 multitude who had accepted that message of the Eternal. 
 And why had they not? Because chiefly because 
 they had never allowed their natures to be touched by 
 the influence of art, and had always remained content to 
 see simply what they could not help seeing; and the 
 acme of their appreciation is well expressed in the con- 
 ventional shriek, " O, lovely ! " when God thrusts a vision 
 of palpitating, throbbing sky-glory before their eyes. 
 I once saw a picture, in oil, by one Lawson, of a fog. 
 
38 TALKS IN MY STUDIO. 
 
 Now, there are several varieties of fog. The proverbial 
 London November fog, made famous by Hood in his 
 poem; a dark-colored dry fog, which I 'd warrant as a 
 kill-or-cure remedy for catarrh; a fog in which men lose 
 their way in the streets at mid -day, and light the gas in 
 their houses to discover their victuals at table; the fog 
 one can cut into slices with cheese-knives, or as an 
 American critic once said, "one can roll into tangible 
 lumps, like a snowball." There are fogs known in this 
 state as sea-fops, which are oftenest seen in the sections 
 boomed by estate-men as the frostless and fogless belts. 
 Then there are fogs better known as Scotch mists, 
 things mysteriously wet without having the appearance 
 of water, and which travel uncommonly fast without 
 the assistance of wind; which seem to wet one from the 
 inside, for one becomes conscious of being wet to the 
 skin before the outer garments give token of drenching; 
 but this fog is the orthodox fog of all times and all 
 places, motionless, clammy, and spectral, for all 
 things seen in it are shadowy, silent, and shapeless. 
 u Through it you hear footsteps of shadowy, ghost-like 
 walkers, and as they approach you, they seem to be fog 
 just turning to darkening lumps, then disappear in the 
 mist like the dissolving view of a lantern." 
 
 This is the fog which the artist has placed in a frame, 
 and you see neither canvas nor paint, but stand back 
 and peer into the mystery with sensations the same as 
 you 'd have if you looked through your dining-room 
 window upon the actual fog-laden scene. As you look, 
 your growing perception discerns a slight motion, for 
 the painter had worked out his study from a window 
 overlooking a harbor, and the motion is that of a break- 
 ing wave 'gainst the sea-wall, the foam just brightening 
 the mist, as though a light from a rift in a cloud had 
 fallen there; then, swaying on the water with lappy and 
 clammy liquidity, you make out the shadowy shape of a 
 boat, but fail to discover whether its stem or its stern is 
 against you, yet 'tis a boat, exactly as fog would re- 
 
PICTURES. 39 
 
 veal it. A picture of nothing ! yet full of seductive sug- 
 gestiveness and of metaphysical, misty obscurity. 
 
 For a moment this picture of fog may not strike you 
 as possessing a poetic sentiment; but may it not be 
 compared with Byron's Darkness f They both rely on 
 the evocation of human sentiment, without visible or 
 tangible subject, and in this they equally display the 
 essence of poetry. These two examples of wind and fog 
 were selected, not because they were the highest and best 
 examples of poetic expression, but because they con- 
 tained so little to appeal for help to the senses, and illus- 
 trate most forcibly the faculty of the painter to convey 
 sentiment alone. 
 
 While my chief purpose and pleasure is to lead your 
 observation to the common things in nature, and help 
 you to see in them the beauty of color and form which 
 the artist sees, and so incidentally help you to a critical 
 observation of the artist's work, yet I would not refrain 
 from presenting to you a picture which I remember with 
 a vividness exceptional, a scene I witnessed in Puget 
 Sound, on the Pacific, in the summer of 1892, when, 
 among more than a. hundred fellow-passengers, the fol- 
 lowing picture scarcely evoked admiration from a dozen. 
 I sat on the deck as the day declined, and the sun played 
 some wonderful tricks with the clouds and the mists, 
 which were moving with silence and fairy-like witchery 
 over the waters and forests of this lovely sound. By my 
 side was one with a voice sweetly tremulous with age 
 and emotion, and a face full seventy years old, with 
 scarcely a wrinkle upon it, beaming with the luster of 
 health and the outshining of a beautiful soul, and* 
 crowned with the matchless halo of silvery white hair. 
 We were speaking of the mysteries of life, of the heart, 
 and of thought, and I can but love her for that which she 
 said, making quite understandable things which I had 
 many times looked into with wonder and no satisfaction. 
 Around us trembled the water in countless ripples or 
 motions, a dreamy liquidity full of prismatic color. 
 
40 TALKS IN MY STUDIO. 
 
 Again and again the sun would burst through the great, 
 soft, purple clouds which hung o'er the western horizon, 
 and the sea would flash into lines of silver and gold too 
 dazzlingly bright for the eye to gaze upon. At length 
 the whole cloud was sundered by the shafts of glory be- 
 hind it, and dispressed itself quickly in plumes and ban- 
 ners of color, mostly purple, with fringes of burnished 
 sapphire. 'Gainst that sky stood the tops of the pine 
 trees as they grew upon the islands or hills of the sound, 
 which stood like the ancestral hills of an ancient world, 
 whilst their feet were enshrouded in mists which were 
 semi-transparent, and revealed on occasions the tender 
 rose-flush of the opal. Turning our face to the city was 
 to witness a great transformation, and the soul, in a mo- 
 ment, was hushed into somber and solemn reflections, 
 for the sudden great change from the rampant glory out 
 westward, to the shadows and deepening grays (although 
 purplish) of the city is for the moment very depressing. 
 But look out yonder towards the south or southeast, and 
 tell me what is the vision. A mountain, you call it. It 
 bears no resemblance to earth; nor can it be the " sky," 
 as men measure words in earth's language; it must be a 
 mirage, or a far-away vision of the palace of the King, 
 not made with hands. Look! see how the little cloud, 
 kissing its top, is changed from a cloud into an angel of 
 light, then is lost in the azure eternal. Did snow ever 
 look so enchanting? 'T is not white, such as painters 
 translate it, nor cold, such as poets declare it, but a 
 great, soft cloud of rose-colored incense, or a measureless 
 mass of sea-foam churned from the breath of the coral; a 
 mountain of dreamland, woven by the subtle shuttle of 
 nature from dewdrops and rain-cloud, and tinted with 
 colors distilled from ages of rainbows, a vision which 
 is only revealed on occasions, because it so nearly ap- 
 proaches the glory which " eye hath not seen," a thing so 
 ethereal and glorious that the language of earth cannot fix 
 it a name, for some would call it Tacoma, while others, 
 with equal devotion, insist upon calling it Mount Rainier. 
 
PART II 
 
 A PLAIN GUIDE TO WATER-COLOR PAINTING 
 AND SKETCHING FROM NATURE 
 
PART II. 
 
 A PLAIN GUIDE TO WATER-COLOR PAINTING 
 AND SKETCHING FROM NATURE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 A FEW GENERAL REMARKS, WITH TABLE OF HARMONY OF 
 
 COLORS. 
 
 IN landscape-painting, the artist studies the reality of 
 the model in each of the elements that compose it ; but 
 he idealizes the real by making it express some sentiment 
 of the human soul. The proof that faithfulness of imita- 
 tion would not alone suffice is, that if the instrument of 
 the photographer could seize colors as it does forms, it 
 would give us a certain view of a certain country, but it 
 would not produce the work of art which is a landscape- 
 painting. In order to achieve this, the painter, master of 
 reality, enlightens it with his eyes, transfigures it accord- 
 ing to his heart, and makes it utter, so to speak, what is 
 not in it, sentiment and thought. 
 
 COLORS. 
 
 In reality, there are only three original or primary 
 colors: yellow, red, and blue; and three composite or binary 
 colors: orange, green, and violet. White light containing 
 the three primary colors, each of which serves as the 
 "complement" of the two others, in order to form the 
 " equivalent " of white light. Each has therefore been 
 called complementary in respect to the binary color 
 corresponding to it. Thus, blue is the complementary of 
 orange, because orange is composed of yellow and red, and 
 blue would make white light. For the same reason, 
 yellow is the complementary of violet, and red the com- 
 plementary of green. In return, each of these mixed 
 
 43 
 
44 A GUIDE TO WATER-COLOR PAINTING. 
 
 colors is the complementary of that primary color which 
 does not enter into its composition. Therefore, orange is 
 the complementary of blue. 
 
 A remarkable property of colors, which it is very im- 
 portant to know, and which should always be remembered 
 in using them in furniture or dress, as well as in painting, 
 is that which regulates the well-known law of the u simul- 
 taneous contrast of colors." It may be expressed thus: 
 Complementary colors are mutually heightened when placed 
 in juxtaposition. 
 
 Red, for example, put by the side of green, appears still 
 redder; orange deepens blue; violet brightens yellow, etc. 
 
 Another law, not less curious, is this, an especially 
 important one in painting, Every color lightly reflects 
 its complementary on the space surrounding itself. 
 
 For example, a red circle is surrounded with a light 
 green aureola; an orange circle with a blue, etc. This 
 was observed by Veronese and Rubens long before the 
 science of to-day had discovered the law, when they 
 carefully covered with a violet tint the shadows of their 
 yellows. 
 
 TABLE OF HARMONY OF COLORS. 
 
 A Useful Table of Reference in Painting Landscape and 
 Draperies, and for all Decorative Purposes. 
 Scarlet with blue or green. 
 Gold or yellow with blue or violet. 
 Violet with light green or yellow. 
 Blue with yellow or red. 
 Carmine with green or orange. 
 Brown with blue or red. 
 Neutral tint with red or yellow. 
 Rose with light blue or yellow. 
 Orange with violet or blue. 
 Blue-gray with buff or pink. 
 Olive-green with red or orange. 
 Flesh with blue or dark green. 
 Dark green with crimson or orange. 
 Light green with rose or violet. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 AN EXPLANATION OF SOME TERMS USED IN PAINTING. 
 
 Aerial Perspective. See PERSPECTIVE. 
 
 Antique. This term is applied to the paintings and 
 sculptures which were made at that period when the arts 
 were in their greatest perfection among the ancient Greeks 
 and Romans. But it is generally used for statues, basso- 
 relievos, medals, intaglios, or engraved stones. It has 
 been doubted whether the finest works of antiquity have 
 come down to us, but the principal of those which have 
 been the guide of the most distinguished artists are the 
 Apollo Belvedere, the Laocobn, the Antinoiis, the Torso, 
 the Gladiator, the Venus of Medici, the Venus of Milo. 
 The Elgin Marbles in the British Museum form a treasury 
 of knowledge of the antique school. A profound study of 
 the antique was the source from which the greatest artists 
 of modern times, as Michael Angelo and Raphael, drew 
 the perfection which has immortalized their names. 
 
 Beauty, Ideal. This term is made use of to express 
 that degree of perfection in form which does not actually 
 exist in nature, but only in the creative fancy of the artist. 
 " It is this intellectual dignity," says Reynolds, " that en- 
 nobles the painter's art; that lays a line between him and 
 the mere mechanic; and produces those great effects in 
 an instant, which eloquence and poetry are scarcely able 
 to attain." 
 
 Breadth. This term, as applied to a picture, denotes 
 grandeur of expression or distribution, as opposed to con- 
 traction and meanness. Breadth is usually indicative of 
 a master, as the want of it almost always accompanies 
 the performance of an indifferent artist. When the lights 
 
 45 
 
46 A GUIDE TO WATER-COLOR PAINTING. 
 
 in a picture are so arranged that they seem to be in masses, 
 and the darks are massed to support them, so that the 
 attention of the spectator is powerfully arrested, we have 
 what is called breadth of effect, or breadth of light and 
 shade. Breadth conveys the idea of greatness. Correggio 
 is perhaps the master in whose works breadth appears 
 pre-eminently conspicuous. 
 
 Carnations are the flesh-tints in a picture. 
 
 Cartoon (from the Italian cartone, pasteboard). Hence 
 the word came to be applied to the drawings or colored 
 designs on paper intended to be transferred to the walls 
 in fresco-painting or wrought in tapestry. 
 
 Chalky is that cold or unpleasant effect which arises 
 from an injudicious combination of colors that do not 
 agree well together. Thus white mixed with vermilion, 
 without being tempered with the ochers or burnt sienna, 
 will appear crude and chalky. 
 
 Chiaro-Oscuro (Italian), light and shade. This term 
 refers to the general distribution of lights and shadows in 
 a picture, and their just degradation as they recede from 
 the focus of light. "It comprehends," says Professor 
 Phillips, in his Lectures, "not only light and shade, with- 
 out which the form of no objects can be perfectly repre- 
 sented, but also all arrangements of light and dark colors 
 in every degree; in short, in accordance with the com- 
 pound word composing its name, which we have adopted 
 from the Italian, the light and dark of a picture." Chiaro- 
 oscuro particularly refers to the great masses of lights and 
 shadows in a painting, when the objects are so disposed 
 by artful management, that their lights are together on 
 one side and their darks on the other. The best examples 
 among the Italians are to be found in the works of Cor- 
 reggio, Leonardo da Vinci, and Giorgione; among the 
 
TERMS USED IN PAINTING. 47 
 
 Dutch, in those of Rembrandt, Adrian van Ostade, and 
 De Hooghe. A composition, however perfect in other 
 respects, becomes a picture only by means of the chiaro- 
 oscuro, which gives faithfulness to the representations, 
 and therefore is of the highest importance to the painter; 
 at the same tf.me, it is one of the most difficult branches 
 of the artist's study, because no precise rules can be given 
 for its execution. 
 
 Colorist is a painter whose peculiar excellence is his 
 coloring, but not therefore his only excellence. Titian, 
 Veronese, Rubens, are considered the best of colorists. 
 
 Composition is the arrangement of objects and the dis- 
 position of the parts so as to form an harmonious union 
 of the whole; hence anything extraneous that disturbs 
 the connection and diverts the mind from the general 
 subject is a vice. Composition, which is the principal 
 part of the invention of a painter, is by far the greatest 
 difficulty he has to encounter. The compositions of 
 Raphael are said to be grand, those of Veronese rich, 
 those of Poussin classical, those of Teniers natural. 
 
 Demi- Tints. This term implies the various gradations 
 of which a color is capable. 
 
 Distemper is a preparation of colors without oil, only 
 mixed with size, white of egg, or any such proper glu- 
 tinous or unctuous substance. All ancient paintings were 
 executed in this manner before the year 1460, when oil- 
 painting was first discovered. The Cartoons of Raphael 
 were painted in distemper. 
 
 Drawings. There are several kinds of drawings; in a 
 general sense, the term is applied to any study or design 
 made with black-lead pencils. In the English school, 
 
48 A GUIDE TO WATER-COLOR PAINTING. 
 
 frequent use is made of the designation "water-color 
 drawings." 
 
 Dryness is a term by which artists express the common 
 defects of the early painters in oil, who had but little 
 knowledge of the flowing contours which so elegantly 
 show the delicate forms of the limbs and the insertion of 
 the muscles; the flesh in their coloring appearing hard 
 and stiff, instead of expressing softness and pliancy. 
 
 Effect. By effect, in painting, is understood the energy 
 and beauty of the optical results of the combinations, 
 accidental, or arising from calculations well understood, 
 either of the lines, of the tones, bright or dark, or, again, 
 of the colors of the tints. But it is especially to the 
 combinations of the chiaro-oscuro that the effect owes 
 its energy, its suavity, and its charm; and what proves 
 it is the appearance of engravings which offer color 
 without much effect; but it is optically subordinate to 
 that which is obtained by the bright and dark, semi- 
 bright and semi-dark masses, and we thus distinguish 
 the effect of Rubens and the coloring of Titian. The 
 pictures of Poussin and Raphael have but little effect; 
 those of Vandyke, Velasquez, Gerard, Reynolds, and 
 Prudhon have a great deal of effect. 
 
 Foreshortening is the art of representing figures and 
 objects as they appear to the eye, viewed in positions 
 varying from the perpendicular. This art is one of the 
 most difficult in painting, and though absurdly claimed 
 as a modern invention, was well known to the ancients. 
 Pliny speaks particularly of its having been practiced 
 by Parrhasius and Pausias, two Greek painters; besides, 
 it is impossible to execute any work of excellence with- 
 out its employment. In painting domes and ceilings, 
 foreshortening is particularly important. The meaning 
 of the term is exemplified in the celebrated Ascension by 
 
TERMS USED IN PAINTING. 49 
 
 Luca Giordano, in which the body of Christ is so much 
 foreshortened that the toes seem to touch the knees, and 
 the knees the chin. (Will be known to many readers by 
 engravings.) 
 
 Harmony is that congenial, accordant, and pleasant 
 effect in a picture resulting from an intelligent distribu- 
 tion of light and shade, a judicious arrangement of 
 colors, and a consistency and propriety in composition. 
 
 Horizontal Line, in perspective, is a line that marks 
 the horizon, or the place of the supposed horizon, and 
 which is always on a level with the eye. 
 
 Linear Perspective. See PERSPECTIVE. 
 
 Loading is a term applied to laying colors in thick 
 masses on the lights, so as to make them project from 
 the surface, with a view to make them strongly illumi- 
 nated by the light that falls on the picture, and thus 
 mechanically to aid in producing roundness and relief, 
 or to give a sparkling effect to polished or glittering 
 objects. 
 
 Local Colors are such as faithfully imitate those of a 
 particular object, or such as are natural and proper for 
 each particular object in a picture. Color is also dis- 
 tinguished by the term " local," because the place it fills 
 requires that particular color, in order to give a greater 
 character of truth to the several tints with which it is 
 contrasted. 
 
 Manner is that habit which painters acquire, not only 
 in the management of the pencil, but also in the princi- 
 pal parts of painting, as invention, design, coloring. 
 It is by the manner in painting that connoisseurs decide 
 to what school it belongs, and by what particular master 
 
50 A GUIDE TO WATER-COLOR PAINTING. 
 
 of that school it was executed. Some masters have had 
 a variety in their manners at different periods of life; 
 others have so constantly adhered to one only, that those 
 who have seen even a few of their pictures will immedi- 
 ately know and judge of them without the risk of mis- 
 take. The variety observable among artists arises from 
 the manners of the different schools in which they have 
 received their instruction, or of the artists under whom 
 they have studied; for young painters, feeling a parti- 
 ality for those masters they have imitated, prefer what 
 they have long accustomed themselves to admire. Yet 
 there are instances, among the great artists, of painters 
 who have divested themselves of that early partiality so 
 effectually as to fix on a manner far better adapted to 
 their particular genius, and by this means have arrived 
 at a greater excellence. Thus Raphael proceeded, and 
 acquired a much more elevated manner, after he had 
 quitted the school of Perugino and seen the works of 
 Leonardo da Vinci. 
 
 Mannerism is an affected style, contracted by an imita- 
 tion of the peculiarities of some particular master, instead 
 of a general contemplation of nature. 
 
 Perspective. The art of representing the appearance 
 of objects as seen from a certain point of view. It is 
 divided into geometrical or linear perspective and . the 
 perspective of color or aerial perspective. Both are 
 subjected to perfectly scientific rules, and without the 
 observance of those rules no picture can have truth or 
 life. Linear perspective describes or represents the posi- 
 tion, form, and magnitude of objects, and their diminu- 
 tion in proportion to their distance from the eye. Aerial 
 perspective is the degradation of the tones of colors, 
 which throws off the distances of grounds and objects, 
 and which judicious artists practice by diffusing a kind 
 of thin vapor over them, that deceives the eye agree- 
 
TERMS USED IN PAINTING. 51 
 
 ably. It shows the diminution of the colors of objects 
 in proportion as they recede from the eye by the inter- 
 position of the atmosphere between the eye and the 
 objects. The proportion of this degradation is regulated 
 by the purity of the atmosphere. Hence in a fog it 
 will be greater at the distance of a few feet, than in a 
 clear sky at as many miles. Distant objects in a clear 
 southern air appear to an eye accustomed to a thick 
 northern atmosphere much nearer than they really are. 
 Thus as the air changes, the aerial perspective must 
 change. Morning, noon, evening, moonshine, winter, 
 summer, the sea, etc., all have their different aerial 
 perspective. In aerial perspective, the weakening of the 
 tints corresponds to the foreshortening of the receding 
 lines in linear perspective. In the illuminated parts of 
 objects, the tints are represented more broken and fluc- 
 tuating, and the shaded parts are often aided by reflec- 
 tion. By aerial perspective, two results are obtained : 
 
 1. Each object in a picture receives that degree of color 
 and light which belongs to its distance from the eye; 
 
 2. The various local tones are made to unite in one chief 
 tone, which last is nothing else than the common color of 
 the atmosphere and the light which penetrates it. The 
 charm and harmony of a picture, particularly of a land- 
 scape, depend greatly on a proper application of the 
 laws of perspective. 
 
 Reflected Lights are the borrowed lights, or lights 
 coming from one object to another; and those reflected 
 lights always partake of the tint of the object from which 
 the light is reflected. Not only the atmosphere, but 
 every object in nature, reflects light. 
 
 Stitt Life. The representations of inanimate objects, 
 as dead game, vegetables, fruits, and flowers, musical 
 and sporting instruments, weapons, tankards, glasses, 
 etc., or of fishes and domestic animals of every descrip- 
 
52 A GUIDE TO WATER-COLOR PAINTING. 
 
 tion, when forming compositions by themselves, are 
 called still life. 
 
 Style. Sir Joshua Reynolds says that "in painting, 
 style is the same as in writing; a power over materials, 
 whether words or colors, by which conceptions or senti- 
 ments are conveyed." Styles vary in painting as in 
 writing: some are grand, others plain; some florid, and 
 others simple. The word very often signifies only the 
 manner peculiar to a school or master, in design, com- 
 position, coloring, expression, and execution. 
 
 Tone is the harmony of coloring in a painting, or the 
 happy effect produced by the proper degradation of light 
 and shade, so as to cause all harshness and crudeness to 
 disappear. 
 
 Values. Value, in a picture, is usually defined as the 
 quantity of light or dark in a color or tone. It is the 
 difference of pitch between one color or tone and an- 
 other color or tone, whether the colors are different, as 
 orange and yellow, or the same, as green and green. 
 White light is the standard of values, and all colors in- 
 crease in value as they approach this standard. Two 
 objects of the same color, as rocks covered with snow, 
 one three feet from the eye and the other thirty, will 
 differ in degree or intensity of whiteness. The inter- 
 vening atmosphere is the cause, but the difference is 
 called difference in values. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 LIST OF MATERIALS, WITH USES OF THE COLORS DE- 
 SCRIBED. 
 
 WHERE expense is a matter of little or no moment to 
 the student, it will be best to secure the materials of the 
 best old-established makers, such as Windsor & Newton 
 or George Rowney & Sons, but it by no means follows 
 that the beginner should adopt the most expensive out- 
 fit, for the author has tested several of the less expensive 
 colors issued by the leading artists' color-men of 
 America, and while some are certainly to be avoided, 
 the use of which would render it impossible for the most 
 painstaking student to produce satisfactory results, there 
 are others which may quite safely be adopted as possess- 
 ing most of the excellent qualities of the highest-priced 
 European pigments. One of the most satisfactory boxes 
 of colors, among such preparations, is called the No. 0, 
 and is, I believe, imported from Paris. It contains 
 eighteen moist colors and three brushes, and is sold for 
 ""$1.25. The colors are pure in tone and well ground, and 
 ~1 have no reason to doubt their ordinary permanency, 
 but the Chinese white which it contains had better be 
 replaced by a bottle of superior make. 
 
 Moist colors in half-pans are the best adapted for all 
 ordinary work, and the student who overcomes the 
 temptation to possess a large number of colors in the 
 belief that he thereby is able to easily produce any re- 
 quired result, but who resolutely confines himself to a 
 limited number, say, at most, twenty, will make the 
 best and quickest progress; for he will be constantly 
 proving the capacity and power of the colors in their 
 numerous combinations. While I approve of the selec- 
 tion of colors in the box referred to, I think it advisable 
 to recommend the addition to it of the following: brown - 
 
 53 
 
54 A GUIDE TO WATER-COLOR PAINTING. 
 
 pink, orange-vermilion, and cadmium yellow. With this 
 outfit you will possess a wizard's wand, to beckon into 
 into being " things of beauty," joys forever. 
 
 The colors marked thus * in the following list may be 
 omitted. 
 
 Yellow Ocher. For sunny clouds, in thin washes mixed 
 with vermilion, scarlet or crimson lake; for roads, 
 mixed with light red or madder brown; for distant 
 greens, mixed with blues and browns, thin; very useful 
 to express extensive flat middle distance. 
 
 Raw Sienna. Very valuable to express rich, sunny 
 and autumnal tones, mixed with the blues and browns; 
 as a glaze (thin) over sunny green foliage is very effective. 
 
 Gamboge is gummy in substance, and must, therefore, 
 not be used too thick; produces a juicy green when 
 mixed with Antwerp blue; alone, or only tinged with 
 orange-vermilion, it is fine for the high lights in grasses 
 and near foliage. 
 
 Cadmium. An intense yellow; mostly useful in sun- 
 set effects, but will mix with Antwerp blue or indigo for 
 very bright greens. 
 
 Italian Pink.* Mixed with indigo or Antwerp blue 
 for rich grass-greens; alone, in medium wash, it makes a 
 sunny effect upon near foliage and grasses; with a little 
 Vandyke brown it makes a charming transparent shadow 
 wash for middle distances; never use it thickly, but it 
 may be strengthened sometimes by repeating the wash. 
 
 Brown Pink. With Antwerp blue or indigo it makes 
 a series of rich greens for herbage and foliage; with gam- 
 boge in light washes will produce very pretty sunny 
 effects on sappy grasses and in the half-lights of all rich 
 
LIST OF MATERIALS, WITH USES. 55 
 
 brown foliage. It will be found a useful color in represent- 
 ing extensive middle distances and foothills at the time 
 when the grasses are changing into brown in early sum 
 mer; and used carefully, nothing will exceed its beauty 
 and truthfulness in depicting the brown shadows in pools 
 and running brooks where rich brown soil prevails. 
 
 Naples Yellow* is opaque; hence must never be used in 
 composing foreground greens; it is very effective in giving 
 the pale yellow light in morning skies, and with a little 
 vermilion added it represents the soft light lines of cloud 
 frequently seen in an otherwise blue sky. 
 
 s 
 
 Indian Red. A useful dull red, valuable for composing 
 purplish grays by mixture with French blue or cobalt. 
 Care must be observed in its use, as it is with difficulty 
 removed from the paper when once dry. 
 
 Light Red. One of the most useful colors; mixed with 
 blues, almost every kind of gray can be made; with Van- 
 dyke brown, rich, old, broken "adobe" and earth banks 
 can be represented. 
 
 Orange-Vermilion. Much more useful than the ordi- 
 nary vermilion; an expensive color to grind, therefore care 
 should be exercised in selection; when a landscape is 
 intended to be very bright and sunny, or a sunset, the 
 preliminary wash over the entire paper, as recommended 
 in Chapter IV, may be made of this, instead of the mix- 
 ture there recommended; in very thin washes it is useful 
 for whitewashed houses or barns on the sunlit sides, par- 
 ticularly when the sun is low down in the afternoon (the 
 sides in shadow then to be in neutral purple, composed 
 of blue, red, and ivory-black, or sepia). 
 
 Carmine gives very truthfully the delightful sunset 
 reflections upon the snow-clad Sierras, seen at their best 
 
56 A GUIDE TO WATER-COLOR PAINTING. 
 
 during the rainy season; makes delicious shadow com- 
 binations with French blue, Antwerp or indigo; useful in 
 brilliant touches of drapery, and just tingeing a weak 
 wash of emerald-green will give a very beautiful passage 
 of distant, sunny, rolling meadows. This should be done 
 by applying it in very delicate tint over the green when 
 dry, called a "glaze." 
 
 Crimson Lake. Heavier than the above; more useful 
 in mixing with French blue or indigo for very dark mark- 
 ings, but, on the whole, should not be preferred to carmine. 
 
 Alizarin Crimson. Somewhat preferable to crimson 
 lake. 
 
 Rose- Madder.* A beautiful tender color, useful in 
 forming warm shadow clouds and grays with the various 
 blues and black. 
 
 Burnt Sienna. Invaluable. Mixed with Antwerp blue 
 it makes a warm sunny green; with indigo, a deep, rich- 
 toned, shadow green; if a picture nearing completion is 
 found to have a too green or crude appearance, a thin 
 wash of burnt sienna over the parts in light will very 
 materially help it; with madder brown, every variety of 
 red cow .can be painted; of constant use, also, in roads, 
 brick, tiles, and interwoven with Vandyke brown it breaks 
 up large surfaces of green herbage so as to give the appear- 
 ance of grasses and multiplicity of weeds, etc.; in very 
 thin wash it gives the smooth bark of the eucalyptus in 
 sunlight, and with a little carmine it gives the berry of 
 the pepper tree; mixed with a little madder brown, it 
 makes a good color for the side of the orange in shade, 
 while the lightest part is of orange-vermilion. 
 
 '(Real Ultramarine. The most perfect blue, but washes 
 badly, and is therefore not the best for beginners. It is, 
 
LIST OF MATERIALS, WITH USES. 57 
 
 moreover, very expensive, and on this account alone is 
 not often to be found in ordinary palettes. The French 
 blue and cobalt are very satisfactory substitutes. 
 
 Cobalt Blue. One of the indispensable colors in the 
 water-color box; it is semi-opaque, and therefore should 
 not be used heavily in composing foreground greens, but 
 in skies and distances, in composing grays with any of 
 the reds, and purples with any of the lakes, and neutral 
 grays with sepia for rocks, stems of trees, and other broken 
 foreground items, it is most valuable. In combination 
 with gamboge, it makes very brilliant greens. 
 
 Antwerp Blue. In addition to its usefulness in the 
 creation of greens, by admixture with the yellows, and a 
 beautiful transparent green by mixture with Vandyke 
 brown, it makes a series of valuable grays for rocks and 
 cliffs, when mixed with madder brown, or Indian red, or 
 light red. It is not supposed to be very permanent, 
 hence is not used so freely as French blue or indigo. 
 
 Prussian Blue. Is stronger than Antwerp blue. Must 
 be used with caution, because of its strength. 
 
 French Blue is much used because of its transparent 
 quality and moderate tone. It makes good shadow tints 
 for clouds in combination with madder brown, Indian red, 
 light red, or ivory-black, and a range of useful shadow 
 tints, with crimson lake and ivory-black, or with sepia 
 and carmine; it is serviceable at times to strengthen the 
 blue in skies. This is often called French ultramarine. 
 
 Indigo. In mixing indigo it must be used sparingly, 
 because of its tendency to blackness. It is an intensely 
 cold color, hence is applicable to making sea washes and 
 running water; mixtures of indigo (very light) with light 
 red, orange- vermilion, or madder brown make a series of 
 
58 A GUIDE TO WATER-COLOR PAINTING. 
 
 cool grays for objects in distances; with crimson lake or 
 carmine in thin washes it makes good purplish shadows 
 for middle-distance objects. 
 
 Madder Brown has a tendency to redness; makes a good 
 wash for near rock-masses on which the sun falls; for this 
 purpose a very small portion of French or cobalt blue 
 should be added, when the wash is dry; put in the forms 
 that are in half-light with same mixture slightly strength- 
 ened, then, when again dry, the darkest touches with 
 additional strength of same color. Madder brown is also 
 useful for putting in the dark, rich touches among bram- 
 bles and herbage, for markings in roads and ruts, and for 
 making slender tree branches, where they possess any 
 color. 
 
 Vandyke Brown. Perhaps the most useful brown; with 
 gamboge it makes a pretty color for tree-masses; with the 
 blues it makes very quiet greens for low-toned pictures; 
 it is much used as a glaze over greens, to subdue them; 
 for masses of brown, which frequently exist in middle 
 distances, it is unequaled; it should be used in thin 
 washes generally, and repeated when necessary, instead 
 of laying it with full strength in one wash. 
 
 Sepia is colder than Vandyke brown; makes splendid 
 cool grays, mixed with cobalt for distances, and is useful 
 in roads, banks of earth, tree stems, etc. 
 
 Ivory-Blaek is serviceable in reducing the brilliancy of 
 some intense colors where it is necessary to make very 
 dark masses or markings; with the reds it makes a series 
 of grays, useful in some winter skies or masses of distant 
 rocks or cliffs, and mixed with cobalt or French blue it 
 makes a colder tint for similar purposes. It must be used 
 sparingly. 
 
LIST OF MATERIALS, WITH USES. 59 
 
 Emerald- Green. For bits of brilliant drapery, such as 
 a woman's shawl or a rug, when it is necessary to intro- 
 duce it; for that indescribable tint in deep-sea water, under 
 certain aspects, and for such exceptional passages of color 
 as I have indicated under "Carmine." If kept moist, a 
 half-pan will last for years in ordinary practice. 
 
 Purple Madder.* Useful in sunset effects chiefly; a 
 very beautiful color, but, like all the madders, is not 
 permanent. 
 
 Chinese WJiite. This is best kept in tube, and it is 
 advisable to use only the best make, as there are many 
 sold which do not dry perfectly white, and some which do 
 not dry thoroughly at all; it should never be used where 
 it can possibly be avoided, nevertheless there are occasions 
 when its use is inevitable, and effects which cannot be 
 represented truthfully without it, such, for instance, as 
 the morning effect treated of in Chapter IV. The student 
 will discover in time that it must be used occasionally to 
 assist in the production of floating mists and the dreamy, 
 hazy mysteries of distant hills and valleys. It would be 
 too bewildering to the beginner to attempt a description 
 of its use to produce the most subtle effects in landscape; 
 as we have said, it is a pigment, the use of which, to an 
 appreciable extent, it is a virtue to ignore rather than to 
 encourage. It is useful, however, to lay on small high 
 lights which cannot be judicially either "left out" or 
 "taken out" (see Chapter V), and for putting in figures 
 or cattle under same conditions. 
 
 Now, the beginner will not act wisely if he encumbers 
 himself with more than the colors enumerated above. 
 The writer has found in a life's experience that every re- 
 quirement of the art can be met by this combination. 
 
 The colors should be arranged in his box in the fol- 
 lowing order, so that, as he holds it in his left, the 
 
60 A GUIDE TO WATER-COLOR PAINTING. 
 
 yellows should be nearest his right hand, the reds next, 
 the blues next, and such colors as Vandyke brown, 
 ivory-black, green, sepia, and Chinese white last; by 
 ever keeping them in this order he will soon acquire a 
 rapid facility of fixing his brush upon the color he 
 desires, without having to refer to their position and 
 names on a chart, which it is advisable he should make 
 as soon as he has placed them, for use will soon make 
 their surfaces look very much alike. 
 
 PAPER. 
 
 Always use Whatman's " Extra Stout Not," which 
 means that the surface is not hot-pressed. This is better 
 in many particulars than a smoother surface. Most 
 artists' color-men keep this paper in what are known 
 as " sketch- blocks," containing many sheets of paper 
 fastened securely at their edges on a thick cardboard, 
 and when a drawing is finished it is easily removed by 
 passing a knife around the edges, when the block presents 
 a fresh sheet again ready for another picture without 
 trouble of mounting. This, of course, has its advantage 
 in saving of time and labor, but this is more than 
 compensated for in the case of working and the more 
 satisfactory flow of the washes upon the paper, if the 
 student will adopt the following method : Obtain a 
 drawing-board, perfectly square (say 15 x 10 inches); 
 have your paper large enough to fold over the back of 
 the board one inch all round; damp the paper on both 
 sides with a very soft sponge (applying the water by 
 taps, not by rubbing); allow it to become nearly dry, 
 but take care that it is not quite dry; then place the 
 board upon it, cut the corners so that the end shall 
 overlap the sides when they are pasted over on the back 
 without forming a crease at the corner; this is done, of 
 course, by cutting out a right angle; then paste the 
 edges firmly on back of board, and place the board with 
 pasted edges downward on a flat surface to dry. If this 
 
LIST OF MATERIALS, WITH USES. 61 
 
 is properly done, the paper, when dry, will present a flat 
 dead surface, and will not pucker during the progress of 
 the drawing, which occurs, more or less, with the blocks. 
 Paper has a finished and an unfinished side, the 
 finished side (on which, of course, the picture is painted) 
 may be ascertained by holding the sheet between the eye 
 and the light, and when the name "Whatman," in water- 
 mark, reads rightly from left to right, then the finished 
 side is near the eye, and it may be indicated by placing 
 a mark in the corners of the paper, which can then be 
 cut into required sizes without losing sight of the right 
 side. 
 
 BRUSHES. 
 
 It is indispensable to have a good water or sky brush, 
 and although, of course, a sable would always be pre- 
 ferred, yet the <k Siberian hair" is a really good brush, 
 and is only one third the cost of sable. It should be at 
 least half an inch wide at the ferrule, and flat, with full 
 hairs. 
 
 The other brushes should be of three sizes, one for 
 very fine touches, the next for general work, and the 
 third for large washes, the largest of the three being less 
 than the thickness of a small cedar pencil. They are 
 known in the best makers' lists as Nos. 2, 4, and 6, in 
 round albata ferrules. An easel, a small fine sponge, and 
 some thick blotting-paper will complete the outfit for 
 studio-work. 
 
 For outdoor sketching the following items will add 
 much to the convenience and enjoyment of the work: 
 sketching-stool, light sketching-easel, umbrella with joint 
 and spike to drive into the ground, water-bottle, and 
 small cups or dippers. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 ON MIXING COLORS, WITH A LIST OF USEFUL COMBINATIONS. 
 
 ALWAYS have regard to the extent or quantity of the 
 wash required, then place in your palette the necessary 
 quantity of water, to which you will add the color or 
 colors until the requisite degree of strength is obtained; 
 by this means uniformity of tone is secured; and here 
 must be reiterated the instruction to be careful in seeing 
 that all the color is discharged from the brush, or the 
 result will be blotches as the brush is applied to the 
 paper. In mixing color for dark, small markings, do 
 not use much water, but use the brush saturated only at 
 its point; by this means the color can be applied strong 
 and crisp, which is essential in the foreground detail. In 
 taking the color from the pans, see that your brush is 
 moist only, not full of water, for if it is, you will waste 
 much of your pigments, and your box will too speedily 
 require replenishing. When two tints have to be blended, 
 it is not necessary to use two brushes, indeed, it will 
 be found advantageous to use the same brush; having 
 both tints ready prepared, dip the brush into the second 
 tint and apply it to the lower edge of the first wash; 
 the point of unison will be less perceptible than if two 
 brushes are used. When Chinese white is used with 
 any tint, it is best to rub the white into the tint with the 
 finger-point, for if the brush is used for this purpose, it 
 will nearly always be found that particles of the white 
 remain uncharged with the tint, and although their 
 measurement is infinitesimal, yet the result of the wash 
 will be " chalky." 
 
 Such small matters of detail as this, and many others 
 contained in this little guide, may be considered for the 
 moment as trifling and unimportant, but the student 
 will soon find that they contribute very materially to his 
 
 62 
 
MIXING COLORS COMBINATIONS. 
 
 63 
 
 progress in practice and add many charms to pictorial 
 effect. 
 
 SOME COLOR COMBINATIONS FOR SKIES. 
 
 Clear blue sky. Ultramarine, cobalt, or cobalt and 
 
 very little rose-madder. 
 
 Light clouds. Orange vermilion, or light red and 
 
 yellow ocher, or Naples yellow tinged 
 with rose-madder or vermilion. 
 
 Shaded clouds Yellow ocher and madder brown, or 
 
 (warm). Naples yellow and madder brown, or 
 
 ivory-black and light red, or light red 
 and cobalt. 
 
 Cold clouds. Indigo and light red, or ivory-black 
 
 and indigo, or Payne's gray and light 
 red; or indigo, French blue, and ver- 
 milion. 
 
 Purple clouds Crimson lake and French blue, 
 
 (at sunset). crimson lake and cobalt, carmine and 
 French blue, carmine and indigo, or 
 purple madder. 
 
 Crimson clouds Crimson lake, or crimson lake and 
 
 (sunset). carmine, or light red and rose-madder. 
 
 Brilliant yellow Cadmium yellow, or cadmium and 
 of sunset. gamboge. 
 
 Subdued yellow Yellow ocher and Indian red, or a 
 of sunset. little rose-madder. 
 
 COMBINATIONS FOR SEA. 
 
 Distant sea. Indigo, or French blue, or French 
 
 blue and ivory-black, and for the deep 
 
64 A GUIDE TO WATER-COLOR PAINTING. 
 
 purplish blue frequently seen below 
 the horizon or under dark clouds, use 
 indigo and crimson lake. 
 
 Stormy sea. Raw sienna and ivory-black, burnt 
 
 sienna and indigo, or burnt sienna and 
 Antwerp blue, or cobalt blue and Van- 
 dyke brown, or raw sienna and Van- 
 dyke brown. 
 
 Sea-greens. Cobalt and gamboge, Prussian blue 
 
 and gamboge, cadmium yellow and Ant- 
 werp blue, cadmium yellow and French 
 blue. 
 
 Emerald-green (this is rarely used 
 alone, but for the beautiful green, full of 
 light, sometimes seen in deep rock- 
 pools, a thin wash of this over gamboge 
 and cobalt is admirable), raw sienna 
 and indigo. For those parts of the 
 waves catching most light, use raw 
 sienna, or raw sienna and Vandyke 
 brown, or Roman ocher. 
 
 
 
 Deep shadows in Burnt sienna and cobalt, or burnt 
 waves possess- sienna and indigo, or indigo and touch 
 ing color. of crimson lake. 
 
 ROCKS. 
 
 Rocks of gray. Payne's gray (very light) or ivory- 
 
 black and light red, or ivory-black and 
 vermilion, or ivory-black and madder 
 brown, or cobalt and light red, or indigo 
 and light red, or Vandyke brown and 
 French blue, or indigo and madder 
 
MIXING COLORS COMBINATIO 
 
 brown, or indigo and rose-madder and a 
 little yellow ocher, or orange-vermilion 
 and ivory-black, or orange-vermilion 
 and blue. 
 
 Rocks having Burnt sienna, or burnt sienna and 
 
 color. ivory -black, or burnt sienna and 
 
 Payne's gray, or madder brown, or 
 madder brown and sepia (a beautiful 
 color), or madder brown and raw 
 sienna, or Payne's gray and vermilion. 
 
 Mountains 
 
 (remote). 
 
 Mountains 
 
 (nearer). 
 
 Patches of herb- 
 age on moun- 
 tains in- dis- 
 tance. 
 
 Cobalt, with slight addition of yellow 
 ocher and rose-madder; cobalt, indigo, 
 and rose-madder; or cobalt and Payne's 
 gray and a little rose-madder. If very 
 cold, Payne's gray and cobalt, or 
 Payne's gray and indigo. 
 
 First wash over with yellow ocher 
 and light red, or yellow ocher and brown 
 madder; or if very sunny, use yellow 
 ocher and rose-madder, or light red 
 alone. Put in the shadows with French 
 blue and madder brown, or cobalt and 
 madder brown; or madder brown, 
 Payne's gray, and cobalt; or cobalt, 
 sepia, and madder brown; or indigo and 
 purple madder; or cobalt, ivory-black, 
 and purple madder. 
 
 Yellow ocher, Antwerp blue, and a 
 little rose-madder; or yellow ocher and 
 a little cobalt; or yellow ocher, indigo, 
 and a little light red; or yellow ocher, 
 Vandyke brown, and a little cobalt; or 
 raw sienna and cobalt, with a little 
 
66 
 
 A GUIDE TO WATER-COLOR PAINTING. 
 
 rose-madder. The above may be glazed 
 afterwards with light washes of either 
 of the following: gamboge, Italian pink, 
 raw sienna, or burnt sienna. 
 
 FOREGROUND, HERBAGE, ETC. 
 
 Grass-greens. Antwerp blue and Indian yellow, or 
 
 Prussian blue and Indian yellow, or 
 gamboge and blue. 
 
 Broken greens. Burnt sienna, Indian yellow, and 
 
 Antwerp blue; or raw sienna, lake, and 
 Prussian blue; or gamboge, sepia, and 
 indigo; or brown pink and Antwerp 
 blue; or brown pink and indigo; or 
 brown pink alone. 
 
 Warm tones in Burnt sienna, or raw sienna, or In- 
 sun. dian yellow and madder brown, or Ital- 
 
 ian pink, or gamboge and rose-madder, 
 or Indian yellow and a little lake. 
 
 Glossy leaves in Cobalt and Indian yellow, gamboge 
 high light. and cobalt, Prussian blue and rose- 
 
 madder, or indigo and rose-madder, or 
 cobalt and Naples yellow, or indigo. 
 
 Dead stems and Madder brown, or madder brown and 
 Leaves. burnt sienna, or burnt sienna and Van- 
 
 dyke brown, or Vandyke brown and 
 crimson lake, or burnt sienna alone. 
 
 FOR CATTLE AND OTHER ANIMALS. 
 
 If dark brown. Vandyke brown; or Vandyke brown, 
 
 sepia, and crimson lake; or crimson 
 lake and ivory-black. 
 
MIXING COLORS COMBINATIONS. 67 
 
 If bay. Madder brown and a little yellow 
 
 ocher, madder brown and light red, or 
 burnt sienna and madder brown, or 
 Indian red and madder brown. 
 
 If light. Either yellow ocher, burnt sienna, or 
 
 light red. 
 
 If black. Ivory-black and crimson lake; or 
 
 ivory -black, indigo, and carmine; or 
 indigo and crimson lake; or Prussian 
 blue and crimson lake; or Payne's gray 
 and Vandyke brown. 
 
 Sheep. Either yellow ocher, Roman ocher, 
 
 or Roman ocher and Vandyke brown; 
 or yellow ocher and a little madder 
 brown. 
 
 FOLIAGE. 
 
 In representing foreground foliage, the first important 
 consideration is its character. Note and sketch accurately 
 its outline, its masses in light and in shade, and the direc- 
 tion of its branches and stems. Remember that you can- 
 not paint in detail its multitudinous leaves, but yet must 
 represent their appear ance, hence the lights and shadows 
 must be sharp and crisp. This is effected best by using 
 the color tolerably dry, and applying it by dragging the 
 side of the brush on the paper. The following combina- 
 tions will supply every required need, and in making 
 your selection, first assure yourself of the distinctive 
 color of the tree, or its appearance, whether it is more or 
 less yellow, as in strong, mid-day light, or inclined to 
 red or rich brown, as in evening light. I have thought it 
 advisable to specify the combinations best adapted for 
 the portrayal of trees characteristic of the ordinary Cali- 
 fornia landscape, as general remarks would not sufficiently 
 
68 A GUIDE TO WATER-COLOR PAINTING. 
 
 apply to such trees as the pepper, the live-oak, and the 
 palm, and I am not aware that any specific instructions 
 for the painting of these have been hitherto published. 
 
 Distant foliage. Very distant foliage must be put in 
 without any detail, merely regarding 
 the outline or form, and the tints used 
 must be more or less gray or neutral, 
 because it will be observed that green 
 trees in the extreme distance do not 
 appear green, but are only darker 
 masses than the objects surrounding 
 them. For this purpose use cobalt 
 blue and light red, or French blue and 
 light red, or cobalt and burnt sienna, 
 or madder brown and indigo (avoid- 
 ing heaviness), or sepia and a little co- 
 balt blue. Sometimes extreme distance 
 foliage is best represented by cobalt 
 or French blue alone, and afterwards 
 touched lightly on their shadow sides 
 with rose-madder or Vandyke brown. 
 
 Middle-distance must partake more of its local or 
 foliage actual coloring, but yet must be kept 
 
 subdued in tone and show no intricate 
 detail of form. In general sunlight 
 effects, the parts in light are well rep- 
 resented by yellow ocher and a little 
 French blue; or sepia, yellow ocher, 
 and a little French blue, or yellow 
 ocher and Vandyke brown, or pale 
 Indian yellow and a little indigo and 
 Vandyke brown, or raw sienna and 
 cobalt, and the side parts in shade by 
 Vandyke brown and French blue, or 
 Vandyke brown and indigo, or madder 
 
MIXING COLORS COMBINATIONS. 
 
 69 
 
 Foreground foli- 
 age generally 
 (light). 
 
 Those marked thus * 
 are for autumnal or 
 evening effects. 
 
 brown and indigo, or sepia and Van- 
 dyke brown, or a little lake with in- 
 digo and Vandyke brown. The stems 
 should be "taken out" (if seen), and 
 the places then tinted with light red, 
 or pale Vandyke brown and red, or 
 raw sienna. If it is found necessary 
 to add touches or washes of still deeper 
 tone, which become necessary only as 
 the foreground is approached, let the 
 colors used be quiet and brown. 
 
 Raw sienna, Italian pink, gamboge, 
 gamboge and sepia, gamboge and Van- 
 dyke brown, Indian yellow and a little 
 Antwerp blue, Italian pink and Ant- 
 werp blue; gamboge, burnt sienna, and 
 Antwerp blue; * Italian pink, indigo, 
 and a little burnt sienna; gamboge, 
 brown madder, and Antwerp blue; 
 brown pink and a little indigo; * burnt 
 sienna, * Indian yellow, * Indian yel- 
 low and lake, * Italian pink and a little 
 burnt sienna. 
 
 In shade. Vandyke brown and indigo; Van- 
 
 dyke brown, burnt sienna, and Antwerp 
 blue; Vandyke brown and French blue; 
 Vandyke brown, brown pink, and 
 French blue; madder-brown, indigo, 
 and gamboge; * Indian yellow and 
 purple madder; * Prussian blue and 
 lake; * French blue and lake; raw 
 sienna, Antwerp blue, and Vandyke 
 brown; * Roman ocher and madder 
 brown, olive green. 
 
70 A GUIDE TO WATER-COLOR PAINTING. 
 
 Several colors not contained in the beginner's box are 
 mentioned here, but it does not imply the necessity of 
 using them, only to make the list of combinations toler- 
 ably complete, in order that the student may at his 
 convenience use them when desirous of extending his 
 knowledge of pigments and their expression. 
 
 Pepper Tree. First wash of gamboge and a little Ant- 
 werp blue; indicate the thickest masses in shade by a 
 wash of the same, to which a little more Antwerp blue 
 and burnt sienna is added; note the deepest small 
 shadows and put them in with Vandyke brown and 
 indigo; make the drooping stems of raw sienna and 
 Vandyke brown, and the stump and larger branches of 
 yellow ocher, light red, and a little vermilion. When 
 perfectly dry, take out fine lines of light in a few places 
 against the shadow masses (to represent the sheen pro- 
 duced by the sunlight upon the drooping stems and 
 leaves); this can be done very effectively by a careful 
 use of the point of a sharp knife, instead of using water 
 and handkerchief, which would frequently make too 
 wide a line; afterwards, to finish, use Vandyke brown, 
 or Vandyke brown and a little lake, or madder brown to 
 give the shaded sides of the trunk and large branches, 
 also the deepest foliage shadows, and finally, add touches 
 of deep color, crisp and sharp, to the stalks and stems, 
 where required, using Vandyke brown, burnt sienna, or 
 madder brown, or varied compounds of them. It may 
 be found necessary to touch the lines of light taken out 
 by the knife with a fine-pointed brush charged with 
 Naples yellow. When the tree is in berry, and it is 
 required to represent the clusters of tiny crimson globes 
 which, next to the orange, fascinate the eyes of all our 
 visitors, it will be found best to first paint the tree; then, 
 after rubbing up, with the finger-tip, some Chinese white 
 into a thick pasty consistency to apply it with a fine- 
 pointed brush (only using the point for the purpose), and 
 
MIXING COLORS COMBINATIONS. 71 
 
 when the clusters are formed and are quite dry, mix two 
 tints, one of crimson lake or carmine and the other of 
 burnt sienna, and (using a separate brush for each tint) 
 apply them irregularly to the white, sometimes using 
 the burnt sienna tint and at other points the carmine or 
 lake. Do not touch any one berry, while wet, with both 
 tints; wait until again perfectly dry, then finish by 
 touching the berries on their shaded sides with Vandyke 
 brown, and unite them by tendril stems of the same 
 color. 
 
 This may be a good place to emphasize an important 
 lesson as to the value of shadows. Supposing you have 
 painted your tree against clear sky, with no surroundings 
 but the sward or pathway by which it stands, look at it, 
 now that you have finished it, and, unless you are 
 conceited, you will note, however successfully you may 
 have done your work, that there is something still lack- 
 ing; it looks bare and unfinished, although the tree 
 itself may be sufficiently and effectively finished. It 
 requires its inevitable shadow. It could not exist without 
 a shadow; you never saw one without its complement. 
 So, mix a tolerably strong wash of Antwerp blue, crimson 
 lake and ivory-black, and with a brush well charged with 
 this tint lay it over the proper ground-space from the 
 trunk of the tree outward, and you immediately strike 
 your tree into life. 
 
 Live- Oak. Note the "bunchy" appearance of the 
 foliage masses, indicating the requirement of more 
 broken washes than the ordinary oak and other trees. 
 The most useful combinations are : gamboge and Van- 
 dyke brown; yellow ocher, Vandyke brown, and indigo; 
 Indian yellow and Vandyke brown; brown pink and 
 French blue; burnt sienna and Antwerp blue, with 
 indigo added for black shadows; Roman ocher and 
 French blue; raw sienna, madder brown, and Prussian 
 
72 A GUIDE TO WATER-COLOR PAINTING. 
 
 blue; gamboge, ivory-black, and a little Antwerp blue; 
 olive-green. For glazing, use raw sienna or burnt sienna, 
 very thin. 
 
 Its Trunk and Branches. Madder brown and indigo; 
 sepia and madder brown; burnt sienna and Payne's 
 gray; madder brown and ivory-black; raw sienna and a 
 little carmine or crimson lake; sepia and Vandyke brown. 
 
 Palm. Use gamboge and cobalt; gamboge and Ant- 
 werp blue, or pale cadmium and Prussian blue for first 
 wash. For the shaded sides of the leaves use same wash, 
 with indigo or Prussian blue added. Glaze the shaded 
 sides with Antwerp blue and burnt sienna, or burnt 
 sienna alone, or madder brown alone. Put in the stalk 
 with burnt sienna and Vandyke brown, or burnt sienna 
 heightened by a touch of vermilion, if in strong light, 
 and mark out the diamond-like cuttings with madder 
 brown and ivory-black. Treat the lines of light upon 
 the sharp blades in same manner as given under " Pepper 
 tree." 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 ON BROAD WASHES FOR SKIES, SEA, FLAT DISTANCES, ETC. 
 
 THE beginner finds one of his greatest difficulties in lay- 
 ing on broad, flat washes without producing ridges of color, 
 or streakiness, which, of course, would be fatal to clear, 
 unbroken sky effects. The paper should be moistened 
 while at an angle of forty-five degrees (and this is about 
 the inclination the drawing should occupy during the 
 whole process of painting the picture) by passing the flat 
 sable or " sky " brush, charged with clear water, over the 
 whole surface, beginning on the left-hand top corner and 
 working the brush from left to right; a slight tremulous 
 motion of the hand during the process will help the paper 
 to absorb the water, and after carrying the brush across 
 the surface it should be again quickly charged with water, 
 and be placed just at the lower edge of the last wash, so 
 as to catch the deposit of moisture there, and so carried 
 across in fc as rapid succession as possible, until the whole 
 surface is moistened. 
 
 Two or three minutes should be allowed to elapse, in 
 order that the paper may thoroughly absorb the moisture, 
 and then, while it is still damp, but having no floating 
 water on its surface, there should be passed over it, in the 
 same manner, an orange wash composed of yellow ocher 
 and light red, if the picture is to be an ordinary sun- 
 light effect, or of yellow ocher and Indian red or mad- 
 der brown if the effect is to be somber or gray. Now, 
 here it is necessary to emphasize the above instruction 
 about the exercise of extreme care to prevent too much 
 moisture floating at the lower edge of each successive 
 wash across the paper, for should the color be allowed to 
 float too heavily, it will break away an4 trickle in a line 
 down the paper, which line would be seen forever after- 
 wards, however many washes the drawing might there- 
 
 73 
 
74 A GUIDE TO WATER-COLOR PAINTING. 
 
 after receive. As this accident is a common one with 
 beginners, and as the successful operation of laying flat 
 or graduated washes is the secret of much of the charm 
 of water-color pictures, the student will do well to prac- 
 tice this method diligently at the beginning, and in a few 
 days it will become an easy matter. It will be found 
 advisable at times, when it is seen the brush is too full, 
 to touch it to a damp sponge, which will absorb some of 
 the superfluous wash. 
 
 One word more on this important, although apparently 
 very simple, process of laying a perfectly flat wash: In 
 continuing the color downwards, let the newly charged 
 brush only touch the floating color in the previous line, 
 so as to blend it; don't rub the brush up into the past 
 color space. Should it be found that the paper seems 
 greasy, and refuses to accept the wash easily, just add 
 three drops of ox-gall to the water in use (say to half a 
 tumblerful). 
 
 The use of the above wash of neutral orange (see Chap- 
 ter III, under Orange Vermilion) serves in a remarkable 
 degree to preserve atmosphere in the picture, as it slightly 
 breaks the subsequent layers of color, and prevents crude- 
 ness. Now, suppose the sky. to be represented is an ordi- 
 nary blue sky with a broken line or two of soft light 
 clouds. Make a wash of cobalt blue of the desired 
 strength, always taking care that you make wash enough 
 to cover your sky-space, as it would be difficult to make 
 a second of the exact tone if you ran short, and begin- 
 ning at the top left-hand corner, carry it over all the 
 paper representing sky-space, except the parts of light 
 clouds, and when you reach the horizon, apply to the 
 lowest edge of the wash a piece of thick blotting-paper to 
 absorb the moisture; do not press the blotting on the 
 color, only touch its edge, and so draw the superfluous 
 moisture down into the blotting; this will be found to 
 slightly reduce the tone of blue at and near the horizon. 
 Before using this wash, however, and when the orange 
 
BROAD WASHES. 75 
 
 wash is perfectly dry, go over the whole surface with clear 
 water, as in the first instance. This answers two purposes: 
 1. It removes any small particles of orange color which 
 have not been absorbed into the paper, and which, if not 
 so removed, would depreciate the purity of any after 
 washes; and 2. It prepares the paper again to receive 
 the cobalt without causing lines or ridges, which would 
 probably occur if the cobalt were applied to the paper 
 when dry. Should it be found that the cobalt, when dry, 
 is not of the desired strength, repeat the wash (or a 
 diluted one) after clear water, as at first. 
 
 The clouds may next be put in (the blue being dry) 
 with a slight wash of Naples yellow tinged with vermilion. 
 When this is dry, go over the whole again with water, 
 which will tend to soften the edges of the clouds; this last 
 water-bath should be brought down over the entire paper. 
 
 FOR GRADUATED WASHES USEFUL IN SOFT SUNRISE AND 
 SUNSET EFFECTS. 
 
 After the preliminary orange wash, which for morning 
 should have the slightest touch of red only, and for even- 
 ing an addition of a small quantity of cadmium in the 
 space just above the horizon, mix a wash of cadmium or 
 chrome yellow and commence at the top, as usual, with 
 clear water, bringing it down over one third of the sky, 
 or a little beyond; then let the water-brush be dipped in 
 the yellow wash without thoroughly becoming charged 
 with the full strength of the color, and blend into the 
 water-line right across the paper; at the next free dip of 
 the brush into the color it will become charged with the 
 full strength of yellow; blend it into the last application 
 in the usual manner, and so on down to a short distance 
 from the horizon; then dip the brush in clear water so as 
 to reduce the color-strength again, and so on with each 
 successive application, and the result will be a soft 
 graduated tint from light orange to pale yellow, deep 
 yellow, pale yellow again, into the orange below; when 
 
76 A GUIDE TO WATER-COLOR PAINTING. 
 
 dry, apply clear water, as usual; then when the paper is 
 almost dry, turn the drawing-board upside down and 
 begin at the top (which is the base of the picture) with 
 clear water, and bring it down to where the yellow was 
 first commenced, and at this point commence a tint of 
 cobalt blue to which is added a touch of vermilion, and 
 carry this tint right on over the upper sky. When dry, 
 and after the clear wash, again repeat this process, with 
 less vermilion than before, and blending it into the water 
 a little lower in the sky, that is, let it be commenced 
 over the pale yellow tint, and the result, when dry, 
 will be a pearly upper blue graduating into an almost 
 imperceptible tender green, and then into the transparent 
 yellow and pale tint near the horizon. Be sure the board 
 is not reversed while the paper is wet. 
 
 A few soft, purple clouds may now be touched in near 
 the upper sky, and these may be composed of carmine or 
 crimson lake, and ultramarine or French blue, of moderate 
 strength only. Across the lowest sky may now be put in 
 the crimson or purple lake colored clouds, which so fre- 
 quently are seen in combination with such an effect, and 
 these are accomplished by using in moderate or full 
 strength, as the occasion requires, either crimson lake, 
 crimson lake and carmine, or purple lake. Against such 
 a sky a broken mass of deep foliage, composed of Vandyke 
 brown, Indian yellow, and indigo or French blue, is very 
 effective. 
 
 A quiet graduated morning effect may be secured by 
 washes in the same manner, by using the'following tints: 
 Naples yellow and a touch of gamboge, for the light por- 
 tion; cobalt blue and ivory-black, or cobalt blue and 
 lampblack, or cobalt blue and Payne's gray, with a particle 
 of indigo added, for the upper sky (a very weak wash), 
 and the lower sky bearing a layer of clouds with sharp 
 broken edges, composed of Payne's gray and indigo, very 
 thin, to which should be added a bit of Chinese white, 
 say, about the size of two pins' heads for a drawing 
 
BROAD WASHES. 77 
 
 12x9 inches. The white is added for two purposes: 
 First, because, being opaque, it will operate to prevent 
 the bluish gray wash turning green in contact with the 
 pale yellow light upon which it is placed, and next, 
 because its opacity will help to give the cold, lifeless 
 appearance to the lower clouds or mists, which the sun is 
 not strong enough to permeate. 
 
 It is not too much to say that the student who prac- 
 tices these two combinations of sky-color and methods a 
 few times will be rewarded by a facility in the execution 
 of broad and graduated washes, as well as by an appre- 
 ciation of the power of water-color to represent atmos- 
 phere to an extent far beyond his expectations. 
 
 It will sometimes be found, even after the utmost care 
 has been exercised, that slight lines of color are formed, 
 called streakiness, and frequently they can be modified, 
 during the process of washing off with clear water, by 
 repeated applications of the brush across the lines or 
 streaks. When once a space is covered by color, do not 
 go back over it with another wash while it is wet; if it 
 requires strengthening, wait until it is quite dry. Every 
 time the brush is carried to the palette for color, quickly 
 mix the wash, or a sediment will form and the wash on 
 the paper be uneven. 
 
 In painting masses of graduated color, such as round 
 masses of cloud, the lightest tint of the mass should be 
 painted first and carried all over it; when this is dry, the 
 next or half tints should be put upon it, and so on until 
 the deepest tints are put in with small decided touches. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 ON VARIOUS MEANS AND METHODS. 
 
 IN the last chapter sufficient emphasis has been laid 
 on the necessity of allowing each successive wash to dry 
 before applying the next, and of keeping the color on 
 the palette constantly stirred to prevent formation of 
 sediment, also, that, to insure delicacy and uniformity in 
 all large washes, such as skies and distances, clear water 
 should be used between the washes. Blotting-paper 
 may be used to absorb the superfluous moisture of this 
 clear wash by pressing it evenly over the entire surface, 
 thereby leaving the paper ready at once to receive the 
 next wash, and saving time. 
 
 High Lights. Clear and sharp lights, such as the 
 silvery edges of some clouds, or the reflection of same in 
 water, or any object catching bright light, should, when 
 possible, be left out; that is, the spaces should not 
 receive the first or succeeding washes; but if they are 
 only half-lights, being soft and indistinct, then they may 
 be passed over with the wash, and blotting-paper pressed 
 upon the spaces immediately to absorb the color. 
 
 Use of Sponge and Blotting in Softening or Rounding 
 Masses of Color, Producing Half -Lights, etc. Where it is 
 desirable to soften the edges of a mass, or, say, to gradu- 
 ate the color in clouds, let the sponge be squeezed as 
 dry as possible and applied carefully to the parts required 
 to be lightened, constantly after every touch turning the 
 sponge a little, so as to apply a clean surface at every 
 application to the color. If the sponge is of a fine fiber 
 and squeezed sufficiently dry, the effect will be very 
 satisfactory. For small spaces the blotting may be sub- 
 stituted for the sponge, applying its edge to the part. 
 
 78 " 
 
VARIOUS MEANS AND METHODS. 79 
 
 Sometimes the desired gradation of tone can be secured 
 best by applying the brush to the moist color, after 
 squeezing it through the sponge. Either of these methods 
 may be adopted in representing light reflections in still 
 water (used perpendicularly), which will produce a 
 pretty and very truthful transparent effect, if, when dry, 
 a line or two of light and sky color are drawn horizon- 
 tally across them. The sponge is also useful, when the 
 surface of the drawing is dry, to remove too heavy 
 patches of color, but it is advisable again to enforce the 
 precaution of squeezing it as dry as possible before every 
 application to the paper; after being so squeezed, it will 
 still retain moisture enough for the purpose. 
 
 To Take out Lights and Half-Lights. When the color 
 is quite dry, touch the parts intended to be taken out 
 with a brush charged moderately with water, allow the 
 moisture to stay on the paper a few seconds, then apply 
 blotting-paper, and quickly rub the part with an old silk 
 or other soft rag; do not rub hard, but briskly, and if 
 sufficient color is not removed by the first application, 
 repeat the water and again rub lightly. By careful use 
 of this method, quite a series of modified tones can be 
 produced from the lowest to the highest light. 
 
 Lines of light on still water, 
 
 Flecks and masses of sea-foam, 
 
 Sharp grasses .and broken herbage, 
 
 Gates and palings, 
 
 Rocks and stones, 
 
 Light branches of trees, when they stand against 
 
 masses of shadow foliage, 
 
 and many other forms, can be produced quickly in this 
 way. The spaces from which the color has thus been 
 wholly or partially removed may then be glazed over 
 with their local color, taking care not to disturb the 
 color of the surrounding parts. Sometimes the point of 
 
80 A GUIDE TO WATER-COLOR PAINTING. 
 
 a sharp knife is best to take out a very fine high light. 
 It is seldom that sea-foam can be adequately represented 
 without the addition of Chinese white worked irregularly 
 over the spaces so worked upon. 
 
 Sea-gulls against a sky should never be " taken out," 
 for fear of injuring the tender purity of the sky; they 
 should always be put in with Chinese white and their 
 under parts touched, when dry, with shadow color. 
 
 A Good Illustrative Example of "Taking Out." Sup- 
 pose it is desired to represent a mass of broken rocks or 
 sea-cliff, their cracks and broken edges, and infinite angles 
 of surfaces in light and shade, appearing to defy the 
 possibility of reproduction. Draw the mass without 
 reference to detail; next, discern the few masses of light 
 and shadow covering the whole, and draw outlines of 
 these; then look for the direction which the chief mark- 
 ings or cracks of the entire mass take, that is, whether 
 perpendicular, horizontal, or oblique; now cover the 
 entire space with a wash, say of sepia, tinged with light 
 red, rather light; next cover the shadow portions with a 
 similar wash, strengthened by adding more sepia; then 
 put in a few markings of cracks, etc., in the required 
 direction, to indicate the character of the rock; next put 
 in, with a little stronger color still, the deepest or darkest 
 cracks or fissures, and when dry proceed to take out 
 lights and half-lights in varied degrees; to still further 
 increase the effect of brokenness and detail, pass the 
 brush charged with a thin wash of vermilion and cobalt 
 blue over some of the taken-out spaces in the portion of 
 the mass in light, and with a wash of crimson lake and 
 indigo in the shadow portion. When dry, add a few 
 final touches where it may be necessary to give sharpness 
 and shadow, and the effect will be one of detail and 
 multiplicity, beyond anything which could be obtained 
 by the most laborious " niggling." 
 
VARIOUS MEANS AND METHODS. 81 
 
 Scumbling. The effect of distance, where objects are 
 indistinctly seen through the intervening vapor, and 
 the same effect in gorges and deep canons, can be pro- 
 duced by scumbling, which is executed in the following 
 manner: Rub a little Chinese white and neutral gray 
 color thoroughly together with as little water as possible, 
 and when they are perfectly mixed, with a stiff brush 
 rub the color over and into the too distinct objects in 
 the distance or chasm, with a circular motion of the 
 hand, until the objects are partially obliterated; after- 
 ward, when the " scumble " is dry, touch the parts in 
 places with light tints of local coloring. 
 
 Glazing. This consists of passing a wash of transpar- 
 ent color over the parts requiring enrichment. Raw 
 sienna, Italian pink, and gamboge are all excellent colors 
 to use in this way over foliage and grasses lighted up by 
 the sun; burnt sienna alone, or mixed with either of the 
 foregoing, is admirably adapted to give rich autumnal or 
 evening tints upon foliage, etc. 
 
 Never use an opaque color for glazing. The opaque 
 and transparent colors in your box may be discerned by 
 noticing that some reflect the light and others absorb the 
 light. For instance, raw sienna, being a transparent 
 pigment, will not reflect the light or appear to shine like 
 emerald-green, which, being opaque, reflects the light. 
 Glazings should always be thin. 
 
 Softening is the process of washing with clean water 
 between the paintings, to which I have referred more 
 particularly under Sketching from Nature. It is sur- 
 prising to what an extent this can be practiced with very 
 heavy paper, such as Whatman's " Griffin Antiquarian/* 
 and carefully selected pigments. The author remembers 
 an occasion, several years ago, when, under very inspiring 
 conditions, surrounded by several rollicking, happy, 
 Didsbury students, he worked up an " Imperial " drawing 
 
82 A GUIDE TO WATER-COLOR PAINTING. 
 
 ("Rest at Eve," now in the possession of J. Widdicombe, 
 Esq., Enfield, London,) with severe application of this 
 process. So severely indeed did he apply it, that again 
 and again he found himself, after successive washes of 
 tender sky and cloud tints, in the kitchen holding the 
 drawing under the full flush of the water-tap and rushing 
 to dry it again by the big kitchen fire. In this instance, 
 the effect has been flatteringly alluded to by many 
 critics. 
 
 In adopting this method, be sure always that your 
 colors are quite dry before the washing, and never rub 
 the brush against the paper; also, take care to absorb 
 the surface moisture by applying blotting-paper as 
 quickly as possible. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 ON SKETCHING FROM NATURE. 
 
 COMMENCE with the simplest subjects, an old doorway, 
 the stump and branches of an old tree having only a 
 little foliage, or a simple cottage, then advance to a tree 
 in full foliage, giving most attention to its outline of 
 masses in light and shadow; do not think of painting 
 the individual leaves, but only to discern its character, 
 so that any one can tell whether your sketch is intended 
 for a pepper, an oak, or a eucalyptus tree. (Finished 
 detail of foliage is a very advanced stage of the art; you 
 are now learning.) Repeat the tree, with a little more 
 attention this time to the edges of the masses in light, 
 and give touches to the edges which shall best represent 
 the form of the leaf. In this second trial sketch put in 
 the ground around the tree, with its grasses, or pavement 
 border, or road. 
 
 After, say, half a dozen such sketches, change the 
 subject to a distant mountain view, putting out of sight 
 for a few days the first sketches. This will preserve 
 your interest intact, and you will be able with better 
 perception to revert to the tree studies, and to discern 
 their shortcomings. After you have made your best 
 representation of the distant mountain, not attempting 
 to put in all the detail of the intervening landscape, 
 mark out the principal features of it, and indicate them 
 with as much freedom of touch as you can command. 
 
 ILLUSTRATION OF METHOD. 
 
 Let the sky be composed of cobalt, brought down to 
 the mountain's crown. For the Sierra Madre Mountains 
 in an ordinary afternoon light, use first wash of light 
 red, orange-vermillion, and French blue. When dry, put 
 in the forms of shadows with French blue and light red 
 
 83 
 
84 A GUIDE TO WATER-COLOR PAINTING. 
 
 (the French blue predominating). Repeat these washes 
 if necessary. Use the last wash again to touch in the 
 darkest markings of all, and this may be done before the 
 second wash is perfectly dry. The foothills should now 
 be put in with yellow ocher in their lightest parts or 
 surfaces, over which carry a thin wash of Antwerp blue 
 or French blue, where green is displayed, and lastly, 
 mark the undulations in shadow by various degrees of 
 madder brown, Vandyke brown, and Indian red taking 
 care not to use these colors too heavily. Here and there 
 will be masses of foliage, which may be put in very 
 effectively by a mixture of burnt sienna and French 
 blue, varied in places by cobalt and sepia. Distant 
 cottages can be " taken out" and the spaces tinted with 
 the requisite colors, but some will be left white. 
 
 Do not attempt to put in everything you see, or you 
 will make the sketch look very weak; only endeavor to 
 represent the character of the scene. 
 
 For the foreground, use yellow ocher and light red for 
 roads; gamboge for brightest of the grass-patches; gam- 
 boge and Antwerp blue for bright greens; Vandyke 
 brown and Antwerp blue for deep greens; the dark 
 touches may be composed of Vandyke brown, and Van- 
 dyke brown and crimson lake, in various degrees of 
 strength. When dry, the foreground (if the appearance 
 of the herbage is very sappy, as after rain) may be 
 glazed in some places with thin raw sienna or Italian 
 pink. 
 
 Now, having made several sketches, giving to them 
 more or less finish at home, we venture to predict that 
 on your examination of them, and comparing them with 
 copies which you may previously have made from 
 colored studies, you will be struck by the absence of 
 force in your sketches, which the finished copies possess. 
 This is inevitable at the beginning, for you cannot, at 
 this early stage, be expected to see everything which 
 exists in the scene which a more practiced eye will 
 
SKETCHING FROM NATURE. 85 
 
 discern, many of which he discerns because he knows 
 beforehand they must be there. You have made the grass 
 all green, whereas there were bits of brilliant light stand- 
 ing against deep shadow masses, and patches of red 
 earth peeping between slender blades, which, if seen by 
 you and inserted in your sketch, would have transformed 
 your tame green meadow. You looked upon that mass 
 of rock and saw that it was gray, and so you painted it 
 gray, and put more gray upon its shadow side, with 
 deeper markings still of gray for crevices and hollows; 
 whereas, in reality, there were here and there touches of 
 deeper, richer color, and out of the gray there sparkled 
 little lights, reflected by sharp angles and atoms of spar. 
 Again, you saw the tree was green and its branches and 
 stems a pale brown, but did not observe the streaks of 
 richer, darker browns at intervals where the bark was 
 broken, or where knots cast pretty shadows; nor the 
 lines of high light where the sun caught the edges; nor 
 the brown shadows in the foliage masses, with their outer 
 edges sometimes quite dark against the tender sky, or 
 silvery gray of a distant mountain. You will be always 
 looking for these things now, and rapidly your work will 
 lose its insipidity and " greenery" and become strong by 
 the use of colors which you at first overlooked. 
 
 Perhaps this is the best place to emphasize a fact or a 
 law which should always be in your recollection, and 
 which must guide you in a general way on all occasions 
 of landscape-work. 
 
 Distance always par takes of a bluish tint, green trees, 
 drab houses, red roofs, gray mountains, all become 
 bluish gray in the extreme distance, and so you must 
 paint them. Middle distance partakes more or less of 
 soft, warm light, which is represented best by yellow 
 ocher and Vandyke brown, and these two colors will be 
 found very useful in painting extensive flat middle dis- 
 tances, such as prevail in this country. (Not mixed at 
 
86 A GUIDE TO WATER-COLOR PAINTING. 
 
 all times, but working the brown over the yellow to 
 express lines of herbage, indentations of surface, etc.) 
 Foregrounds must be full of strength, this need not 
 imply strong or thick color always, because strength can 
 be created by contrast. For instance, imagine a fore- 
 ground being an uncultivated yard of a simple cottage. 
 Paint the ground with yellow ocher and light red, broken 
 by touches of madder brown, Vandyke brown, and burnt 
 sienna; "take out" a few small pebbles or stones, and 
 let there be thrown across the pathway by the cottage a 
 hearth-rug, or a table-cover, or shawl be suspended near 
 it, with prevailing blue in the pattern, which should be 
 painted in with Antwerp blue on the pure white paper, 
 and it will be seen how strong a foreground can be created 
 by contrasting thin washes of two complementary or 
 contrasting colors. 
 
 Now, I shall try to make quite plain to you a method 
 by which you may overcome a great difficulty which 
 stands in the way of all beginners in their efforts to 
 sketch a landscape from nature. The difficulty consists 
 in first determining how much of the landscape must be 
 depicted, and then the points of the foreground which 
 must mark the base boundary line of your picture, and 
 last, but not least, the relative sizes and direction of lines 
 which must be used to give correct outlines of the various 
 buildings and other objects in the view selected. Of 
 course, to the experienced artist these things are deter- 
 mined by the laws of perspective, which I am assuming 
 you at present only partially apprehend; or even if you 
 are acquainted with the rules theoretically, are yet unable 
 to easily apply them to the multitudinous objects in an 
 extensive landscape. In recommending to you the adop- 
 tion of the following simple process, I must not be under- 
 stood to underestimate the necessity of your acquiring a 
 thorough knowledge of the principles of perspective, and 
 the facility of drawing all objects correctly as the founda- 
 
SKETCHING FROM NATURE. 87 
 
 tion of all art study and practice, but rather as a method 
 by which you will be materially assisted in understanding 
 those principles which when technically expressed are at 
 first thought difficult and obscure, inasmuch as you will 
 be able at any time to demonstrate by actual sight (even 
 when you are not using your pencil) the written rules 
 and laws. 
 
 Example. First, supposing your intended picture is to 
 be the size of 7 x 10 inches (a handy size for first efforts) ; 
 take a piece of cardboard, say about 15 x 18, and cut out 
 of its center an aperture the exact size of your intended 
 drawing, viz., 7 x 10. Take your seat from where you 
 intend to sketch the view, and hold up the cardboard at 
 a distance of fourteen or fifteen inches from your eye, 
 taking care that it is held perfectly perpendicular, and at 
 the exact height at which, with one eye closed, the other 
 eye shall be opposite the center of the aperture. Now, 
 what is seen through the aperture is just exactly the land- 
 scape which it will be best to represent on your paper. 
 The rule is, always to make the aperture the exact size of 
 the intended drawing, whatever dimensions that may be, 
 and to hold it from the eye at a distance just one and a 
 half times the length of your picture; hence, for a draw- 
 ing ten inches long, hold it fourteen or fifteen inches 
 from the eye; for one twenty inches long, hold it twenty- 
 eight or thirty inches away. It would make your sketch 
 of easy accomplishment now if you were to adopt some 
 easy method of fixing the cardboard on a stick driven 
 into the ground at the exact spot indicated, so that you 
 would at every glance see the positions of the respective 
 objects to be drawn. The usefulness and help of this 
 simple appliance can be still further increased if lines of 
 black thread are passed from side to side and from end 
 to end of the cardboard, dividing the aperture into several 
 squares; these perpendicular and horizontal threads will 
 serve not only to indicate the relative sizes of the objects 
 
88 A GUIDE TO WATER-COLOR PAINTING. 
 
 at various distances, but will enable you to discern the 
 degree of obliquity of the lines of all objects as they 
 recede from or approach the foreground, thus presenting 
 a very forcible illustration of the laws of linear perspective. 
 
 In drawing all objects presenting distinct and definite 
 outline, let your pencil-sketch be clear, sharp, and clean; 
 do not attempt to shade with the pencil, as it would 
 seriously interfere with the color. In applying the color 
 particularly the foreground colors remember the tint 
 will dry lighter than it appears when wet, and in apply- 
 ing contrasting tints against or in juxtaposition to each 
 other, which is chiefly necessary in the foreground to 
 give force or strength, take care the first is dry before 
 approaching it with the second. Observe 
 
 1. That the darkest lines and touches must be used for 
 objects in the foreground, and that they diminish in force 
 as they recede from the eye; 
 
 2. That shadows are darkest at the point next to the 
 object throwing the shadow; 
 
 3. That the picture having strong masses of shadow 
 is much more charming and effective than one with weak 
 or scant shadows, hence a sketch taken at early morning 
 or in the afternoon is more satisfactory than one taken 
 about mid-day; 
 
 4. That distances almost invariably partake of a bluish 
 or bluish-gray tone, which must be distinctly preserved 
 in your color; and 
 
 5. That foreground objects must be represented by 
 much stronger tints than are at first generally conceded 
 to be necessary. 
 
 To illustrate and enforce this rule: First look at the 
 extreme distance of a landscape from a point where there 
 are no obstructing lines or color objects, and the positive 
 colors of objects in that distance will seem to be appre- 
 ciable; then move to a spot where you can view the same 
 distance between, say, two near trees, or branches of 
 
SKETCHING FROM NATURE. 89 
 
 trees, and you will be struck by the absence of what ap- 
 peared to be positive color in those distant objects; they 
 will be, by contrast with the strong greens or browns of 
 the near trees, reduced to a hazy bluish gray. It is by a 
 careful recognition of this principle that very effective 
 and characteristic sketches can be rapidly produced, the 
 distances being broadly washed in with tender tints of 
 bluish or neutral grays and the foreground objects treated 
 with strong local coloring. 
 
 As it is inconvenient to attempt anything like "finish' 7 
 to work out of doors, requiring, as it does, "washing," 
 sponging, etc., which can only be done with comfort in 
 the studio, or under home conditions, practice the habit 
 of taking free notes and memoranda, both with pencil 
 and color. Indicate certain spaces or objects in your 
 drawing by a letter or numeral, and against a corre- 
 sponding letter or numeral make notes of the appearance 
 or color required. This habit, while enabling you to 
 finish your sketch, or to reproduce it at home under easy 
 conditions with truthfulness, will serve the still more 
 valuable purpose of educating you to a keen perception 
 of color and effect, and of emphasizing the beauties which 
 nature is ever revealing to her lovers. 
 
 An important remark may be made here, which will be 
 very readily understood by most of my readers, and 
 which will enable them to determine at times which of 
 the several "combinations" of colors they should select 
 for certain specific purposes. (See Table of Combinations.) 
 Imitation of nature is to be considered relatively; it must 
 always have reference to the colors or tints which sur- 
 round it. This will depend, of course, upon the key in 
 which the picture is pitched precisely as in music. For 
 instance, it may be pitched in a brilliant key of light 
 and color, when all the colors used will be of that char- 
 acter; or it may be desirable to execute it in low or half 
 tones, in which, of course, its truthfulness would depend 
 on the relative values of all its parts. 
 
90 A GUIDE TO WATER-COLOR PAINTING. 
 
 This particular quality or character is one more of 
 natural consequence than of educational acquirement. 
 It marks the temperament and sympathies of the artist 
 frequently, and even distinguishes at times the nation- 
 ality and sections of various schools. Let me urge you 
 to follow in this the dictates of your natural impulses, 
 and not to do violence to your inclinations by adopting 
 the style or feeling of any individual artist, however 
 much it may be admired or lauded. With diligent 
 practice for a few months you will discover your artistic 
 inclinations and sympathies, and if you would attain to 
 your highest possibilities in art, you will be true and 
 devoted to these natural leanings. It may be that the 
 smiles of open valleys bathed in sunniness may move 
 you to most loving work, or perhaps your nature has 
 closer affinity to the shadows of great mountains and the 
 solemn isolation of crag and canon, or you may linger 
 longest by the deep-toned surges of the awful sea. Wher- 
 ever your silent longings most quickly suggest your 
 pencil, there linger at your work. 
 
 It is by scrupulously regarding this sentimental injunc- 
 tion, or rather this injunction of sentiment, that you will 
 most readily acquire the power of producing one of the 
 highest, if not the highest, qualities of a picture, viz., 
 UNITY OF EFFECT. 
 
 Without unity of effect, every other quality is next to 
 worthless. It is this quality which unites and makes 
 valuable all the others; it is this which gives character 
 and impression to the whole. 
 
 In the second part of this handbook, Helpful Hints for 
 Viewing Nature and Art, I have elaborated this meaning 
 in reference to SENTIMENT, for "unity of effect" is really 
 the sentiment, or that which conveys the sentiment, of the 
 picture. For illustration: Let us suppose you are paint- 
 ing a rural roadside cottage scene, with creeping rose- 
 bush or clinging honeysuckle throwing a dappled shadow 
 under the veranda roof, and green grasses throwing into 
 
SKETCHING FROM NATURE. 91 
 
 brilliant beauty the crimson, pink, and scarlet clusters of 
 geraniums and roses against which they stand; your senti- 
 ment would be that of Home, the peaceful dwelling-place 
 of loving hearts, where alike the glory of silvery old age 
 or the golden shimmer of children's tresses are in keeping 
 It would be incongruous here to overshadow that shrine 
 of human hearts by any cloud, or even to modify the 
 dancing sunlight of a perfect day by a single touch. It 
 would be incongruous to introduce a figure draped in the 
 stiff proprieties of the city's fashion, but to intensify the 
 sweet sentiment of Home you place a cozy reclining-chair 
 upon the shaded porch, or amid the emerald leafage of 
 the little garden plat, and perhaps a dear old "granny" 
 in it; or you hang a bird-cage at the open doorway to 
 suggest the songster's music, or compose a group of happy 
 children at their play. 
 
 Again, supposing your subject is a broad expanse of 
 solitude, bounded by the jagged precipices of the ever- 
 lasting hills, moving you to awe by its wild desolation 
 and its awful silence; then how much more in keeping 
 would it be to portray a sky of solemn cloud effects cast- 
 ing their shadows on the extensive plain, than to give one 
 of azure blue or of glowing color. Every scene in nature 
 has its sentiment, and should be represented by appro- 
 priate incidents and accessories. Your duty will be to 
 discover them, and I confidently promise you that in pro- 
 portion to your endeavor will be your success in the poetry 
 of Art and your participation in an untold enjoyment. 
 
Ivey's ESS Studio 
 
 Monterey and 
 Eecetoe* Pacific Grove 
 
 West Side of El Carmelo Hotel 
 
 California 
 
 intending to adopt the profession 
 are given a comprehensive course 
 in color principles (applicable to 
 both oil and water-color), sketch- 
 ing from nature, and technique, 
 on the methods of the best English 
 and French studios. 
 
 Clfl00Cg are held throughout the summer months. 
 C0tttl0 on application. 
 
 Address 
 
 J. IVEY 
 fttufcft 
 
 MONTEREY 
 CALIFORNIA 
 
Xtfccff 
 
 STUDIO 
 
 MONTEREY 
 
 CALIFORNIA 
 
 Ivey's Lectures 
 
 FOR CHURCHES 
 
 LITERARY CLUBS 
 ART CLUBS 
 
 TEACHERS' INSTITUTES 
 ETC. 
 gmbjertg 
 
 1. Seeing the Invisible in Nature 
 
 2. The Poetry of Landscape Art 
 
 3. The Spirit of Beauty in Nature and Art 
 
 4. Fads, Facts, and Fancies About Art 
 
 5. Pages and Pictures from an Artist's Note-Book 
 
 6. An Impressionist Picture of England 
 
 7. The Romance of Monterey Bay 
 
 8. Pen-Pictures of California 
 
 9. Paintings and Painters With each lecture the artist will, if 
 
 desired, place on exhibit his port- 
 folio of water-color paintings. 
 
 These lectures have received the highest commendations in 
 the press of the large cities of the United States and England. 
 
 J. IVEY 
 
 Ex-Art Superintendent, University of Southern California 
 
 Author of the popular handbook, "A Guide to Landscape-Paint- 
 ing in Water-Color" 
 
 Illustrator of "Picturesque California" 
 
 Mr. John Ivey has been connected with the Pacific Grove Chau- 
 tauqua Assembly for several years past as the head of its art depart- 
 ment, and he has appeared regularly upon its lecture platform each 
 year. No popular lecturer could be more warmly welcomed. Graphic, 
 vivid, a master of the richest English, a true artist, and a poet as well, 
 he will charm any audience than hears him. 
 
 REV. THOMAS FILBKN, D. D., 
 Superintendent Instruction, Pacific Grove Assembly. 
 
Itoerpool ((tnj.) >ailp 
 
 An interesting and instructive lecture has been delivered in con- 
 nection with the Trinity Literary Society, at their usual meeting this 
 week, by Professor Ivey, in the Trinity Wesleyan Church, Grove Street. 
 The title of the lecture was "The Basis and Poetry of Landscape Art," 
 and the gifted lecturer handled the subject with all the grasp of prin- 
 ciple, breadth of treatment, and fullness of illustration which were 
 natural in so accomplished a professor of the art he was unfolding. 
 The lecture occupied over an hour in delivery and was listened to with 
 rapt attention throughout. It was an address quite unique of its kind 
 in the history of the society, now in its thirty-eighth year. 
 
 In the afternoon Professor John Ivey, who has delighted so many 
 Chautauqua audiences with his walks and talks on art, spoke on " See- 
 ing the Invisible in Nature." This time he seemed to captivate his 
 audience even more than in the past. The same chaste diction and 
 musical rhythm of his descriptions as have always been the charm of 
 his lectures were exhibited in a marked degree in this talk. Professor 
 Ivey's work in water-color painting is universally considered to be 
 among the highest of the art. 
 
 Seattle 
 
 "The Poetry of Art," by Professor John Ivey of San Francisco, was 
 one of the grandest lectures that has been delivered here. His style is 
 that of a true poet-artist. One cannot but think that he could have 
 made a great name in literature. 
 
 Jrancisco Chronicle 
 
 The first lecture of the season was given at 3 P. M. by Professor Ivey ; 
 subject, " The Romance of a Year on Monterey Bay." The lecturer was 
 in his happiest vein, and his talk was marked by a felicity of expression 
 and a delicacy of humor which were deeply appreciated by the audi- 
 ence. At the close of the lecture the public was privileged to see a fine 
 collection of water-colors, many of them illustrating Monterey scenery 
 which Professor Ivey paints with such assured success. 
 
 (Cuff.) Cime* 
 
 Last night, in the Central Hall of the York Exhibition Building, 
 Professor J. Ivey of San Francisco gave a most interesting lecture 
 under the auspices of the Technical Instruction Committee of the cor- 
 porationon " The Basis and Poetry of Landscape Art." Mr. W. F. H. 
 Thompson, J. P., presided, and the attendance was fairly good. The 
 subject was very ably treated, and the lecturer's remarks were followed 
 with close attention. The professor stands in high repute as an artist 
 in water-colors, and his collection of pictures in the south gallery re- 
 lating to England and California are fine examples. 
 
 regoman 
 
 Of Professor Ivey it is difficult to say whether he is more of an 
 artist in words than with the brush. 
 
List of Miscellaneous Publications 
 
 ...OF... 
 
 THE WHITAKER & RAY COMPANY 
 
 San Francisco 
 Complete Descriptive Circular sent on application 
 
 Postpaid Prices 
 
 Adventures of a Tenderfoot H. H. Sauber - - - - - $1 00 
 
 About Dante Mrs. Frances Sanborn ------- 100 
 
 Among the Redwoods Poems Lillian H. Shuey .... 25 
 
 Beyond the Gates of Care Herbert Bashford 1 00 
 
 Backsheesh Book of Travels Mrs. William Beckman - - - 1 50 
 
 California and the Californians David Starr Jordan - - - 25 
 Care and Culture of Men David Starr Jordan - - - - -150 
 
 Chants for the Boer Joaquin Miller ------- 25 
 
 Complete Poetical Works of Joaquin Miller 2 50 
 
 Crumbs of Comfort Allie M. Felker 100 
 
 California's Transition Period S. H. Willey 1 00 
 
 Doctor Jones' Picnic S. E. Chapman 75 
 
 Delphine and Other Poems L. Adda Nichols 1 00 
 
 Educational Questions W. C. Doub 100 
 
 Forty-Nine Song Lelia France -------- 10 
 
 Forget-Me-Nots Lillian L. Page 50 
 
 Guide to Mexico Christobal Hidalgo 50 
 
 Hail California Song Josephine Gro ...... 10 
 
 History of Howard Presbyterian Church S. H. Willey - - 1 00 
 
 Life Book of Essays John R. Rogers - 100 
 
 Love and Law Thos. P. Bailey 25 
 
 Lyrics of the Golden West W. D. Crabb 1 00 
 
 Main Points Rev. Chas- R. Brown 125 
 
 Man Who Might Have Been Rev. Robt. Whitaker ... 25 
 
 Matka and Kotik David Starr Jordan 1 50 
 
 Modern Argonaut L. B. Davis -------- 100 
 
 Missions of Neuva California Chas. F. Carter 1 50 
 
 Pandora Mrs. Salzscheider 100 
 
 Percy, or the Four Inseparables M. Lee - - - - - -100 
 
 Personal Impressions of Colorado Grand Canyon - - - i 00 
 
 Rudyard Reviewed W. J. Peddicord 100 
 
 Seven Ages of Creation 250 
 
 Some Homely Little Songs A. J. Waterhouse 1 25 
 
 Songs of the Soul Joaquin Miller 100 
 
 Story of the Innumerable Company David Starr Jordan - - 1 25 
 
 Sugar Pine Murmurings Eliz. S. Wilson 100 
 
 Training School for Nurses A. Mabie 50 
 
 Without a Name Poems Edward Blackman 1 00 
 
 Wolves of the Sea Poems Herbert Bashford 1 00 
 
 LATEST ISSUES 
 
 Interviews with a Monocle Leopold Jordan 50 
 
 My Trip to the Orient Rev. J. C. Simmons .... 159 
 
 Rearing Silkworms Mrs. Carrie Williams 1 25 
 
 Western View Series, No. i San Francisco Views - - 15 
 
 Western View Series, No. a Alaska Views .... 15 
 
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 BERKELEY 
 
 Return to desk from which borrowed. 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. 
 
 REC'D LD 
 
 APR 11 1951 
 
 LD 21-100m-9,'47(A5702sl6)476 
 
' '-> \ U / 
 
 i 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 

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