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OIL PAINTING

AN INTRODUCTION TO OIL PAINTING

Oil painting is the ideal medium for the novice. It is an excellent way to study, because changes and corrections are easily made. Unwanted passages of color can be scraped off the canvas any number of times without injury to the surface. One color can be painted over another, drawing and proportions can be corrected, and all the nuances of light and shadow can be studied experimentally. The painting can be put aside at any time, to be picked up and continued at a later date.

Some beginners choose oil without considering other media because of a reverence for the "genuine oil paint­ing." When they take up painting as a hobby they want to produce "pictures that show the actual brush strokes." Many other amateurs, who would like to work in several media but feel that their time is too limited, select oil after checking with teachers or schools or experimenting on their own. Even a person who is more interested in an­other medium may find, as I have, that by using oils he can more easily study color subtleties and can acquire basic knowledge that will later be applied to the medium he pre­fers. The old adage, "One medium helps another," is espe­cially true if the first one is oil.

As you progress you will soon discover that there is more to oil painting than the surface quality of the brush work. The type of surface you work on, the preliminary staining of the surface, and the underpainting all affect the finished result.

However, in your initial efforts you will want to work in a direct manner, particularly when painting outdoors. Later you can experiment in the studio with various types of underpainting.

MATERIAL AND EQUIPMENT FOR OIL PAINTING

Colors

If you are just beginning to paint, you will do well to start with a reputable brand of student color. Most color manufacturers make a line of student colors along with their professional grades. These colors are appreciably less expensive and the selection is nearly as wide as in the professional line. As you progress, you can replace the student brand with colors of professional quality, which have far greater covering quality, particularly in the Cadmiums and Blues. There are several good brands of colors available. My own choice is the Grumbacher line.

I recommend the following colors for basic use:

Alizarin Crimson

Cadmium Yellow, Light

Cadmium Red, Light

French Ultramarine

Ivory Black

Light Red

Thalo Green

Yellow Ochre

Zinc or Titanium White

These nine colors will enable you to mix the various shades of other colors that you will need for most purposes.

However, you may want to supplement these colors with:

Cadmium Yellow, Deep

Cadmium Orange

Cerulean Blue

Burnt Sienna

Viridian

Cobalt Blue

Thalo Blue

Raw Umber

In the study of Color, page 32, the handling of these colors is described in detail.

Canvas and Other Painting Surfaces

The best and most receptive surface on which to work is stretched linen canvas. Linen, however, is relatively expen­sive, and cotton canvas is a good substitute. The cotton canvas panels that fit in your paint box are the most con­venient for painting outdoors and are inexpensive. They are light in weight, too, and have the added advantage of not taking up much space when stored in your studio.

The chief disadvantage of any type of panel is its lack of resiliency. Stretched canvas, whether cotton or linen, has a drum-like quality that seems to add vigor to your brush stroke. It also has the advantage of being available in sev­eral types of surfaces, from extra-smooth (double-primed) to very rough. You will find a medium-rough texture best for all-around work; extra-smooth is generally used for portraits.

These various textures are not available in canvas pan­els; when a panel is made, its adherence to the board flat­tens out the texture. I suggest that you use panels when working outdoors and stretched canvas when developing your painting indoors.

You may want to make your own panels. Today many artists use Masonite, which can be bought at any lumber supply house. While several thicknesses are available, the ⅛ inch is the least expensive and can safely be used in any size up to 24 x 30 inches. Masonite has a rough and a smooth side; both surfaces are usable, but the rough side gives an uninteresting and monotonous texture to the fin­ished painting and also requires much more paint to cover the surface. Use the smooth side for outdoor work, when speed is necessary to capture a changing scene.

Whichever surface will be used should first be rubbed with sandpaper, then a coat of flake white should be brushed on. When the first coat is dry, give the panel an­other coat if the brown undertone of the masonite shows through. The panel is ready for use as soon as the final coat of white lead is dry to the touch. It will save time to have the lumber house cut a number of boards to the re­quired size; then you can coat all of them at once.

Besides canvas and Masonite, there are various synthetic painting boards on the market. Since they are substitutes for real canvas, they cost less and are not as durable.

Painters can even make their own panels with a good quality chip board, a heavy gray cardboard. Chip board will last better if it is given a coat or two of shellac to re­duce its natural absorbency, and a coating of flake white over that will create a more receptive surface. Covering the back as well as the edges with shellac will seal the panel against moisture and add somewhat to its durability.

Making Your Own Canvas Panels

You can also make your own canvas panels. The most economical way is to purchase a roll of either cotton or linen canvas, in a width that will not waste canvas when it is cut up. For example, a 50-inch width will give you two 20-x-24-inch panels. It is not advisable to make panels any larger than this size, since larger ones may warp.

Get some beaverboard—extra heavy cardboard known as mounting board—and cut to the desired size. Cut the can­vas about ½ inch larger all around than the size of the board. Apply glue to the back of the entire canvas and mount on the board. After trimming the corners, fold over the surplus ½-inch margin. Place the mounted canvas on the floor and put a drawing board on it, making certain that it covers the entire canvas. Place several heavy books on top of the drawing board and allow to press overnight. Then cut a sheet of heavy brown wrapping paper to a size slightly less than the mounted canvas. Glue this paper to the back of the panel and repeat the pressing process. This acts as a counter-mount and prevents warping. I suggest that you experiment first with pieces of scrap canvas, then if you find this method satisfactory you will want to do sev­eral panels at one time. The process is such that it is almost as easy to mount a half dozen panels as to mount one.

Stretching Your Own Canvas

You can purchase canvas already stretched if you work in the stock sizes (8 x 10, 9 x 12, 12 x 16, 16 x 20, 20 x 24, and 24 x 30 inches). If you want a special size, or prefer to do your own stretching, the process is fairly simple. You will need canvas pliers, which can be obtained in any art supply shop, stretcher strips of the size desired, and a box of ⅜-inch tacks. We will assume that you want to stretch a 20-x-24-inch canvas. Cut a piece of canvas 22 x 26 inches, which will give you a working edge of 1 inch all around the stretcher strips. The strips are placed in a frame position, as square as possible. Place the canvas so that the even 1-inch margin appears around the stretcher frame. Ham­mer a tack partly in the center of each of the four sides. Then, gripping the 1-inch edge with the pliers, hammer a tack on each side of the center (about 2 inches apart). Re­peat this procedure until all four sides have three tacks. Then keep adding more tacks, working from the center toward the corners, alternately on each side. Gradually the canvas will be tacked along the side of the entire frame. Until you get the knack of exactly how hard to pull the canvas with the pliers, just hammer the tacks in lightly. Then if you should get any unwanted wrinkles you can easily remove the tacks, tighten the wrinkled area, and retack. The wedges that come with the wooden stretchers can then be hammered into the corners to take up the slack.

The Paint Box and Palette

You will need a box to store your colors as well as to hold brushes, palette, and panels when you go sketching.

The most popular sizes for paint boxes are 12x16 and 16 x 20 inches; the box lid should be grooved to hold can­vas panels of the same size. A box in either of these sizes will serve both for the studio and outdoors. Paint boxes are available in wood and metal. Metal ones are more expen­sive but will last a lifetime, and wooden ones already painted or stained cost more than unpainted ones. If you buy an unfinished box, give it a complete coat of good varnish, both inside and out. It is easier to wipe off any unwanted paint on a varnished surface, and the varnish will also help to preserve the wood. For any wooden box, check the hardware, making certain that the hinges and clasps are substantial, and check the lid to be sure it will hold the panels comfortably. Inexpensive boxes occasion­ally warp, making it difficult to slide the panels in the slots of the lid.

You can buy a paint box completely outfitted with tubes of color. If the assortment happens to be made up of the colors you want, that is fine, but some dealers stock their boxes with colors that are seldom used. If this should be the case, by all means purchase the empty box and select only the colors you want to use, rather than confuse your palette with unnecessary colors.

A wooden palette fitted to the paint box is generally supplied. Give it a coating of linseed oil before using it. Remove the surplus paint from your palette at the end of each day's work, then rub it well with a paint rag, using linseed oil occasionally. In time your palette will acquire a beautiful protective sheen and will give you an excellent surface for mixing colors.

The Easel and Other Equipment

There are two main types of easels, studio and outdoor or sketching easels. If you purchase a sketching easel, select one that folds into a small, compact unit. Remember that you will be carrying a paint box and probably a sketching stool along with the easel.

A sketching easel can be used for working indoors, but it will lack the stability of a regular studio easel and will limit the size of your canvas, because the grips on a sketch­ing easel are not designed to hold large canvases. Its sta­bility can be improved by placing rubber tips on its legs when it is used indoors.

Whatever easel you select, make certain that it contains a fixture that allows the canvas to be tilted at an angle to eliminate surface glare.

The Palette Knife

You will need a palette knife for removing paint from your palette as you work. It can also be used to scrape un­wanted paint from the surface of the canvas before repaint­ing, and it can supplement a brush in mixing colors.

Medium

A painting medium, or vehicle, is necessary to make the paint workable. I recommend that you buy a prepared copal painting medium and use it at the start. Later on, you may want to prepare your own medium. A good home­made mixture is one-third turpentine, one-third linseed oil, and one-third copal oil varnish. You can vary the effect by using more turpentine in the preliminary stages of a painting, to speed the drying as well as to thin the con­sistency of the paint. Then, as the painting builds up, cut down on the turpentine and use more linseed oil, painting in a heavier manner.

When you are more experienced, you may want to ex­periment with other painting mediums. Stand oil, which gives an enamel-like finish to a painting, is a very heavy oil and should be thinned with turpentine to make it work­able. Sun-thickened oil will also add a gloss to your paint­ing and it dries faster than stand oil.

All mediums should be purchased at an art supply shop to insure high quality.

Retouch Varnish

It will not be necessary to carry a bottle of retouch varnish in your paint box, but you should have it on hand in the studio. When a canvas is worked on over a period of time, some color areas go dull as they dry, and brushing or spraying some retouch varnish over the painting bright­ens the sunken colors. Retouch varnish also helps the adherence of the paint film of subsequent work. Do not overuse this varnish; it will not be needed until the paint­ing is well under way.

Oil Cups

You should have two cups that can be fastened to your palette. One cup is for the medium you are mixing with your colors, the other holds turpentine for cleaning your brush quickly, particularly when working outdoors. Make sure both cups are big enough to take a large brush.

Charcoal Pencils

Always have some fairly soft charcoal pencils or sticks in your paint box. Charcoal allows more flexible handling than an ordinary lead pencil in making the basic sketch on the canvas.

Fixatif

A fixatif is used to keep the charcoal drawing from smudging; it is sprayed on with a small atomizer. This can be omitted when the sketching is done outdoors, and the surplus charcoal can be dusted off the canvas with a rag or a chamois. Dust lightly so that a faint image remains to guide you in the later painting.

Paint Rags

Have enough rags in your paint box for wiping your brushes and palette, and for general cleaning up.

The Sketching Stool

If you prefer to sit while working, you will need a sketch­ing stool. Choose one that is light in weight but sturdily constructed and that will fold up and use as little space as possible when you are carrying the rest of your sketching material. Some painters dispense with an easel and instead carry a second stool, on which they set the open paint box with a panel inserted in the lid.

Brushes

Bristle brushes are the most popular brushes for oil painting. The most commonly used types are the long­haired brush—known as a "flat"—and the short-haired brush—a "bright." There is also a round bristle brush that comes to a blunt point, which you may find useful after you have become familiar with the possibilities of the long- and short-haired varieties. These come in sizes from a scant ⅛ inch to over 1 inch in width and are identified by numbers.

While I suggest inexpensive student colors for begin­ners, I recommend that you buy the best brushes you can afford. Properly cared for, a good brush will hold its shape and resiliency and will last a long time. In Brush Han­dling, page 26, advice is given on the care of brushes and the use of other types of brushes.

The following sizes should enable you to accomplish all the work necessary on canvases from 9 x 12 to 20 x 24 inches:

Long-haired brushes numbers 2, 4, 6, and 8 Short-haired brushes numbers 4 and 6

In addition to the bristle brushes, you may find a small pointed or round sable brush handy for fine lines and de­tails.

No. 7 Flat

The long-haired bristle brush known as a "flat." It will serve for the bulk of your work.

No. 2 Bright

Also a bristle brush but with a shorter hair. Using the edge of the brush produces a thin line, excellent for outlining.

No. 3 Round

The round brush is available in both bristle and sable hair. It does not hold much paint but is useful for details.

No. 4 Filbert

Combines the characteristics of a flat and a round bristle brush. A very fluent stroke, particularly useful for head and figure painting, can be produced with it.

No. 5 Rigger

Made with sable hair, the rigger is used for delineating fine lines and sharp details.

No. 6 Flat Sable

The flat sable is the most effective brush for producing a smooth finish. Its soft quality lends itself well to glazing effects.

THE HOME STUDIO

Not all of us can have the ideal studio with skylight and north light. However, a room with average-size windows that do not face the afternoon sun is satisfactory for most painters. In portrait painting the quality of light striking both the sitter and the canvas is of major importance, but for other work the light problem is less acute. A white ceil­ing and neutral gray walls will help when working with color in either natural or artificial light. It is important to avoid disturbing shadows and strong reflected light.

Working under artificial light has always been a prob­lem, but today's fluorescent lamps give a fair approxima­tion of daylight. If you find such lighting a bit on the cool side, supplement it with the light from an ordinary incan­descent bulb. I find that a blend of the two crossing my working area is most satisfactory. For mixing colors it is important that the source of light be of the same quality as that for the surface upon which you are working.

A daylight bulb can be substituted for the fluorescent lamp. Since it too has a bluish cast, an ordinary incan­descent bulb should also be added to it.

A taboret or small table placed close to the easel is a good idea. Many artists, with the exception of portrait painters, have given up constantly holding their palette while work­ing. Instead, they rest it on a table of convenient height close to the canvas.

An extra table for setting up a still-life subject and for general utility use should complete your immediate needs.

CARE OF EQUIPMENT

1. Clean all brushes thoroughly at the end of the day's work.
   
   
2. Make certain that you replace the cap of each color tube immediately after using it.
   
   
3. Do not allow the oil in the palette cup to accumulate and become gummy.
   
   
4. Remove unwanted paint from the working surface of the palette knife, then wipe the palette clean with a rag.
   
   
5. Wipe the palette knife frequently, never allowing the paint to become tacky on the blade.
   
   
6. Take care not to nick the blade of the palette knife.
   
   
7. Before folding up an outdoor easel, always remove any paint that may have smeared on it. Check especially the cross-piece that supports the canvas.
   
   
8. Keep a small pair of pliers in your paint box for use in removing caps, when they stick to the tube. If a cap does not unscrew, light a match and hold the flame at the cap. The heat should soften any dried paint, which is generally the cause of the sticking.
   
   
9. Although most paint boxes are sold with a protective coating on the outside, many manufacturers leave the inside untouched. A few coats of shellac will help to preserve the wood and will make paint smears easier to remove.
   
   
10. Never store materials or equipment in a damp place. This applies particularly to paper and canvas.
    

BRUSH HANDLING

In an earlier section I listed the essential brushes needed for painting (see page 22), but as you progress you will nat­urally want to add to your collection. As you paint more you will realize the importance of good brushes, too. A good brush will hold its shape and, with good care, will last several years, but an inferior brush never has the spring and resiliency of a more expensive make. Inferior brushes also have the infuriating habit of depositing loose hairs on the painted canvas. This always seems to happen when you have just executed a particularly fine color passage!

Start to paint by dipping the brush lightly into the color, taking care not to let the color come up to the ferrule. Use the rag frequently, removing surplus color and at the same time pressing the hairs back into shape. If you lay-in your paintings in a dry-brush manner, that is, applying color with a rubbing technique and with little or no medium, use one of your older stiff bristle brushes. Once you start using full color, apply it with a crisp, firm touch.

You can clean your brush fairly well while working by dipping it into the turpentine and wiping it dry with a rag. However, when a deep blue or violet color is followed with a shade of yellow, the darker color may tint the lighter one in spite of the quick turpentine rinse. You will find it convenient, therefore, to use a separate brush for lighter colors, particularly the yellows and ochre. Many painters use several brushes when working outdoors, reserving a brush for yellows, one for blues, another for reds, and so on. That may not always be necessary, but it is advisable to have separate brushes for Thalo colors, whose tinting quality is so powerful that they can easily find their way into all the colors used.

Use as large a brush as possible for the area to be covered. This will insure a broad style. Bristle brushes are preferable to sable brushes for most of your paintings, be­cause they impart a more vital stroke to the canvas. Using a sable brush at too early a stage of the painting can lead to an undesirable slickness.

Oil brushes are made with long handles for a purpose. Much painting is accomplished by holding the end of the brush handle—particularly in the early stages of a canvas. This enables you to paint with more freedom and, since you are holding the brush at arm's length, to see your work more clearly. Then, as the canvas becomes covered with color, details can be added by grasping the brush by its metal ferrule.

Holding the brush like a pencil is almost instinctive, but you should experiment with the effects that are achieved by handling the brush in various other ways. Notice how the color is deposited on the canvas when you pull the brush firmly downward, in contrast to holding it lightly and patting the color on gently. Try painting a thin line by twirling a pointed brush between your forefinger and thumb; the resulting line will be broken and softer than when the brush is gripped by the ferrule. Keep this in mind for rendering tree branches without leaves, wires, ropes, and similar lines. As you work you will find that long-haired bristle brushes produce a more fluid stroke than short-haired brushes. The flat sable brush with its soft hair will be found useful for smoothing rough passages, blending various colors together, and generally re­fining the painting.

Give your much used brushes a rest every so often. After washing them thoroughly, place the brush part between the pages of a heavy book for a few days. This will help to hold their shape and add to their life.

In addition to turpentine, which is convenient for clean­ing brushes quickly while painting, soap and water should be used regularly. Use a mild soap and lukewarm water. Work up a lather with the soap and rub the lather well into the brushes. Pay special attention to cleaning the brush where it meets the ferrule. It is when the paint be­comes imbedded into this area that the brush loses its shape. Rinse thoroughly with the lukewarm water, mak­ing certain that all the soap is removed. Finish rinsing with cold water. Then, with your thumb and forefinger, squeeze the surplus water out, and at the same time reshape the brush. Put clean brushes in an upright container, brush end up.

Do not discard old brushes; you will find them useful for achieving certain effects that can be obtained only with a worn brush. I have some brushes in my collection that have just a few wisps of hair remaining, but I still find use for them.

If you accidentally allow the color to dry in a brush, try soaking it in turpentine or kerosene overnight. If the color still adheres, use a commercial paint remover as a last resort. No brush is ever quite the same again after the powerful remover is used, so make every attempt not to allow the color to set in your brushes.

There is an excellent brush- and hand-cleaning fluid on the market. The cleaning agent is properly balanced and will not harm brushes. Color is removed faster with less rubbing, and the fluid acts to preserve the brush.

Sketch At All Times

A brush that has lost its shape can be restored to some degree by being dipped in a mild solution of mucilage and water. First properly shape the brush hairs with the fingers. The mucilage will hold the hairs in position. Al­low the solution to remain on overnight, then soak the brush in warm water to remove the mucilage. The brush will generally come back to a semblance of its original shape.

ARRANGING THE COLORS ON THE PALETTE

The purpose of arranging the colors on your palette in a systematic way is to save time. There should be no fum­bling around to find a color, for all your attention should be concentrated on painting the subject before you.

If the colors are always kept in the same order on your palette, your brush will instinctively go to the desired color.

There are several ways of setting up a palette. The colors can be arranged from warm to cool or vice-versa. They can be placed just along the far edge of the palette or form an inverted L by also being placed along the left edge. The oil cups—one for the painting medium, the other for tur­pentine—can be fastened to the right side by themselves, so that they are quickly accessible.

Do not skimp on the color you squeeze from a tube. Too small an amount of each color on the palette leads to thin painting. If you paint on consecutive days, most of the paint will remain workable. If any color starts drying out, scrape it off with the palette knife and replace it with fresh color.

Unused color can be placed in a dish and covered with water, which will keep it fresh for several days. When you are ready to re-use it, pour the water from the dish and transfer the paint back to the palette with a knife. Any layer of skin that may have formed can easily be removed and the paint will be workable again.

THE STUDY OF COLOR

Early attempts to paint from nature often result in a literal, almost crude, interpretation of the color that is seen.

The sky is blue, the earth brown, the trees seem a defi­nite green. It is not until you really start observing the subtleties of color that you begin to avoid the obvious. You discover that the sky can vary from light gray to green­ish brown. The brown earth becomes a pinkish violet or even a vivid orange, according to the light from the sky. Subtle blues, violets, and browns can be detected in what first appeared to be a cluster of monotonous green trees. As you progress you learn to become more selective. You emphasize colors that produce a more harmonious effect and subdue discordant notes or eliminate them entirely.

If you were born with a sense of color you are one of the fortunate few. Most people constantly have to return to nature, studying the effect of one color related to another, always working to seek color harmonies and new color schemes. Then, as the eye for color develops, the paint­er's work becomes more distinctive.

In the actual painting of a subject we learn that a re­stricted palette insures better color harmony, that the grays enhance the subject, and that restraint is necessary when using the more brilliant colors.

Study the original paintings or good color reproductions of the old and modern masters. Notice how some painters actually used very few colors, yet you are not conscious of any lack of color in their paintings; others seem to have run the gamut of every color, but they also produced beau­tiful harmonies.

You may want to study the scientific color theories of the authorities on the subject. Many books are available, but before you become too involved with theory remember that you are interested not only in the visual effect of color arid its emotional impact, but also in how color creates form and how form is affected by its surrounding color.

YELLOW

Color Wheel courtesy of M, Grumbacher, Inc. Brushes • Colors • Artists' Material

Technically, any color can be made by mixing the pri­mary colors, yellow, red, and blue. Each of the secondary colors, orange, violet, and green, is made by mixing the two primary colors on either side of it.

Mixing primary and secondary colors produces the in­termediate colors, yellow-orange, red-orange, red-violet, blue-violet, blue-green, and yellow-green.

The complement of each color is directly opposite it. Mixtures of complements make grays.

Colors containing a greater proportion of yellow or red are considered "warm." Conversely, colors containing a greater proportion of blue are "cool."

Color Mixing

A The three primary colors, yellow, red, and blue, mixed together neutralize each other to make a gray.

B. The three secondary colors, orange, violet, and green, mixed together neutralize each other to make a gray.

C. Two primary colors, in this case yellow and red, mixed together make a secondary color (orange).

D. Two primary colors, in this case blue and yellow, mixed together make a secondary color (green).

E. A primary color (yellow) mixed with a secondary color (green) makes an intermediate hue (yellow-green).

F. Two primary colors, in this case red and blue, mixed together make a secondary color (violet).

G. Two colors opposite each other on the color wheel (complementary colors) mixed together neutralize each other to make a gray. In this case yellow and violet were mixed to produce a gray.

H. When black is mixed with a color, it grays the color to produce a neutralized hue. In this case black was added to red to make a neutralized red.

I. When a neutralized color is mixed with a color, it grays the color to produce a neutralized hue. In this case a deep brown was added to blue to make a neutralized blue.

J. Here is another neutralized color mixed with a color to produce a neutralized hue. In this case a reddish brown was added to violet to make a neutralized violet.

Color mixing is generally the first stumbling block for the novice. His first attempts result in either a pale, thin, washed-out painting or a heavy, muddy effect. In the first instance, too little color is mixed with too much white paint and these mixtures are applied too timidly.

Keep the use of white paint to a minimum. Rather, exaggerate the color you see in the subject when transfer­ring it to the canvas. It is easier to modify it with white paint later, when the canvas is covered and you compare it with the subject. Chances are the color will not be as strong as you had thought and will require little or no changing. White paint is best used sparingly with each color. For example, to get a secondary color like a light green we know that the primary colors to be used are blue and yellow. Rather than mixing these two colors together and then adding white, cut each color first with white and then mix them. A far more vibrant secondary color results. This is particularly true when mixing violet. Many stu­dents get a muddy-looking violet when mixing red and blue together and then adding white. If the resulting color is too light, they add blue. It then turns out to be too cool so red is put into the mixture. By this time the color has become too dark and more white is needed, and in all probability the mixture then has to be discarded and a fresh start made.

Color Chart courtesy of M. Grumbacher, Inc.

Brushes • Colors • Artists' Material

The thinness of the paint layer is frequently caused by the use of too much medium, especially turpentine.

A heavy, muddy-looking canvas is usually the result of mixing too many colors together in striving to capture the desired effect. Learn to know all the possibilities of the colors you are using on your palette. Work first with fewer colors—you will be astounded at the many shades that can be produced with only a few colors.

You will also find it valuable to experiment with making a color darker or grayer by combining it with its opposite instead of the obvious black. Black has a place in the mix­ing of color, but use it sparingly until you have learned the possibilities of the primary and secondary colors.

It is fumbling in mixing colors and applying them to canvas, then repainting the same area in an attempt to correct the color, that contributes to a heavy, over-painted picture.

Do not become discouraged when your early attempts to mix colors correctly produce any of these unhappy re­sults. The technique of color mixing is always acquired gradually. Later on you will obtain the desired color by using much less paint than you do now. You will mix two colors, possibly modify them with a touch of a third color, or even deepen the hue with a dab of a fourth color. Avoid stirring paint mixtures too much on the palette. Mixing colors on the canvas will create a more lively and sparkling effect.

Color-Mixing Exercises

Before working with the full range of your palette, you should familiarize yourself with the possibilities of each color.

An excellent start is to take a warm and a cool color and do a complete painting limiting yourself to these two colors. A good combination is Cobalt Blue and Burnt Sienna or French Ultramarine and Burnt Umber. You can use water color or oil; for the latter, white paint must be added. Improvise a landscape or build one from an out­door sketch that you may have on hand. With blue as the cool color and brown as the warm, begin to paint the picture.

In some areas you will use the colors pure; in others, they will be combined. You will be amazed at the number of color variations that can be achieved with so simple a palette. Most important, you will discover the numerous shades of warm and cool grays that are obtainable.

For the next exercise, use three colors and explore their possibilities. Cobalt Blue, Light Red, and Yellow Ochre should allow you plenty of scope compared to the two-color exercise. Again, add white paint if you use oils. By paint­ing the same subject used before, you will more readily realize the added possibilities of a third color.

Experiment along these lines by making up your own limited color combinations. Add a fourth color, and so on, until you acquire a working knowledge of all the colors you plan to use on your palette.

One important point will become apparent: The fewer colors you use, the easier it is to obtain color harmony. Every time a new color is added the risk of creating discord is increased.

Color-Mixing Hints

1. Restrict your mixtures to as few colors as possible.
   
   
2. Yellow is the most sensitive color on the palette. Use a knife to scoop it up when mixing it with other colors. Daubing a brush that you have been using into the yellow may stain it.
   
   
3. Take care when using white paint. Keep in mind that it neutralizes the color with which it is mixed. Too much white will impart a washed-out or chalky look to the color mixture.
   
   
4. Mix colors with the tip of the brush hairs. Never allow the paint to seep up to the metal ferrule.
   
   
5. Keep two jars of water handy when mixing water color. If you use one to rinse color from your brush the other will remain clear for a longer time, thus assuring clean water for mixing.
   
   
6. Dipping a brush into two colors and not stirring the mixture on the palette but applying it directly to the canvas often produces an interesting broken-color effect. This can be done with water color as well, but a minimum amount of water must be used. Warm and cool contrasting colors are most effective.
   
   
7. If you paint flowers or portraits you may have to add extra colors to your palette, because certain shades needed in such work are almost impossible to mix with a standard color palette.

Permanence of Colors

You should learn the permanence of your colors as soon as possible. Today's manufacturers have overcome many defects in both the mixing and the lasting qualities of paints, and many colors that for years were listed as non-permanent or doubtful have either been eliminated or, through modern methods, made permanent.

Here is a list of colors that most color manufacturers consider permanent (these apply to all media):

All of the Cadmium colors

 All of the Mars colors

All of the Ultramarines Alizarin Crimson

Burnt Sienna

Burnt Umber

Chromium of Oxide Green Cobalt Blue, Light and Deep

Cobalt Violet Manganese Violet Indian Red Venetian Red Manganese Blue Prussian Blue Cerulean Blue Ivory Black Lamp Black

Lemon Yellow

Light Red (English Red)

Permanent Green, Light

and Deep Raw Sienna Raw Umber

Terra Verte (Green Earth) Thalo Blue Thalo Green Viridian Yellow Ochre, Light and Deep

Titanium White Zinc White Zinc Yellow

Colors that are non-permanent or doubtful are:

All of the Chrome colors

Madder Lake

Mauve

Turquoise

Geranium Lake

Magenta

Scarlet Lake

Carmine

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