BACKGROUNDS FOR FLOWERS AND STILL LIFE IN OIL PAINTING.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2194, 31 July 1886, Page 2 (Supplement)

BACKGROUNDS FOR FLOWERS AND STILL LIFE IN OIL PAINTING.

A vkry effective and good background is a shaded gray, which is made as follows : — Take as much vcrmillion as you can take up on tho point of your palette kuife, about a third of this amount of permanent bluo which, when mixed, makes a purple, enough of light cadmium to mako a dark green, then considerable of silver white, according to the size of background you wish to make ; distrbute the white on your palette, then add colouring already mixed to this, add ivory black, making somo very dark ; take up some of almost puro white and brush on your upper right hand corner with a largo bristle brush stroking it different ways and having- the paint laid on heavily ; then put on your lightest gray and so on, having the darker shades and almost black come out at the bottom. Do not blend or smooth very much, but give tho effect of a cloudy appearance. When you have it finished take your palette knife and smooth wherever the objects you aro painting will come, letting the brush marks show near the edges. Another excellent background is a light blue, made with light cadmium, permanent blue and silver white, qualified by a little blaok. To a part of this add a little Vandyke brown. Let the blue come in the upper right hand oorner and partially across the top, then the blue with the brown ; and shade in with the grays using considerable burnt umber towards the bottom. Some excellent and odd backgrounds I have made with paint left on palette by adding a little of other colours to pake out the amount needed. If one paints considerable it is well to have one or more backgrounds on hand so if one is seized with an inspiration to paint some flower piece or still life, the background is ready at hand. The new school is usiug rough backgrounds for even delicate flowers, which to some would hardly seem consistent, but one can educate one's self to like them. Some use the palette knife entirely to put the paint on and spread it on as you would butter on bread. An atmospheric effect 13 considered necessary by some, and is made so by putting the paint on loosely ; that is, without much blending of colours, and using a good many shades. A deep red background can be made by painting first with light red shaded with white for lights and burnt sienna and black for shadows, and then when nearly or quite dry glazing (that is, going over with rose madder or madder lake.) A very effective background for flowers is to represent a cloudy sky, not make it distinct, but rather indistinct, considerably blent, then filling in ground with leaves, brush, and rocks. The whole should be well blended together without giving any prominence to any of the background, and by showing smooth palette kuife effects. I have of late completed three flower pieces after this manner, one a tipped-over basket of rose buds and leaves, another a bunch of pond lilies, while another is a couple of half-bloom roses, with a rose fallen to pieces aud the petals strewn on the ground.