Page:Cyclopedia of Painting-Armstrong, George D (1908).djvu/399

Rh so as not to attract the eye too strongly and prevent it from penetrating further into the scene.

Trees. In representing these the local color should be first laid on, a little warmer in the light and deeper and cooler on the shadow side, separating definitely the lights from the shadows, and in them showing detail. When the foliage is massive, deep shadows must be added. The forms of the highest lights must be carefully rendered, and they must not be frittered away by any attempt to represent the innumerable leaves which go to make up the entire foliage.

The trunks of trees may be usually treated with warm color, purple lake or madder, combined if necessary with light red and cobalt. Both trunks and branches should be traced up and marked wherever visible. The warmth of their colors contrasts well with the coolness of the foliage, but care must be exercised that they do not come too forward, or they will destroy the appearance of roundness.

In representing trees great assistance is afforded by the modern plan of taking out. Where high lights are required, water is applied by the brush in the required form, this is removed with blotting-paper, and the color is then sharply wiped out with a handkerchief or wash-leather.

In coloring trees it must be remembered that they rarely appear as a true green. The upper part of the leaves reflect the blue or gray of sky, and the warm tints of earth are reflected on their under sides. Although the local color of trees in the foreground may be fully visible, it is much modified in the middle distance by their remoteness from the spectator, so that the tone becomes more gray than green, and the leafage is quite indistinct. In the extreme distance neither trunk nor branches are visible, and the mass is broken by the shadows occasioned by the varying positions of the trees.

It is most desirable for any one who is anxious to represent rocks with accuracy to be acquainted with the different strata and formations and with their colors when they