Page:Embroidery and Fancy Work.djvu/111

Rh your painting. If you douse the India ink or carmine, wipe your plate off with a little turpentine, and the red marks will disappear, leaving the outline in water color. Now take your tube of deep red brown, and having unscrewed the top, take hold of the very bottom of the tube and squeeze very little out on your palette. Pour a few drops of turpentine or oil of lavender (I generally prefer the latter) on the paint, and rub it smooth with the palette knife. Take the largest of your two camel's hair brushes, dip it in the turpentine, so as to moisten it thoroughly. Then, having wiped the extra moisture out on your rag, dip it in the paint. It is well to have an extra piece of china on hand to try your brush on. If the paint works smoothly, leaving a clear mark, it is mixed just right. If it leaves a drop or blot at the end, there is too much turpentine in it. Wait a few minutes for it to dry. If it sticks and refuses to run, add a few more drops of turpentine or oil.

Having your color properly mixed, paint the leaves with a smooth firm stroke, painting from the middle of the leaf toward the edges, and making the brush follow the general contour of the leaves. Thus in the woodbine the brush marks should all diverge from the point where the stem joins the leaf. In a violet leaf, on the contrary, the brush should be carried round in a sweeping curve from the stalk to the point of the leaf.

The stems of the woodbine can be painted in dark brown, or in asphalt, a very useful color to be procured at Ulrieh's Artists' Materials Store in New York. If the design includes berries, paint the little stems joining them to the main stalk with capucine red. The berries should be put in with ivory black just tinged with dark blue. Preserve the circular form of the berry, and leave a tiny half moon shaped spot of white china for the high light. If at first you cannot have this spot, it can be scraped out with a pen knife or coarse needle. When