Page:Scottishartrevie01unse.djvu/266

228 white oil-paint on the dry plaster — secures at any rate a very luminous quality, which makes the whole will be successfully conquered by this thoughtful and sympathetic worker. Several lady artists, not- decorative effect light, clieerful, and pleasing. It is too soon, however, to judge whether the difficulties incident to decorative work on so considerable a scale ablv Miss Alice Gray and Miss Rose Hill Burton, are also biisily engaged for the Infirmary. G. Baldwin Bkown.

T is impossible to get full enjoyment out of any art, or even to understand it fully, without, at least, some acquaintance with its working-methods ; and this is especially important in the case of etching, where the processes are so varied and interesting. Perhaps the easiest and the best way to get this knowledge is to go and see some one actually at his work, and induce him to talk about it.

Suppose we imagine ourselves on a visit to an etcher^s studio, haing taken care beforehand to assure ourselves of a welcome, because etchers are sometimes as quick and fiery as their art, and to be disturbed in the midst of an important ' biting ' is a serious affair. Etchers are nearly always painters too, but the difference between the studio of a painter simply and that of an etcher is very marked, the etcher s being much more of a work-shop, and bearing the stamp of the craftsman all over it.

Etchings can be done with very few tools and appliances ; but an etcher who works much has a great many interesting tools around him, so that, whatever method he chooses for the moment's work, there the appliances are ready to his hand.

We are inside. The etcher comes down to meet us. He is dressed in a long blouse covered with spots and patches, due, as he afterwards explains, to acid. There is a strong smell of this acid in the