Page:St. Nicholas (serial) (IA stnicholasserial321dodg).pdf/236

162 his drawing while standing on a packing-case or on two boards arranged across the heads of barrels. The wainscot all around the room is three feet high and made of tongued-and-grooved boards five inches wide, on top of which a six-inch ledge is made fast and supported with brackets. A band of wall, two feet high, above the shelf, is covered with plain ingrain paper, against which small pictures may be hung.

Over the panoramic painting strips of wood one and a half inches wide and three quarters of an inch thick are fastened vertically to divide it off into sections, and at top and hottom a similar strip continues all around the room.

Frames on which canvas is stretched may be painted separately and mounted over a rail, and afterward bound together with vertical strips; but unless the two edges of canvases are together when the painting is done, it is difficult to get the shades of color to blend properly without appearing to be separate paintings.

Light, thin colorings are preferable to solid masses, and considerable poppy or pale drying-oil can be used in the paints to thin them and give the glazed rather than the heavy pigment effect to the pictures.

If the boy has no talent for painting, excellent colored prints or carefully selected and artistic posters or Japanese color-prints may be used for the panels.

A pretty color-scheme for this side-wall treatment will be to work out the panorama in. color, somewhat subdued and not too vivid. The band of wall underneath may be in a soft, light old red, and all the woodwork in a light olive-green, either stained and given one coat of shellac or varnish, or the wood may be treated to one or two flat coats of paint without any gloss, so as to give it a dull finish.

The ceiling is tinted a light buff or cream color with water-paint or calcimine; and any hardware, such as hinges, hasps, gas-brackets, or curtain fixtures, will look well in black.