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white paper must be the substitute for white colour. There are many persons
who profess to sell what they call permanent white, but it is so little to
be depended upon, I should not recommend its use, but rather to leave the
paper where white is required. An important rule to be observed is, that
whatever be the colour of the flower you are painting, the lightest tint
is to be laid in first; then touch in the next tint, and according to your
pattern darken the shadows. In doing this particular care must be taken to
soften the edges of every tint, so that they may lose themselves in one another.
This will make your drawing appear soft. One means of doing this will be
to be careful not to have the second tint too dark, and with the point of
another pencil just wetted, soften the edge of the second tint; but this
is one of the few difficulties that must be got the better of by practice.
It is hardly necessary to say, that the tints should be tried on a piece
of waste paper previous to laying them on the drawing. In several of the
first following plates I have selected a variety of such flowers as will
be most easy to copy from, which will prepare the practitioner to attempt
the larger and more difficult ones with better success. In many of the small
flowers there will be found only three tints. The yellow crocus in the first
plate is laid in with gamboge. The first tint of shade is rough terra de
siena, the darkest tint is burnt terra de siena. This shews the effect which
may be produced by three tints only; the purple crocus and all the small
flowers in the corners of this plate are finished with three tints. As all
these are very easy to copy, I should recommend the copying them repeatedly,
as it will prepare them better to attempt the next plate, the flowers in
that having four tints in some of them. The upper