DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19955#0051
BACKGROUNDS.
49
Although, in miniature painting, gum should not be used
in the face and drapery, until the background is put in and
the finishing is commenced, yet it is better to use a little
gum in the colour which you use for the background.
Wash it in, however, as evenly as you can, and do not
attempt to stipple it in from the first. When dark enough
in tone, and of the proper colour, leave it, and commence to
finish first the face and then the drapery; and when that is
all done, then commence to stipple your background, but
not before, because your background is intended merely to
assist the more interesting parts.
Do not in any picture begin and finish any particular
part at once, (unless it be the head, in a case of limitation
as to the time of sitting) ; but keep the picture together;
that is, get every part of it in before you begin to " finish
this is a golden rule.
As miniatures are necessarily on a very small scale, do
not crowd your background with a number of unmeaning
objects; but begin by painting them simply, as mere modes
of giving effect to your principal object.
Sometimes, when you are compelled by circumstances to
paint a person in a gaudy dress, as an Indian prince or
princess, or in a costume, you may require some object or
accessory by which to repeat the colour; in that case, a
vase of flowers, or a macaw, or a glowing sky, such as a
sunset, will give you an opportunity for the repetition of
whatever colours you may consider desirable. You must
however look at blues, reds, and yellows as general colours,
and not as individual tints of any one colour. You need
E
49
Although, in miniature painting, gum should not be used
in the face and drapery, until the background is put in and
the finishing is commenced, yet it is better to use a little
gum in the colour which you use for the background.
Wash it in, however, as evenly as you can, and do not
attempt to stipple it in from the first. When dark enough
in tone, and of the proper colour, leave it, and commence to
finish first the face and then the drapery; and when that is
all done, then commence to stipple your background, but
not before, because your background is intended merely to
assist the more interesting parts.
Do not in any picture begin and finish any particular
part at once, (unless it be the head, in a case of limitation
as to the time of sitting) ; but keep the picture together;
that is, get every part of it in before you begin to " finish
this is a golden rule.
As miniatures are necessarily on a very small scale, do
not crowd your background with a number of unmeaning
objects; but begin by painting them simply, as mere modes
of giving effect to your principal object.
Sometimes, when you are compelled by circumstances to
paint a person in a gaudy dress, as an Indian prince or
princess, or in a costume, you may require some object or
accessory by which to repeat the colour; in that case, a
vase of flowers, or a macaw, or a glowing sky, such as a
sunset, will give you an opportunity for the repetition of
whatever colours you may consider desirable. You must
however look at blues, reds, and yellows as general colours,
and not as individual tints of any one colour. You need
E