DOI Heft:
No. 31 (October, 1896)
DOI Artikel:Buckman, Percy: Egypt as a sketching ground
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.17295#0054
Egypt as a Sketching Ground
great High Street seldom ply more frequently than
at intervals of four hours or so.
Most of the animals grazing in the pastures are
tethered or attended by children from the villages,
so the animal painter has every opportunity for
study. The camel and ox may often be seen yoked
together when ploughing or thrashing corn, the
latter operation being performed by driving a many-
wheeled chariot over the straw in a circle. To see
the date-picking, one must be here late in the
autumn—a busy harvest-time, when the nimble
I have also found working on paper stretched on
a sheet of plate glass in a frame, answer well, as
washes keep wet for a longer period than is the case
with paper stretched in the usual way. A sketch-
ing umbrella is better dispensed with whenever
possible, as, rising mushroom-like in the flat
country, it is sure to arouse the curiosity of the
native ; and a native crowd, with its accompanying
swarm of flies, is highly detrimental to work. It
is best to select a boy with some intelligence to
carry your material, as he will also guard you from
natives swarm up the long palm-trees to gather the
golden fruit, while down below the women and
children are busy sorting and packing, or crushing
the poorer sorts into the date cake that is so
familiar a feature in the fronts of our greengrocers'
shops. Some hints as regards materials may be of
use should you think of coming to work in this
land of sunshine. If you elect to work in water-
colours, which are more convenient and less
cumbersome when sketching, I should advise you
to get your colours in tubes as less liable to be
attacked by the dry atmosphere. Some colour-
men make them specially moist for hot climates.
intrusion with jealous care. I taught my boy the
use of the catapult, which he discharged with
marked effect when juvenile art critics became too
pressing with their criticism. The general colour
scheme in the pastoral districts is extremely
simple. Variations on cobalt, rose madder and
yellow ochre will achieve almost anything except
the greens, which are usually somewhat crude, but
a genuine Eastern sunset taxes all the resources of
the palette. It is indeed glorious to look at, but,
except under unusual atmospheric conditions,
does not repay one's pains in painting, being apt
to suggest a certain well-known advertisement or
4i
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great High Street seldom ply more frequently than
at intervals of four hours or so.
Most of the animals grazing in the pastures are
tethered or attended by children from the villages,
so the animal painter has every opportunity for
study. The camel and ox may often be seen yoked
together when ploughing or thrashing corn, the
latter operation being performed by driving a many-
wheeled chariot over the straw in a circle. To see
the date-picking, one must be here late in the
autumn—a busy harvest-time, when the nimble
I have also found working on paper stretched on
a sheet of plate glass in a frame, answer well, as
washes keep wet for a longer period than is the case
with paper stretched in the usual way. A sketch-
ing umbrella is better dispensed with whenever
possible, as, rising mushroom-like in the flat
country, it is sure to arouse the curiosity of the
native ; and a native crowd, with its accompanying
swarm of flies, is highly detrimental to work. It
is best to select a boy with some intelligence to
carry your material, as he will also guard you from
natives swarm up the long palm-trees to gather the
golden fruit, while down below the women and
children are busy sorting and packing, or crushing
the poorer sorts into the date cake that is so
familiar a feature in the fronts of our greengrocers'
shops. Some hints as regards materials may be of
use should you think of coming to work in this
land of sunshine. If you elect to work in water-
colours, which are more convenient and less
cumbersome when sketching, I should advise you
to get your colours in tubes as less liable to be
attacked by the dry atmosphere. Some colour-
men make them specially moist for hot climates.
intrusion with jealous care. I taught my boy the
use of the catapult, which he discharged with
marked effect when juvenile art critics became too
pressing with their criticism. The general colour
scheme in the pastoral districts is extremely
simple. Variations on cobalt, rose madder and
yellow ochre will achieve almost anything except
the greens, which are usually somewhat crude, but
a genuine Eastern sunset taxes all the resources of
the palette. It is indeed glorious to look at, but,
except under unusual atmospheric conditions,
does not repay one's pains in painting, being apt
to suggest a certain well-known advertisement or
4i
/