LETTER X. MY DEAR SIR; THE yellow sable, when the soft point has been worn off by frequent use, will answer very well for washing out the clouds. Should the drawing, however, be of a large size, a hog's hair brush, reduced to a point by a long application to oil painting, will answer the purpose better: but as a brush of this kind is seldom met with, except in the hands of an oil painter, one may be ground to this form upon a rough stone with water, and if skilfully managed will produce effectually the appearance of light floating clouds. As these differ in hue each succeeding afternoon according to the state of the atmosphere, the following colours, if judiciously mixed, will produce every modification of tint that may be required. Such parts of the clouds as oppose the sun's light must be tinged with Yellow Ochre, and graduated with Light Red, or Burnt Sienna, towards the part; and the clouds above them, darker than the blue, will require Cobalt and Indian Red, or Brown Madder, for the purplish tint usually seen at this time. The exact tint will depend upon the colour the artist wishes to represent, which must be regulated by a strict observation of nature. I need only add, that there will be no necessity for taking off the blue for the darker clouds, as they will have a better effect when touched upon it. It will no doubt happen at the first, and indeed in many future attempts, that after the artist has taken every possible means to insure success the sky will appear in streaks and spotty. When this occurs, the drawing should be reversed, and the sky washed with a clean flat brush and pure water, from the horizon and entirely over the blue, and continued until the streaks or spots disappear and should this operation weaken the colour, it must be renewed. I feel it necessary to advise the artist not to use a sponge, as it will produce a woolly appearance, whereas the brush will give great purity and clearness to the sky. The artist, having accomplished the sky, will now proceed with the distance, and if it is very extensive, and terminating with remote mountains, the colour for them will be made by mixing a little Pink Madder with Cobalt, which will produce a delicate air tint when passed over the warm tone of the sky; and as the next gradation will tend rather more to the gray, Indian or Light Red should be preferred to the Pink Madder. The parts or objects that advance towards the middle distance will make it necessary to increase the strength of the gray by the union of Brown Madder and Cobalt, and if these colours should produce too great a tendency to a purple hue, the addition of a small proportion of Yellow will correct it. I will in my next Letter describe that part of the distance, and the mode of representing it, where the soft and mellow hues, influenced by the glow of the afternoon sun, spread a charm over the scene, while tender tints begin to steal upon the eye, and warmth and universal harmony prevail. I am, &c. LETTER XI. MY DEAR SIR; To represent a distant and richly cultivated country, viewed from an eminence, where à gentle variety of mellow tints blend imperceptibly together, it will be necessary to have the following colours prepared separately upon the palette: Yellow Ochre, with the addition of a little Indian Red; Indian Red alone; Cobalt, mixed with Yellow Ochre, to produce a soft and distant green; and Cobalt, with Indian Red, for a purplish gray. These colours being thus prepared, a thin wash of the first should be applied from where an indication of colour first appears, including the whole of the middle distance; and, when in a damp state, the other tints may be touched upon it, as |