III. Water-Colors 13 And now for my own system

And now for my own system.
I use a heavy, gray charcoal paper, which is made by Dupré & Company, No. 141 Faubourg St. Honoré, Paris, and which costs about ten cents per sheet, measuring about 40 x 30 inches each. This paper is evenly ribbed but without the intermittent bands seen often in the lighter charcoal paper, known as "Michelet," sold everywhere in our own art stores. Dupré will send this paper to anybody who applies for it. oil paintings online
This paper I wet on both sides and thumb-tack over an oil canvas the size of the picture to be painted. It dries tight as a drum, and the canvas backing protects it from puncture or other injury.
On this surface I make a full and complete drawing in charcoal of the subject before me, not in outline, but in strong darks, jet-black, many of them—a finished drawing really, in charcoal, which could be signed and framed. This is then "fixed" by a spray of alcohol and gum shellac, thrown by means of a common perfume atomizer, the whole apparatus costing less than one American dollar. original oil paintings
On this I begin my color scheme in both opaque and transparent color, recognizing the "natural facts" already explained to you, that is, the skies and high lights being solidly opaque, the shadows being equally transparent. This process requires certain modifications to be made in the darks of the original drawing. The dense black shadow under the eaves of a roof, for instance, are not in nature as black as the charcoal, but perhaps a rich, warm brown. If the ground is in sunlight, it is a dull, golden yellow and reflects the yellow glow of the sand beneath. Or it may be a blue reflection, or even of a reddish tone. These hard blacks then must be glazed in such a way as to preserve the power of the shadow obtained by means of the under charcoal, and yet keep it transparent (all shadows being transparent) and at the same time preserve its true and proper tint. landscape oil painting on canvas
This glaze is done by using the three semi-opaque primary pigments—found in every color-box—namely:

• Light red,
• Cobalt-blue,
• Yellow ochre.

These colors, of course, form the basis of all intermediate tones, and from them all intermediate tones can be made.

These three colors are at the same time semi-opaque, their opacity being just sufficient to tint the hard black of the coal, while never clogging or muddying its transparency. wholesale oil paintings