Or Mineral Grey As It Is Often Improperly Spelt Is Obtainable From

: ON THE SEMI-NEUTRAL, GRAY.

the lapis lazuli, after the blue and ash have been worked out. So

derived, it is a refuse article, worthless if the stone has been

skilfully exhausted of its ultramarine. As this is now generally the

case, the best mineral gray is no longer a waste product, but a lower

species of ash, a pale whitish blue with a grey cast. Possessing the

permanence of ultramarine, it may be regarded in colour as a very weak

variety of t at blue, diluted with a large quantity of white slightly

tinged by black. A pigment peculiar to oil painting, it is admirably

adapted to that gray semi-neutrality, the prevalence of which in nature

has been just remarked. For misty mornings, cloudy skies, and the like,

this gray will be found useful.



TTITLE MIXED GRAY



is formed by compounding black and blue, black and purple, black and

olive, &c.; and is likewise produced by adding blue in excess to madder

brown, sepia, &c., transparent mixtures which are much employed. It

should be borne in mind that the semi-neutrals, like the secondaries and

tertiaries, may be so compounded as to be permanent, semi-stable, or

fugitive. The due remembrance of this cannot be too strongly insisted

upon, seeing that in every picture the browns and grays are of frequent

occurrence. These it is that lend such charm to the whole, flowing, as

it were, like a quiet under-current of colour beneath the troubled

surface of more decided hues. In the work of every true artist--between

whom and the mere painter there is as much difference as between the

poet and the poetaster--there is sentiment as well as colour, whether

the subject be an exciting battle-scene or a bit of still life. This

sentiment, as strongly felt as the colour is clearly seen, is imparted

in no small degree by the skilful use of semi-neutrality, the

compounding of which, as time goes on, will therefore affect a picture

for good or for evil.



Subjoined is an analysis of the three semi-neutrals, which serves partly

to show in what great variety they may be obtained by admixture.



Brown = Black + Yellow }

" = " + Orange } + Red, Purple, &c.

" = " + Citrine}

" = 2 Yellow + Red + Blue

" = 2 Orange + Green + Purple

" = 2 Citrine + Russet + Olive

Marrone = Black + Red

" = " + Purple-red

" = " + Russet

" = 2 Red }

" = 2 Purple-red} + Dark Brown or Black

" = 2 Russet }

Gray = Black + Blue }

" = " + Purple-blue} + 2 White

" = " + Olive }

" = 2 Blue }

" = 2 Purple-blue} + Light Brown, or Black + 2 White

" = 2 Olive }



In the last division, the White has been added to remind the reader that

grays are coloured greys, not coloured blacks; and are therefore faint

of hue. This paleness, however, need not necessarily be produced by

admixture with white: it can be gained by means of thin washes. As a

pigment, gray may be to all appearance black in bulk.



TTITLE NEUTRAL TINT,