The Painter in oil

would make it right. For instance, Prussian blue and chrome yellow mixed will make a
powerful green which you could hardly put anywhere - a strong, crude green. Well, what
is the complementary? Red? And what does a complementary do to a color? Neutralizes,
grays. Then add a very little red, enough to gray the green, not enough to kill its quality.
Or if you don’t want the color that makes, take a little reddish yellow, ochre say, and
possibly a little reddish blue, new blue or ultramarine; add these, and see how it grays it
and still keeps the same kind of green. This is the principle in extreme. Still, the best way
would be not to try to make green of Prussian blue and chrome yellow. Know which two
colors mix to make a crude color, and which will be gray, more or less, without a third.
Muddy Color. - Dirty or muddy color comes from lack of this last. You do not know
how your colors are going to affect each other. You mix, and the color looks right on the
palette, but on the canvas it is not right. You mix again and put it on the canvas; it mixes
with the first tint and you get - mud. Why? Both wrong. Scrape the whole thing off. With
a clean spot of canvas mix a fresh color. Put it on frankly and freshly and let it alone -
don’t dabble it. The chances are it will be at least fresh, clean color.
Over-mixing makes color muddy sometimes, especially when more than three colors
are used. When you don’t get the right tint with three colors, the chances are that you
have got the wrong three.
If that is not so, and you must add a fourth, do so with some thoughtfulness, or you will
have to mix the tint again.
Dirty Brushes and Palette. - Using dirty brushes causes muddy color. Don’t be too
economical about the number of brushes you use. Keep a good big rag at your hand, and
wipe the paint out of your brush often. If the color is getting muddy, clean your palette
and take a clean brush. Your palette is sure to get covered with paint of all colors when
you have painted a little while. You can’t mix colors with any degree of certainty if the
palette is smeared with all sorts of tints. Use your palette-knife - that’s what it’s for.
Scrape the palette clean every once in a while as it gets crowded. Wipe it off. Take some
fresh brushes. Then, if your color is dirty, it is your fault, not the fault of your tools.
Out-door and In-door Colors. - There is one source of discouragement and
difficulty that every one has to contend against; that is, the difference in the apparent key
of paint when, having been put on out- of-doors, it is seen in the house. Out-of-doors the
color looked bright and light, and when you get it in-doors it looks dark and gray, and
perhaps muddy and dead. This is something you must expect, and must learn how to
control.
As everything that the out-door light falls upon looks the brighter for it, so will your
paint look brighter than it really is because of the brilliancy of the light which you see it
in. You must learn to make allowance for that. You must learn by experience how much
the color will go down when you take it into the house.
Of course an umbrella is a most useful and necessary thing in working out-of-doors,
and if it is lined with black so much the better for you; for there is sure to be a good deal
of light coming though the cloth, and while it shades your canvas, it does to some extent
give a false glow to your canvas, which a black lining counterbalances.
Mere experience will give you that knowledge more or less; but there are ways in
which you can help yourself.