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17

of a New one; and sometimes even a New brush may thus receive a more perfect finish than the Maker had given it by similar means.

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Crayon Drawing

Although [[strikethrough]] the [[/strikethrough]] English Critics have been in the habit of censuring the French for devoting so much time to the study of Crayon drawing, instead of producing an effect quicker by means of the Stump, or the use of the Brush; yet it is certain that no course of elementary practice so effectually taches a continual, minute and exact attention to the soft and beautiful transitions of shade and shadow, as the elaborate and patient employment of the pointed Crayon, which requires so delicate an attention to the Graceful Curves, oblique intersections & fine termination of every stroke.  My own experience, however, is in favour of all these modes of study being alternately employed, or intermingled, so that each may serve as a guide and a Check to the other.

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Manipulation.

What the French call "le maniement de la brosse," or handling of the brush, is at first best learned and practiced by painting from good Plaster Casts.  In this operation, with white and raw umber for instance, and having only to study light and shade, the most convenient and effective movements of the brush and pencil may be acquired, according to the thickness or fluidity of the paint employed, both in dead colouring and in high finishing.  If the Student has previously practiced drawing with the point or the stump, he will experience decided advantage in the subsequent use of the brush, which often requires the same kind of oblique cross hatching, in order to equalize the surface, producing a kind of blending.  When additional touches are added to this, wither in the lights or shades, they should not be made at right angles, but obliquely crossing each other.  When a rounded surface is represented, as the check, the cross strokes should be made in curved directions or movements of the brush, softened by being wrought on and in a mass of paint.

Shade