color is, the more difficult it becomes to lay it on evenly. Therefore,
when you have gained some definite degree of power, try to fill in the
forms required with a full brush, and a dark tint, at once, instead of
laying several coats one over another; always taking care that the tint,
however dark, be quite liquid; and that, after being laid on, so much of
it is absorbed as to prevent its forming a black line at the edge as it
dries. A little experience will teach you how apt the color is to do
this, and how to prevent it; not that it needs always to be prevented,
for a great master in water-colors will sometimes draw a firm outline,
when he _wants_ one, simply by letting the color dry in this way at the
edge.

32. When, however, you begin to cover complicated forms with the darker
color, no rapidity will prevent the tint from drying irregularly as it
is led on from part to part. You will then find the following method
useful. Lay in the color very pale and liquid; so pale, indeed, that you
can only just see where it is on the paper. Lead it up to all the
outlines, and make it precise in form, keeping it thoroughly wet
everywhere. Then, when it is all in shape, take the darker color, and
lay some of it _into_ the middle of the liquid color. It will spread
gradually in a branchy kind of way, and you may now lead it up to the
outlines already determined, and play it with the brush till it fills
its place well; then let it dry, and it will be as flat and pure as a
single dash, yet defining all the complicated forms accurately.

33. Having thus obtained the power of laying on a tolerably flat tint,
you must try to lay on a gradated one. Prepare the color with three or
four teaspoonfuls of water; then, when it is mixed, pour away about
two-thirds of it, keeping a teaspoonful of pale color. Sloping your
paper as before, draw two pencil lines all the way down, leaving a space
between them of the width of a square on your chess-board. Begin at the
top of your paper, between the lines; and having struck on the first
brushful of color, and led it down a little, dip your brush deep in
water, and mix up the color on the plate quickly with as much more water
as the brush takes up at that one dip: then, with this paler color, lead
the tint farther down. Dip in water again, mix the color again, and thus
lead down the tint, always dipping in water once between each
replenishing of the brush, and stirring the color on the plate well,