pable of
getting in and out of a variety of contours. They vary in shape, some
being more pointed than others. The blunt-ended form is the best for
general use. Either this class of brush or Class C are perhaps the best
for the exercises in mass drawing we have been describing. But Class A
should also be tried, and even Class B, to find out which suits the
particular individuality of the student.

On page 114 [Transcribers Note: Plate XXVI] a variety of touches have
been made in turn by these different shaped brushes.

In all the strokes illustrated it is assumed that the brush is
moderately full of paint of a consistency a little thinner than that
usually put up by colourmen. To thin it, mix a little turpentine and
linseed oil in equal parts with it; and get it into easy working
consistency before beginning your work, so as not to need any medium.

In the first column (No. 1), a touch firmly painted with an equal
pressure all along its course is given. This gives you a plane of tone
with firm edges the width of your brush, getting gradually darker or
lighter as your brush empties, according to the length of the stroke and
to whether you are painting into a lighter or darker ground.

In column No. 2 a drag touch is illustrated. This is a very useful one.
The brush is placed firmly on the canvas and then dragged from the point
lightly away, leaving a gradated tone. A great deal of the modelling in
round objects is to be expressed by this variety of handling. The danger
is that its use is apt to lead to a too dexterous manner of painting; a
dexterity more concerned with the clever manner in which a thing is
painted than with the truth expressed.

Column No. 3. This is a stroke lightly and quickly painted, where the
brush just grazes the surface of the canvas. The paint is put on in a
manner that is very brilliant, and at the same time of a soft quality.
If the brush is only moderately full, such touches will not have any
hard edges, but be of a light, feathery nature. It is a most useful
manner of putting on paint when freshness of colour is wanted, as it
prevents one tone being churned up with another and losing its purity.
And in the painting of hair, where the tones need to be kept very
separate, and at the same time not hard, it is very useful. But in
monochrome painting from the cast it is of very little service.

Another method of using a brush is hatching, the drawing of rows of
parallel lines in either equal