For the beginner, with little idea how to obtain the various delicate gradations of colour which she has chosen for her scheme, a list of the various shades which are most often required will be useful:

White, yellow, and Venetian red will produce buff; brown and white, chestnut; black, blue, and white, pale grey; blue, yellow, and white, green; lampblack and white, lead colour; lampblack and indigo, silver grey; green and white, pea green; light green and brown, dark green; red, blue, and black, olive; yellow and red, orange; carmine and white, pink; blue, crimson lake, and white, purple; Venetian red and black, chocolate; yellow, vermilion, and white, flesh colour.

Now, after the instructions given in the last article have been carried out, all is ready to begin painting the more delicate and important features of the picture on the surface of the photograph affixed to the first glass.

The Eyes Of Ap Ortraitt0

The eyes-if the picture is a portrait-are of the greatest importance. In painting them, the smallest brush is used and the utmost care observed in keeping strictly to the outline. A thin, transparent wash of the desired colour is applied to the iris, and the pupil is carefully painted with sepia or brown, and a point of white placed where both the high light and the reflected light are indicated. Surround the iris with a thin line of greenish black to give it prominence, and put a touch of red (made from vermilion, carmine, and white) at the corner nearest the nose.

For blue or grey eyes use cobalt and white; for dark blue add indigo; if the eye is of a greenish hue mix in a little yellow. For grey eyes, a touch of brown and of light red may be added to cobalt and white.

In brown eyes every variety of tint can be obtained by using Vandyke brown, burnt ochre, burnt sienna, light red, and Naples yellow added to white in such proportion as each case may require.

To paint the white of the eye in a child's picture add a trace of light red and a little ultramarine to the flake white; and for an older person a trace of Naples yellow instead of light red.

Be careful not to lay on the paint too thickly.

Paint the hair with a thin wash of colour over the entire surface, working the light and dark shades separately. All shadows must be painted with transparent colour, to which no white has been added. Treat waves and ringlets by running the brush over them in the same direction as that in which the hair is curled.

The hair which encircles the face must be painted very thinly, the colour being softened down with an almost dry brush, so that hard edges are avoided.

For dark eyebrows use a wash of brown, and with a little black pick out the hair lines; for fair eyebrows add a little Naples yellow to the brown.

For eyelashes use an almost dry brush containing the smallest possible quantity of brown, and draw it across the lower line of the upper lid; if a few eyelashes are to be added, curve them in the direction of the eye.

Paint the lips with a delicate mixture of vermilion, carmine and white, and add a high light of white, and soften the edges of the lower lip with an almost dry brush.

Flowers are painted on the first glass, tiny dots of pink giving the exact effect of rosebuds, while full-blown roses are tinted deeper in the middle.

Painting The Second Glass

When all small details have been painted on the first glass, apply small pieces of gummed paper, or a strip of visiting card fastened in place by gum, at the corners and centres of the glass along the margin, to prevent the first and second glass actually touching each other.

Now place the second glass behind the first one, sandwiching the photograph in between, and bind the glasses together with a strip of gummed paper.

The complexion, shadows, draperies, dress, and background must now be painted on the second glass.

Begin with the face, making the flesh tint from white with Naples yellow and vermilion. Apply this to the glass, and, reversing the picture, try the effect over white cardboard. If it is too pink or too yellow, clean it off and try again until the exactly right colour is obtained.

Paint the bare neck and arms smoothly and evenly with the same tint, and then for the colour on the cheeks add a little vermilion to the centre of each, and work it in carefully with the surrounding flesh tint, so that the effect viewed from the front of the picture is natural.

Finishing Touches

Paint the dress and draperies smoothly and evenly on the second glass, mixing every colour with white to make it opaque. Behind the parts already painted on the first glass apply paint of a similar tone, mixed with white, to strengthen the effect.

When painting white draperies pure white is only used for the high lights, the rest of the white being shaded with greenish grey, blue, raw sienna, or sepia.

In painting backgrounds indigo must be used to give a good distant effect. Remember to keep curtains, carpets, or hangings as subdued in tone as possible.

Alstona painting is especially successful when applied to miniature work, and with practice the amateur can transform any favourite photograph into a charming Alstona miniature.