Perhaps the handsomest screens are those which are painted by hand. We own to a prejudice against painting on silk or satin. Fine painting should be on a more enduring material, and poor painting should only be done as a stepping-stone to what is better. After putting magnesia on the back and using your oil-color without additional oil, the color will "run" a little.

As for water-color, you have to use body color, (Chinese white mixed with the ordinary water-colors), and the result is a dry surface which seems ready to crack off like whitewash. Nevertheless, we have seen some fine effects produced both with oil and water-color. French artists of name and fame have not scorned fan decoration upon silk and satin. Unless, however, great skill has been acquired, we would advise one of the following methods: -

1. Painting with oil-color upon some kind of canvas intended for the purpose.

2. Painting with water-color upon paper and protecting the work with glass.

3. Embroidery which seems the dower right of rich stuffs, a most natural and beautiful decoration.

4. Applique work, either onlaid or inlaid, and -

5. A plain surface adorned with odd bits of decoration, birds, fans, pieces of heavy lace, etc.

As to the first, picture canvas is heavy and very expensive. We have found oil window shading a very good substitute, and we have been told that book-binder's cloth serves equally well. Either can be nicely stretched upon the frame, the edge covered with narrow worsted braid, which comes at a cheap rate in thirty-six yard pieces, and tacked with upholsterer's tacks. This makes the back of the screen neat, and a pretty color of canvas-buff or stone color can be selected.

Flowers have long been a favorite decoration, though many speak of the difficulty of finding designs of sufficient size and importance for a large screen. It is well to decide upon the design for all of the panels before beginning to paint.

A Pretty Idea

Is to have the first panel for the spring, the second midsummer, the third for autumn. The first could be either a long branch or double branch of peach or apple blossoms, set, perhaps, in a brown vase upon a pretty table-cover. The background could be a pale yellowish tint. The second might be a mass of roses hanging down from the top with a soft, gray background. The third could be a great branch of white chrysanthemums coming well across the panel from the left, with some crimson and gold blossoms near the frame of the screen, as if one hand held the three branches.

Flowers And Figures From Nature

In studying flowers it is well not to cut them, but paint a selected branch while it still grows and rejoices. A branch of chrysanthemums or azaleas can never be placed as beautifully as it places itself upon the parent stem.

Figures are very appropriate for a screen, but there are not many unprofessional artists who have studied the figure sufficiently to produce satisfactory results. One young lady having great talent, evolved, after some study, a screen from a frame made by a carpenter, and some burlaps for canvas, upon which (it had but two panels) she painted a knight and a lady. She served, with the aid of a long mirror, for her own model for the lady, and an unwilling brother was drummed into service as the knight. The burlaps had a sizing of paste to fill up the interstices and save paint.

A Stationary Screen

We have seen a sort of partition screen built across a hall to convert the back part into a boy's bed-room. The frame was painted a dull red. The burlap was stretched, and a pretty group of peacock feathers arranged upon it, with a bow of some gay striped stuff holding the stems. It was in an inconspicuous place, and the effect was excellent.

Water-Colors

Each panel can be divided into sections by a band of wood. The frame is thus strengthened, and neither the picture nor the glass need be so large. In the water-color exhibitions in London, solid screens serve as hanging places for many small sketches which would stand but a poor-chance among; the large frames on the wall.