This section is from the book "Cyclopedia Of Painting", by George D. Armstrong. Also available from Amazon: Cyclopedia of Painting.
White lead tinted with a very little vermilion and about an equal quantity of lemon chrome. Some prefer yellow ochre only, others ochre and raw umber in the proportion of four ounces ochre and one ounce umber to thirty pounds of lead.
Add French ochre to white lead in the proportions of about one hundred and twenty of lead to five of ochre. Add a little burnt umber.
Four pounds of medium Venetian red, one pound of orange chrome yellow and one pound of burnt umber, or a little less burnt umber may be used according to the strength.
Mix six pounds of pure white lead with one pound medium Venetian red and five ounces of burnt umber.
Eighty parts of white-lead to one of yellow ochre produces a good ground, but sixty pounds of white lead, half a pound of French ochre and one ounce of lemon chrome is sometimes preferred.
Sixty parts of white lead and one part of golden ochre may be used, or the following mixture if preferred. Six parts of white lead, one part of French ochre, one part medium Venetian red and one part of burnt umber.
Mix six ounces of lemon chrome to fifteen pounds of pure white lead and add a little deep English vermilion.
Tint one hundred parts of white lead with twenty-seven parts of French ochre, four parts of burnt amber and three and three-quarter parts medium Venetian red.
Tint sixty parts of white lead with half part medium Venetian red, and quarter part of French ochre.
One part of French ochre mixed with ten parts of pure white lead and quarter part of burnt umber and medium Venetian red give this ground.
Thirty parts pure white lead tinted with nine parts of French ochre, four parts burnt umber and one part medium Venetian red.
Thirty parts pure white lead tinted with nine parts of French ochre, four parts burnt umber and one part medium Venetian red.
Ash. White lead tinted with a very little vermilion and about an equal quantity of lemon chrome. Some prefer yellow ochre only, others ochre and raw umber in the proportion of four ounces ochre and one ounce umber to thirty pounds of lead.
Eighty parts of white lead to one of yellow ochre produces a good ground, but sixty parts of white lead, one-eighth of a part of French ochre and one-sixteenth part, of lemon chrome is sometimes preferred.
Sixty parts of white lead, nine parts of French ochre and three and one-half parts burnt umber.
Four parts of medium Venetian red, one part of orange chrome yellow, and one part of burnt umber, or a little less burnt umber may be used according to the strength.
The graining ground mixtures must be taken as an average arrived at from comparison of the methods employed by different painters in various parts of the country. As has been explained, the mixtures given are those which may be considered an average, and a variation of them may be made according to individual taste and judgment.
 
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