and the same green with a larger proportion of mixing yellow for the snow drop leaves. Be careful not to leave a blotch where the leaves are crossed by flowers or other leaves. If your painting does not look satisfactory, do not attempt to remedy it, except by wiping it out and doing the work over again. Work that has been touched up or doctored while wet is never satisfactory, and it must always be borne in mind that the furnace or kiln is a wonderful revealer of defects, when unfortunately it is too late to remedy them. So do not be afraid to wipe out your work over and over again while it is in your power to do so.
For the crocuses, mix some carmine and blue to form the purple tint, using the blue sparingly as it is an intense color, and becomes stronger in the firing. Paint the crocuses as delicately as possible. The color should be as thin as will work well. Begin at the top of the petals and make your strokes follow the general direction of the outline and the shading. Leave the lower part of the tube of the crocus unpainted. For the hepaticas use a very thin wash of the same color as the crocuses and leaving the places for the calyx unpainted. The white of the china gives the local color for the snow drops, but for the parts which are shaded in the design, mix pearl gray with a very little of the light green used for the leaves, and paint the shaded parts with delicate touches, making your stroke follow the direction of the copy. The upper part of the hepatica leaf, and the stems and calices are painted in deep chrome green, modified with gray, No. 1. For the lower part use deep red brown, modified with gray, No. 1.
When this first painting is dry you can begin the shading. Shade the crocus leaves with deep chrome green, modified with a very little black, being careful to leave a light line down the centre. Shade the snow drop leaves with pearl gray, light green, and a little touch of
