CRAYON (Fr. craie,

See also:

• CHALK

chalk, from

See also:

• LAT

Lat. creta)  , a coloured material for drawing, employed generally in the form of pencils, but sometimes also as a powder, and consisting of native earthy and stony friable substances, or of artificially prepared mixtures of a base of pipe or china clay with Prussian blue, orpiment, vermilion, umber and other pigments . Calcined gypsum, talc and compounds of magnesium, bismuth and lead are occasionally used as bases . The required shades of tints are obtained by adding varying amounts of colouring matter to equal quantities of the base . Crayons are used by the artist to make groupings of colours and to secure landscape and other effects with ease and rapidity . The outline as well as the rest of the picture is drawn in crayon . The colours are softened off and blended by the finger, with the assistance of a stump of leather or paper; and shading is produced by cross-hatching and stippling . The art of painting in crayon or pastel is supposed to have originated in Germany in the 17th century . By Johann Alexander Thiele (1685–1752) it was carried to great perfection, and in France it was early practised with much success . Amongst the earlier pastellists may be mentioned Rosalba Carriera (1675–1757), W . Hoare (1707–1792), F . Cotes (1726–1770), and J . Russell (1744–1806); and in recent years the art has been successfully revived .