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diff --git a/30877-8.txt b/30877-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7a888fb --- /dev/null +++ b/30877-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8678 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Painter in Oil, by Daniel Burleigh Parkhurst + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Painter in Oil + A complete treatise on the principles and technique + necessary to the painting of pictures in oil colors + +Author: Daniel Burleigh Parkhurst + +Release Date: January 6, 2010 [EBook #30877] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PAINTER IN OIL *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Ritu Aggarwal and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: =November Beechwood.= _D. Burleigh Parkhurst._] + + + + + THE PAINTER IN OIL + + A COMPLETE TREATISE + ON + THE PRINCIPLES AND TECHNIQUE + NECESSARY TO + THE PAINTING OF PICTURES IN OIL COLORS + + BY + DANIEL BURLEIGH PARKHURST + + PUPIL OF WILLIAM SARTAIN, OF BOUGUEREAU AND TONY-FLEURY, AND OF + AIMÉE MOROT; MEMBER OF THE NEW YORK WATER COLOR CLUB; + FORMERLY LECTURER ON ART IN DICKINSON COLLEGE; + AUTHOR OF "SKETCHING FROM NATURE," ETC. + + + "_La peinture à l'huile est bien difficile; + Mais beaucoup plus beau que la peinture à l'eau._" + + + BOSTON: + LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO. + + + COPYRIGHT, 1898, BY LEE AND SHEPARD + + _All Rights Reserved_ + + THE PAINTER IN OIL + + + TYPOGRAPHY BY C. J. PETERS & SON + + PRESSWORK BY BERWICK & SMITH, NORWOOD PRESS + NORWOOD MASS. + + + + + TO + A. M. P. + THIS BOOK IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED. + + _September 4th, 1897._ + + + + + PREFACE + + +Books of instruction in the practice of painting have rarely been +successful. Chiefly because they have been too narrow in their point +of view, and have dealt more with recipes than with principles. It is +not possible to give any one manner of painting that shall be right +for all men and all subjects. To say "do thus and so" will not teach +any one to paint. But there are certain principles which underlie all +painting, and all schools of painting; and to state clearly the most +important of these will surely be helpful, and may accomplish +something. + +It is the purpose of this book to deal practically with the problems +which are the study of the painter, and to make clear, as far as may +be, the principles which are involved in them. I believe that this is +the only way in which written instruction on painting can be of any +use. + +It is impossible to understand principles without some statement of +theory; and a book in order to be practical must therefore be to some +extent theoretical. I have been as concise and brief in the +theoretical parts as clearness would permit of, and I trust they are +not out of proportion to the practical parts. Either to paint well, or +to judge well of a painting, requires an understanding of the same +things: namely, the theoretical standpoint of the painter; the +technical problems of color, composition, etc.; and the practical +means, processes, and materials through which and with which these are +worked out. + +It is obvious that one cannot become a good painter without the +ability to know what is good painting, and to prefer it to bad +painting. Therefore, I have taken space to cover, in some sort, the +whole ground, as the best way to help the student towards becoming a +good painter. If, also, the student of pictures should find in this +book what will help him to appreciate more truly and more critically, +I shall be gratified. + + D. B. P. + + _December 4, 1897_ + + + + + CONTENTS + + + PART I.--MATERIALS + CHAPTER PAGE + I. Observations 3 + II. Canvases and Panels 6 + III. Easels 15 + IV. Brushes 20 + V. Paints 33 + VI. Vehicles and Varnishes 61 + VII. Palettes 65 + VIII. Other Tools 69 + IX. Studios 76 + + + PART II.--GENERAL PRINCIPLES + + X. Mental Attitude 85 + XI. Tradition and Individuality 95 + XII. Originality 103 + XIII. The Artist and the Student 107 + XIV. How to Study 110 + + + PART III.--TECHNICAL PRINCIPLES + + XV. Technical Preliminaries 123 + XVI. Drawing 126 + XVII. Values 138 + XVIII. Perspective 146 + XIX. Light and Shade 151 + XX. Composition 166 + XXI. Color 184 + + + PART IV.--PRACTICAL APPLICATION + + XXII. Representation 209 + XXIII. Manipulation 224 + XXIV. Copying 236 + XXV. Kinds of Painting 242 + XXVI. The Sketch 245 + XXVII. The Study 254 + XXVIII. Still Life 260 + XXIX. Flowers 280 + XXX. Portraits 286 + XXXI. Landscape 309 + XXXII. Marines 335 + XXXIII. Figures 347 + XXXIV. Procedure in a Picture 371 + XXXV. Difficulties of Beginners 389 + + + + + LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + + PAGE + NOVEMBER BEECHWOOD _Parkhurst_ _Frontispiece_ + STRETCHERS 11 + CANVAS PLIERS 13 + DOUBLE-POINTED TACK 13 + EASEL 16 + EASEL 17 + SKETCHING EASEL 18 + SKETCHING EASEL 19 + BRUSHES.--Red Sable, Round 22 + Red Sable 23 + Red Sable, Flat 24 + Round Bristle 26 + Flat Bristle 28 + Flat pointed 29 + Fan 30 + BRUSH CLEANER 31 + OIL COLORS 54 + OVAL PALETTE 65 + ARM PALETTE 67 + THE COLOR BOX 70 + PALETTE KNIFE 71 + THE SCRAPER 72 + THE OIL-CUP 73 + MAHL-STICKS 73 + THREE-LEGGED STOOL 74 + SKETCHING CHAIR 74 + SKETCHING UMBRELLA 75 + DRAWING OF HANDS _Dürer_ 134 + EGGS. WHITE AGAINST WHITE 154 + THE CANAL _Parkhurst_ 156 + BOHEMIAN WOMAN _Franz Hals_ 159 + SEWING BY LAMPLIGHT _Millet_ 161 + DESCENT FROM THE CROSS 163 + THE GOLDEN STAIRS 174 + THE SOWER _Millet_ 175 + RETURN TO THE FARM _Millet_ 178 + THE FISHER BOY _Franz Hals_ 217 + BOAR-HUNT _Snyders_ 221 + GOOD BOCK _Manet_ 227 + SKETCH OF A HILLSIDE 246 + THE RIVER BANK _Parkhurst_ 250 + STUDY OF A BLOOMING-MILL _Parkhurst_ 257 + STILL LIFE, NO. 1 265 + STILL LIFE, NO. 2 266 + STILL LIFE, NO. 3 267 + STILL LIFE, NO. 4 269 + STILL LIFE, NO. 5 270 + STILL LIFE, NO. 6 271 + SWEET PEAS 282 + DÜRER _by Himself_ 289 + PORTRAIT OF HIS MOTHER _Whistler_ 291 + PORTRAIT OF HIMSELF _Valasquez_ 293 + PORTRAIT _Parkhurst_ 297 + HAYSTACKS IN SUNSHINE _Monet_ 307 + ON THE RACE TRACK _Degas_ 314 + WILLOW ROAD _Parkhurst_ 317 + ENTRANCE TO ZUYDER ZEE _Clarkson Stanfield_ 337 + GIRL SPINNING _Millet_ 345 + SKETCH OF A FLUTE PLAYER _Parkhurst_ 355 + MILTON DICTATING "PARADISE LOST" _Munkacsy_ 363 + BUCKWHEAT HARVEST _Millet_ 368 + STUDY OF FORTUNE _Angelo_ 373 + ÉBOUCH OF PORTRAIT _Th. Robinson_ 379 + LANDSCAPE PHOTO. NO. 1 394 + LANDSCAPE PHOTO. NO. 2 395 + + + + + PART I + + MATERIALS + + + + + THE PAINTER IN OIL + + + + + CHAPTER I + + GENERAL OBSERVATIONS + + +There is a false implication in the saying that "a poor workman blames +his tools." It is not true that a good workman can do good work with +bad tools. On the contrary, the good workman sees to it that he has +good tools, and makes it a part of his good workmanship that they are +in good condition. + +In painting there is nothing that will cause you more trouble than bad +materials. You can get along with few materials, but you cannot get +along with bad ones. That is not the place to economize. To do good +work is difficult at best. Economize where it will not be a hindrance +to you. Your tools can make your work harder or easier according to +your selection of them. The relative cost of good and bad materials is +of slight importance compared with the relative effect on your work. + +The way to economize is not to get anything which you do not need. +Save on the non-essentials, and get as good a quality as you can of +the essentials. + +Save on the number of things you get, not on the quantity you use. You +must feel free in your use of material. There is nothing which hampers +you more than parsimony in the use of things needful to your painting. +If it is worth your while to paint at all, it is worth your while to +be generous enough with yourself to insure ordinary freedom of use of +material. + +The essentials of painting are few, but these cannot be dispensed +with. Put it out of your mind that any one of these five things can be +got along without:-- + +You must have something to paint _on_, canvas or panel. Have plenty of +these. + +You must have something to set this canvas on--something to hold it up +and in position. Your knees won't do, and you can't hold it in one +hand. The lack of a practical easel will cost you far more in trouble +and discouragement than the saving will make up for. + +You must have something to paint with. The brushes are most important; +in kind, variety, and number. You cannot economize safely here. + +You must have paints. And you must have good ones. The best are none +too good. Get the best. Pay a good price for them, use them freely, +but don't waste them. + +And you must have something to hold them, and to mix them on; but here +the quality and kind has less effect on your work than any other of +your tools. But as the cost of the best of palettes is slight, you may +as well get a good one. + +Now, if you will be economical, the way to do it is to take proper +care of your tools _after you have got them_. Form the habit of using +good tools as they should be used, and that will save you a great deal +of money. + + + + + CHAPTER II + + CANVASES AND PANELS + + +You should have plenty of canvas on hand, and it would be well if you +had it all stretched ready for use. Many a good day's work is lost +because of the time wasted in getting a canvas ready. It is not +necessary to have many kinds or sizes. It is better in fact to settle +on one kind of surface which suits you, and to have a few practical +sizes of stretchers which will pack together well, and work always on +these. You will find that by getting accustomed to these sizes you +work more freely on them. You can pack them better, and you can frame +them more conveniently, because one frame will always do for many +pictures. Perhaps there is no one piece of advice which I can give you +which will be of more practical use outside of the principles of +painting, than this of keeping to a few well-chosen sizes of canvas, +and the keeping of a number of each always on hand. + +It is all well enough to talk about not showing one's work too soon. +But we all do, and always will like to see our work under as favorable +conditions as possible. And a good frame is one of the favorable +conditions. But good frames are expensive, and it is a great advantage +to be able to have a frame always at hand which you can see your work +in from time to time; and if you only work on four sizes of canvas, +say, then four frames, one for each size, will suit all your pictures +and sketches. Use the same sizes for all kinds of work too, and the +freedom will come, as I say, in the working on those sizes. + +Don't have odd sizes about. You can just as well as not use the +regular sizes and proportions which colormen keep in stock, and there +is an advantage in being able to get a canvas at short notice, and it +will be one of your own sizes, and will fit your frame. All artists +have gone through the experience of eliminating odd sizes from their +stock, and it is one of the practical things that we all have to come +down to sooner or later, and the sooner the better,--to have the sizes +which we find we like best, not too many, and stick to them. I would +have you take advantage of this, and decide early in your work, and so +get rid of one source of bother. + +=Rough and Smooth.=--The best canvas is of linen. Cotton is used for +sketching canvas. But you would do well always to use good grounds to +work on. You can never tell beforehand how your work will turn out; +and if you should want to keep your work, or find it worth while to go +on with it, you would be glad that you had begun it on a good linen +canvas. The linen is stronger and firmer, and when it has a "grain," +the grain is better. + +=Grain.=--The question of grain is not easy to speak about without the +canvas, yet it is often a matter of importance. There are many kinds +of surface, from the most smooth to the most rugged. Some grain it is +well the canvas should have; too great smoothness will tend to make +the painting "slick," which is not a pleasant quality. A grain gives +the canvas a "tooth," and takes the paint better. Just what grain is +best depends on the work. If you are going to have very fine detail in +the picture use a smoothish canvas; but whenever you are going to +paint heavily, roughly, or loosely, the rough canvas takes the paint +better. The grain of the canvas takes up the paint, helps to hold it, +and to disguise, in a way, the body of it. For large pictures, too, +the canvas must necessarily be strong, and the mere weight of the +fabric will give it a rough surface. + +=Knots.=--For ordinary work do not be afraid of a canvas which has +some irregularities and knots on it. If they are not too marked they +will not be unpleasantly noticeable in the picture, and may even give +a relief to too great evenness. + +=Twilled Canvas.=--The diagonal twill which some canvases have has +always been a favorite surface with painters, particularly the +portrait painters. This grain is a sympathetic one to work on, takes +paint well, and is not in any way objectionable in the finished +picture. + +=The best.=--The best way is to try several kinds, and when you find +one which has a sympathetic working quality, and which has a good +effect in the finished picture, note the quality and use it. You will +find such a canvas among both the rough and smooth kinds, and so you +can use either, as the character of your work suggests. It is well to +have both rough and smooth ready at hand. + +=Absorbent.=--Some canvases are primed so as to absorb the oil during +the process of painting. They are very useful for some kinds of work, +and many painters choose them; but unless you have some experience +with the working of them, they are apt to add another source of +perplexity to the difficulties of painting, so you had better not +experiment with them, but use the regular non-absorbent kinds. + +=Old and New.=--The canvas you work on should not be too freshly +primed. The painting is likely to crack if the priming is not well +dried. You cannot always be sure that the canvas you get at stores is +old, so you have an additional reason for getting a good stock and +keeping it on hand. Then, if you have had it in your own possession a +long while, you know it is not fresh. Canvas is all the better if it +is a year old. + +=Grounds.=--The color of the grounds should be of interest to you. +Canvases are prepared for the market usually in three colors,--a sort +of cool gray, a warm light ochrish yellow, and a cool pinkish gray. +Which is best is a matter of personal liking. It would be well to +consider what the effect of the ground will be on the future condition +of the picture when the colors begin to effect each other, as they +inevitably will sooner or later. + +Vibert in his "_La Science de la Peinture_" advocates a white ground. +He says that as the color will be sure to darken somewhat with time, +it is well that the ground should have as little to do with it as +possible. If the ground is white there is so much the less dark +pigment to influence your painting. He is right in this; but white is +a most unsympathetic color to work over, and if you do not want to lay +in your work with _frottées_, a tint is pleasanter. For most work the +light ochrish ground will be found best; but you may be helped in +deciding by the general tone of your picture. If the picture is to be +bright and lively, use a light canvas, and if it is to be sombre, use +a dark one. Remember, too, that the color of your ground will +influence the appearance of every touch of paint you put on it by +contrast, until the priming is covered and out of sight. + +=Stretchers.=--The keyed stretcher, with wedges to force the corners +open and so tighten the canvas when necessary, is the only proper one +to use. For convenience of use many kinds have been invented, but you +will find the one here illustrated the best for general purposes. The +sides may be used for ends, and _vice versa_. If you arrange your +sizes well, you will have the sides of one size the right length for +the ends of another. Then you need fewer sizes, and they are surer to +pack evenly. + +[Illustration: =Stretchers.=] + +=Stretching.=--You will often have to stretch your own canvases, so +you should know how to do it. There is only one way to make the canvas +lay smoothly without wrinkles: Cut the canvas about two inches longer +and wider than the stretcher, so that it will easily turn down over +the edges. Begin by putting in _one tack_ to hold the _middle_ of one +end. Then turn the whole thing round, and stretch tightly lengthwise, +and put a tack to hold it into the _middle_ of the other end. Do the +same way with the two sides. Only four tacks so far, which have +stretched the canvas in the middle two ways. As you do this, you must +see that the canvas is on square. Don't drive the tacks all the way in +at first till you know that this is so. Then give each another blow, +so that the head binds the canvas more than the body of the tack does; +for the pull of the canvas against the side of the tack will tear, +while the head will hold more strands. This first two ways stretching +must be as tight as any after stretching will be or you will have +wrinkles in the middle, while the purpose is to pull out the wrinkles +towards the corners. Now go back to the ends: stretch, and place one +tack each side of the first one. In a large canvas you may put two +each side, but not more, and you must be sure that the strain is even +on both sides. Don't pull too much; for next you must do the same with +the other end which should bear _half_ of the whole stretch. Do just +the same now with the two sides. Now continue stretching and +tacking,--each side of the middle tacks on each end, then on each +side, then to the ends again, and so gradually working towards the +corners, when as you put in the last tacks the wrinkles will +disappear, if you have done your work well. Don't hurry and try to +drive too many tacks into a side at a time, for to have to do it all +over again would take more time than to have worked slowly and done it +properly. You may of course stretch a small canvas with your hands, +but it will make your fingers sore, and you cannot get large canvases +tight without help. You will do well to have a pair of "canvas pliers" +which are specially shaped to pull the canvas and hold it strongly +without tearing it, as other pliers are sure to do. + +[Illustration: =Canvas Pliers.=] + +When you take canvases out-doors to work, you will find it useful to +strap two together, face inwards, with a double-pointed tack like this +in each corner to keep them apart. You will not have any trouble with +the fresh paint, as each canvas will then protect the other. You can +pack freshly painted canvases for shipping in the same way. + +[Illustration: =Double-pointed Tack.=] + +=Panels.=--For small pictures panels are very useful, and when great +detail is desirable, and fine, smooth work would make an accidental +tear impossible to mend well, they are most valuable. They are made of +mahogany and oak generally. + +Panels are useful, too, for sketching, as you can easily pack them. +They are light, and the sun does not shine through the backs. You can +get them for about the same cost as canvas for small sizes, which are +what you would be likely to use, and they are often more convenient, +particularly for use in the sketch-box. + + + + + CHAPTER III + + EASELS + + +The important thing in an easel is that it should be steady and firm; +that it should hold the canvas without trembling, and so that it will +not fall as you paint out towards the edges. You often paint with a +heavy hand, and you must not have to hold on to your picture with one +hand and paint with the other. Nothing is more annoying than a poor +easel, and nothing will give you more solid satisfaction, than the +result of a little generosity in paying for a good one. The ideal +thing for the studio is, of course, the great "screw easel," which is +heavy, safe, convenient, and expensive. We would like to have one, but +we can't afford it, so we won't speak of it. The next best thing is an +ordinary easel which doesn't cost a great deal, but which is firm and +solid and practical. Don't get one of the various three-legged folding +easels which cost about seventy-five cents or a dollar. They tumble +down too often and too easily. The wear and tear on the temper they +cause is more than they are worth. It is true that they fold up out of +the way. But they fold up when you don't expect them to; and you +ought to be able to afford room enough for an easel anyway, if you +paint at all. + +[Illustration] + +The illustration shows one of the firmest of the inexpensive easels, +and one which will fold up into as small a compass as any practical +easel will. It will hold perfectly well a good-sized canvas, even with +its frame, and will not tumble over on slight provocation. + +Another good easel is shown on p. 17. It is more lightly made, not so +well braced, but is more convenient for raising and lowering the +picture, as the catch allows the whole thing to be raised and lowered +at once. + +If you are to save money on your easel, don't save on the construction +and strength of it, but on the finish. Let the polish and varnish go, +but get a well-made easel with solid wood. The heavier it is, the less +easily it packs away, to be sure, but the more steadily it will hold +your picture. + +[Illustration] + +=Sketching Easels.=--The same things are of importance in an easel for +out-of-door work that are needed in a studio easel, except that it +must also be portable. So if you must have a folding easel, get a +_good_ sketching easel; or if you can't have one for in-doors and one +for out-doors, then pay a good price for a sketching easel, and use it +in doors and out also. There are two things which are absolutely +essential in a sketching easel. It _must_ have legs which may be made +longer and shorter, and it _must hold_ the canvas firmly. It is not +enough to lean the canvas on it. The wind blows it over just when you +are putting on an interesting touch, or the touch itself upsets it, +either of which is most aggravating, and does not tend to +satisfactory work. You must not be obliged to sit down to work just +where you don't want to, a little this side or a little that side of +the chosen spot, because the ground isn't even there and the easel +will not stand straight. You must be able to make a leg longer or +shorter as the unevenness of the ground necessitates. It is impossible +to work among rocks or on hillsides if you cannot make your easel +stand as you want it. These things are not to be got round. You might +as well not work as to sketch with a poor sketching easel. And you +must pay a good price for it. The sketching easel that is good for +anything has never been made to sell for a dollar and a half. Pay +three or four dollars for it, at any rate, and use it the rest of your +life. I use an easel every day that I have worked on every summer for +twelve years. Most artists are doing much the same. The easel is not +expensive _per year_ at that rate! It is such an easel as that shown +on the opposite page, and is satisfactory for all sorts of work. + +[Illustration] + +If you are working in a strong wind, or if you have a large canvas, +such an easel as this illustration shows is the best and safest yet +invented, and it is as good for other work, and particularly when you +want to stand up. And either of these easels will be perfectly +satisfactory to use in the house. + +[Illustration] + + + + + CHAPTER IV + + BRUSHES + + +An old brush that has been properly cared for is generally better than +a new one. It seems to have accommodated itself to your way of +painting, and falls in with your peculiarities. It is astonishing how +attached you get to your favorite brushes, and how loath you are to +finally give them up. What if you have no others to take their places? + +Don't look upon your brushes as something to get as few of as +possible, and which you would not get at all if you could help it. +There is nothing which comes nearer to yourself than the brush which +carries out your idea in paint. You should be always on the lookout +for a good brush; and whenever you run across one, buy it, no matter +how many you have already. Don't look twice at a bad brush, and don't +begrudge an extra ten cents in the buying of a good one. If you are +sorry to have to pay so much for your brushes, then take the more care +of them. Use them well and they will last a long while; then don't +always use the same handful. Break in new ones now and again. Keep a +dozen or two in use, and lay some aside before they are worn out, and +use newer ones. So when at last you cannot use one any more, you have +others of the same kind which will fill its place. + +Have all kinds and sizes of brushes. Have a couple of dozen in use, +and a couple of dozen which you are not using, and a couple of dozen +more that have never been used. + +What! six dozen? + +Well, why not? Every time you paint you look over your brushes and +pick out those which look friendly to what you are going to do. You +want all sorts of brushes. You can't paint all sorts of pictures with +the same kind of brush. Your brush represents your hand. You must give +every kind of touch with it. You want to change sometimes, and you +want a clean brush from time to time. You don't want to feel that you +are limited; that whether you want to or not these four brushes you +must use because they are all you have! You can't paint that way. That +six dozen you will not buy all at once. When you get your first +outfit, get at least a dozen brushes. As you look over the stock and +pick out two or three of this kind, and two or three of that, you will +be astonished to see how many you have--yet you don't know which to +discard. Don't discard any. Buy them all. Then, if you don't paint, it +will not be the fault of your brushes. And from time to time get a +half a dozen which have just struck you as especially good ones, and +quite unconsciously you acquire your six dozen--and even more, I hope! + +=Bristle and Sable.=--The brushes suitable for oil painting are of two +kinds,--bristle and sable hair. Of the latter, _red_ sable are the +only ones you should get. They are expensive, but they have a spring +and firmness that the black sable does not have. Camel's hair is out +of the question. Don't get any, if you can only have camel's hair. It +is soft and flabby when used in oil and you can't work well with such +brushes. The same is true of the black sable. But though the red +sables are expensive, you do not need many of them, nor large ones, so +the cost of those you will need is slight. + +[Illustration] + +The only sables which are in any degree indispensable to you are the +smaller sizes of _riggers_. These are thin, long brushes which are +useful for outlining, and all sorts of fine, sharp touches. You use +them to go over a drawing with paint in laying in a picture, and for +branches, twigs, etc. As their name implies, you must have them for +the rigging of vessels in marine painting also. The three sizes shown +in the cut on the opposite page are those you should have, and if you +get two of each, you will find them useful in all sorts of places. +When you buy them, see that they are elastic and firm, that they come +naturally and easily to a good point, without any scraggy hairs. Test +them by moistening them, and then pressing the point on the +thumb-nail. They should bend evenly through the whole length of the +hair. Reject any which seem "weak in the back." If it lays flat toward +the point and bends all in one place near the ferrule, it is a poor +brush. + +[Illustration] + +These three larger and thicker sizes come in very useful often and it +would be well if you were to have these too. Sometimes a thick, long +sable brush will serve better than another for heavy lines, etc. + +All these brushes are round. One largish flat sable like this it would +be well to have; but these are all the sables necessary. + +[Illustration] + +=Bristle Brushes.=--The sable brush or pencil is often necessary; but +oil painting is practically always done with the bristle, or "hog +hair," brush. These are the ones which will make up the variety of +kinds in your six dozen. A good bristle brush is not to be bought +merely by taking the first which comes to hand. Good brushes have very +definite qualities, and you should have no trouble in picking them +out. Nevertheless, you will take the trouble to select them, if you +care to have any satisfaction in using them. + +=The Bristle.=--You want your brush to be made of the hair just as it +grew on the hog. All hair, in its natural state, has what is called +the "flag." That is the fine, smooth taper towards the natural end of +it, and generally the division into two parts. This gives the bristle, +no matter how thick it may be, a silky fineness towards the end; and +when this part only of the bristle is used in the brush, you will have +all the firmness and elasticity of the bristle, and also a delicacy +and smoothness and softness quite equal to a sable. But this, in the +short hair of an artist's brush, wastes all the rest of the length of +the hair; for it is only by cutting off the "flag," and using that, +which is only an inch or so long, that you can make the brush. Yet the +bristle may be several inches long, and all this is sacrificed for +that little inch of "flag." Naturally the "flag" is expensive, and +naturally also the manufacturer uses the rest of the hair for inferior +brushes. These latter you should avoid. These inferior brushes are +made from the part of the bristle remaining, by sandpapering, or +otherwise making the ends fine again after they are cut off. But it is +impossible to make a brush which has the right quality in this way. + +=Selection.=--Never buy a brush without testing its evenness, as has +been advised in the care of sables. Feel carefully the end of the +bristles also, and see that the "flag" is there. All brushes are kept +together for packing by paste in the bristles. See that this is soaked +off before you test your brush. + +=Round or Flat.=--It will make little difference whether you use round +or flat brushes. The flat brush is most commonly preferred now, and +most brushes are made that way. So you had better get that kind, +unless you have some special reason for preferring the round ones. + +=Handles.=--Whether the handles are nicely polished, also, is of no +importance. What you are to look to is the quality of the bristles and +of the making; the best brushes are likely to be nicely finished all +over. But if you do find a really good brush which is cheaper because +of the plain handle, and you wish to save money, do it by buying the +plain-handled one. + +=Sizes and Shapes.=--You will need some quite large brushes and some +smaller ones, some square ones and some pointed. + +[Illustration] + +Here are three round brushes which, for all sorts of painting, will be +of very general utility. For most of your brushes select the long and +thin, rather than the short and thick ones. The stubby brush is a +useless sort of thing for most work. There are men who use them and +like them, but most painters prefer the more flexible and springy +brush, if it is not weak. So, too, the brush should not be too thick. +A thick brush takes up too much paint into itself, and does not +change its tint so readily. For rubbing over large surfaces where a +good deal of the same color is thickly spread on the canvas, the +thick, strong brush is a very proper tool. But where there is to be +any delicacy of tone, it is too clumsy; you want a more delicate +instrument. The same proportions hold with large and small brushes, so +these remarks apply to all. + +=Flat Brushes.=--This is particularly applicable to the flat brushes, +and the more that most of your brushes will be flat. + +You should have both broad-ended and pointed brushes among your flat +ones. For broad surfaces, such as backgrounds and skies, the broad +ends come in well; and for the small ones there are many square +touches where they are useful. The most practical sizes are those +shown on page 28. But you will often need much larger brushes than the +largest of these. + +For the smaller brushes you will have to be very careful in your +selections. For only the silkiest of bristle will do good work in a +very small brush, and then the temptation is to use a sable, which +should be resisted. Why you should avoid using the sable as a rule is +that it will make the painting too "slick" and edgy. There is a +looseness that is a quality to prize. All the hardness, flatness, and +rigidity that are desirable you can get with the bristle brush. When +you work too much with sables, the overworking brings a waxy and +woodeny surface, which is against all the qualities of atmosphere and +luminosity, and of freshness and freedom of touch. + +[Illustration] + +Some of the most useful sizes of the more pointed brushes are shown on +opposite page. There are, of course, sizes between these, and many +larger; but these are what you will find the best. It would be better +to have more of each size than to have more sizes. You should try to +work with fewer rather than more sizes, and, as a rule, work more with +the larger than with the smaller brush, even for fine work. You will +work with more force and tend less to pettiness, if you learn to put +in small touches with the largest brush that will do it. Breadth is +not painting with a large brush; but the man who works always with a +small brush instinctively looks for the things a small brush is +adapted to, and will unconsciously drift into a little way of working. + +[Illustration] + +The fan brush, such as here illustrated, is a useful brush, not to +paint with, but to flick or drag across an outline or other part of a +painting when it is getting too hard and liney. You may not want it +once a month, but it is very useful when you do want it. + +[Illustration] + +=Care of Brushes.=--The best of economy in brushes lies in your care +of them. You should never let the paint dry on them nor go too long +without careful washing. It is not necessary to wash them every day +with soap and water, but they would be the better for such treatment. + +Quite often, once a week, say, you should wash your brushes carefully +with soap and water. You may use warm water, but don't have it hot, as +that may melt the glue which holds the bristles together in the +ferrule. Use strong soap with plenty of lye in it--common bar soap, or +better, the old-fashioned soft soap. Hold several brushes together in +one hand so that the tips are all of a length, dip them together into +or rub them onto the soap, and then rub them briskly in the palm of +the other hand. When the paint is well worked into the lather, do the +same with the other brushes, letting the first ones soak in the soap, +but not in the water. Then rinse them, and carefully work them clean +one by one, with the fingers. When you lay them aside to dry, see that +the bristles are all straight and smooth, and they will be in perfect +condition for next painting. + +[Illustration] + +=Cleaning.=--But from day to day you need not take quite so much +trouble as this. True, the brushes will keep in better condition if +washed in soap and water every day, but it is not always convenient to +do this. You may then use the brush-cleaner. This is a tin box with a +false bottom of perforated tin or of wire netting about half-way down, +which allows the liquid to stand a half-inch or so above it; so that +when you put your brush in and rub it around, the paint is rinsed from +it, and settles through the perforations to the bottom, leaving the +liquid clear again above it. If you use this carefully, cleaning one +brush at a time, not rubbing it too hard, and pulling the hairs +straight by wiping them on a clean rag, you may keep your brushes in +good condition quite easily. But they will need a careful +soap-and-water washing every little while, besides. The liquid best +for use in this cleaner is the common kerosene or coal oil. Never use +turpentine to rinse your brushes. It will make them brittle and harsh; +but the kerosene will remove all the paint, and will not affect the +brush. + + + + + CHAPTER V + + PAINTS + + +Of all your materials, it is on your paints that quality has the most +vital effect. With bad paint your work is hopeless. You may get an +effect that looks all right, but how long will it stand, and how much +better may it not have been if your colors had been good? You can tell +nothing about it. You may have luck, and your work hold; or you may +not have luck, and in a month your picture is ruined. Don't trust to +luck. Keep that element out as much as you can, always. But in the +matter of paints, if you count on luck at all, remember that the +chances are altogether against you. Don't let yourself be persuaded to +indulge in experiments with colors which you have reason to think are +of doubtful quality. Keep on the safe side, and use colors you are +sure of, even if they do cost a little more--at first; for they are +cheaper in the long-run. And even in the time of using of one tube, +generally the good paint does enough more work to cover the difference +of cost. + +=Bad Paints.=--Suspect colors which are too cheap. Good work is +expensive. Ability and skill and experience count in making artists' +colors, and must be paid for. If you would get around the cost of +first-class material you must mix it with inferior material. + +The first effect you will notice in using poor colors is a certain +hindrance to your facility, due to the fact that the color is +weak--does not have the snap and strength in it that you expect. The +paint has not a full color quality, but mixes dead and flat. This you +will find particularly in the finer and lighter yellows. You need not +fear much adulteration in those paints which are naturally cheap, of +course. It is in those higher-priced colors, on which you must largely +depend for the more sparkling qualities, that you will have most +trouble. + +Unevenness of working, and lack of covering or mixing power, you will +find in poor paints also. They have no strength, and you must keep +adding them more and more to other colors to get them to do their +work. All these things are bothersome. They make you give more +attention to the pigments while working than you ought to, and when +all is done, your picture is weak and negative in color. + +Another effect to be feared from bad colors is that your work will not +stand; the colors fade or change, and the paint cracks. The former +effect is from bad material, or bad combinations of them in the +working, and the latter mainly from bad vehicles used in grinding +them. + +I have seen pictures go to pieces within a month of their +painting--bad paint and bad combinations. Of course you can use good +colors so that the picture will not stand. But that will be your own +fault, and it is no excuse for the use of colors which you can by no +possibility do good work with. + +=Good Paints.=--The three things on which the quality of good paint +depends are good pigment, good vehicles, and good preparation. + +The pigments used are of mineral, chemical, and vegetable origin. The +term _pigment_ technically means the powdered substance which, when +mixed with a vehicle, as oil, becomes _paint_. The most important +pigments now used are artificial products, chiefly chemical compounds, +including chemical preparations of natural mineral earths. + +As a rule, the colors made from earths may be classed as all +permanent; those from chemicals, permanent or not, as the case may be; +and those of vegetable origin fugitive, with few exceptions. Some +colors are good when used as water colors, and bad when used in oil. +Further on I will speak of the fugitiveness and permanency of colors +in detail. I wish here to emphasize the fact that the origin of the +material of which the pigment is made has much to do with the sort of +work that that pigment will do, and with the permanency of the effect +which is produced; and therefore that while a paint may look like +another, its working or its lasting qualities may be quite different. + +=The Vehicles.=--The vehicles by which the pigment is made fluent and +plastic are quite as important in their effects. They not only have to +do with the business of drying, owing to the substances used as +dryers, but they may have to do with the chemical action of one +pigment on another. + +=The Preparation.=--Finally, the preparation of the pigment demands +the utmost skill and knowledge, if the colors are to be good. The +paints used by the old masters were few and simple, and the fact that +they prepared them themselves had much to do with the manner in which +they kept their color. The paints used now are less simple. We do not +prepare and grind them ourselves, and we could hardly do so if we +wished to, so we are the more dependent on the integrity of the +colorman who does it for us. + +The preparation of the paint begins with the chemical or physical +preparation of each pigment, and then comes the mixing of several to +produce any particular color; and finally the mechanical process of +grinding with the proper vehicle to bring it to the proper fineness +and smoothness. + +=Grinding.=--The color which the artist uses must be most evenly and +perfectly ground. The grinding which will do for ordinary house paints +will not do for the artist's colors. Neither will the chemical +processes suitable for the one serve for the other. Not only must the +machinery, but the experience, skill and care, be much greater for +artist's colors. Therefore it is that the specialization of +color-making is most important to good colors for the use of the +artist. + +=Reliable Makers.=--If you would work to the best advantage as far as +your colors are concerned, both as to getting the best effects which +pure pigments skilfully and honestly prepared will give you, and as to +the permanency of those effects when you have gotten them, see to it +that you get paint made by a thoroughly reliable colorman. + +It is not my province to say whose colors you should use; doubtless +there are many colormen who make artists' materials honestly and well. +Nevertheless, I may mention that there are no colors which have been +more thoroughly tested, both by the length of time they have been in +the possession of painters, and by the number of painters who have +used them, than those of Winsor and Newton of London. No colors have +been so generally sold and for so long a time, particularly in this +country, as these, and none are so well known for their evenness and +excellence of quality. + +I do not say that these manufacturers do not make any colors which +should not go on the palette of the cautious artist--I believe that +they do not make that claim themselves; but such colors as they do +assert to be good, pure, and permanent, you may feel perfectly safe in +using, and be sure that they are as well made as colors can be. This +is as much as can be said of any paints, and more than can be said of +most. I have used these colors for many years, and my own experience +is that they have always been all that a painter need ask. + +The fact that Winsor and Newton's colors can be found in any town +where colors can be had at all, makes me the more free to recommend +them, as you can always command them. This fact also speaks for the +general approval of them. + +Inasmuch as certain colors are not claimed to be permanent and others +are, it is for you to compose your palette of those which will combine +safely. This you can do with a little care. Some colors are permanent +by themselves or with some colors, but not in combination with certain +others. You should then take the trouble to consider these chemical +relationships. + +It is not necessary for you to study the chemistry of paints, but you +may read what has been ascertained as to the effects of combinations, +and act accordingly. There are practically duplications of +color-quality in pigments which are bad, and in pigments which are +good; so that you can use the good color instead of the bad one to do +the same work. The good color will cost more, but there is no way of +making the bad color good, so you must pay the difference due to the +cost of the better material, or put up with the result of using bad +colors. + +=Chemical Changes.=--The causes of change of color in pigments are of +four kinds, all of them chemical effects. 1, the action of light; 2, +the action of the atmosphere; 3, the action of the medium; and 4, the +action of the pigments themselves on each other. The action of light +is to bring about or to assist in the decomposition of the pigment. It +is less marked in oil than in water color, because the oil forms a +sort of sheath for the color particles. The manner in which light does +its deteriorating work is somewhat similar to that of heat. The action +of light is very slow, but it seems to do the same thing in a long +time that heat would do in a short time. + +Some colors are unaffected or little affected by light, and of course +you will use them in preference to all others. The atmosphere affects +the paint because of certain chemical elements contained in it, which +tend to cause new combinations with the materials which are already +in combination in the pigment. The action of the oxygen in the air is +the chief agent in affecting the pigment, and it is here particularly +that light, and especially sunlight, assists in decomposition. The air +of towns and cities generally contains sulphuric and sulphurous acids +and sulphuretted hydrogen. This latter gas is most effective in +changing oil paintings, because of its action in turning white lead +dark; and as white lead is the basis of many qualities in painting, +this gas may have a very general action. + +Moisture in the atmosphere is also a cause of change, but there is +little to be dreaded from this, as the oil protects the colors. + +Oil absorbs oxygen in drying, and so is apt to have an effect on +colors liable to change from that element, and many vehicles contain +materials to hasten the drying which further aid in the deterioration +of the pigment. Bad oil will tend to crack the picture also. The +greatest care should be used in this direction, as the most permanent +colors may be ruined by bad vehicles. + +Pigments will not have a deteriorating effect on each other as long as +they are solid. But if one of them is soluble in the medium, then +chemical action commences; but as most pigments are somewhat soluble, +there is always some danger in mixing them. The best we can do is, as +I said before, to try to have on the palette, as far as possible, +only colors which are friendly to each other. + +As a student you should not be much occupied, however, with all this. +You must expect that all color will change somewhat. But you need not +use those which change immediately or markedly, and you may use them +in a way which will tend to make them change as little as may be. +Colors have stood for years, and what is practical permanence, not +perfect permanence, is all you need look for. If you think too much of +the permanence of your colors, it will interfere with the directness +of your study. Therefore, decide on a palette which is as complete and +safe as you can make it, excluding the notably bad pigments, and think +no more about it. + +When you need to add a new color to your palette, choose it with +reference to those already on it, and go ahead. This is what the whole +subject resolves itself to, practically, for you as a student. + +=Opaque and Transparent Colors.=--Some colors, like the madders, have +a jelly-like consistency when mixed with oil, others, the earths among +them, are dense and opaque. We speak of them respectively as +"transparent" and "solid" colors. These qualities, which divide the +paints into two classes, have no relation to their permanency. As far +as that is concerned you use them in the same way, as some +transparent colors are safe and some fugitive; and the same with the +opaque colors. + +The only difference is in the fact that, as a rule, the solid colors +are better dryers. But you will notice that while you may mix these +colors together as though this difference between them did not exist, +in certain processes you use them differently. So you will see, +farther on, that for a "glaze" you can use only the transparent or +semi-opaque colors, for a scumble you naturally use the solid ones. +You should know, however, for the sake of clearness, just what is +meant when "solid" or "body" or "opaque" color is spoken of, and what +is meant by "transparent" color. + +=Safe and Unsafe Colors.=--Beyond what has been said of the causes of +change in colors it is not necessary that you should know the chemical +constituents of them. If you want to look into the matter further +there are books, such as "Field's Chromatography," which treat fully +of the subject, and which you may study. + +But practically you should know which colors are to be depended on and +which not. Let us consider the principal colors in detail then, merely +as to their actual stability. I will speak of them in connection with +the plates of colors at the end of this book. I would like you to +compare what is said of each color with the corresponding color in the +plates. Those colors in the plates which are not spoken of here, you +may consider as useful in showing you the character of different +colors which are made, but which may or may not be used, according as +you may need them. I shall not attempt to mention all the pigments +that are in the market. You need never use more than fifteen or twenty +all told. Many painters use more, it is true; but if you know how to +make the best use of that number, you may safely wait till you "grow +to them" before you bother with more. And I shall speak only of those +which you will find essential or most generally useful, and those +which should be particularly avoided. + +=Permanency.=--It should be stated what is meant by a permanent color. +There is no color which is not to be influenced in some way. The most +sound of pigments will change if the conditions favor the change. When +we speak of a permanent color, we mean only one which under the usual +conditions will stand for an indefinite time. By which is meant +ordinary diffused daylight, not direct sunlight, and the ordinary air +under normal conditions. If there be direct sunlight, you may expect +your picture to change sooner or later. But one does not hang his +pictures where the sun's rays will fall on them. If there is any +exceptional condition of moisture in the air, the picture may suffer. +Or if from any cause unusual gases are in the atmosphere, or if the +picture be too long in a dark, close place, the picture may smother +for lack of fresh air, just as any other thing, plant or animal, which +depends on normal conditions of atmosphere would do. + +Let us say, then, that what we mean by a permanent color is one which +will stand unchanged for an indefinite length of time in a room which +is of the usual condition of temperature and freedom from moisture, +and where the light is diffused, and such that the direct rays of the +sun are not on the picture often, or to any great extent. Cold will +not hurt a picture if the canvas is not disturbed in that condition, +but to bend or roll it while it is very cold will of course crack it, +and sudden and extreme changes of temperature may have the same +effect. In other words, some care must be used with all pictures as a +matter of course. + + + COLOR LIST + +=Whites.=--_Zinc white_ is the only permanent white, but it lacks body +and is little used. The lead whites, _flake_, _silver_, _cremnitz_, +will darken in time, and will turn yellow with oil, and may change +with or affect change in other pigments. The zinc white is liable to +crack. We have no perfect white, so practically you may consider the +lead whites as permanent enough, as other painters do. + +=Yellows.=--_Cadmium_ is permanent in all three of its forms. It is a +color the permanence of which is of great importance; for its +brilliancy is quite essential to modern painting, and if it were not +permanent, the picture would soon lose the very quality for which the +color was used. _The chromes_, which are of similar color-quality, are +less permanent, and are almost sure to turn to a horny sort of yellow; +and a green, which by their use was bright and sparkling, will, in a +few months, lose its freshness--this cadmium will not do. Cadmium is +also to be preferred to chrome, because it is of a much finer +tonality. Greens and yellows made by the admixture of chrome are apt +to be crude as compared with those in which cadmium was used. + +_Strontian yellow_ is a permanent and most useful light yellow, much +to be preferred to all other citron yellows except the pale cadmium, +and can be used in place of that if necessary. They are both expensive +colors of about the same cost. + +_Naples yellow_ was a very prominent pigment with the older painters. +It is still very much used, but in the simplification of your palette +you may as well leave it out, as you can get the same qualities with +cadmium and white. It is durable and safe, but adds another tube to +your palette which you can well dispense with. + +_The ochres_ are among the oldest and safest of pigments. You can use +them with any colors which are themselves permanent. There are several +of them,--_yellow ochre_, _Roman ochre_, _transparent gold ochre_, and +others. They are all native earths, and though they contain iron, they +are sufficiently inert to be thoroughly sound colors. + +_The siennas_, burnt and raw, are like the ochres, native earths, very +old and permanent colors, and may be used anywhere. + +_The umbers_ are in the same class with the siennas and ochres. They +should all rank among the yellows. The browns of umber and sienna will +make greens with blues. + +_Indian yellow and yellow lake_ should both be avoided as fugitive. + +_Aureolin_ is a rich, warm golden yellow of the greatest permanence, +and should be used when Indian yellow and yellow lake would be used if +they were permanent. + +=Reds.=--The _vermilions_ are permanent when well made. They are of +great body and power, as well as delicacy. They are of two +kinds,--_Chinese_, which is bluish in tone, and _scarlet_ and _orange +vermilion_, which have the yellow quality. Both kinds are useful to +the palette because of the practical necessities of mixing. + +_Light red_ is a deep, warm red earth, made by calcining ochre, and +has the same permanence as the other ochres. It is a fine color, of +especial value in painting flesh, and mixes with everything safely. + +_The madders_--_rose_, _pink_, _purple_, and _madder carmine_--are the +only transparent reds which are permanent. Whatever the name given +them, they should not be confounded with the _lakes_, which are +absolutely untrustworthy. By reference to the plates you will see that +the madders are practically the same as the lakes in color when first +used. But the lakes fade and the madders do not. The madders cost +about twice as much as the lakes; but you must pay the difference, for +the lakes cannot be made to stand, and you must have the color. There +is nothing for it but to pay twice as much and buy the madders. + +_The lakes_--_scarlet_, _geranium_, _crimson_, and _purple_--are all +bad. The madders and lakes are all slow dryers; but unless carelessly +used with other colors which are not yet dry they need not have a bad +effect on the picture from cracking. + +Distinguish the so-called _madder lakes_ and the _lakes_; and between +_carmine_, which is a lake, and _madder carmine_, which is a madder. + +=Blues.=--The _ultramarine_ of the old masters is practically unused +to-day because of its cost. But the artificial ultramarines, while not +quite of the same purity of color, are equally permanent, and are in +every respect worthy to be used. Of these the _brilliant ultramarine_ +is the nearest in color to the real lapis lazuli. The _French +ultramarine_ is less clear and vivid, but is a splendid deep blue, and +most useful. The so-called _permanent blue_ is not quite so permanent +as its name implies, but permanent enough for practical purposes. + +_Cobalt blue_ and _cerulean blue_ are two pigments, one very light and +clear, the other darker, which are made of the oxide of the metal +cobalt. In oil they are permanent, and do not change when mixed with +other colors. For delicate tints, when the tones are to be subtly gray +yet full of the primary colors, the cobalts are indispensable. You +should always have them on hand, and generally on your palette. +Cerulean blue is of less importance than the other, but in very clear, +delicate blue skies it is often the only color which will get the +effect. + +_Prussian blue_ possesses a depth and power and a quality of color +which make it unique. The greenish tone gives it great value in +certain combinations _as far as its tinting effect is concerned_. But +it is not reliable as a pigment. It changes under various conditions, +and fades with the light. It is not to be depended upon. _Antwerp +blue_, a weaker kind of Prussian blue, is even more fugitive. It is a +pity that these colors will not stand, but as they will not, we must +get along without them. + +_Indigo_ has a certain grayish quality which is useful sometimes, but +it cannot be placed among the even moderately permanent colors. + +_The blacks_ may be classed as blues, because they will make green if +mixed with yellow. Considered as blues, they are, of course, dense and +negative, and should not be too freely used. But they are all +permanent. The only ones we need speak of are _ivory black_, which has +a reddish cast, and _blue black_, which is weaker, but lacks the +purplish note, which is often an advantage. + +=Greens.=--We need mention only a few greens. There are numerous +greens, of various degrees of permanence, but it is not necessary to +speak of all the colors on the market. You could not use them all if +you had them, and we may as well confine ourselves to those we really +need. + +_Veridian_, or _emeraude green_, is the deepest and coldest of our +greens, and is permanent. It is too cold, and looks even more so at +night. In use it needs the addition of some yellow which holds its own +at night, such as yellow ochre, or the painting will be impossible in +gaslight, and even worse under electric light. + +_Emerald green_ is the same as the French _Veronese_ green, and is +generally permanent. It is said to turn dark, and does lose some of +its brilliancy with time and the effect of impure air. But there are +places where one needs it, especially in sketching, and it is well to +use it sometimes. But bear in mind that it is not absolutely +permanent, and as the quality that it gives, brilliant light green, is +the very one it will lose should it change, don't expect too much of +it. + +_Terre verte_ is a very weak color. But it is most tender in its +quality, and is permanent to all intents and purposes. It may get +slightly darker in time, but will not lose the qualities for which it +will be used. It is very useful to use with ivory black or elsewhere, +to slightly modify a reddish tendency, and is a fine glazing color. + +_The chrome greens_, by whatever name, Brunswick green, or the +better-known Cinnabar or Zinnober greens, are all bad. They are useful +colors as color, but they will not stand, and you will even get better +color by mixing certain yellows and blues than these will give you, so +you had better lay them aside, tempting as they are. + +=Other Colors.=--You will notice that I have said nothing about the +various browns and olives and purples. It is simply because it is +better for you to make all these colors than to get them in the tubes. +The earths and the browns of madder are all good, and the mixing of +madders and good blues will make all the shades of violet and purple +you can possibly want in their purity. + +=Palettes.=--We have, then, a number of pigments which are solid and +safe, of each of the primary colors, and of such variety of qualities +that the whole range of possible color is practicable with them in +combination. To recapitulate, let us make a list of them. + + + THE PERMANENT COLORS. + + ZINC WHITE. (LEAD WHITE ENOUGH SO.) + CADMIUM YELLOW. + CADMIUM ORANGE. + CADMIUM YELLOW, PALE. + STRONTIAN YELLOW. + YELLOW OCHRE. + ROMAN OCHRE. + TRANSPARENT GOLD OCHRE. + RAW SIENNA. + BURNT SIENNA. + RAW UMBER. + AUREOLIN. + CHINESE VERMILION. + SCARLET VERMILION. + ORANGE VERMILION. + LIGHT RED. + ROSE MADDER. + PINK MADDER. + PURPLE MADDER. + MADDER CARMINE. + RUBENS MADDER. + ULTRAMARINE BLUE BRILLIANT. + ULTRAMARINE BLUE FRENCH. + PERMANENT BLUE. + COBALT. + CERULEAN BLUE. + IVORY BLACK. + BLUE BLACK. + VERIDIAN. + EMERALD GREEN. + TERRE VERTE. + +Here is a list of colors which will work well together, and with which +you can do as much as is possible with colors as far as our present +materials go. + +Most of these colors, I am aware, are among the more expensive ones. +This I am sorry for, but cannot help. The good colors are at times the +expensive ones, but as there are no cheaper ones which are permanent +to take their places, it would be the falsest of economy to use +others. + +=Palette Principles.=--In making up your palette, you must so arrange +it that you can get pure color when you want it. There is never any +trouble to get the color negative; to get richness and balance is +another matter. If you will refer to the color plates, you will see +that in each of the three primary colors there are pigments which lean +towards one or the other of the other two. The scarlet red is a yellow +red. The Chinese vermilion and the rose madder are blue reds. The same +holds with yellows and blues, as orange cadmium is a red yellow, and +strontian yellow is a greenish yellow. This is, in practice, of the +utmost importance in the absence of the ideal color, for when we deal +with the practical side of pigment, we deal with very imperfect +materials which will not follow in the lines of the scientific theory +of color. If we would have the purest and richest secondary color, we +must take two primaries, each of which partakes of the quality of the +other. To make a pure orange, for instance, we must use a yellow red +and a red yellow. If we used a bluish red and a bluish (greenish) +yellow, the blue in both would give us a sort of tertiary in the form +of a negative secondary instead of the pure rich orange we wanted. +This latter fact is quite as useful in keeping colors gray without too +much mixing when we want them so, but nevertheless we must know how to +get pure color also. + +These characteristics have a bearing on the setting of our palette, +for we must have at least two of each of the three primary +colors--red, yellow, and blue--and white. There may be as many more as +you want, but there must be at least that number. + +But the character of the work you are doing will also have an +influence on the colors you use. You may not need the same palette for +one sort of picture that is essential to another. You can have a +palette which will do all sorts of work, but a change in the +combinations may often be called for in accordance with the different +color characteristics of your picture. + +I will suggest several palettes of different combinations which will +give you an idea of how you may compose a palette to suit an occasion. +I do not say that you should confine yourself to any or all of these +palettes, nor that they are the best possible. But they are safe and +practical, and you may use them until you can find or compose one +better suited to your purposes. They will all be made up from the +colors we have in our list, and will all have the arrangement I called +your attention to as to the use of two of each primary. + +It would be well if you were to compare each of the colors with the +corresponding one in the plates at the end of the book, and get +acquainted with its characteristic look. + +[Illustration: =No. 1.= =No. 2.= =No. 3.=] + +=Expense.=--I have several times referred to the relative expense of +colors, and stated that when the good color was of greater cost than +others, there was nothing for it but to get the best. I cannot modify +that statement, but it is well to say that as a rule the expensive +colors are not those that you use the most of, although some are used +constantly. Vermilion is so strong a color that the cost hardly +matters. Of the deep blues the same is true. But the light yellows, +and the madders and cobalt, will often make you groan at the rapidity +of their disappearance. But you can get more tubes of them, and their +work remains, while were you to use the cheaper paints, the flight of +the color from the canvas would make you groan more, and that +disappearance could never be made good except by doing the work all +over. + +=Sizes.=--The cheapest colors come in the largest tubes. In the +illustration, No. 3 represents the full size of the ordinary tube of +the average cost. Some of the most commonly used colors come in larger +tubes at corresponding price. Only professionals get these large sizes +except in the case of white. You use so much of this color that it +hardly pays to bother at all with the ordinary tube of it. Get the +quadruple tube, which is nominally four times as large, but contains +nearly five times as much. + +No. 2 represents the actual size of the second size of tubes in which +a few regular-priced colors come; while the smallest tube is the size +of No. 1. In this sized tube all the high-priced colors are put up; +the cadmiums, the madders, vermilions, and ultramarines and cobalts. +The cheap colors are the ordinary earths, such as the ochres, umbers, +siennas, the blacks and whites, and all sorts of greens and blues and +lakes, which you had better have nothing to do with. + +=Arrangement.=--In the following palettes I shall give the names of +the colors, as you would look down upon them on your palette. The +arrangement is that of a good many painters, and is a convenient one. +It is as well to arrange them with white at the right, then the +yellows, then the reds, the browns, blues, blacks, and greens. But I +have found this as I give it, to be the best for use, simply because +it keeps the proper colors together, and the white, which you use +most, where it is most easily got at, and I think you will find it a +good arrangement. + +=A Cheap Palette.=--This palette I give so that you may see the range +possible with absolutely sound colors which are all of the least +price. You can get no high key with it. All the colors are low in +tone. You could not paint the bright pitch of landscape with it, yet +it is practically what they tried to paint landscape with a hundred +years ago, and it accounts largely for the lack of bright greens in +the landscapes of that date. But for all sorts of indoor work and for +portraits you will find it possible to get most beautiful results. You +will notice there is no bright yellow. That is because cadmium is +expensive and chrome is not permanent. Vermilion is left out for the +same reason. Add orange vermilion and cadmium yellow and orange +cadmium, and you have a powerful palette of great range and absolute +permanency. + + WHITE. NAPLES YELLOW. + VENETIAN RED. YELLOW OCHRE. + LIGHT RED. ROMAN OCHRE. + INDIAN RED. TRANSPARENT GOLD OCHRE. + BURNT SIENNA. + RAW UMBER. + PERMANENT BLUE. + IVORY BLACK. + TERRE VERTE. + +=An All-Round Palette=:-- + + WHITE. STRONTIAN YELLOW. + ORANGE VERMILION. CADMIUM YELLOW. + ROSE MADDER. ORANGE CADMIUM. + BURNT SIENNA. YELLOW OCHRE. + RAW UMBER. + COBALT. + ULTRAMARINE. + IVORY BLACK. + TERRE VERTE. + +This palette is a pretty large one, and you can do almost anything +with it. But for many things it is better to have more of certain +kinds of colors and less of others. This is a good palette for all +sorts of in-the-house work, and if you call it a still-life palette, +it will name it very well. For a student it will do anything he is apt +to be capable of for a good while. + +=A Rich Low-Keyed Portrait and Figure Palette=:-- + + WHITE. CADMIUM. + CHINESE VERMILION. ORANGE CADMIUM. + LIGHT RED. YELLOW OCHRE. + ROSE MADDER. TRANSPARENT GOLD OCHRE. + RAW UMBER. + COBALT. + BLUE BLACK. + TERRE VERTE. + +=A Landscape Palette.=--Landscape calls for pitch and vibration. You +must have pure color and great luminosity, yet a range of color which +will permit of all sorts of effects. The following will serve for +everything out-of-doors, and I have seen it with practically no change +in the hands of very powerful and exquisite painters. There are no +browns and blacks in it because the colors which they would give are +to be made by mixing the purer pigments, so as to give more life and +vibration to the color. The blackest note may be gotten with +ultramarine and rose madder with a little veridian if too purple; the +result will be blacker than black, and have daylight in it. The ochre +is needed more particularly to warm the veridian. + + WHITE. STRONTIAN YELLOW. + ORANGE VERMILION. CADMIUM YELLOW. + PINK MADDER. ORANGE CADMIUM. + ROSE MADDER. YELLOW OCHRE. + COBALT. + ULTRAMARINE. + VERIDIAN. + EMERALD GREEN. + +If you paint figures out-of-doors you will need this same palette. +Madder carmine or purple madder, and cerulean blue may also usefully +added to this list. + +=A Flower Palette.=--For painting flowers the colors should be capable +of the most exquisite and delicate of tints. There should be no color +on the palette which cannot be used in any part of the picture. The +range need not be so great in some respects as in others, but the +richness should be unlimited. In the matter of greens, it is true +though hard to convince the amateur of, that if there were no green +tube in your box, and you mixed all your greens from the yellows and +blues, the picture would be the better. As to the browns, they will +put your whole picture out of key. In this palette I am sure you will +find every color which is needed. There are few greens, but those +given can be used to gray a petal as well as to paint a leaf; +therefore there is no likelihood of your using a color in a leaf which +is not in tone with the flower. + +I am calculating on your using all your ability in studying the +influence of color on color, and in mixing pure colors to make gray. +Here as elsewhere in these palettes I have in mind their use according +to the principles of color and light and effect as laid down in the +other parts of the book, which deal specially with those principles. +If you do not understand just why I arrange these palettes as I do, +turn to the chapters on color, and on the different kinds of painting, +and I think you will see what I mean, and understand better what I +say, about these combinations. + +Of course you do not need all of these colors on your palette at the +same time. Some are necessary to certain flowers whose richness and +depth you could hardly get without them. The colors you should have as +a rule on your palette are these:-- + + WHITE. STRONTIAN YELLOW. + ORANGE VERMILION. CADMIUM YELLOW. + PINK MADDER. YELLOW OCHRE. + ROSE MADDER. + COBALT. + ULTRAMARINE. + VERIDIAN. + EMERALD GREEN. + +To add to these when needed, you should have in your box, pale and +deep cadmium, Chinese vermilion, madder carmine, and purple madder. + + + + + CHAPTER VI + + VEHICLES AND VARNISHES + + +A vehicle is any liquid which is mixed with the color to make it +fluent. The vehicle may be ground with the pigment or mixed with it on +the palette, or both. Oil colors are of course ground in oil as a +vehicle; but it is often necessary or convenient to add to them, in +working, such a vehicle as will thin them, or make them dry better. +Those which thin or render more fluent the paint are oils and spirits; +those which make them dry more quickly are "dryers" or "siccatives." + +All vehicles must of necessity have an effect on the permanency of the +pigments. Bad vehicles tend to deteriorate them; good ones preserve +them. + +=Oils.=--The most commonly used oils are linseed and poppy oil. They +are neither of them quick dryers, and are usually mixed with sugar of +lead, manganese, etc., to hasten the drying. These have a tendency to +affect the colors; but if one will have recourse to none but the pure +oils, he must be patient with the drying of his picture. For this +reason it would be well to use vehicles with the colors on the palette +as little as possible--and that is against thin and smooth painting. + +Oil has the tendency to turn dark with time, thus turning the color +dark also. The only way to reduce this tendency is to clarify the oil +by long exposure to the sunlight. The early German painters used oil +so clarified, and their pictures are the best preserved as to color of +any that we have. But the drying is even slower with purified oil than +with the ordinary oil. + +It would be best, then, to use oil as little as may be in painting, +and if you need a dryer, use it only as you actually need it in bad +drying colors, and then very little of it. + +The essences of turpentine and of petroleum may be used to thin the +paint, and are preferable to oil, because they have less darkening +tendency. They do not, however, bind the color so well, and the paint +should not be put on too thinly with them. Usually there is enough oil +ground with the pigment as it comes in the tubes to overcome any +probability of the paint scaling or rubbing when thinned with +turpentine, but in the slow-drying, transparent colors there will be a +liability to crack. Moderation in the use of any and all vehicles is +the best means of avoiding difficulty. Use vehicles only when you need +them, not habitually, and then only as much as there is real need of. +If you use oil, use the lighter oils, and expect some darkening in +time. Prefer turpentine to oil, and expect your color to dry rather +"dead," or without gloss, by its use. If you intend to varnish, this +is all right. If you do not intend to varnish the picture, keep the +color as near the pure tones as you can. The grayer the color, the +more the "dead" or "flat" drying will make it look colorless. + +=Varnishes.=--When the picture is done, after it is dry, varnishes are +used to bring out the freshness of color, and to preserve the surface +from outside influences of all sorts. A picture must be well dried +before it is varnished, or it is likely to crack; six months is not +too long to be safe. If you are in a hurry to varnish, use a temporary +or retouching varnish. + +The best varnish is necessary for use on pictures. Never use any +except a varnish especially made for the purpose by a reliable +colorman. Those made by Winsor and Newton may all be depended upon. +Pay a good price for it, and don't use too much. + +Mastic varnish is that which is most favorably known. Be sure you get +a good and pure quality. + +Varnishes are made from various gums or resins dissolved in a solvent +such as alcohol, turpentine, or oil, as the case may be. The lighter +gums are the best for pictures, because they do not affect the color +of the picture. Much care should be used in putting on the +varnish--that it is even and as thinly distributed as will serve the +purpose. It should not be flowed on, but carefully worked out with a +clean brush, and then kept from dirt and dust until dry. + +The finer varnishes in oil or turpentine are best for ordinary use. +Those in alcohol do not hold their freshness so well. + +Varnishes are sometimes used as siccatives, and to mix with colors +which are liable to affect other colors, or to lack consistency. +Usually, however, they are not needed. + + + + + CHAPTER VII + + PALETTES + + +The most important qualities in a palette are that it should be large +enough, and that it should balance well on the thumb. Whether it is +round or square is a slight matter. The oval palette is usually best +for the studio because the corners are seldom of use, and add weight. +But for sketching, the square palette fits the box best. + +[Illustration: =Oval Palette.=] + +Get a palette much larger than you think you want. When you get it on +your thumb the mixing-surface is much less than there seemed to be +before it was set, for all the actual surface is between the row of +colors and the thumb. If the palette is polished it is not essentially +better; it is easier to keep clean, as far as looks go, but of no +greater real service. If the choice is between a larger unpolished and +a smaller polished one, the price being the consideration, get the +larger one. + +Get a light wood in preference to a dark wood for a choice of color, +but not if there is better grain or lighter weight in the darker +palette. It is an assistance in painting not to have to compare the +tint you are mixing with too dark a surface, for the color looks +lighter than it is; so the light wood will help you to judge justly of +the color while the palette is new. When it has been worked on a while +it will come to have a sympathetic color anyway. + +This bears on the cleanliness of your palette. It is a mistake to +consider that cleanliness demands that the palette should be cleaned +to the wood and polished after every painting. On the contrary, if a +little of the paint is rubbed out over the palette every time it is +cleaned, after a few weeks there will come a fine smooth polish of +paint, which will have a delicate light gray color, which is a most +friendly mixing surface. + +=Adapting.=--When you get a new palette, before you use it take a +little trouble to carve out the thumb-hole to fit your thumb. Make it +large enough to go over the ball of the thumb, and set easily on the +top of the hand. When the hole is too small the thumb gets numb after +working a little while, which this will obviate. + +=Cleanliness.=--The cleanliness of a palette consists in its being +always in such a condition that you can handle it without getting +dirty; that the mixing-surface will not foul the freshly mixed paint; +and that the paint around the edge is always so that you can pick up a +fresh, clean brushful. If you try to clean off all your color every +day and polish your palette nicely, you will not only take up more +time with your palette than you do with your painting, but the fact +that some left-over paint may be wasted will make you a little stingy +in putting on fresh paint, which is one of the worst habits a beginner +can fall into. You cannot paint well unless you have paint enough on +your palette to use freely when you need it. It is all well enough to +put on more, but nothing is more vexing than to have to squeeze out +new paint at almost every brushful. You must have paint enough when +you begin, to work with, or you waste too much time with these +details. + +[Illustration: =Arm Palette.=] + +If you are painting every day, leave the good paint where it is at the +end of your work, and scrape off all the muddy or half-used piles, and +clean carefully all the palette except those places where the paint is +still fresh and pure. Then, when you have to add more to that, clean +that place with the palette-knife before squeezing out the new color. +In this way the palette will not look like a centre-table, but it will +be practically clean, have a good clear mixing-surface, and you will +neither waste paint nor be stingy with it. + +=The Arm Palette.=--For painting large canvases, where the +largest-sized brushes are used and paint must be mixed in greater +quantities, the arm palette is a most convenient thing if it is well +balanced. It is in the way rather than otherwise for small pictures, +and is useful only as it is particularly called for. + + + + + CHAPTER VIII + + OTHER TOOLS + + +It remains to speak of those tools which are not essentials, but +conveniences, to painting. Even as conveniences, however, they are of +importance enough to have an influence on your work. You can paint +without them, but you will work more easily for the having of them; +and something of the sort, although not necessarily of the same kind, +you must have. You may improvise something, in other words, to take +the place of these, but you would be wiser to get those which are made +for the purpose. + +=The Box.=--First, the box. You must keep your things together +somehow, and it would be as well that you keep them in a box which is +portable and suited to the purpose. When you sketch you must have a +proper box, and why not have one which is equally serviceable in the +house? Those most commonly sold to amateurs are of tin, and they are +various in size and construction, and not too expensive. The only +thing against them is the difficulty of adapting them to service +different from that they were designed for; that is, if you want to +put in a different sort of panel, or if you want to fix it in the +cover for convenience, or anything like that, you cannot readily do +it, because you cannot use tacks in them. This counts for more than +would seem on a sketching trip. But the tin box is light, and is not +easily broken, and while it is in shape is practical. + +[Illustration: =The Color Box.=] + +The box to be most recommended is the wooden one. It costs more than +the tin one,--about twice as much; but you can always arrange it for +an emergency very readily, and if it gets broken you can fix it +yourself, or get any carpenter to do it for you, while you may be a +good many miles from a tinner, who would be necessary to mend your tin +box. + +You had better not get too large a box. Get one long enough for the +brushes; but if you are going to use it out-of-doors much, get a +narrow one with a folding palette, so as to save weight. In this way +you will get a larger palette than you could get in a smaller and +wider box, which is an important consideration. + +[Illustration: =Palette Knife.=] + +=The Palette-Knife.=--Of more immediate necessity to your painting is +the palette-knife. You cannot keep the palette clean without it. Now +and again you may want to mix colors, or even paint with it. But you +constantly get rid of the too much mixed color on your palette with +it, and this is essential to good painting. Take some care to select a +good knife; have the blade long enough to be springy and flexible, but +not too long. About five inches from the wood of the handle to the end +of the blade is a good length. And see that it bends in a true curve +from one end to the other, and is not stiff at the end and weak in the +middle. It should have the same even elasticity that a brush should +have. + +For painting you need a "trowel palette-knife," which has a bent +shank, making the blade and the handle on different levels, so that as +you press the blade to the canvas, the fingers are kept away from the +painted surface. The shank should be round, and the blade very fine +and flexible. The knife should balance nicely in the hand, and turn +freely in the fingers, so that you can paint with either face of the +blade with equal balance. It takes some care to pick out a good +trowel-knife, as a poor one is worse than none. + +=The Scraper.=--You frequently need to scrape rough paint from a +canvas or a picture, and you need to scrape strongly to get a dirty +palette clean. You can use an old razor for the first purpose, or a +piece of broken glass, if you use it carefully, and any old knife can +be used to clean your palette. But a regular tool is better than +either. The scraper here shown is the best. + +[Illustration: =The Scraper.=] + +=The Oil-Cup.=--Do not use oils and vehicles very much. But when you +need them you must have something to keep them in, convenient to the +brush when working. It should have a spring to hold it on to the +palette, and of such form that the contents are not easily spilled by +the movement of the hand or the body when painting. The form here +illustrated is the best that has been brought out so far. + +[Illustration: =The Oil-Cup.=] + +=The Mahl-Stick.=--Sometimes you want to rest the hand when painting, +for steadiness. The "mahl-" or rest-stick has a ball on the end, which +one usually covers with a wad of rag, so that it can be placed against +the canvas without injury, and the hand rested on it. It is so light +that it can be held with the brushes in the palette hand, and stiff +enough to support the brush-hand. + +[Illustration: =Mahl-Sticks.=] + +=Sketching Adjuncts.=--Out-of-doors you must have a seat, and you +should have an umbrella. The best seat for a man, because it can be +folded into so small a space, is the three-legged stool. This is not +usually satisfactory for a woman, whose skirts tip it over. The better +seat for her is shown below. The back is not very firm, but it does +give support, and the whole is light and strong. + +[Illustration] + +[Illustration] + +The umbrella should be large and light, and one such as the +illustration, with a valve in the top to let the wind and hot air +through, will be found cooler and less easily blown over. You should +have some strong rings sewed on to it, so that you can fasten it from +four sides by strings, to keep it steady if the wind blows hard. The +umbrella should be of light-colored material, preferably white; but if +it is lined with black, the shade will be better, and give no false +glow to the color. + +[Illustration] + + + + + CHAPTER IX + + STUDIOS + + +A painting-room is always a matter of serious consideration, and to +the beginner one of difficulty. The arrangement of light is not easy, +and a special window is almost always out of the question; yet in some +way the light must be so managed that the canvas is not covered with +reflected lights which prevent one from seeing what the paint is +really like. + +=The North Light.=--The first thing to be looked for is a steady light +which will be always about the same, and not be sunny part of the time +and in the shade the rest. A window looking to the north for this +reason is generally selected. The sun does not come into it, and the +light is diffused and regular. The effect of the light in the studio +is cool, but colors are justly seen in it, and the light that falls on +any object or model in it will be always the same. If there is to be a +skylight, this should be arranged in the same way. The sash must not +be flat, but must be nearly enough to the vertical to prevent the +sun's direct rays from entering, and it must for that purpose face to +the north. This makes the skylight practically a high north light in +the roof or ceiling, and that is what it should be. + +Whether the sash is above the ceiling or just below it, in the roof or +in the wall, is of no particular importance. The thing to be seen to +is that it is high enough for the light to enter above the head of the +painter, and that it be so directed that only north light can come in. + +The size of the window is also to be carefully considered. It should +not be too large. Too much light will be sure to interfere with the +proper control of light and shade on your model, and too little will +make your painting too dark. The position of the window with reference +to the shape of the room has to do with this. The most probable form +of a room is long and narrow. For painting it is better that the +window be in the middle of the end wall, high up, rather than in the +middle of the side wall. You will find that you can more easily get +distance from your model, and at the same time get the light both on +him and on your canvas. But a painting-room should not be too narrow. +About one-third longer than it is wide, with the window in one end, +will give you a good light, and the further end of the room will not +be too dark, as it would be apt to be if the room were longer. +Preferably, too, the window should be to the left of the centre of the +wall rather than to the right, as you face it; so that when you are +as near the side wall as you can get, with the light over your left +shoulder (as it should be), the light will strike on the canvas well, +and not too directly on the front of the model. It will give you a +better lateral position to the window, in other words. If you have to +accept a window in a side wall, this is even more to be looked for. If +the window is to the right of the centre, you will have a strong +side-light on your model; but you will either have no light on your +canvas, or you will have to turn so that the light falls on your +canvas from the right, which is awkward, as the paint is in the shadow +of the hand and brush which puts it on. + +The height of the lower part of the window should be at least six feet +from the floor, and for ordinary purposes the proportion of window +space to floor space should be about one-tenth. It is impossible to +give a rule; but if the floor is about twelve feet by sixteen, say, a +window about five feet by four will be enough, or six and a half by +three if it is placed horizontally. If you want intense light with +strong contrast of light and shade on your model, have the window +smaller and squarer, and place your easel just under it, where the +light is good. The rest of the room will be dark. Better have the +window large enough, and have it so curtained that you can cut off as +much light as you need to. All this is if you are going to make +yourself a window; in which case you will think well before you commit +yourself. More probably you will have to get along as best you can +with the ordinary room and the ordinary window. In which case get a +high room with the window running up as close to the ceiling as +possible, and facing north, then you can curtain it so as to control +the light. + +=Arrangement of Ordinary Windows.=--For a good working light you +should have only one window in your room; for the light coming in from +two openings will make a crossing of rays which will not only +interfere with the simplicity of the effect of light and shade on your +model, but will make a glare on your canvas. You can either close the +light out of the right-hand window, or, better, arrange a curtain so +the light from one window will not fall on the same place as that from +the other. + +When you are working from still life or from a model this is often an +advantage, for you can have a strong side-light on the model, and a +second light on the canvas. To arrange this, have a sort of crane made +of iron, shaped like a carpenter's square, which will swing at right +angles with the wall, the arm reaching, say, six feet into the room. +Swing this by means of staples well up to the ceiling, so that the +light cannot get over it, and near to the right-hand window. From +this arm you can hang a thick, dark curtain, which will cover and shut +out the light from the right-hand window when swung back over it. If +you want to pose your model in the light of that window, while you +paint in that of the other, swing the curtain out into the room at +right angles to the wall, and it will prevent a cross light from the +two windows; so that when the model is posed back of the curtain the +light from that window will not fall on the canvas, nor the light from +the other fall on the model. + +The light will be best on your picture coming from well above you as +you work. There will then be no reflections on the paint. You may find +it necessary to cover entirely the lower half of the window which +gives your painting-light. You will find it useful to have a shade of +good solid holland, arranged with the roller at the bottom, and a +string running up through a pulley at the top; so that you may pull +the shade _up_ from the bottom instead of _down_ from the top, and so +cut off as much of the lower part of the window as is necessary. + +If you need the light from the lower part of the window, you may make +a thin curtain of muslin to cover the lower sash, which will let the +light through, but diffuse the rays and prevent reflection. + +=The Size of the Studio.=--Of course a large studio is a good thing, +but it is not always at one's command. But you should try to have the +room large enough to let you work freely, and have distance enough +from the model. The size that I have mentioned, twelve feet by +sixteen, is as small as one should have, and one that you can almost +always get. If the room is smaller than that, you cannot do much in +it, and fifteen by twenty will give ample space. + + + + + PART II + + GENERAL PRINCIPLES + + + + + CHAPTER X + + MENTAL ATTITUDE + + +There is a theoretical and a practical side to art. The business of +the student is with the practical. Theories are not a part of his +work. Before any theoretical work is done there is the bald work of +learning to see facts justly, in their proper degree of relative +importance; and how to convey these facts visibly, so that they shall +be recognizable to another person. + +The ideals of art are for the artist; not for the student. The +student's ideal should be only to see quickly and justly, and to +render directly and frankly. + +Technique is a word which includes all the material and educational +resources of representation. The beginner need bother himself little +with what is good and what is bad technique. Let him study facts and +their representation only. Choice of means and materials implies a +knowledge by which he can choose. The beginner can have no such +knowledge. Choice, then, is not for him; but to work quite simply with +whatever comes to hand, intent only on training the eye to see, the +brain to judge, and the hand to execute. Later, with the gaining of +experience and of knowledge, for both will surely come, the +determination of what is best suited for the individual temperament or +purpose will work itself out naturally. + +The student should not allow the theoretical basis of art to interfere +with the directness of his study of the material and the actual. +Nevertheless, he should know the fact that there is something back of +the material and the actual, as well as in a general way what that +something is. + +Because the student's business is with the practical is no reason why +he should remain ignorant of everything else. It is important that he +should think as a painter as well as work as a painter. If he has no +thought of what all this practical is for, he will get a false idea of +his craft. He will see, and think of, and believe in, nothing but the +craftsmanship: that which every good workman respects as good and +necessary, but which the wise workman knows is but the perfect means +for the expression of thought. + +Some consideration, then, of the theoretical side of art is necessary +in a book of this kind. A number of considerations arise at the +outset, about which you must make up your mind:-- + +Is judgment of a picture based on individual liking? + +Can you hope to paint well by following your own liking only? + +Is it worth your while to try to do good work? + +Can you hope to do good work at all? + +You must decide these questions for yourself, but you must remember +that it depends upon how you decide them whether your work will be +good or bad. + +To take the last consideration first, you may be sure that it is worth +while to try to do good work, and mainly because you may hope to do as +good work as you want to do. That is, precisely as good work as you +are willing to take the trouble to learn to do. Talent is only another +name for love of a thing. If you love a thing enough to try to find +out what is good, to train your judgment; and to train your abilities +up to what that judgment tells you is good, the good work is only a +matter of time. + +You will notice that you must train your judgment as well as your +ability; not all at once, of course. But how can you hope to do good +work if you do not know what good work is when you see it? If you have +no point of view, how can you tell what you are working for, what you +are aiming at? And if you do not know what you are aiming at, are you +likely to hit anything? + +=Train Your Judgment.=--Let us say, then, that you must train your +critical judgment. How are you to set about it? + +In the first place, don't set up your own liking as a criterion. Make +up your mind that when it comes to a choice between your personal +taste and that of some one who may be supposed to know, between what +you think and what has been consented to by all the men who have ever +had an opinion worthy of respect, you may rest assured that you are +wrong. And when you have made up your mind to that, when you have +reached that mental attitude, you have taken a long step towards +training your judgment; for you have admitted a standard outside of +mere opinion. + +Another attitude that you should place your mind in is one of +catholicity--one of openness to the possibility of there being many +ways of being right. Don't allow yourself to take it for granted that +any one school or way of painting or looking at things is the only +right one, and that all the other ways are wrong. That point of view +may do for a man who has studied and thought, and finally arrived at +that conclusion which suits his mind and his nature,--but it will not +do for a student. Such an attitude is a sure bar to progress. It +results in narrowness of idea, narrowness of perception, and +narrowness of appreciation. You should try all things, and hold fast +to that which is good. And having found what is good, and even while +holding fast to it, you should remember that what is good and true for +you is not necessarily the only good and true for some one else. You +must not only hold to your own liberty of choice, but recognize the +same right for others. If this is not recognized, what room has +originality to work in? + +The range of subject, of style, and of technical methods among +acknowledged masters, should alone be proof of the fact that there is +no one way which is the only good way; and if you would know how to +judge and like a good picture, the study of really great pictures, +without regard to school, is the way to learn. + +=How to Look at Pictures.=--The study of pictures means something more +than merely looking at them and counting the figures in them. It +implies the study of the treatment of the subject in every way. The +management of light and shade; the color; the composition and drawing; +and finally those technical processes of brush-work by means of which +the canvas gets covered, and the idea of the artist becomes visible. +All these things are important in some degree; they all go to the +making of the complete work of art: and you do not understand the +picture, you do not really and fully judge it, unless you know how to +appreciate the bearing on the result, of all the means which were used +to bring it about. All this adds to your own technical knowledge as +well as to your critical judgment, both of which ends are important +to your becoming a good painter. + +=Why Paint Well.=--You see I am assuming that you wish to be a good +painter. There is no reason why you should be a bad painter because +you are not a professional one. The better you paint the better your +appreciation will be of all good work, the keener your appreciation of +what is beautiful in nature, and the greater your satisfaction and +pleasure in your own work. There are better reasons for painting than +the desire to "make a picture." Painting implies making a picture, it +is true; but it means also seeing and representing charming things, +and working out problems of beauty in the expression of color and +form: and this is something more than what is commonly meant by a +picture. The picture comes, and is the result; but the making of it +carries with it a pleasure and joy which are in exact proportion to +the power of appreciation, perception, and expression of the painter. +This is the real reason for painting, and it makes the desire and the +attempt to paint well a matter of course. + +=Craftsmanship.=--The mechanical side of painting naturally is an +important part of your problem. You cannot be too catholic in your +opinion with regard to it. It is vital that you be not narrowed by any +prejudices as to the surface effect of paint. Whether the canvas be +smooth or rough, the paint thick or thin, the details few or +many,--the goodness or badness of the picture does not depend on any +of these. They are or should be the result, the natural outcome +because the natural means of expression, of the manner in which the +picture is conceived. One picture may demand one way of painting and +another demand a quite different way; and each way be the best +possible for the thing expressed. It all depends on the man; the +make-up of his mind; the way he sees things; the results he aims to +attain,--all of them controlled more or less by temperament and +idiosyncrasy. What would produce a perfect work for one man would not +do at all for another. The works of the great masters offer the most +marked contrasts of ideal and of treatment, and painters have varied +greatly in their manner of some painting at different periods of their +lives. Rembrandt, for instance, painted very thinly in his early +years, with transparent shadows and carefully modelled, solidly loaded +lights. Later in life he painted most roughly; and "The Syndics" was +so heavily and roughly loaded that even now, after two hundred years, +the paint stands out in lumps--and this is one of his masterpieces. So +again, if you will compare the manipulation in the work of Raphael +with that of Tintoretto, that of Rubens with that of Velasquez, or +most markedly, the work of Frans Hals with that of Gerard Dou, you +will see that the greatest extremes of handling are consistent with +equal greatness of result. + +=Finish.=--From this you may conclude that what is generally +understood by the word "finish" is not necessarily a thing to be +sought for. The tendency of great painters is rather away from +excessive smoothness and detail than towards it. While a picture may +be a good one and be very minute and smooth, it by no means follows +that a picture is bad because it is rough. The truth is that the test +of a picture does not lie in the character of the pigment surface _in +itself_ at all, nor in whether it be full of detail or the reverse, +but in the conception and in the harmonious relation of the technique +to the manner in which the whole is conceived. The true "finish" is +whatever surface the picture happens to have when the idea which is +the purpose of the picture is fully expressed, with nothing lacking to +make that expression more complete, nor with anything present which is +not needed to that completeness. This too is the truth about +"breadth," that much misunderstood word. Breadth is not merely breadth +of brush stroke. It is breadth of idea, breadth of perception; the +power of conceiving the picture as a whole, and the power of not +putting in any details which will interfere with the unity of effect. + +=Intent.=--In this connection it would be well to bear in mind the +purpose of the work on which the painter may be engaged. A man would, +and should, work very differently on canvases intended for a study, a +sketch, and a picture. The study would contain many things which the +other two would not need. It is the work in which and by which the +painter informs himself. It is his way of acquiring facts, or of +assuring himself of what he wants and how he wants it. And he may put +into it all sorts of things for their value as facts which he may +never care to use, but which he wishes to have at command in case he +should want them. + +The sketch, on the other hand, is a note of an effect merely, or of a +general idea, and calls for only those qualities which most +successfully show the central idea, which might sometime become a +picture, or which suggests a scheme. A carefully worked-up sketch is a +contradiction in terms, just as a careless study would be. + +A picture might have more or less of the character of either of these +two types, and yet belong to neither. It might have the sketch as its +motive, and would use as much or as little of the material of the +study as should be needed to make the result express exactly the idea +the painter wished to impart, and no more and no less. + +All these things should be borne in mind, as you study the +characteristics of paintings to learn what they can mean to you beyond +the surface which is obvious to any one; or as you work on your own +canvas to attain such power or proficiency, such cleverness or +facility, as you may conclude it is worth your while to try for. + + + + + CHAPTER XI + + TRADITION AND INDIVIDUALITY + + +A picture is made up of many elements. Certain of them are essentially +abstract. They must be thought out by a sort of _mental vision without +words_. This is the most subtle and intimate part of the picture. +These are the means by which the ideal is brought into the picture. + +=Line, Mass, and Color.=--Such are the qualities of _line_, +dissociated from representation; of _mass_, not as representing +external forms; and _color_, considered as a _quality_, not as yet +expressed visibly in pigment, nor representing the color of any +_thing_. When these elements are combined they may make up such +conceptions as proportion, rhythm, repetition, and balance, with all +the modifications that may come from still further combination. + +It is because these elements are qualities in themselves beautiful +that actual objects not beautiful may be made so in a painting, by +being treated as _color_ or _line_ or _mass_, and so given place on +the canvas, rather than as being of themselves interesting. A face, +for instance, may be ugly as a _face_, yet be beautiful as color or +light and shade in the picture. These qualities, I say, do not +represent--they do not necessarily even exist, except in the mind to +which they are the terms of its thought. Nevertheless, they are the +soul of the picture. For whatever the subject, or the objects chosen +for representation, it is by working out combinations of these +elements, through and by means of those objects, that the picture +really is made. + +The picture, _as a work of art_, is not the representation of objects +making up a subject, but a fabric woven of color, line, and mass; of +form, proportion, balance, rhythm, and movement, expressed through +those actual objects in the picture which give it visible form. + +I do not purpose to go deeply into these matters here. Elsewhere, as +they bear practically on the subject in hand, as in the chapters on +"Composition" and on "Color," I shall speak of them more fully. But I +wish here to call attention to this abstract side of painting in order +to show the relation between the two classes of things, the one +abstract and the other concrete, which together are needed to make up +a picture. + +The concrete, or material, part of a picture includes all those things +which you can look at or feel on the canvas; and by seeing which you +can also see the abstract qualities, which do not _visibly_ exist +until made visible through the disposition of these tangible things, +on the canvas. + +Beyond this is included all the technical qualities of expression; +form, as _drawing_; all representations of objects; the pigment by +means of which color is seen; and all those technical processes which +produce the various kinds of surface in the putting on of paint, and +bring about the different effects of light and shade and color, form +or accent. + +In learning to paint, it is with these concrete things that you should +concern yourself mainly. The science of painting consists in the +knowledge of how to be the master of all the practical means of the +craft. For it is with these that you must work, with these you must +express yourself. These are the tools of your trade. They are the +words of your art language--the language itself being the abstract +elements--and the thoughts, the combinations which you may conceive in +your brain by means of these abstract elements. + +You must have absolute command of these _materials_ of painting. No +matter how ideal your thought may be, no matter how fine your feeling +for line and color and composition, if you do not know how to handle +the gross material which is the only medium by which this can all be +made visible and recognizable to another person, you will fail of +either expressing yourself, or of representing anything else. + +Now you will see what I have been driving at all this time; why I +have been talking in terms which may well be called not practical. I +want to fix your attention on the fact that there are two qualities in +a picture: that one will be always within you, mainly, and will +control the character of your picture, because it will be the +expression of your mental self; and the other the practical part, +which any one may, and all painters must learn, because it is the only +means of getting the first into existence. + +The one, the abstract part, no one can tell you how to cultivate nor +how to use. If I tried to do so, it would be my idea and not yours +which would result. I can only tell you that it is the _thought of +art_, and you must think your own thoughts. + +But the other, the material, the concrete, the practical, it is the +purpose of this whole book to help you to understand and to acquire +the mastery of, so far as may be done by words. + +Teaching by words is difficult, and never completely satisfactory. But +much may be done. If you will use your own brains, so that what does +not seem clear at first may come to have a meaning because of your +thinking about it, we may accomplish a great deal. I cannot make you +paint. I cannot make you understand. I can give you the principles, +but you must apply them and think them out. + +Everything I say must be in a measure general; for the needs of every +one are individual, and the requirement of each technical problem is +individual. I must speak for all, and not to any one. Yet I shall +state principles which can always be made to apply to each single +need, and I will try to show how the application may be made. + +=Technique.=--The science of painting consists of a variety of +processes by means of which a canvas is covered with pigment, and +various objects are represented thereon. The whole body of method and +means is called technique; the several parts of technique are called +by names of their own. That part which applies to the putting on of +the paint may be generally called _handling_, although the word +_painting_ is sometimes restricted to this sense, and _brush-work_ is +often used for the same thing. The other technical means will be +spoken of in their proper place. Let me say now a few words as to +_handling_ in general. + +Where did all this technique come from? + +From experiment. + +Ever since art began, men have been searching for means of fixing +ideas upon surfaces. But it is only within the last four hundred years +that the processes of oil painting have been in existence--simply +because they are peculiar to the use of pigments ground in oil as a +vehicle, and the oil medium was not invented until the middle of the +fifteenth century. + +With the invention of this medium new possibilities came into the +world, and a continual succession of painters have been inventing ways +of putting on paint, the result being the stock of methods and +processes of handling which are the groundwork of the art of painting +to-day. + +From time to time there have been groups of artists who have used +common methods, and who have developed expression through those +methods which became characteristic of their epoch; and because the +resulting pictures were of a high degree of perfection, their methods +of handling acquired an authority which had a very determining effect +on different periods of painting. + +In this way have come those ideas as to what kind of painting or what +ways of putting paint on canvas should be accepted as "legitimate." +And the methods accepted as legitimate or condemned as illegitimate +have been varied from time to time--those condemned by one period +being advocated by another; and the processes themselves have been +almost as varied as the periods or groups of men using them. + +In the long run, methods and processes have received such +authoritative sanction from having been each and all used by undoubted +masters, that they have become the traditional property of all art, +which any one is free to use as he finds need of them. They have +become the stock in trade of the craft. + +The artist may use them as he will, provided only he will take the +trouble to understand them. He must understand them, because the +manipulations which make up these different processes accomplish +different effects and different qualities; and as the painter aims at +results, if he does not understand the result of a process when he +uses it, he will get a different one from that which he intended. + +The painter should not be hampered by process; he should not be +controlled in the expression of himself by tradition. He should feel +free to use any or all means to bring about the result he aims at, and +he should allow no tradition or point of view to prevent him from +selecting whichever means will most surely or satisfactorily bring +about his true purpose. + +Of course there are many ways of using paint which are unsafe. Some +pigments are unsafe to use because they either do not hold their own +color, or tend to destroy the color of others. You should always bear +this in mind; and if you care for the permanence of your work, you +should not use such materials or such processes as work against it. +But beyond this, the whole range of the experience and experiment of +the workers who have gone before you are at your command, to help you +to express yourself most perfectly or completely; to represent +whatever of visible beauty you may conceive or perceive. + +And this is the whole aim of the painter; to stand for this is the +whole purpose of the picture. + + + + + CHAPTER XII + + ORIGINALITY + + +Originality is not a thing to strive for. If it comes, it is not +through striving. The search for originality seldom results in +anything worth having. It is a quality inherent in the man; and the +best way of being original in your work is to be natural. Perhaps the +most useful advice which you could receive is that you be always +natural. Never be artificial nor insincere; never copy another +person's subject, manner, or method, with the intention of doing as he +does. The most original things are often the most simple, because they +have come naturally from a sincere desire to express what has been +seen or felt, in the most direct way. + +If every one were content to be himself, there would be no dearth of +originality. No two people are alike, neither are any two painters +alike; they could not be. They do not look alike, nor see alike, nor +feel alike, nor think alike. How, then, should they paint alike? The +attempt to do a thing because another has made a success of that sort +of thing is the most fruitful source of the commonplace in painting. + +Paint that which appeals to you most fully. Don't try to paint what +appeals to some one else. If you like it, then do it; and do it in the +most direct way you can find; only do it so as to fully and completely +convey just what it is that _you_ like, unaffected by anything else. +And because you have seen or felt for yourself in your own way, and +expressed that; and because you are not another, nor like any other +that ever was, what you have done will not be like anything else that +ever was--and that is originality. + +But never imitate yourself, either. Be open. Be ready to receive +impressions and emotions. And if you have done one thing well, +accept that in itself as a reason for not doing it again. There +are always plenty of things--ideas, impressions, conceptions, +appreciations--waiting to be painted; and if you try to paint one +twice, you fail once of freshness, and lose a chance of doing a new +thing. + +That is what a painter is for, not to cover a canvas with paint, hang +it on a wall, and call it by a name. The painter is the eye of the +people. He sees things which they have no time to look for, or +looking, have not learned to see. The painter serves his purpose best +when he recognizes the beautiful where it was not perceived before, +and so sets it forth that it is recognized to be beautiful through his +having seen it. + +There is the difference between the artist and the photograph, which +sees only facts as facts; which while often distorting them does so +mindlessly, and at best, when accurate, gives the bad with the good in +unconscious impartiality. But back of the painter's eye which sees and +distinguishes is the painter's brain which selects and arranges, using +facts as material for the expression of beauties more important than +the facts. + +But what is a picture? I have met some strange though positive notions +as to what is and what is not a picture. Some persons think that a +certain (or uncertain) proportion of definite forms and objects are +necessary to make canvas a picture; that it must contain some definite +and tangible facts of the more obvious kind. I remember one man who +asserted that a canvas in an exhibition was not a picture, but only a +sketch, because it had nothing in it but an expanse of sea and sky. To +make a picture of it there was needed at least a moon, and some birds, +or better, a ship and some reflections. All this sort of thing is +idle. A picture is not a picture because it has more of this or less +of that; it is a picture because it is complete in the expression of +the idea which is the cause of its existence. And that idea may be +tangible or not. It may include many details or none. It is an idea +which is best or only expressed by being made visible, and which is +worthy of being expressed because of its beauty; and when that idea +is wholly and fully visible on canvas or other surface, that surface +is a picture. What the contents of a picture shall be is a matter +personal to the painter of it. The manner in which it is conceived and +produced is determined by his temperament and idiosyncrasy. + +A picture is a visible idea expressed in terms of color, form, and +line. It is the product of perception plus feeling, plus intent, plus +knowledge, plus temperament, plus pigment. And as all these are +differently proportioned in all persons, it is only a matter of being +natural on the part of the painter that his picture should be +original. + + + + + CHAPTER XIII + + THE ARTIST AND THE STUDENT + + +It is a mistake to make pictures too soon. The nearest a student is +likely to get to a picture is a careful study, and he will be as +successful with this, if he makes it for the study of it, as if he +made it for the sake of making a picture--better probably. The making +of a picture for the picture's sake is dangerous to the student. His +is less likely to be sincere. He is apt to "idealize," to make up +something according to some notion of how a picture should be, rather +than from knowledge of how nature is. Real pictures grow from study of +nature. + +They are the outcome of maturity, not of the student stage. This +implies something deeper than superficial facts, and a power of +selection,--of choice and of purpose which must rest on a very broad +and deep knowledge. The artist is always a student, of course; but he +is not a student only. He is a student who knows what and why he wants +to study; not one who is in process of finding out these things. + +=Aims.=--It should be noted that the aim of the student and the aim +of the artist are essentially different. The student's first aim is to +learn to see and represent nature's facts; to distinguish justly +between relations. It is the training of the eye and the judgment. +Imitation is not the highest art; but the highest art requires the +ability to imitate as a mere power of representation. The mind must +not be hampered in its expression by lack of knowledge and control of +materials, and the painter who is constantly occupied with the +problems he should have worked out in his student days, is just so far +from being a master. He must have all his means perfectly at his +command before he can freely express himself. + +The acquirement of this mastery of means is the student's business. +Everything he does which aids him in this makes him so much nearer to +being a painter. But he must remember that he is still a student, and +as he hopes to be a painter, must have patience with himself; must not +hurry himself, must work as a student for the ends of a student. + +All the facts of nature art uses. But she uses them as she needs them, +simplifying, emphasizing, suppressing, combining as will best meet the +necessities of the case in hand. All this requires the utmost +knowledge, for it must be done in accordance not only with laws of +art, but with the laws of nature. + +There are changes which can be made, and be right--made as nature +might make them. Other changes which would be false to nature's ways, +and so false to art also. For art works through nature always, and in +accordance with her. This is the aim of the painter, to express ideas +through nature, not to express notions about nature. + +The facts of nature are the material of art; the words of the language +in which the ideas of art are to be conveyed. But there are truths +more important than these facts. The underlying sentiment of which +they are the external manifestation, and which is the vivifying spirit +of them. This is the true fact of the picture. + +It is more important to give the sentiment of the thing than to give +the fact of it; not merely because it is more truly represented so, +but because the beauty is shown in showing the character. For the +character of the fact is the beauty of the fact. + +To bring out the beauty which may lie in the fact is the aim of the +artist; to acquire the ability to do this is the aim of the student. + + + + + CHAPTER XIV + + HOW TO STUDY + + +There is a right and a wrong way to study, and it all centres around +the fact that what you aim to learn is perception and expression. What +you are to express you do not learn; you grow to that. But you must +learn how to use all possible means; all the facts of visible nature, +and all the characteristics of pigments. All qualities, color and form +and texture, are but the means of your expression, and you must know +how they may be used. Your perception and appreciation must be +trained, and your mind stored with facts and relativities. Then you +are ready to recognize and to convey the true inwardness you find in +conditions commonplace to others. + +You are to see where others see not; for it is marvellous how little +the average eye sees of the really interesting things, how little of +the visual facts, and how rarely it sees the picture before it is +painted. All is material to the painter. It is not that "everything +that is, is beautiful," but that everything that is has qualities and +possibilities of beauty; and these, when expressed, make the picture, +in spite of the superficial or obvious ugliness. In one sense nothing +is commonplace, for everything exists visibly by means of light and +color, and light and color are of the fundamental beauties. So arrange +or look upon the commonplace that light and color are the most obvious +qualities, and the commonplace sinks into the background--is lost. +There is nothing like painting to make life fascinating; for there is +nothing which brings so many charming combinations into your +perception, as the habit of looking to find the possibilities of +beauty in everything that comes within your view. + +You must form the habit of looking always from the painter's point of +view. The painter deals primarily with pigment, and what can be +represented with pigment; chiefly color and light in the broadest +sense, including form and composition, as things which give bodily +presence and action to the possibilities of pigment. Shade, or shadow, +of course, is an actuality in painting, because it is the foil of +light and color, and furnishes the element of relation. + +=Methods.=--Two general methods are at the command of the student from +the first,--to study at once from nature, or to copy. I think I may +safely claim to speak for the great body of teachers who are also +professional artists, in saying that copying is a means of study +rather for the advanced student than for the beginner. You cannot +begin too soon to study nature with your own eyes, and to accumulate +your own facts and observations and deductions. The use of copying is +not to find out how to paint, but to see how many ways there are of +painting. The great end of all study in painting is to train the eyes +to see relations, to see them in nature. It is not to see that there +are relations, but to see where they are; to recognize and to measure +and to judge them. Painting is the art of perception before +everything, and when you copy you only see, accept, what some one else +has already perceived. Copying does not help you to _perceive_, it can +only help to show you how something can be _expressed after_ it has +been perceived, and that is not the vital thing in the study of +painting. Handling, composition, management of color, technique of the +brush generally, may be studied by copying. These only--and for these +things it is useful and wise. But the beginner is not ready for these, +for they are not the alphabet, but the grammar of painting. + +=Danger.=--The danger of too early copying is that the student learns +to set too much value on surface qualities rather than those to which +the surface is merely incidental. With this is the danger (a serious +one, and one hard to overcome the results of) that the student becomes +clever as a producer of pictures before he has trained his power to +see. He becomes a student of pictures rather than a student of nature, +and when in doubt will go to art rather than to nature for help and +suggestion. Could anything be more fatal? Consider the things that +student will have to unlearn before he can think a picture in terms of +nature--the only healthy, the only prolific way of thinking. He sees +always through other people's eyes, and thinks with other people's +brains, and feels other people's emotions; that is not creation; that +is the attitude for the spectator, not for the painter. + +These things are all useful and good, but not for the beginner. Later, +when you have found out something for yourself, when you have ground +of your own to stand on, then you may not only without danger, but +with benefit, go to the work of other men to see the range of possible +point of view and expression, to see the scope of technical material +and individual adaptation; and so broaden your own mental view and +sympathy, possibly reform or educate your taste, and perhaps get some +hints which will help you in the solving of some future problem. + +But rather than the undue sophistication which can result from unwise +copying,--the over-knowledge of process and surface, and +under-knowledge of nature,--is to be preferred a frank crudeness of +work which is the result of an honest going to nature for study. You +should not expect a perfect eye for color and form too soon. Better a +healthily youthful crudity of perception based on nature, and standing +for what you have yourself studied and worked out, which represents +your own attainment, than a greater show of knowledge which is +insincere and superficial because it represents a mere acceptance of +the facts set down by others; and not only that, but even with it an +acceptance also of the actual terms used by those others. + +Often copying is the most convenient way in which you can get help. +There is really much to be learned from it, and you can make a picture +serve as a criticism on your own work. Particularly in the matter of +color or tone, as something to recognize the achievement of for its +own sake. If you can recognize good color as such, aside from what it +represents, if you can appreciate tone in a picture which is the work +of some one else, you are so much the more likely to notice the lack +of those qualities in your own work. So, too, there are qualities of +brush-work which are always good, and some which are always bad. You +can study the former positively, and the latter negatively, in +studying and copying other pictures. + +I have mentioned the training of your critical judgment as a necessity +in your education. You can do it slowly in learning to paint, but you +can facilitate that training by copying and studying really good +pictures, if you do it in the right way. + +=The Right Way.=--So if you do copy, do it in the right way, so as to +get all the real help out of it, and not so as to have to unlearn the +greater part of it. Don't copy "to get a picture." Don't make a copy +which at a distance has a resemblance to the original, but which on a +more careful study shows none of the qualities which make the original +what it is. Not only see to it that the same subtleties of perception +and representation are preserved in your copy, but that they are +attained in the same way. Use the same brush-work or other execution. +Use the same pigments in the same places, with the same vehicles; +study the original with your brain as well as with your eyes and +hands; try to see not only how the painter did a certain thing but +why. So that as you work, you follow him in the working out of his +problem, and make it your problem also. In this way you will get some +real good from his picture, and not a mere canvas which has been of no +use to you, nor can be of any satisfaction to any one else who knows a +good picture (copy or original) when he sees it. + +=Why Copy.=--There are only two good reasons for making a copy,--to +study the original as a problem, and to have something to serve as an +example of the master on a work which you like. And in either case +such a sincere manner of copying as I urge is the only possible way to +get what you want. To "get a picture," regardless of whether it really +does justice to the original, is the wrong way, and this leads always +through bad copying to bad painting, and you are fortunate if you +escape an entire perversion of your point of view. + +You may be able to make some money now and again by doing this sort of +thing, but you will never learn anything from it. On the contrary, it +is the surest way you could find of closing your eyes to all that is +worth seeing. + +=Get to Nature.=--If you would really learn to paint, to see for +yourself, to represent what you see in your own way, you cannot get to +nature too soon. Don't bother about what the thing is, so long as it +is nature herself. By nature I mean anything, absolutely anything +which exists of itself, not painted. Whether it be the living figure, +or a cast, or a bit of landscape, or a room interior--all things which +actually exist must show themselves by the facts of light falling upon +them: the relation of color, and the contrasts of light and dark. +Whatever you see is useful to you in this way, for these bring about +all the qualities and conditions which you most need to study. But +models are not always at command, interiors do not easily stay a long +time at your disposal, and bits of landscape which interest you are +not always easy to get at; for a student is apt to be either far +advanced or unusually ardent who will find interest in the first +combination which falls under his eye. Therefore the most practically +useful material for study, which is always "nature," is what we call +"still life,"--_"morte" nature_, dead nature is the better or more +descriptive name the French give to it. By this is meant any and all +combinations of objects and backgrounds grouped arbitrarily for +representation. Bottles and jugs and fruits, books and bric-a-brac; +all sorts of things lend themselves readily and interestingly to this +use. + +The great value of still life for the student lies in the variety of +combinations of color and form, of light and shade and texture, that +he can always command. There is practically no problem possible to +in-the-house light which may not be worked out by means of still life. +The training in perception and representation, in composition and +arrangement, and in technique, which it will give you is invaluable; +and most important of all, while you can always make such arrangements +as will interest you, because you need place only such things or +colors as you like, you are really studying nature herself, you are +looking at the things themselves, and the result you get is the +product of your own eyes and brain. The problem is entirely your own, +both in the stating and the solving, and what you learn is well +learned, and represents a definite progress along the right line. + +You have worked for the sake of the working, and there is nothing +which you have got from it that may not be applicable to any future +work you may do, that does not directly lead to the great object you +have in view,--to learn how to paint well. + +=Be Sincere.=--But, above all, be sincere with yourself; don't do +anything to be clever, nor because it pleases some one else. Painting +is difficult enough at best. You need all the interest and fascination +that the most charming thing can have for you to help you to do it so +that it is worth the trouble. Don't take away the whole life of it by +insincerity. A very thoughtful painter said to me once that he +believed that all really good pictures could be shown to be good by +the sole criterion of conviction. Can you think of any painting being +good without it? Can you think of any amount of cleverness and ability +making a picture good without that. And it is quite as important in +study as elsewhere. Never do anything except seriously; take yourself +and your work seriously; only by serious work can serious results +come. + +=Joy in Your Work.=--Do it because you like to. But like good work and +hate bad work; and, above all, hate half-way work. Understand +yourself: what you want to do and why you want to do it, and then be +honest enough with yourself to work till you have honestly done what +you wanted to do, and as you wanted to do it. + + + + + PART III + + TECHNICAL PRINCIPLES + + + + + CHAPTER XV + + TECHNICAL PRELIMINARIES + + +=Reasons.=--Painting is something more than laying on paint. It implies +a certain amount of knowledge of necessary preliminaries--technical +matters which are not strictly painting, but without which good painting +is impossible. + +It is all well enough to put paint on canvas, but there must be a +knowledge on which to base the where and the why of laying it on, as +well as the knowledge of how to lay it on. If anything, the where and +why are more important than the how. There are almost infinite methods +and processes of getting the paint onto the surface. Every painter may +select or invent his own way, and provided it accomplishes the main +purpose--the bringing about of combinations of form, relative color +and pitch, the expression of an idea--it is all right. But there are +laws which govern the positions of the different spots of paint, and +the reasons for placing them in certain relations. These laws are back +of personal idiosyncrasy. They are a part of the laws which control +all material things. The painter may no more go contrary to them in +painting than he may go contrary to physical laws in any of the +practical matters of life. If pigments are not used in accordance with +the laws governing their chemical composition, they will not stand. If +the laws of proportion are not observed in composition, the picture +will not balance. The laws of color harmony are as mathematically +fixed as the law of gravity. So, too, the relations of size, which +give the impression of nearness or distance to objects, rest on the +laws of optics. You have infinite scope for individual expression +inside of those laws, but you cannot go outside of them. + +=Scientific Knowledge not Necessary.=--It is not necessary that you +should have any special knowledge of all these laws nor even of the +application of them; but you must recognize their existence, and have +some practical notions about them and their effect on your work. + +You can of course carry the study as far as you are interested to go. +The farther the better. The more you study them the more you will find +them interesting, and the easier will it be for you to work freely +within their limitations. But this is not the place for special study. +There are books which treat particularly of these things, and you must +go to them. + +But a superficial consideration of these subjects cannot be left out +of any book which would be really helpful to the student of painting. +I can go into the theory of things only so far as to give you that +amount of practical knowledge which is absolutely necessary to you as +a painter. What I shall give is given only because it cannot be wisely +left out, and the form of it as well as the substance and quantity are +determined by the same reason. + +As you hope to become a painter, then, do not neglect to study and +think of this part of the book, not merely as a preliminary to the +process of painting, but as containing matter which is continually +essential to it--which is part and parcel of it. + +Another reason for the careful reading of these chapters is that any +discussion of the art of painting necessarily demands the use of words +or phrases which must be understood. To speak of technical things +presupposes the use of technical phrases, and without a knowledge of +the words there can be no comprehension of the thought. + + + + + CHAPTER XVI + + DRAWING + + +Drawing is basic to painting. Good painting cannot exist without it. I +do not mean that there must be always the outline felt or seen, but +that the understanding of relative position, size, and form must be +felt; and that is drawing. Drawing is not merely form, but implies +these other things, and painting is not legible without them. They go +to the completeness of expression. Movement, and action, as well as +composition and all that it implies or includes, depend upon drawing, +and they are vital to a painting. + +=Importance of Drawing.=--Much has been said and written of drawing as +being the most important thing in a picture; so much so, as to excuse +all sorts of shortcomings in other directions. This is a mistake. +Drawing is essential because you cannot lay on color to express +anything without the colors taking shape, and this is drawing. But +still the color itself, and other characteristics which are not +strictly a part of drawing, are quite as important to painting, simply +because the thing without them could not be a painting at all: it +would be a drawing. + +All painters fall into two classes,--those who are most sensitive to +the refinements of form, and those most sensitive to refinements of +color and tone. But the great colorists, the painters _par +excellence_, the workers in pigment before everything else, those who +find their sentiment mainly there, these are the men who have made +painting what it is, and who have brought out its possibilities. And +looking at painting from their point of view, drawing cannot be more +important than other qualities. + +=Neglect of Drawing.=--Great artists have sometimes not been perfect +draughtsmen. They have been careless of exactness of form. But they +have always been strong in the great essentials of drawing, and they +have made up for such deficiencies as they showed, by their greatness +in other directions. Delacroix, for instance, sometimes let his +temperament run him into carelessness of form in his hurry to express +his temperamental richness of color. These things are superficial to +the greater ends he had in view, but we have to distinctly forgive it +in accepting the picture. And a great colorist may be so forgiven; he +makes up for his fault by other things. But there is no forgiveness +for the student or the painter who is simply a poor draughtsman. + +The effect of neglect of drawing is to make a weak picture. A painter, +who was also an exceptionally fine draughtsman, once spoke of work +weak in drawing as resembling "boned turkey." Lack of firmness, +indecision, characterize the painter who cannot draw. Those firm, +simple, but effective touches which are evident somewhere in the work +of all good painters, are impossible without draughtsmanship. They +mean precision. Precision means position. Position means drawing. + +=Proportions.=--All good work is from the general to the particular, +from the mass to the detail. Keep that in mind as a fundamental +principle in good work, whatever the kind. You should never place a +detail till you have placed your larger masses. The relative +importance of things depends on the consideration of those most +important first. Let this be your first rule in drawing. + +Proportions next. Largest proportions, then exactness of relative +proportions. Study first in masses. See nothing at first but the large +planes. As Hunt said, "Hang the nose on to the head, not the head on +to the nose." In getting proportions of the great masses, let no small +variations of line or form break into your study of the whole. +Therefore, see outlines first in straight lines and angles. If you +cannot see them at first, study to find them; look at the long lines +of movement; mass several curves into one line representing the +general direction of them. Train yourself to look at things in this +way. There is nothing which will not fall into position so. This will +not be easy at first. The training of a quick perception of these +things is a part of your training in drawing--the first essential. It +is not that the straight lines are to be sought for themselves, but +that they simplify the first breaking up of the whole into its parts, +and so makes more easy the study of proportion. The accuracy of the +general masses makes possible a greater accuracy of the lesser +proportions which come within them. + +You see form more truly also, when the perception of it is founded on +a mass or a line indicating the larger character of it. It saves time +for you, too. You do not have to rub out so much. The great lines and +planes once established, everything else falls naturally into place. +Spend much time over this part of a drawing. Cut the time you give to +a drawing into parts, and let the part given to the laying in of +larger proportions be from a third to a half of the whole time, and +study and correct these until they are right. + +Once these are right a very slight accent tells for twice what it +would otherwise, and so you need much less detail to give the effect. + +=Modelling.=--In the same way that you have laid out the proportions +in mass, lay out your proportions of light and shade. Model your +drawing by avoiding the small until the large variations of shade are +in place. Avoid seeing curves in relief as you have avoided curves of +outline. Try to analyze the modelling into flat planes, each one large +enough to give a definite mass of relief. Don't be afraid of an edge +in doing this. Let your flat tone come frankly up to the next tone and +stop. This again is not for any effect in itself, but only for +facility and exactness. Later you can loose it as much as you see fit +in breaking up the drawing into the more delicate planes, and these +again into the most subtle. + +Study first the outline and then the planes. Constantly compare them +as to relation; you will find it suggestive. Remember that your aim is +to produce a whole, not a lot of parts, and although a whole includes +the parts, the parts are incidental. + +=Measurements.=--You will always have to use measurements for the sake +of accuracy. Probably you will never be able to dispense with them. +The best way would be to take them as a matter of course, and get so +that you make them almost mechanically, without thinking of it. You +will save yourself an immense deal of time and trouble by accepting +this at once; for accuracy is impossible without measurements, and the +habit of accuracy is the greatest time-saver. + +Hold your charcoal in your hand freely, so that your thumb can slip +along it and mark off parts of the object when you sight at them +across the coal. Measure horizontal and vertical proportions into +themselves and into each other. Height and breadth are checks to each +other. If the height is a certain proportion of the breadth, then the +smaller proportions of height must have equivalent proportions to each +other _as well as to breadth_. Measure these and you are sure of being +right. + +=Steps.=--Divide your drawing into steps or stages of work. You will +find it a helpful thing in studying. You will do it quite naturally +later. Do it deliberately at first, as a matter of training. + +_First step._--Measure the extreme height and breadth of the whole +group or object of your drawing, with accuracy, and mark each extreme. + +_Second step._--Outline the great mass of it with the simplest lines +possible. Give the general shape of the whole. This blocks it in. + +_Third step._--Measure each of the objects in the group, or the parts +most prominent, if it be a single object. Measure its height and +breadth, both in its own proportion and in proportion to the +dimensions of the other parts and of the whole. Enclose it in straight +lines as you did with the whole mass. + +_Fourth step._--Find the more important of the lesser proportions in +each object, and block them out also. This should map out your drawing +exactly and with some completeness. + +_Fifth step._--Lay in simple flat tones to fill in these outlines, +and keep the relations of light and dark very carefully as you do so. + +_Sixth step._--This should leave your paper with a few large masses of +dark and light, which can now be cut into again with the next smaller +masses, giving more refinement to the whole. This also should so break +up the edges as to get rid of any feeling of squareness or edginess. + +_Seventh step._--Put in such accents of dark, or take out such of +light, as will give necessary character and force to the drawing. + +I do not say that this method produces the most finished drawing; but +it is a most excellent way to study drawing, and, more or less +modified, is practically the basis of all methods. In practised hands +it allows of any amount of exactness or freedom of execution. I have +seen most beautiful work done in this way. + +=Home Study.=--It is not necessary to have a teacher in order to draw +well; but it is necessary to find out what are the essentials of good +drawing, and to work definitely and acquire them. + +Good drawing is a combination of exactness and freedom; and the +exactness must come first. The structure of the thing must be shown +without unnecessary detail. You should always look at any really good +drawing you can come at, and try to see what there may be in it of +helpful suggestion to you. + +[Illustration: =Drawing of Hands.= _Dürer._] + +=Study the Masters.=--Get photographs of drawings by the masters of +drawing, and study them. See how they searched their model for form +and character. Do not make so much of the actual stroke as the manner +in which it is made to express and lend itself to the meaning. + +In this drawing by Albrecht Dürer you have a splendid example of +exactness and feeling for character. You could have no better type of +what to look for and how to express it. Although it is not important +that you should lay on the lines of shading just as this is done, it +is important to notice how naturally they follow, and conform to, the +character of the surface--which is one of the ways in which the point +helps to search out the modelling. + +This drawing is made with a black and a white chalk on a gray ground; +a very good way to study. + +A good hint is also offered in this drawing, of the modesty of the old +masters, in subject. A hand or part of any object is enough to study +from. There is no need to always demand a picture in everything you +do. + +=Materials.=--For all purposes which come in the range of the painter +you should use charcoal. For purposes of study it is the most +satisfactory of materials; it is sensitive, easily controlled, and +easily corrected. For sketching or preliminary drawing on the canvas +it is equally good. + +You should have also a plumb-line with which to test vertical +positions of parts in relation to each other, and this, with the +pencil held horizontally for other relative positions, gives you all +you need in that direction. + +In drawing on the canvas it is not often necessary to do more than +place the various objects and draw their outlines carefully and +accurately. Sometimes, however, as in faces, or in pictures which +include important figures, you will need a shaded drawing, and this +can be done perfectly with charcoal, and fixed with fixative +afterwards. + +=Imitation.=--Perfect drawing, in the sense of exact drawing, is not +the most important thing. A drawing may be exact, and yet not be the +truer for it. It may be inexact, and yet be true to the greater +character. So, too, the drawing may have to change an accidental fact +which is not worth the trouble of expression or which will injure the +whole. There is something more important than detail, and the +essential characteristics can be expressed sometimes only by a drawing +which is deliberately false in certain things in order to be the more +true to the larger fact. + +Then, too, there is an individuality which the artist has to express +through his representation of the external; and he is justified in +altering or slighting facts in order to bring about that more +important self-expression. Of course the self must be worth +expressing. There is no excuse for mere falsification nor for mere +inability. But a good workman will not be guilty of that, and the +complete picture in its unity will be his justification for whatever +means he has taken. + +=Feeling.=--Drawing must be a matter of feeling. A perception of +essential truth of a thing, as much as of trained observation of the +facts. The good draughtsman becomes so by training his observation of +facts first, always searching for those most important, and +emphasizing those; and with the power which will come in time to his +eye and hand easily and quickly to grasp and express facts, will come +also the power of mind to grasp the essential characteristics. And the +trained hand and eye will permit the most perfect freedom of +expression. This is the desideratum of the student; this is the end to +be aimed at,--the perfect union of the trained eye and hand to see and +do, and the trained mind to feel and select, and the freedom of +expression which comes of that perfect union. + + + + + CHAPTER XVII + + VALUES + + +=The Term.=--The word "values" is seldom understood by the average +individual, yet it should not be difficult to take in. It means simply +the relation between degrees of strength of light and dark, and of +color considered as light and dark. Translate the word into +"importance," and think what it means. The relative importance, +strength, force, power, value, of a touch of color to make itself felt +in the whole--that is its value. A weak value is a note which does not +make itself felt; a strong value is one which does. A false value is a +touch of color which has not its proper relation to the other spots or +masses of color in the picture, _considered_ as _light and dark_--_not +as color per se_. + +=Importance.=--As soon as you grasp this idea you see at once how +important values must be to the whole picture. It is not possible to +do any good work, either in black and white or color, without it. In +one sense it is incidental to drawing. When you consider drawing as +the expression of modelling, the relative roundness of parts, and of +relief, as well as outline, values come into play to give the +relations of planes of light and dark in black and white. In this it +becomes part of drawing. + +=Values and Color.=--As soon, however, as color becomes a part of the +picture, values become the basis of modern painting as distinguished +from the painting of previous centuries. Values, of course, always +existed wherever good painting existed, because you cannot paint +without recognizing the relations, the relative pitch and relative +strength of tones. But the word is never heard in relation to old +masters. It is apparently of quite modern coinage and use, and it +probably was coined because of a new and greater importance of the +fact which it represents. + +The older painters in painting a picture kept parts of a whole +object--a head or a figure, say--in relation to itself; and that was +values--but restricted values. The whole picture was arranged on the +basis of arbitrary lighting, which entered into the scheme of +composition of that picture. This is not values, but what is generally +understood by the older writers when they speak of "chiaroscuro." The +modern painter deals little with chiaroscuro. It is almost obsolete as +a technical word. Arbitrary arrangement of light and shade in a +picture is not usual nowadays, and consequently the word which +expressed it has dropped somewhat into disuse. + +=Basis of Modern Painting.=--Instead of the old composition in +arbitrary light and shade, the modern painter accepts the actual +arrangement of light as the basis of his picture, and spreads the +values over the whole canvas. In this way the quality of "value" +becomes the very foundation of the modern picture. For you cannot +accept the ordinary or actual condition of light, as governing the +light and shade of your picture, without extending the same scheme of +relations over the whole canvas. Every most insignificant spot of +light and shade and color, as well as the most significant, must keep +its place, must hold its true relation to every other spot and to all +the rest. Each value must keep its place according to the laws of +fact, or it is out of touch with the whole. The whole picture must be +either on a scheme of general fact, or a scheme of general arbitrary +arrangement. Any one piece of arbitrary arrangement in this connection +must be backed up by other pieces of arbitrary arrangement, or else +there must be no arbitrary arrangement at all. The modern painter +accepts the former; and the importance of "values" is the result. + +=Absolute and Relative Values.=--We may speak of values as absolute or +relative. This relates to the key or pitch of a painting. It is the +contribution to the art of painting which was made by the French +painter, Manet. You may paint a picture in the same pitch as nature, +or you may transpose it to a higher or a lower pitch. + +The relations of the different values of the picture will hold the +same relation to each other as the values of nature do to each other. +But the actual pitch of each, the relation of each to an absolute +light or an absolute dark, will be higher or lower than in nature. +This would be relative values. + +Or the pitch, relation to absolute light and dark, of each value may +be the same, value for value, as in nature. This would be absolute +values. + +The attempt at absolute values was not made at all before Manet's +time. A landscape was frankly painted down, or darker, from the pitch +of nature, and an interior as frankly painted up, or lighter. In both +cases the values had to be condensed,--telescoped, so to +speak,--because pigment would not express the highest light nor the +lowest dark in nature; and to have the same number of gradations +between the highest and lowest notes in the picture, the amount of +difference between each value had to be diminished--but _relatively_ +they were the same. The degree of variation from the actual was the +same all through. + +With absolute values the painter aims at giving the _just note_,--the +exact equivalent in value that he finds in nature. He tries to paint +up to out-door light or paint down to in-door light. + +=Close Values.=--This naturally calls for a fine distinction of +tones--the utmost subtlety of perception of values. To paint a picture +in which the highest light may not be white nor the lowest dark black, +and yet give a great range and variety to the values all through the +picture, the values must be _close_; must be studied so closely as to +take cognizance of the slightest possible distinction, and to justly +express it. This sort of thing was not thought of by the older +painters. It is the distinguishing characteristic of modern painting. +It is a substitution of the study of _relation_ for the study of +_contrast_. + +=Study of Values.=--You see at once how important, how vital, the +study of values is to painting. Even if you paint with arbitrary +lighting, as is still done by many painters, especially in portraits, +you have to consider and study them as they apply to _parts_ of your +picture. You will find no good painter of old time who did not study +relations. If you look at a Velasquez, you will find that he knew +values, even though he did not use the word. + +But if you are in touch with your century, if you would paint to +express the suggestion you receive from the nature you study, or if +you would convey the idea of truth to the world around you, as that +world exists, frankly accepting the conditions of it, you will have to +make the study of values fundamental to your work. + +="The Fourth Dimension."=--You study values with your eyes only, but +you cannot _measure_ values. Length, breadth, and thickness you can +measure; but values constitute what might be called a "_Fourth +Dimension_," and you must measure it by your eye, and without any +mechanical aid. Your eye must be trained to distinguish and judge +differences of value. + +=Helps.=--There are, however, several things which you can use to help +you in training your eye to distinguish values. When you look for +values you do not wish to see details nor things, you wish to see only +masses and relations. You must _unfocus_ your eye. The focussed eye +sees the fact, and not the relation. Anything which will help you to +see outlines and details less distinctly will help you to see the +values more distinctly. + +=Half-closed Eyes.=--The most common way is to half close the eyes, +which shuts out details, but permits you to see the values. Some +painters think this falsifies pitch, and prefer to keep the eyes wide +open, but to focus them on some point _beyond_ the values they are +studying. This is not so easy to do as to half close the eyes, but +becomes less difficult with practice. + +=The Blur Glass.=--An ordinary magnifying-glass of about 15-inch +focus, which you can get at an optician's for fifteen or twenty cents, +will blur the details, and help you to see the values, because it +makes everything vague except the masses. You can frame it for use by +putting it between two pieces of cardboard with a hole in them, or you +can do the same with two pieces of leather sewed around the edge. Of +course the glass itself is all you need, but it will be easily broken +if unprotected. + +Do not try to look _through_ the glass at your subject, but _at_ the +glass and the image on it. + +=The Claude Loraine Mirror.=--This is a curved mirror with a black +reflecting surface. The object is reflected on it, _reduced_ both in +size and pitch. It concentrates the masses and the color, and so helps +to distinguish the relative values. + +You can make a mirror of this sort for yourself by painting the back +of a piece of plate glass black. The real Claude Loraine mirror is +expensive. + +=The Common Mirror= is also very helpful in distinguishing values. It +reduces the size of things, and reverses the drawing so that you see +your subject under different conditions, and a fresh eye is the +result. Place the group and your painting side by side, if you are +painting still life, and look at both at the same time in the mirror. +Do the same with a portrait and the sitter. + +=Diminishing Glass.=--Much the same effect can be had by using a +double concave lens. The picture is not reversed, but it is reduced, +and the details eliminated. + +In using any of these means you must remember that it is always the +relations and not the things you are studying; and the most useful of +these aids is the blur glass, because you cannot possibly see anything +in it but the values and color masses, everything else being blurred. + + + + + CHAPTER XVIII + + PERSPECTIVE + + +There are two kinds of perspective, linear and aërial. The former has +to do with the manner in which horizontal lines appear to converge as +they recede from the foreground, and so produce the effect of +distance. The latter has to do with the effect of distance, which is +due to the successive gradations of gray in color noticeable in +objects farther and farther away from the observer. + +=Aërial Perspective.=--To the student, aërial is _color_ perspective, +because of the modifications which colors undergo when removed to a +distance. Modifications of tone are largely due to varying distance, +and so aërial perspective is largely a matter of _values_. That they +are due to the greater or less thickness of the atmosphere is only a +matter of interest, not of importance, to the artist; the important +thing to him is that the careful study of values is necessary to +relief, perspective, and particularly, atmosphere and envelopment in a +picture. + +To the student, aërial perspective should be only a matter of +observation and of the study of relations of color and value. There +are no rules. The effect depends on greater or less density of +atmosphere. Near objects are seen through a thin stratum of air, and +farther objects through a thicker one. All you have to do to express +it is to recognize the relative tones of color. Paint the colors as +they are, as you see them in nature, and you need have no trouble with +aërial perspective. + +But though I say "this is all you have to do," don't imagine that I +mean that it is always easy, or that it can be done without thought +and study. You will have to use all your powers of perception if you +wish to do good work in this direction. Especially on clear days, or +in those climates where the air is so rare that objects at great +distances seem near, you will find that atmospheric perspective is +simply another name for close values. And close values, you remember, +are the most subtle of relations of light and shade and color. + +The only rule for aërial perspective is to use your eyes, and do +nothing without a previous careful study of nature. + +=Linear Perspective.=--For most kinds of painting, a technical +knowledge of linear perspective is not necessary, although every +painter should understand the general principles of it. In most cases +all the exactness needed can be obtained by comparing all lines +carefully with the pencil or brush handle held horizontally or +vertically, and studying the angle any line makes with it. Apply to +all objects in perspective the same observation that you do in any +other kind of drawing, and you will have little trouble, as long as +you are drawing from an object before you. But if you go into +perspective at all, go into it thoroughly. A little perspective is a +dangerous thing, and more likely to mix you up by suggesting all sorts +of half-understood things than to be of any real help. + +There are some kinds of subjects, however, which require a complete +knowledge of all the rules and processes of perspective. Whenever you +have to construct a picture from details stated but not seen; when you +have a complicated architectural interior or exterior; when figures +are to be placed at certain distances or in definite positions, and +they are too numerous or the conditions are otherwise such that you +cannot pose your models for this purpose; then you may have to make +most elaborate perspective plans, and lay out your picture with great +exactness, or the drawing which is fundamental to such a picture will +not be true. + +Such men as Gérôme and Alma-Tadema plan their pictures most carefully, +and so did Paul Veronese, and it requires a thorough and practical +knowledge of perspective. + +But this is not the place to teach you perspective. It is a subject +which requires special study, and whole volumes are given to the +elucidation of it. In a work of this kind anything more than a mention +of the bearings of perspective on painting would be out of place. If +you do not care to take up seriously the study of perspective, avoid +attempting to paint any subjects which call for it; or, if you do care +to study it, get a special work on that subject, give plenty of time +to it, and study it thoroughly. + +=Foreshortening.=--In this connection I may speak of something which +is akin to perspective, yet the very reverse of it. As its name +implies, foreshortening means the way in which anything seems +shortened or in modified drawing as it projects towards you; while +perspective is the manner in which lines appear as they recede from +you. Like aërial perspective, the best way to study foreshortening is +to study nature, not rules. + +Perspective can be worked out by rule, foreshortening cannot. Pose +your model, or if it be a branch of a tree, or anything of that sort, +place yourself in the proper position with reference to it, and then +study the drawing _as it appears_, thinking nothing of _how it is_; +make your measurements, and place your lines as if there were no +problem of foreshortening at all, but study the relations of lines, +of size, and of values, and the foreshortening will take care of +itself. + +After all, foreshortening is only good drawing, and a good draughtsman +will foreshorten well, while a bad draughtsman will not. Therefore, +learn to draw, and don't worry about the foreshortening. + + + + + CHAPTER XIX + + LIGHT AND SHADE + + +=Chiaroscuro.=--A few words about chiaroscuro will be useful. This is +a term of great importance and frequent use with artists and writers +up to within the last thirty or forty years. It has of late become +almost unused. The reason for this was explained in the chapter on +"Values." Nevertheless, it is well that the student should know what +the word meant, and still means. Although he may hear and use it less +frequently than if he had lived earlier in the century, the pictures, +certain qualities of which no other word expresses, still exist, and +are probably as immortal as anything in this world can be. He should +know what those qualities are, and he should understand their relation +to the work of to-day. + +Chiaroscuro is described by an old writer as suggesting "a theme which +is the most interesting, perhaps, in the whole range of the art of +painting. Of vast importance, great extent, and extreme intricacy. +Chiaroscuro is an Italian compound word whose two parts, _chiar_ and +_oscuro_, signify simply _bright_ and _obscure_, or _light_ and +_dark_. Hence the art or branch of art that bears the name regards +all the relations of light and shade, and this independently of +coloring, notwithstanding that in painting, coloring and the +clair-obscure are of their very nature inseparable. The art of +clair-obscure, therefore, teaches the painter the disposition and +arrangement in general of his lights and darks, with all their +degrees, extreme and intermediate, of tint and shade, both in single +objects, as the parts of a picture, and in combination as one whole, +so as to produce the best representation possible in the best manner +possible; that is, _so as to produce the most desirable effect upon +the senses and spirit of the observers_. In a word, its end and aim +are fidelity and beauty of imitation; its means, every effect of +light; chromatic harmonies and contrasts; chromatic values, +reflections; the degradations of atmospheric perspective, etc." The +italics are mine. + +You see at once that this covers a pretty wide field. But it is to be +again noted that the use of chiaroscuro by the old painters meant not +only the expression of the light and shade of nature, but the so +arranging of the objects and the way that the light was permitted to +fall on them, that certain parts of the picture became shadow, while +the light was concentrated in some other part or parts. In this way +the arrangement of the light and shade of a picture became a distinct +element of composition, and a very important one. The _quality_ of +"light" was something to be emphasized by contrast. It is stated +(whether truly or not) that the proportion of light to dark was +according to a definite rule or principle with certain painters, some +permitting more, and some less, space of canvas to be proportioned to +light and to dark. The gradations of light and dark were studied of +course; but the quantity of light spread over the canvas was +calculated upon, so that the less space of light and the greater the +space of dark, the more brilliant would be the main spot of light in +the picture. They wrought with the _quality of light and shade_ as an +_element_, just as they would with the quality of line or of color, +considered apart from objects or facts they might represent. + +=Arbitrary Lighting.=--This is the arbitrary light and shade spoken of +in the chapter on "Values"; and although the older painters included +what we now call values in their word chiaroscuro, it is this fact of +arbitrary lighting as opposed to accepting the light as it does fall, +or selecting those places or times where it does naturally fall as we +would like it to, that makes the difference between modern painting +generally and the older method, and has made chiaroscuro as a word and +as a quality of painting so much a thing of the past. + +=Light and Shade.=--But we may use the old word with a more +restricted meaning. If we use it to mean literally light and shade, +the way light falls on objects and the relief due to the light side +and the shadow side of them, we get a use which implies a very +important and practical matter for present study. + +[Illustration: =Eggs. White against White.=] + +=Objects Visible by Light and Shadow.=--If you will put a white egg on +a piece of white paper, with another white paper back of it, you will +see that it is only because the egg obstructs the light, the side of +it towards the light preventing the light rays from touching the other +side, and so casting a shadow on itself and on the paper, that the egg +is visible. You will also see, if you manipulate the egg, that +according as the light is concentrated or diffused, or according to +the sharpness of the shadow and light, is the egg more or less +distinct. + +=Contrast.=--Apply these facts to other objects, and you will see how +important the principle of contrast is to the representation of +nature. Not only contrast of light and shade, but contrast of color. +And you should make a study, both by setting up groups of objects in +different lights, and by studying effects of lights wherever you are, +of the possibilities and combinations of light and shadow. + +=Constant Observation.=--The painter is constantly studying with his +eyes. It is not necessary always to have the brush in your hand in +order to be always studying. Keep your brain active in making +observations and considering the relations in nature around you. The +amount of material you can store up in this way is immense, to say +nothing of the training it gives you in the use of your eyes, and in +the practice of selection of motives for work. Schemes of color or +composition are not usually deliberately invented within the painter's +brain. They are in most cases the result of some suggestion from a +chance effect noticed and remembered or jotted down, and afterwards +worked out. Nature is the great suggester. It is the artist's business +to catch the suggestion and make it his own. For nature seldom works +out her own suggestions. The effect as nature gives it is either not +complete, or is so evanescent as to be uncopyable. But the habit of +constant receptivity on the part of the artist makes nature an +infinite mine of possibilities to him. + +[Illustration: =The Canal.= _Burleigh Parkhurst._ +Effect of diffused out-door light to be compared with effect of studio +light in "Bohemian Woman," and artificial light in "Woman Sewing by +Lamplight."] + +=Perception.=--Only by continually observing and judging of contrasts +and relations can the eye be trained to perceive subtle distinctions; +yet it must be so trained, for all good work is dependent on these +distinctions. + +=Effects of Light.=--It is important to study the different qualities +of light. Take, for instance, the difference of character on a sunny +day and on a gray day. On the former, fine distinctions of color are +less pronounced; they are lost in the contrasts of sunlight and +shadow. On a gray day the light is diffused; contrast is less, but the +finer distinctions are more marked. For the study of the subtleties of +color choose a gray day. + +So, too, is the difference marked between the general light of +out-doors and the more concentrated light of the house. The pitch is +different. Outside, even in a dark day, the general character of light +is clearer, more full, than in-doors. + +There is nothing possible under the open sky like the strong contrasts +you get from a single window in an otherwise unlighted room. + +Compare, for instance, the character of the light and shade as shown +in the illustrations on pages 156 and 159. The one is the diffused, +out-of-door light, the other that from a studio window. The character +of the subject has nothing to do with this quality. The head would +have less of sharpness and contrast in the open air, and more +reflected light. + +Other differences to be studied as to quality of the light in the +manner of its contrast, and also for its color quality, are to be seen +in moonlight or nightlight as compared with daylight. Artificial +light, such as lamp- and candle-light, gives marked effects also, +which may be compared with daylight both as it is out-of-doors and in +its more concentrated effects in the studio. Compare the picture of +the "Woman Sewing by Lamplight," by Millet, with the "Canal" and the +"Bohemian Woman" given above. The effects of gas and electric light +also should be studied. Their characteristics both of contrast and, +particularly, of color are worth your attention as a student, inasmuch +as the essence of some pictures lies in these qualities. + +Another matter of great importance to the student, and one which the +same three illustrations just referred to may serve to show, is the +effect on objects of the position of the point of entrance of the +light with reference to them and to the observer. The simplest light +is the side-light from a single window. This gives broad, sharp masses +of light and shade, and makes the study of drawing and painting more +simple. With the observer in the same relative position to the +subject, as the light swings round towards a point back of him the +contrasts become less, the relations more subtle and difficult of +recognition, and naturally the study of them more difficult. In this +position of light the values become "close." To make the object seen +at all, it is necessary that the finest distinctions shall be +observed. + +[Illustration: =Bohemian Woman.= _Frans Hals._ +Effect of contrast of light and shade in studio to be compared with +diffused light of open air in the "Canal," and artificial light in +"Woman Sewing by Lamplight."] + +[Illustration: =Sewing by Lamplight.= _Millet._ +Effect of artificial light contrast to be compared with natural light +in illustrations of "Canal" and "Bohemian Woman."] + +[Illustration: =Descent from the Cross.=] + +Portrait painters have always been fond of a top light, which gives a +direct concentrated light descending on the sitter, very similar in +character to the side-light, but more favorable to the expression and +drawing of the face. + +=Cross Lights.=--The most confusing and difficult of study and +representation are the "_cross lights_." If there are several windows +or other points for the admission of light, and the sitter or object +painted is between them, the light comes from all sides, so that the +rays cross each other and there is no single scheme of light and +shade. The rays from one side modify the shadows cast from the other +side, and a perplexing and involved arrangement of values is the +result. This is a favorite technical problem with painters, and its +solution is splendid training; but the student who can successfully +solve it is not far from the end of his "student days." + + + + + CHAPTER XX + + COMPOSITION + + +=Importance.=--Composition is of the utmost importance. It is +impossible that a picture should be good without it. You may define it +as that study by means of which the balance of the picture comes +about. But you must understand the word balance in its broadest sense. +There is nothing in the planning of the picture which has not to be +considered in making the picture balance. + +The arrangement of the lines, of the forms, of the masses, and of the +colors must all be right if the composition be right. Composition is +the planning of the picture; and it is more or less complicated, more +or less to be carefully studied beforehand in exact accordance with +the simplicity or complication of the scheme of the picture. You may +not need more than the consideration of a few main facts. It may +almost be done by a few moments' deliberation in some simple studies +or even pictures. But even then there is possible the most subtle +discrimination of selection, and a perfect gem of composition may be +found in the arrangement of a picture having the simplest and fewest +elements. The more complicated the materials which are to be worked +into a picture, the more careful must be the previous planning; but, +for all that, the genius will find scope for his utmost powers in a +simple figure, just because the fewer the means, the more each single +thing can interfere with the balance of the whole, and the more a fine +choice will tell. + +=The Æsthetic.=--I have already mentioned briefly the æsthetic +elements of a picture. I have called to your attention that back of +the obvious facts of a subject and the objects in the picture, and the +theme which the painter makes his picture represent; back of the +technical processes and management of concrete material which make +painting possible, is the æsthetic purpose of the work of art; without +this it could not be a work of art at all: it would be merely a more +or less exact representation of something, a mere prosaic description, +the interest in which would lie wholly in the _fact_, and would perish +whenever interest in the fact should cease. It is not the _fact_, nor +even the able expression of the fact, which makes a work of art a +thing of interest and delight centuries after the bearing of the fact +has been forgotten. The perennial interest of a work of art lies in +the way in which the artist has used his ostensible theme, and all the +facts and objects appertaining to it, as a part of the material with +which he expresses those ideas which are purely æsthetic; which do not +rest on material things. These have to do with material things only by +rendering them beautiful, giving to them an interest which they +themselves could not otherwise have. + +=Theory.=--Does this sound unpractical? Well, it is unpractical. Does +it seem mere theory? It is theory. I want to impress it on you that it +is theory. For it is the theory which underlies art, and if you do not +understand it, you only understand art from the outside. Consciously +or unconsciously every artist works to express these purely æsthetic +qualities, and to a greater or less extent he expresses himself +through them. + +=Art for Art's Sake.=--This is the real meaning of the much-debated +phrase, "Art for art's sake." The mistake which leads to the +misconception and most of the discussion about it, is in confounding +"art for art's sake" with "technique for technique's sake," which is a +very different thing. Certainly every painter will work to attain the +most perfect technique he is capable of. But not for the sake of the +technique, but for what it will do. The better the technique the +better the control of all the means to expression. If you take +technique to mean only the understanding and knowledge of all the +manipulations of art, technique is only a means, and it is so that I +mean it to be understood here. If you broaden its meaning to include +all the _mental_ conceptions and means, that is another thing, and one +likely to lead to confusion of idea. So I use the word technique in +its strictest sense. + +=The Æsthetic Elements.=--What, then, are these æsthetic qualities I +have spoken of? Will you consider the quality of "line"? Not _a_ line, +but line as an element, excluding all the possible things which may be +done with lines in different relations to themselves and to other +elements. Now will you consider also the other elements, "mass" and +"color"? Do you see that here are three terms which suggest +possibilities of combination of infinite scope? and they are purely +intellectual. What may be done with them may be done, primarily, +without taking into consideration the representation of any material +fact whatsoever. Take as the type, conventional ornament. You can make +the most exquisite combinations, in which the only interest and charm +lies in the fact of those combinations in line and mass and color. + +Take architecture. Quite aside from the use of the building is the +æsthetic resultant from combinations of line and mass and color. + +And so in the picture the question of _art_, the question of æsthetic +entity, lies in the intellectual qualities of combinations of line and +mass and color which permeate through and through the technical and +material structure that you call the picture, and give it whatever +universal and permanent value it has, and which make it immortal, if +immortal it ever can be. + +=Composition.=--The bearing of all this on composition should be +obvious, for composition is the technique of combination. In the +composition of a picture all the elements come into play. It is in +composition that the management of the abstract results in the +concrete. + +Let us look at it from a more practical side. Frankly, there are +qualities, which you always look for in a picture,--good drawing, of +course, and good color. But there are such things as these: Harmony, +Balance, Rhythm, Grace, Impressiveness, Force, Dignity. Where do they +come from? Must not every good picture have them, or some of them, to +some extent? How are you going to get them? If you have fifteen or +twenty square feet or square yards of surface, you will not get them +onto it by unaided inspiration. Inspiration is, like any other +intellectual quality, quite logical, only it acts more quickly and +takes longer steps between conclusions perhaps. You will get these +qualities onto your canvas only by so arranging all the objects which +make up the body of your picture that these qualities shall be the +result. It is arrangement then. + +=Arrangement.=--But arrangement of what? how? The objects. But on some +principle back of them. Consider another set of qualities: proportion, +i.e., relative size; arrangement, relative position; contrast; +accent,--these are what you manipulate your objects with, and your +objects themselves are only line and mass and color in the concrete. +Objects, figures, bric-a-brac, draperies, houses and trees, skies and +mountains, and every and any other natural fact, you may consider as +so many bits of form and color with which you may work out a scheme on +canvas; and how you do it is to consider them as pawns in your game of +æsthetics. + +With these as materials, what you really do is to combine mass and +line and color by means of proportion, arrangement, contrast, and +accent, that a beautiful entity of harmony, balance, rhythm, grace, +dignity, and force may result. And this is composition. + +=No Rules.=--Naturally in dealing with a thing like this, which is the +very essence of art, rules are of very little use. Ability in +composition may be acquired when it is not natural, but it calls for a +continuous training of the sense of proportion and arrangement, just +as the development of any other ability calls for training. + +The best thing that you can do is to study good examples and try to +appreciate, not only their beauty, but how and why they are beautiful. +Cultivate your taste in that direction; and with the taste to like +good and dislike bad composition will come the feeling which tells you +when it is good and when it is bad, and this feeling you can apply to +your own work, and by experiment you will gain knowledge and skill. + +Rules are not possible simply because they are limitations, and the +true composer will always overstep a limitation of that kind, and with +a successful result. + +Principles of composition, too, must be variously adapted, according +to the kind of picture you have in hand. The principles are the same, +of course; but as the materials differ in a figure painting and a +landscape, for instance, you must apply them to meet that difference. + +=Suggestions.=--The first suggestion that might be made as a help to +the study of composition is to consider your picture as a whole +always. No matter how many figures, no matter how many groups, they +must all be considered as parts of a _whole_, which must have no +effect of being too much broken up. + +If the figures are scattered, they must be scattered in such a way +that they suggest a logical connection between them as individuals in +each group, and groups in a whole. There should usually be a main +mass, and the others subsidiary masses. There should be a centre of +interest of some sort, whether it be a color, a mass, or a thing; and +this centre should be the point to which all the other parts balance. + +=Simplicity= is a good word to have in mind. However complicated the +composition may seem superficially, you may treat it simply. You will +control it by not considering any part as of any importance in itself, +but only as it helps the whole; and you may strengthen or weaken that +part as you need to. Don't cut the thing up too much. Let a half a +dozen objects count as one in the whole. Mass things, simplify the +masses, and make the elements of the masses hold as only parts of +those masses. + +=Study placing= of things in different sizes relative to the size of +the canvas. Make sketches which take no note of anything but the +largest masses or the most important lines, and change them about till +they seem right; then break them up in the same way into their +details. Apply the _steps_ suggested for drawing to the study of +composition, searching for balance chiefly, or for some other quality +which is proper to composition. + +=Line.=--Each of the main elements of composition can be used as a +problem of arrangement. You can study _composition_ in line, in mass, +or in color. + +"The Golden Stairs," by Burne-Jones, is almost purely an arrangement +in _line_, and beautifully illustrates the use of this element as the +main æsthetic motive in a picture. + +[Illustration] + +Compare this composition in line with the "Descent from the Cross," in +which the _line_ is equally marked, but more complicated, and used in +connection with _mass_ to a much greater extent, and involved with +interrelations of chiaroscuro and color. Consider the effect which +each picture derives as a whole from this management of these +elements. The one emphasizing that of line, with the resultant of +rhythm and grace; the other balancing the elements, and so gaining +power and impressiveness. + +[Illustration: =The Sower.= _Millet._ +To show arrangement in mass and line, in which the mass gives weight +and dignity without weakening the emphasis of rhythm in the line.] + +Often the whole composition should be a balancing of the elements, as +in this case. But the emphasizing of one element will always emphasize +the characteristics to which those elements tend as the main +characteristic of the picture. + +Grace, rhythm, movement, come most naturally from arrangement chiefly +in _line_. If _mass_ comes into the picture, the masses may be +arranged to help the _line_, or to modify it. In "The Sower" the +management of mass is such as to give great dignity, and almost +solemnity, to the picture, yet not to take away from the rhythmic +swing and action of the figure which comes from line, but even to +emphasize it. Compare this in these respects with the lighter grace of +"The Golden Stairs" and the less unified movement, but greater +activity, of the "Descent from the Cross." + +Of course masses will come into the picture; but either the masses +themselves can be arranged into line, or there can be emphasis given +to lines which break up or modify the masses, so that the character of +the picture is governed by them. + +=Mass.=--In the arrangement of mass, light and shade and color are +effective. Smaller groups may be made into a larger one, and +individual objects also brought together, by grouping them in light or +in shade, or by giving them a common color. + +[Illustration: =Return to the Farm.= _Millet._ +To show the effect of mass in giving qualities of "scale" and "the +statuesque."] + +Weight, dignity, the statuesque, scale, are characteristics of _mass_. +Line in this connection only takes from the brusqueness that mass +alone would have, or helps to break up any tendency to monotony. The +"Return to the Farm," by Millet, shows this combination, the reverse +of "The Sower." In this, the _line_ is used to enrich the repose and +weight, the statuesque of the _mass_. In the other, the _mass_ gives +dignity and impressiveness to the grace and rhythm of the _line_. + +The color scheme of course will have an equal effect in the +emphasizing or modifying of the motive of line or mass. Color will not +only have an effect on it, but must be in sympathy with it, or the +balance will be lost. + +=Color.=--This is mainly where composition in color will come in. +Light and shade or chiaroscuro, as I explained in the last chapter, +are necessarily intimately connected with composition here. And you +never work in color or mass without working in light and shade also. +Of color itself I shall speak in the next chapter. It is only +necessary to point out the fact of connection here. Of course in +painting, all the elements are most closely related. Although it is +necessary to speak of them separately in the actual working out, you +keep them all in mind together, and so make them continually help and +modify each other. + +=A Principle.=--There is a well-established principle in architecture, +that you must never try to emphasize two proportions in one structure. +A hall may be long and narrow, but not both long and wide; in which +case the proportions would neutralize each other--you would have a +simple square, characterless. You may emphasize height or +breadth--not both, or you get the same negative character. + +So you may apply this principle more or less exactly to the +composition of a picture. Don't try to express too many things in one +picture, or if you do, let some one be the main thing, and all the +rest be subordinate to it. There is perhaps no law more rigid than the +one which denies success to any attempt to scatter force, effect, and +purpose. One main idea in each picture, and everything subordinated to +lend itself to the strengthening of that. + +To a certain extent this will apply to line and mass, though not +absolutely. As a rule, line or mass, one or the other, must be the +main element. + +=Leverage.=--I have often thought that much insight into the +principles of balance of masses, and of mass and line, could be gained +by thinking of it analogously to equilibrium in leverage. A small +mass, or a simple line or accent, may be made to balance a very much +greater mass. The greater part of a canvas may be one mass, and be +balanced by quite a small spot. But leverage must come in to help. +Somewhere in the picture will be the point of support, the fulcrum. +And the large mass and the small one will have an obvious relation +with reference to that point. Or the element of apparent density will +come in. The large mass will be the least dense, the small one the +most dense, and the equilibrium is established. For composition is but +the equilibrium of the picture, and equilibrium the picture must have. + +There are many rules as to placing of mass and arrangement of line, +but they are all more or less arbitrary and limiting in influence. +Individuality must and will ignore such rules, just because +composition deals chiefly with the abstract qualities rules will not +help. A fine feeling or perception of what is right is the only law, +and the trained eye is the only measure. As in values, so in +composition you must study relations in nature, and results in the +work of the masters, to train your eye to see; and you must sketch and +block in all sorts of combinations with your own hand, to give you +practical experience. + +=Scale.=--One point of great importance should be noticed. That is the +effect on the observer of the size of any main mass or object with +reference to the size of the canvas. This is analogous to what is +called _scale_ in architecture. + +If the mass or object is justly proportioned to the whole surface of +the canvas, and is treated in accordance with it, it will impose its +own scale on all other objects. You can make a figure impress the +observer as being life size, although it may really be only a few +inches long. A house or castle coming into the picture may be made to +give its scale to the surroundings, and make them seem small instead +of itself seeming merely an object in a picture. This will be due to +the _placing_ of it on the canvas, largely, and more in this than in +anything else. The manner of painting will also lend importantly to +it; for an object to appear big must not be drawn nor painted in a +little manner. + +The placing of objects of a known size near, to give scale, is a +useless expedient in such a case. At times it may be successful, often +of use; but if the scale of the main object is false, the other object +of known size, instead of giving size to the main one, as it is +intended to do, will be itself dwarfed by it. + +=Placing.=--This matter of placing is one which you should constantly +practise. Make it a regular study when you are sketching from nature. +Try to concentrate in your sketches so as to help your study of +composition. In making a sketch, look for one main effect, and often +have that effect the importance of some object, studying to give it +_scale_ by the placing and the treatment of it, and its relation to +the things surrounding it in nature and on the canvas. In this way you +will be studying composition in a most practical way. + +=Still Life.=--For practical study of composition, the most useful +materials you can have are to be found in still life. Nowhere can you +have so great freedom of arrangement in the concrete. You can take as +many actual objects as you please, and place them in all sorts of +relations to each other, studying their effect as to grouping; and so +study most tangibly the principles as well as the practice of bringing +together line and mass and color as elements, through the means of +actual objects. This you should constantly do, till composition is no +more an abstract thing, but a practical study in which you may work +out freely and visibly intellectual æsthetic ideas almost +unconsciously, and train your eye to see instinctively the +possibilities of all sorts of compositions, and to correct the +falsities of accidental combinations. + +=Don't Attempt too much.=--Don't be too ambitious. Begin with simple +arrangements, and add to them, studying the structure of each new +combination and grouping. When you are going to paint, remember that +too much of an undertaking will not give you any more beauty in the +picture, and may lead to discouragement. + +In the Chapter on "Still Life" I will explain more practically the +means you may take, and how you may take them, to the end of making +composition a practical study to you. + + + + + CHAPTER XXI + + COLOR + + +The subject of color naturally divides, for the painter, into two +branches,--color as a _quality_, and color as _material_. Considered +in the former class, it divides into an abstract a theoretical and a +scientific subject; considered in the latter, it is a material and +technical one. The material and technical side has been treated of in +the Chapter on "Pigments." In this chapter we will have to do with +color considered as an æsthetic element. + +=The Abstract.=--The quality of _color_ is the third of the great +elements or qualities, through the management of which the painter +works æsthetically. + +Just as he uses all the material elements of his picture as the means +of making concrete and visible those combinations of line and mass +which go to the making of the æsthetic structure, so he uses these in +the expression of the ideal in combinations of color. In this relation +nothing stands to him for what it is, but for what it may be made to +do for the color-scheme of his picture. If he wants a certain red in a +certain place, he wants it because it is red, and it makes little +difference to him, _thinking in color_, whether that red note is +actually made by a file of red-coated soldiers, by a scarlet ribbon, +or by a lobster. The scarlet spot is what he is thinking of, and what +object most naturally and rightly gives it to him is a matter to be +decided by the demands of the subject of the picture; and its fitness +as to that is the only thing which has any influence beyond the main +fact that red color is needed at that point. If he were a designer of +conventional ornament, the color problem would be the same. At that +point a spot of red would be needed, and a spot of paint would do it. +The painter thinks in color the same way, but he expresses himself in +different materials. + +=The Ideal.=--This is the reason that a still-life painting is as +interesting to a painter as a subject which to another finds its great +interest in the telling of a story. To the painter the story, or the +objects which tell it, are of minor importance. That the picture is +beautiful in color is what moves him. As composition and color the +thing is an admirable piece of æsthetic thinking and æsthetic +expression, and so gives him a purely æsthetic delight; and the +technical process is secondary with him, interesting only because he +is a technician. The representation of the objects incidental to the +subject is as incidental to his interest, as it is to the picture +considered as an æsthetic thought. + +This is what the layman finds it so impossible to take into his mental +consciousness. And it is probable that many painters do not so +distinguish their artistic point of view from their human point of +view. But consciously or unconsciously the painter does think in these +terms of color, line, and mass when he is working out his picture; and +whether he admits it to himself or not, these characteristics are the +great influencing facts in his judgment of pictures, as well as in the +growth and permanency of his own fame. That is why a great popular +reputation dies so rapidly in many instances. The æsthetic qualities +of the man's work are the only ones which can insure a permanent +reputation for that work; for the art of painting is fundamentally +æsthetic, and nothing external to that can give it an artistic value. +Without that its popularity and fame are only matters of accidental +coincidence with popular taste. + +If a painter is really great in the power of conception and of +expression of any of the great æsthetic elements, his work will be +permanently great. It will be acknowledged to be so by the consensus +of the world's opinion in the long run; nothing else can make it so, +and nothing but obliteration can prevent it. + +I am explicit in stating these ideas, not because I expect that you +will learn from this book to be a great master of the æsthetic, but +because I am assured that you can never be a painter unless you +understand a painter's true problems. You must be able to know a good +picture in order to make a good picture, and however little you try +for, your work will be the better for having a painter's way of +looking at a painter's work. The technical problems are the control of +the materials of expression. The painter must have that control. The +student's business is to attain that control, and then he has the +means to convey his ideas. But those ideas, if he be a true painter, +are not ideas of history or of fiction, but ideas of line and mass and +color, and of their combinations. + +=The Color Sense.=--Therefore color is a thing to be striven for for +its own sake. Good color is a value in itself. You may not have the +genius to be a good colorist, but you need not be a bad one; for the +color sense can be definitely acquired. I will not say that color +initiative can always be acquired; but the power to perceive and to +judge good color can be, and it will go far towards the making of a +good painter, even of a great one. + +I knew one painter who came near to greatness, and near to greatness +as a colorist, who in twelve years trained his eye and feeling from a +very inferior perception of color to the power which, as I say, came +near to greatness. He was an able painter and a well-trained one +before that; but in this direction he was deficient, and he +deliberately set about it to educate that side of himself, with the +result I have stated. How did he do it? Simply by recognizing where he +needed training, and working constantly from nature to perceive fine +distinctions of tone; and by careful and severe self-criticism. Summer +after summer he went out-doors and worked with colors and canvas to +study out certain problems. Every year he set himself mainly one +problem to solve. This year it might be luminosity; next it might be +the domination of a certain color; another year the just +discrimination of tones--and he became a most exquisite colorist. + +So, as I knew his work before and after this self-training, and as I +know personally of the means he took to attain his purpose, I think I +can speak positively of the fact that such development of the color +sense is possible. + +=Taste.=--It is well to remember that taste in color is not dependent +on personal judgment alone; that what is good and what is bad in color +does not rest on mere opinion. That a good colorist's idea of color +does not agree with your own is not a matter of mere whim or liking, +in which you have quite as good a right to your opinion as he has to +his. The colorist, it is true, does not produce or judge of color by +rule. He works from his feeling of what is right. But there is a law +back of his taste and feeling. The laws of color harmony are +definite, and have been definitely studied and definitely calculated. +Color depends for its existence on waves of vibration of rays of +light, just as sound is dependent on sound waves. + +=Color Waves.=--These waves of light give sensations of color which +vary with the rapidity or length of the wave, and certain combinations +of wave lengths will be harmonious (beautiful), and others will not +be. This is a matter of scientific fact; it is not a notion. The +mathematical relations of color waves have been calculated as +accurately as the relations of sound waves have been. It is possible +to make combinations of mathematical figures which shall represent a +series of harmonious color waves. And it is possible to measure the +waves radiated from a piece of bad coloring and prove them, +_mathematically_, to be bad color. + +It is a satisfaction to the artist to know that this is so; because +although he will never compose color-schemes by the aid of +mathematics, it gives him solid ground to stand on, and it diminishes +the assurance of the man who claims the right to assert his opinion on +color because "one man's taste is as good as another's." It is also +encouraging to the student to know it, because he then knows that +there is a definite knowledge, and not a personal idiosyncrasy, on +which he can found his attempts to cultivate this side of his artistic +life. + +=Color Composition.=--The artist's problem in color composition is +analogous to that of line and mass, but is of course governed by +conditions peculiar to it. The qualities which derive from line and +mass are emphasized or modified by the management of color in relation +to them. The painter in this direction uses the three elements +together. Contrast and accent are attributes of color. Dignity and +weight, as well as certain emotional qualities, such as vivacity and +sombreness, may give the key to the picture in accordance with the +arrangement of its color-scheme. + +The mass may be simplified and strengthened, or broken up and +lightened, by the color of the forms in it. By massing groups of +objects in the same color, or by introducing different colors in the +different forms in the same group, the mass is emphasized or weakened. +So in line, the same color in repetition will carry the line through a +series of otherwise isolated forms, and effect the emphasis of line. +Masses can be strung into line, like beads, on a thread of color. In +the great compositions of the old Venetian painters this marshalling +of color groups constituted a principal element. The decorative unity +of these great canvases could have been possible in no other way. + +As I have said, the key of the color-scheme has a direct emotional +effect, so adding to the power and dignity or the grace and +lightsomeness of the composition. The analogy between color and +imagination is marked. Certain temperaments instinctively express +their ideals through color. To the painter color may be an +all-influencing power; it is the glory of painting. + +Drawing appeals to the intellect, but color speaks directly to the +emotions, and conveys at a glance the idea which is re-enforced +through the slower intellectual perception of the meaning of forms. In +some unexplained way it expresses to the observer the temperamental +mood; the joyousness, the severity or agitation which was the cause of +its conception. In this strange but direct manner the color note aids +the expression by line and mass of the æsthetic emotion which is the +meaning of the painter's thought. + +=Key.=--The key, then, is an important part of the picture. The very +terms _warm_ and _cold_ applied to colors suggest what may be done by +color arrangement. The _pitch_ of the picture places it, in the +emotional scale. + +=Tone.=--Tone is harmony; the perfect balance of color in all parts of +the picture. Fine color always means the presence, in all the color of +the picture, of all the three primaries in greater or less proportion. +Leave one color out in some proportion, and you have just so much less +of a balance. I do not mean that some touch may not be pure color. On +the contrary, the whole picture may be built up of touches of pure +color. But the balance of color must be made then by touches of the +different colors balancing each other, not only all over the picture, +but in each part of it, to avoid crudity or over-proportion of any +color. Generally the color scheme is dominated by some one color: +which means that every touch of color on the canvas is modified to +some extent by the presence of that color, keeping the whole in key. +Each color retains its personal quality, but the quality of the +dominant color is felt in it. + +=False Tone.=--This is not to be attained by painting the picture +regardless of color relations, and then glazing or scumbling some +color all over the whole. This is the false tone of some of the older +historical painters, particularly of the English school of the earlier +part of this century. They "painted" the picture, and then just before +exhibiting it "toned" it by glazing it all over with a large brush and +some transparent pigment, generally bitumen. This did, in fact, bring +the picture in tone after a fashion. But it is not a colorist's +method. It is the rule of thumb method of a false technique and a +vicious color sense. True tone is not something put onto the picture +after it is painted. It is an inherent part of its color conception, +and is worked into it while the picture is being painted, and grows to +perfection with the growth of the picture. It is of the very essence +of the picture. It is the dominant balance of color qualities; the +result of a perfect appreciation of the value of every color spot +which goes to the expression of the artist's thought. + +In one sense it is the same as _atmosphere_ in that the tonality of +the picture is the atmosphere which pervades it. It may perhaps be +best described by saying that it is that combination of color which +gives to the picture the effect of every object and part in it having +been seen under the same conditions of atmosphere; having been seen at +the same time, with the same modification, and with the same degree +and quality of light vibration. Tone is _color value_ as distinguished +from value as degree of power as light and shade; and in this is the +perfection of subtlety of color feeling. + +=Tone Painters and Colorists.=--Some painters have been called "tone +painters," while others have been called "colorists;" not that tone +painters are not colorists, but that there is a difference. It is a +difference of aim, a difference of desire. Those painters who are +usually called colorists, like Titian and Rubens, are in love with the +richness and power of the color gamut. They are full of the splendor +of color. They paint in full key, however balanced the canvas. Each +note of color tells for its full power. Their stop is the open +diapason, and their harmony is the harmony of large intervals and full +chords. + +The tone painter deals with close intervals. He is in love with subtle +harmonies. What he loves is the essence of the color quality, and not +its splendor. With the closest range he can give all possible +half-tones and shades and modulations of color, yet never exceed the +gray note perhaps; never once go to the full extent of his +palette-power. + +The utmost delicacy of perception and feeling, and the most perfect +command of materials and of values, are necessary to such a painter. +Above all, is he the "painter's painter," for the infinite subtlety +and the exquisiteness of power are his. And yet this is the thing +least appreciated by the lay mind, the most difficult to encompass, +and requiring the most knowledge to appreciate. + +=Scientific Color.=--To the scientist color is simply the irritation +of the nerves of the retina of the eye by the waves of light. +Different wave lengths give different color sensations. It is the +generally accepted theory now that there are three primary sensations; +that is, that the eye is sensitive to three kinds of color, and that +all other shades and varieties of color are the results of mingling or +overlapping of the waves which produce those three colors, and +irritating more or less the nerves sensitive to each color +simultaneously. These three primary colors are now stated to be red, +blue, and _green_. The older idea was that they were red, blue, and +_yellow_; and was based on experiments with pigments. Pigments do give +these results; for a mixture of blue and yellow _pigment_ will give +green, and a mixture of red and green _pigment_ will not give yellow, +while the reverse is the fact with _light_. + +White light is composed of all the colors. And the white light may be +broken up (separated by refraction or the turning aside of light rays +from their true course) into the colors of the rainbow, which is +itself only this same decomposition of light by atmospheric +refraction. Black is the absence of light, and consequently of color. +This is not the case with pigment, for pure pigment has never been +produced. The pigment simply reflects light rays which fall on it; +that is, pigments have the power of absorbing, and so rendering +invisible, certain of the rays which, combined, make up the white +light which illumines them; and of transmitting others to the eye by +reflection. We see, that is, our nerves of sight are irritated by, +those rays which are not absorbed, but which are reflected. + +All pigment is more or less absorbent of color rays, and more or less +reflective of them; certain color rays being absorbed by a pigment, +and certain other rays being reflected by it. The pigment is named +according to those rays which it reflects. As a color-producing +substance, then, the pigment is practically a mirror reflecting color +rays. But a true mirror would reflect all rays unmodified. If we could +paint with mirrors, each of which would reflect its own color +_unsullied_, we could do what the scientist does with light; but the +painter deals with an imperfect mirror which gives no color rays back +unsullied by rays of another class, and so our results cannot be the +same as the scientist's. So that just in accordance with the degree of +purity of transmitting power of a pigment will be the purity of the +color which we get by its use. But absolute purity of pigment we +cannot get, so we cannot deal with it as we do with light, and we deal +with a practical fact rather than a scientific fact, as painters. + +=Primaries and Secondaries.=--As all the other shades of color are +produced by the combinations (over-lappings) of the waves or +vibrations in the light rays from the primary colors, we have a series +of colors called secondaries, because they are made up of the rays of +any two of the three primaries: as purple, which is a combination of +blue and red. When dealing with _light_ the secondaries are: shades of +violet and purple from red and blue; shades of orange red, orange, +orange yellow, yellow, and yellowish green from red and green; and +bluish green and greenish blue from blue and green--the character of +the color being decided by the proportions of the primaries in the +mixture. + +These conclusions have been reached mainly through experiments in +white light. The primaries so obtained do not hold good with pigment, +as I have stated, but the principles do. It will avoid confusion if I +speak hereafter of the combinations as they occur with pigment, it +being borne in mind that it is a practical fact that we are dealing +with rather than a scientific one. + +In dealing with _pigment_ the primaries are red, blue, and _yellow_, +not _green_. Of course the secondaries are also changed; and we have +purple and violet shades from red and blue, orange from red and +_yellow_, and green from blue and yellow--all of which vary in shade +with the proportion of the mixture of the primaries, as is the case +with light. + +=Tertiaries.=--Another class of shades or colors is called _tertiary_, +or third; for they are mixtures of all the three primaries, or of a +primary with a secondary which does not result from mixture with that +primary. Tertiaries are all _grays_, and grays are practically always +tertiaries. If you keep this in mind as a technical fact, it will help +you in management of color. Grays are, to the painter, always +combinations of color which include the three primaries. The usual +idea is that gray is more or less of a negation of color. This is not +so. Gray is the balancing of all color, so that any true harmony of +color, however rich it may be, is always quiet in effect as a whole; +that is, grayish--good color is never garish. It is very important +that the painter should understand this characteristic of color. You +cannot be too familiar with the management of grays. If you try to +make your grays with negative colors, you will not produce harmonious +color, but negative color, and negative color is only a shirking of +the true problem. Grays made of mixtures of pure colors, balancings of +primaries and secondaries, that is, modifications of the tertiaries, +are quite as quiet in effect and quite as beautiful as any, but they +are also more luminous; they are _live_ color instead of _dead_ color. +Grays made by mixing black with everything are the reverse, and should +not be used except when you use black as a color (which it is in +_pigment_), giving a certain color quality to the gray that results +from it. + +=Complementary Colors.=--Two colors are said to be complementary to +each other when they together contain the three primaries in equal +strength. Green, for instance, is the complementary of red, for it +contains yellow and blue; orange (yellow and red) is complementary to +blue; and purple (red and blue) is complementary to yellow. + +The knowledge of complements of colors is very important to the +painter, for all the effects of color contrast and color harmony are +due to this. Complementary colors, in mass, side by side, contrast. +The greatest possible contrast is that of the complementaries. + +Complementary colors mixed, or so placed that small portions of them +are side by side, as in hatching or stippling, give the tertiaries or +grays by the mixing of the rays. + +=The Law of Color Contrast.=--"When two dissimilar colors are placed +in contiguity, they are always modified in such a manner as to +increase their dissimilarity." + +=Warm and Cold Colors.=--Red and yellow are called warm colors, and +blue is called a cold color. This is not that the color is really cold +or warm, of course, but that they convey the impression of warmth and +coldness. It is mainly due to association probably, for those things +which are warm contain a large proportion of yellow or red, and those +which are cold contain more blue. There is a predominance of cold +color in winter and of the warm colors in summer. + +From the primaries various degrees of warmth and coldness characterize +the secondaries and tertiaries, as they contain more or less +proportionately of the warm or cold primaries. + +In contrasting colors these qualities have great effect. + +=Color Juxtaposition.=--In studying the facts of color contrast and +color juxtaposition you will find that two pigments, if mixed in the +ordinary way, will have one effect; and the same pigments in the same +proportions, mixed not by stirring them into one mass, but by laying +separate spots or lines of the pigment side by side, produce quite +another. The gain in brilliancy by the latter mode of mixing is great, +because you have mixed the _color rays_, which are really light rays, +instead of mixing the _pigment_ as in the usual way. You have really +mixed the color by mixing _light_ as far as it is possible to do it +with pigment. You have taken advantage of all the light reflecting +power of the pigment on which the color effect depends. Each pigment, +being nearly pure, reflects the rays of color peculiar to it, +unaffected by the neutralizing effect of another color mixed with it; +while the neutralizing power of the other color being side by side +with it, the waves or vibrations of the color rays blend by +overlapping as they come side by side to the eye; and so the color, +made up of the two waves as they blend, is so much more vibrant and +full of life. + +="Yellow and Purple."=--It is this principle which is the cause of the +peculiarity in the technique of certain "Impressionist" painters. The +"yellow lights and purple shadows" is only placing by the side of a +color that color which will be most effective in forcing its note. + +Brilliancy is what these men are after, and they get it by the study +of the law of color contrast and color juxtaposition. The effect of +complementaries in color contrast is what you must study for this, for +the theory of it. For the practice of it, study carefully and +faithfully the actual colors in nature, and try to see what are the +real notes, what the really component colors, of any color contrast or +light contrast which you see. Purple shadows and yellow light +re-enforcing each other you will find to exist constantly in nature. +Refine your color perception, and you will be able to get the result +without the obviousness of the means which has brought down the +condemnation on it. Closer study of the relations is the way to find +the art of concealing art. + +But yellow and purple are not the only complementaries. All through +the range of color, the secondaries and tertiaries as well as the +primaries, this principle of complement plays a part. There is no +color effect you can use in painting which does not have to do, more +or less, with the placing of the complementary color in mass, to +emphasize; or mixed through to neutralize, the force of it. Train your +eyes to see what the color is which makes the effect. Analyze it, see +the parts in the thing, so that you may get the thing in the same way, +if you would get it of the same force as in nature. + +=Practical Color.=--All these theoretical ideas as to color have their +relation to the actual handling of pigment, which is the craft of the +painter. The facts of contrasting and harmonizing color relation have +a practical bearing on the painter's work, both in what he is to +express and how he is to do it; as to his conception of a picture and +his representation of facts. In his conception he must deal with the +possibilities of effect of color on color. The power of one color to +strengthen the personal hue of another, or its power to modify that +hue, is a fact bearing on whether the color in the picture is the true +image of the color he has seen in his mind. In the same degree must +this possibility affect his representation of actual objects. + +The greatest possibilities of luminosity in sunlight or atmospheric +effects come from the power to produce vibration by cool contrasted +with warm color. You will find that a red is not so rich in any +position as when you place its complementary near it. At times you +will find it impossible to get the snap and sparkle to a +scarlet--cannot make it carry, cannot make it felt in your picture as +you want it without placing a touch of purple, perhaps, just beside +it; to place near by a darker note will not have the same effect. It +is the contrast of color vibration, not the contrast of light and +shade, which gives the life. And at the same time that you enhance the +brilliancy of the several notes of color in the picture, you harmonize +the whole. For the mosaic of color spots all over the canvas brings +about the balance of color in the composition, and harmony is the +result. + +=Study Relations.=--You must constantly study the actual relations of +color in nature. You will find, if you look for it, that always, just +where in art you would need a touch of the complementary for strength +or for harmony, nature has put it there. She does it so subtly that +only a close observer would suspect it. But the thing is there, and it +is your business to be the close observer who sees it, both for your +training as a colorist, and your use as an interpreter of nature's +beauties. It is your business to see subtly, for nature uses colors +subtly. The note sparkles in nature, but you do not notice the +complementary color near it. Can you not also place the complementary +color so that it is not seen, but its influence on the important color +is felt? It is by searching out these _finesses_ of nature that you +train your eye. You must actually see these colors. At first you may +only know that they must be there because the effect is there. But +your eye is capable of actually recognizing them themselves, and you +are no painter till it can. The theoretical knowledge is and should be +a help to you, but the actual power of sight is most important. A +painter may use theoretical knowledge to help his self-training, but +power of eye he must have as the result of that training. The +instantaneous recognition of facts and relations, the immediate and +perfect union of eye and thought, are what make that intuitive +perception which is the true feeling of the artist. + +Work this out with eye and palette. Study the color and its relation +in nature, and study its analogy in the pigment touches on the canvas. + +=The Palette.=--You try to attain nature's effects of light with +pigment. Pigment is less pure than light. You cannot have the same +scale, the same range, but you must do the best you can, and the +arrangement of your palette will help you. As you have not a perfect +blue, a perfect red, and a perfect yellow, you must have two colors +for one. Your paints will always be more or less impurely primary. No +one red will make a pure purple with blue, and an equally pure orange +with yellow. Yet pure purple and pure orange you must be able to make. +Have, then, both a yellowish or orange red and a bluish or purplish +red on your palette. Do the same with blue and yellow. In this way you +can not only get approximately pure secondaries when you need them, +but the primaries themselves lean somewhat towards the secondaries, so +that you can make very delicate combinations with pure colors. A +bluish yellow and a yellowish blue, for instance, will make a rather +positive green. By using a reddish yellow and a bluish or purplish +red, you practically bring in the red note, and make a grayer green +while still using only two pigments. + +So, too, you get similar control of effects by the use of opaque or +transparent pigments, the transparent ones tending to richness, the +opaque to dulness of color. Various processes in the manner of laying +on paint bring about these different qualities, and will be spoken of +in the chapter on "Processes." + +Classify your pigments in your mind in accordance with these +characteristics. Think of the ochres, for instance, as mainly opaque, +and as yellows tending to the reddish. With any blue they make gray +greens because of the latter quality, and they make gray oranges with +red because of the dulness of their opacity and body. For richer +greens think of the lighter chromes and cadmium yellows or citrons; +and for the richer oranges, the deeper cadmiums and chromes. With +reds, work the same way, scarlet or orange vermilions for one side of +the scale, and the Chinese or bluish vermilion on the other side. The +deeper and heavier reds fall in line the same way. Indian red is +bluish, light red and Venetian red are yellowish. + + + + + PART IV + + PRACTICAL APPLICATION + + + + + CHAPTER XXII + + REPRESENTATION + + +Although much has been said about the theoretical and abstract side of +painting, and the importance of the æsthetic elements in art have been +insisted upon, it is not to be supposed for a moment that painting +does not deal with actual things. All painting which is not purely +conventional must deal with and represent nature and natural facts. +These are the body of the picture; the æsthetic elements are the heart +of it. I believe that it is important that you should know that there +is that side to painting, and should have some insight into it; that +you should see that there is something else to think of than the +imitation of natural objects. I would have you think more nobly of +painting than to believe that "the greatest imitation is the greatest +art." Beneath the imitation of the obvious facts of nature are the +deeper facts and truths, and in and through these may you express +those qualities of intellectual creation by means of which only, +painting is not a craft, but an art. + +But for all that, painting does, and always must, deal with those +obvious facts; and however much you may give your mind to the problems +of composition and color, you must base it on a foundation of ability +to represent what you see. Represent well the external objects, and +you are in a position to interpret the spirit of them. For as nature +only manifests her inner spirit through her outward forms and facts, +you must be able to paint these well before you can do anything else. + +The intellectual action which perceives and constructs is the art, the +skill which represents and reproduces is the science, of painting. + +Painting is the art of expression in color. The fact of color rather +than form is the fundamental characteristic of it. The use of pigment +rather than other materials is implied in its name. Therefore the +science of painting deals with the materials with which to produce on +canvas all manner of visible color combinations; and those processes +of manipulation which make possible the representation of all the +facts of color and light, of substance and texture, through which +nature manifests herself. + +It is not enough to have the pigment, nor even that it should get +itself onto the canvas. Different characteristics call for different +management of paint. Luminosity of light and sombreness of shadow will +not be expressed by the same color, put on in the same way. Different +forms and surfaces and objects demand different treatment. The +science of painting must deal with all these. + +It has been said that there are as many ways of painting as there are +painters. Certainly there are as many ways as there are men of any +originality. For however a painter has been trained, whatever the +methods which he has been taught to use, he will always change them, +more or less, in adapting them to his own purposes. And as the main +intent of the art of an epoch or period differs from that of a +previous one, so the manner of laying on paint will change to meet the +needs of that difference. The manner of painting to-day is very +different from that of other times. Some of the old processes are +looked upon by the modern man as quite beneath his recognition. Yet +these same methods are necessary to certain qualities, and if the +modern man does not use or approve of those methods, it is because he +is not especially interested in the qualities which they are necessary +to. + +There is probably no one statement which all fair-minded painters will +more willingly acquiesce in, than one which affirms that the method by +which the result is attained is unimportant, provided that the result +_is_ attained, and that it is one worth attaining. Every man will, +whether it is right or not, use those methods which most surely and +completely bring about the expression of the thing he wishes to +express. In the face of this fact, and of the many acknowledged +masterpieces, every one of which was painted in defiance of some rule +some time or other alleged to be the only right one, it is not +possible to prescribe or proscribe anything in the direction of the +manipulation of colors. The result _must_ be right, and if it is, it +justifies the means. If it be not right, the thing is worthless, no +matter how perfectly according to rule the process may be. As Hunt +said, "What do I care about the grammar if you've got something to +say?" The important thing is to say something, and if you do really +say something, and do really completely and precisely express it, as +far as a painter is concerned it will be grammatical. If not to-day, +the grammar will come round to it to-morrow. Henry Ward Beecher is +reported to have answered to a criticism on grammatical slips in the +heat of eloquence, "Young man, if the English language gets in the way +of the expression of my thought, so much the worse for the English +language!" In painting, at any rate, the _complete_ expression of +thought _is_ grammatical, and if not, so much the worse for the +grammarians. + +=Try Everything.=--Know, then, all you can about all the ways of +manipulating paint that have ever been used. Use any or all of those +ways as you find them needful or helpful. There is none which has not +the authority of a master behind it, and though another master may +decry it, it is because, being a master, he claims the very right he +denies to you. + +Experiment with all; but never use any method for the sake of the +method, but only for what it is capable of doing for you in helping +expression. + +=Safety.=--The only real rule as to what to use and what not, applies +to the effect on the permanence of your canvas. Never use pigments +which will fade; nor in such a way that they will cause others to +fade. Avoid all such using of materials as you know will make your +picture crack, or in any other way bring about its deterioration. + +=Good Painting.=--But for all I have just said, there is an +acknowledged basis of what is good painting. If any man or school lays +on paint in a frank, direct way, getting the effect by sheer force of +putting on the right color in just the right place, with no tricks nor +affectations, that is good painting; and the more simple, direct, and +frank the manner of handling, the better the painting. + +Let us understand what direct painting is first, and then consider +varieties of handling. For whatever may be the subsequent +manipulations, the picture is generally "laid in" with the most direct +possible manner of laying on paint, and the other processes are mainly +to modify or to further and strengthen the effect suggested in the +first painting. And generally, also, in all sketches and studies +which are preliminary preparations for the picture, the most direct +painting is used, and the various processes are reserved for working +out more subtle effects on the final canvas. + +=Old Dutch Painting.=--Probably there are no better examples of frank +painting than the works of the old Dutchmen. You should study them +whenever you have a chance. Waiving all discussion as to the æsthetic +qualities of their work,--as _painters_, as masters of the craft of +laying on paint, they are unexcelled. And in most cases, too, they +possessed the art of concealing their art. You will have to use the +closest observation to discover the exact means they used to get the +subtle tones and atmospheric effects. + +The only obvious quality is the perfect understanding and skill of +their brush-work. In the smoothest as well as in the roughest of their +work, you can note how perfectly the brush searches the modelling, and +with the most exquisite expressiveness and perfect frankness, follows +the structural lines. No doubt there were often paintings, glazings, +and scumblings; but they always furthered the meaning of the first +painting, and never in the least interfered with or obscured the +effect of _naïveté_, of candor of workmanship. + +It is, however, this simple and sincere brush-work that you should +strive to attain as the basis of your painting. Learn to express +drawing with your brush, and to place at once and without indecision +or timidity the exact tone and value of the color you see in nature at +that point. Until you are enough of a master of your brush to get an +effect in this way, do not meddle with the more complex methods of +after-painting. You will never do good work by subsequent +manipulation, if you have a groundwork of feebleness and indecision. +Direct painting is the fundamental process of all good painting. + +Let me take the type of old Dutch painting to represent to you this +quality of direct painting. First of all notice a basis of perfect +drawing,--a knowledge, exactness, and precision which admits of no +fumbling, no vagueness, but only of a concise and direct recognition +of structure. Note that this drawing is as characteristic of the +brush-work as of the drawing which is under it. Observe that the +handling of the whole school, from the least to the greatest, is +founded on a similar and perfect craftsmanship,--the same use of +materials; the same deliberateness; the same simple yet ample palette; +the same use of solid color candidly expressing the planes of +modelling, freely following the lines of structure; the absence of +affectation or invention of individual means. Whatever the +individuality of the artist, it rests on something else than +difference of technique. From the freest and most direct of painters, +Frans Hals, to the most smooth and detailed, Gerard Dou, the +directness and ingenuousness of means to ends is the same, and founded +on the same technical basis of color manipulation. The one is more +eager, terse, the other more deliberate and complete; but both use the +same pigments, both use the same solid color, are simple, lucid, both +occupied solely with the thing to be expressed, and the least degree +in the world with the manner of it. That manner comes from the same +previous technical training which each uses in the most +matter-of-course way, with only such change from the type, as his +temperament unconsciously imposes on him. + +There is nothing like it elsewhere. Study it; notice the +unaffectedness of brush-stroke in Rembrandt. See how it is the same as +Hals, but less perfunctory. See how the brush piles up paint again and +again along the same ridge of flesh, taking no notice of its +revelation of the insistence of attempt at the right value, nor of its +roughness of surface. To get that drawing and that color in the +freest, frankest, most direct way: that is the aim. The absolute +conviction of it: that is the essence of this technique of the old +Dutch masters. And whatever else it may have or may not have, you will +find in it all that you can find anywhere of suggestion of direct and +frank and sincere painting, and nothing I can say will give you any +such clear idea of what you should strive for as the basis of all the +different sorts of brush-work necessary or useful in the production of +an oil painting. + +[Illustration: =The Fisher Boy.= _Frans Hals._ +To show the directness and sureness of brush-stroke, and candor and +simplicity of means, always present in Dutch work, though never so +free as with Hals.] + +=Detail.=--The question of detail may well come in here. How far are +you to carry detail in your painting? The Dutch painters went to both +extremes. Gerard Dou worked two weeks on a broom-handle, and hoped to +finish it in a few days more. Frans Hals would paint a head in an +hour. The French painter Meissonier paints the high light on every +button of a trooper's coat, and De Neuville barely paints the button +at all. What way are you to turn? Which are you to choose? We have a +great deal said nowadays against detail in painting. Much is said of +breadth and broad painting. Which is right? + +=True Breadth.=--The answer lies in the central idea of the picture. +There are times when detail may be very minute, and times when the +greatest freedom is essential. True breadth is compatible with much +even minute detail in the same canvas. For breadth does not mean +merely a large brush. It never means slap-dash. It is the just +conception of the amount of detail necessary (and the amount necessary +to be left out) in order that the idea of the picture may be best +expressed. + +Detail is out of place in a large canvas always, and in proportion to +its size it is allowable. A decorative canvas, a picture which is to +be seen from a distance, or is to fill a wall space, wants effect, +much justness of composition and color. Largeness of conception and +execution, and only so much detail as shall be necessary to the best +expression compatible with that largeness. On the other hand, a +"cabinet picture," a small panel, will admit of microscopic detail if +it be not so painted that the detail is all you can see. And just here +is the heart of the whole matter. Whether you use much or little +detail, it is not for the sake of the detail, not for any interest +which lies in the detail itself, but for what power of expression may +lie in it. If the picture, large or small, be largely conceived, and +its main idea as to subject and those qualities of æsthetic meaning I +have spoken of are always kept in view, and never allowed to lose +themselves in the search for minuteness, then any amount of detail +will take its place in true relation to the whole picture. If it does +not do this it is bad. + +The relations of parts to the whole are the key to the situation +always. + +Nothing is right which interferes with the true relations in the +picture. This is where the working for detail is most likely to lead +you astray. It takes great ability and power to keep detail where it +belongs. Detail is always the search for small things, and they are +almost sure to obtrude themselves to the neglecting of the more +important things. Details which do not stay in their places had better +be left out of the picture. There is such a thing as _values_ in +_facts_ as well as other parts of your work. And this applies to +breadth as well as to detail. + +[Illustration: =Boar-Hunt.= _Snyders._ +To show relation of detail to the whole picture. The detail is carried +far, yet does not interfere with emphasis of action and life. The +picture is broad in spirit and effect if detailed in execution.] + +Gerard Dou remains a great painter, and even a broad painter, strange +as it may sound, in spite of his microscopic work. But only because of +his breadth of eye. The detail is not the most important thing with +him. It is in the picture, and you can see it when you look for it. +But as you look at the picture it is not peppered all over with +pin-points of detail, until the picture itself cannot be seen. Every +detail stays back as it would in nature; loses itself in the part to +which it belongs; modestly waits to be sought out; is not seen until +it is looked for. This is broad painting, because the main things are +emphasized; and if the details are painted they are seen in their true +relations, and the power of the whole is not sacrificed to them. + +With much or little detail, this is what is to be aimed at. Whether +with big brushes or little ones, the expression of the main idea, of +the important, the vital things,--this is broad painting, and this +only. + + + + + CHAPTER XXIII + + MANIPULATION + + +=Premier Coup.=--Something similar to what I have spoken of as "direct +painting" has long been a much-advocated manner of painting in France, +under the name of _Premier Coup_; which means, translated literally, +"first stroke." + +It is taught that the painter should use no after or overworkings at +all; but that he should carefully and deliberately select the color +for his brush-stroke, and then lay it on the canvas at one stroke, +each after-stroke being laid beside some previous one, until the +canvas has been covered by a mosaic of color each shade representing a +single "first-stroke," with no after-stroke laid over it to modify its +effect. Such a process tends to great deliberation of work and +exactness of study. Probably no better thing was ever devised for the +training of the eye and hand. But it has its limits, and is not often +rigidly adhered to in the painting of pictures; although the fresh, +direct effect of this sort of work is preserved as far as possible in +much modern French work, and that quality is held in great esteem. + +This manner of painting is especially useful in the making of sketches +and studies, and leads to a strong control of the brush and the +resources of the palette. + +In all painting of this character the color should have body. +Transparent color should not be used alone, but only to modify the +tint of the more solid pigments; for the transparent colors used +indiscriminately are apt to crack, which characteristic is avoided +when the heavier color forms the body of the paint. + +=Solid Painting.=--In most cases solid painting is the safest,--the +least likely to crack, and the most safely cleaned from varnish and +dirt without injury to the paint itself. It is firmer in character +too, and gives more solidity of effect to the picture. + +=Mixing.=--In mixing colors you should be careful not to over mix. +Don't stir your paint. Too much mixing takes the life out of the +color. Particles of the pure color not too much broken up by mixing +are valuable to your work, giving vibration and brilliancy to it. The +reverse is muddiness, which is sure to come from too much fussing and +overworking of wet paint. Don't use more than three pigments in one +tint if you can help it, and mix them loosely. If you must use more +colors, mix still more loosely. Put all the colors together, one +beside the other, drag them together with the brush, scoop them up +loosely on the end of it, and lay the tint on freely and frankly. +Never muddle the color on the canvas. Don't put one color over another +more than you can help; you will only get a thick mass of paint of one +kind mixing with a mass of another, and the result will be dirty +color, which of all things in painting is most useless. + +Keep the color clean and fresh, and have your brush-strokes firm and +free. Never tap, tap, tap, your paint; make up your mind what the +color is, and mix it as you want it. Decide just where the touch is to +go, and lay it on frankly and fairly, and leave it. If it isn't right, +daubing into it or pat-patting it won't help it. Either leave it, or +mix a new color, and lay it on after having scraped this one off. + +Don't try to economize on your mixing. A color mixed for one place +will never do for another, so don't try to paint another place with +it. Have the patience to proceed slowly, and mix the color specially +for each brush-stroke. On the other hand, don't be niggardly with your +paint. Don't use less paint than you need. Mix an ample brushful and +put it on; then mix another, and use judgment as to how much you +should use each time. The variety of tone and value which comes of +mixing new color for every touch of the brush is in itself a charm in +a painting, aside from the greater truth you are likely to get by it. + +[Illustration: =Good Bock.= _Manet._ +To illustrate direct and solid painting.] + +=Corrections.=--As far as you can, make corrections by over-painting +when the paint is dry, or nearly so. When I say don't work into wet +color to correct, I do not mean that you are never to do so, but that +to do it too much is likely to get your work muddy and pasty. Of +course it is almost impossible to avoid doing so sometimes, but when +you do, do it with deliberation. Don't lose your head and pile wet +paint on wet paint in the vain hope of getting the color by force of +piling it on. You will only get it worse and worse. Get it as nearly +right as you can. If it is hopeless, scrape it off clean, and mix a +fresh tint. If it is as near right as you can see to mix it now, go +ahead; and put a better color on that place to-morrow when it is dry, +if you can. + +=Keep at it.=--But above all don't be permanently satisfied with the +almost. Don't be afraid to put paint over dry paint till it is right. +Work at it day after day. Let the paint get thick if it will, if only +you get the thing right. The secret of getting it right is to keep at +it, and be satisfied with nothing less than the best you can do. When +you can see nothing wrong you can do no better. But as long as your +eye will recognize a difference between what is on the canvas and what +ought to be there, you have not done your best, and you are shirking +if you stop. Never call a thing done as long as you can see something +wrong about it. No matter what any one else says, your work must come +up _at least_ to the standard of what you yourself can see. + +=Loose Painting.=--Sometimes it is necessary to lay on paint very +loosely in order to get vibration of warm and cool color or of pure +pigment in the same brush-stroke, or to let the under paint show +somewhat through the loose texture of the paint over it. Too much of +this sort of thing is not to be desired, but its effect in the right +place is not to be obtained in any other way. The paint may be dragged +over the canvas with a long brush charged with color more or less +thoroughly mixed, as seems most effectual, or it may be flipped into +its place, or it may be hatched on with parallel strokes. All these +ways will be spoken of as they suggest themselves in other chapters. +Solid color, generally, is used in this manner, and the effect of body +is rather strengthened by it than the reverse. + +=Scumbling.=--Another means of modifying the color and effect of a +painting has perhaps always been more or less commonly in use. This is +called _scumbling_, and may be considered under the head of solid +painting, as it is always done with body, and never with transparent, +color. The process consists of rubbing a mixture of body color, +without thinning, over a surface previously painted and dried. +Generally this _scumble_ is of a lighter color than the +under-painting, and is rubbed on with a stubby brush slightly charged +with the paint. As much surface as is desired may be covered in this +way, and the result is to give a hazy effect to that part, and to +reduce any sharpness of color or of drawing. Often the effect is very +successfully obtained. Distant effects may be painted solidly and +rather frankly, and then brought into a general indefiniteness by +scumbling. Too much scumbling will make a picture vague and soft, and +after a scumble it is best to paint into it with firm color to avoid +this. + +The scumble may be used with the richer and darker colors, too, to +modify towards richness the tone of parts of the picture, or to darken +the value. Most often, however, its value lies in its use to bring +harsher and sharper parts together, and to give the hazy effect when +it is needed. + +Scumbling will not have a good effect when it is not intended to +varnish the picture afterwards; for the oil in the paint is absorbed +immediately, and the rubbing of color gives a dead look to the canvas +which is very unpleasant, and decidedly the reverse of artistic. + +=Glazing.=--A very valuable process, the reverse of scumbling, is +glazing. It has always been in use since the invention of the oil +medium. All the Italian painters used it; it is an essential part of +their system of coloring. The rich, deep color of Titian, the warm +flesh of Raphael, and the jewel-like quality of the early German +painters are impossible without some form of glaze. The Germans +perhaps made glazes with white of egg before oil was used as a +vehicle. But to glaze is the only way to get the fullest effect of the +quality characteristic of the transparent paints. + +A glaze is a thin wash of transparent color flowed over an +under-painting to modify its tone or to add to its effect. It is not +always transparent color, but usually it is. Sometimes opaque or +semi-opaque color may be used, and it is a glaze by virtue of the fact +that it is thinned with a vehicle either oil or varnish, and _flowed_ +on. A scumble is _rubbed_ on, and is never pure transparent color. + +=Advantages of Glazing.=--The advantages are the gain in harmony, in +force, in brilliancy; you may correct a color when it is wrong, or +perfect it when it is not possible to get the force or richness +required without it. These are the qualities which have made it used +by all schools more or less. + +=Disadvantages.=--There are, however, quite as evident and marked +disadvantages. The free use of oil as a thinning vehicle, although it +makes possible a greater degree of richness of color, is very likely +to turn the picture brown in time. Oil will always eventually have a +browning effect on all paints, even when mixed with them as little as +is absolutely necessary. If you make a tinted varnish of oil (which +is practically what a glaze is), you add so much, to the surely +darkening action of the oil on the picture. + +If, again, you depend upon a glaze for the richness of color for your +picture, and you use a color which is not permanent, your glaze fades, +and your color is not there. A glaze is particularly liable to be +injured by the cleaner if it ever gets into his hands. He works down +to fresh color, and what with the browning of the glaze and the fact +that the cleaner is more anxious that the picture should be cleaned +than that its color should be fine, he will, in nine cases out of ten, +_clean_ off the glaze which may be the final and most expensive color +the painter has put on it. + +Glazing is little used nowadays, compared with what it once was. But +there are times when you cannot get what you want in any other way, +and when you are sure that glazing is the only thing which will give +you your result, the only law for the painter comes in,--get your +result. + +=Precautions.=--If you do glaze, however, there is a right and a wrong +way. You should not use a glaze as a last resort. It is better to +calculate on it beforehand; for you always glaze with a darker tint +upon a lighter one, so that if you have not allowed for this, you will +get your picture too low in tone before you know it. + +If you want to make your picture, or a part of it, brighter and +lighter, bring it up in pitch with body color first, with solid +painting, and then glaze it. + +Do not glaze on color which is not well dried. The drying of the under +color and the drying of the glaze are apt to be different in point of +time, and the picture will crack. If the vehicle is the same as was +used in the under-painting, and the drying qualities of both paintings +are the same, there is no danger. But when color dries, it shrinks and +flattens, and two kinds of colors shrinking differently are sure to +pull apart, and that causes cracking. If the under-painting is well +dry, but not hard and glossy on the surface, and is capable of still +absorbing enough of the new color's vehicle to bind the coats +together, your glaze will stand. But rather than have it too soft, +have the under-painting too hard, and then before you glaze go over it +with a little thin, quick-drying varnish, and glaze into that. The +varnish will hold the two coats of paint together. + +Glazing, as well as scumbling, implies the obligation to varnish your +picture. Whenever you use oil freely you will have to varnish your +picture to keep it bright and fresh in color. + +It would be wise never to use a glaze as a final process. Glaze to get +the tone or to modify it, but paint into the glaze with body color, +and you keep the advantage of the glaze without many of the +disadvantages of it, and the picture has a more solid effect of +painting. + +=Frottée.=--Closely akin to the glaze in manner, but very different in +use, is the _frottée_, or "rubbing." This is generally used on the +fresh surface of the canvas, to "rub in" the light and shade or the +first coloring of the picture after the drawing is done. It is one of +the safest and wisest ways of beginning your picture. You can either +rub in the picture with a _frottée_ of one color, as sienna or umber, +or you can use all the colors in their proper places, only using very +little vehicle, and making something very thin in tint, somewhat +between a glaze and a scumble. You can make a complete drawing in +monochrome in this way, or you can lay in all the ground colors of the +picture till it has much the effect of a complete painting. Then, as +you paint and carry the picture forward, every color you put on will +be surrounded with approximately the true relations, instead of being +contrasted by a glare of white canvas. + +A _frottée_ is a most sympathetic ground to paint over. + + + + + CHAPTER XXIV + + COPYING + + +Copying may well be spoken of here, as it is in a sense a kind of +manipulation. It is a means of study to the student, and a useful, +sometimes necessary process to the painter. In the transferring of the +results of his sketches and studies to the final canvas, the painter +must be able to copy, and to know all the conveniences of it. Before +the painting begins on a picture, the main figures in it must be +placed and drawn on the canvas with reference to the plan of it, and +their relation to that plan. This calls for some method of exact +reproduction of the facts stored in the artist's studies for that +purpose. The process of copying is that method. + +From the side of study, the copy gives the student the most practical +means of understanding the intent and the expression of the painter +whose work he wishes to know. There is no way of understanding the why +and the how of technical expression so sure and complete as to study +with the brush and paint, following the same method and processes as +the master you copy, and trying to comprehend the meaning and the +expression at the same time. + +This is not the best means of study for a beginner, as I have said +before. It trains the understanding of processes rather than the eye; +and the training of the power of perception rather than the +understanding of methods is what the young student needs. The +processes with which he may put on canvas the effect he sees in nature +are secondary matters to him. Let him really see the thing and find +his own way of expressing it, clumsily, rudely most probably, it is +still the best thing for him. He may take such help as he can find, as +he needs it; get such suggestions as the work of good painters can +give to him, when he cannot see his own way. But the searching of +nature should come first. The _seeing_ of what is must precede the +_stating_ of it. + +But when you do undertake to make a copy, there is something more to +be tried for than an approximation of the right colors in the right +places. + +Certainly to get out of copying all there is to get, one must try for +something more than a recognizable picture. When a serious student +makes a copy, he not only tries to get it like in color and drawing, +but also in manner of treatment, peculiarities of technique, and +whatever there may be that goes to make up the "manner" of the +original. + +This is not only for the sake of the copy, for the sake of really +having a picture which is more than superficially like the original; +but in this way can be gained much real knowledge of technique which +cannot be gotten so easily otherwise. + +Study your original carefully before and while working on your own +canvas. See how it was done if you can (and you can), and do it in the +same way, touch for touch, stroke for stroke, color for color. Use a +large brush when he used a large brush; if the original was done with +a palette-knife, use yours; and particularly never use a smaller brush +than the painter used on the picture you are copying. + +The same thing holds as to processes. If your original was painted +solidly, with full body of color, do so on your copy. Never glaze nor +scumble because _you_ can't get the colors without. Your business is +to try to get the same qualities _in the same way_. And any other +manipulation is not only getting a different thing, but shirking the +problem. Because, if you can't get the effect in the way he did, you +certainly won't get the _same one_ any other way. You are not +originating, you are not painting a picture, you are copying another +man's work; and common honesty to him, as well as what you are trying +to learn, demands that you shall not belie him by stating on your +canvas implicitly, that he did the thing one way, when as a matter of +fact his canvas shows that he did it another way. + +This may seem commonplace, because one would think that as a matter of +course any one would naturally make a copy this way. But this is +precisely what the average person does not do when copying, and I have +found it constantly necessary to insist upon these very points even to +advanced students. + +So in the pigments, the vehicles, the tools, and even the canvas if +you can, as well as in the handling of the paint and the processes +used, follow absolutely and humbly, but intelligently, the workmanship +of the picture you copy, if it is worth your while to do it at all. + +In making copies it is not usual to make the preliminary drawing +freehand. It takes time that may better be given to something else, +and often it is not exact enough. When a painter has made careful +studies which he wishes to transfer to his canvas, they may have +qualities of line or movement, or of emphasis or character which the +model may not have had. These studies, probably, are much smaller than +they will be in the picture. The same things may be true of the +characteristics of the sketches. These are problems which have been +worked out, and to copy them freehand makes the work to be done over +again on a larger scale on the canvas of the picture. This would not +only take too much time, but the same result might not follow. For +this purpose a more mechanical process is commonly made use of, which +combines the qualities of exactness with a certain freedom of hand, +without which the work would be too rigid and hard. + +="Squaring up."=--This process is called "squaring-up," and consists +of making a network of squares which cut up the study, and map out its +lines and proportions, and make it possible to be sure that any part +of the original will come in the same relative place in the copy no +matter what the size may be, and at the same time leaves the actual +laying out of the thing to freehand drawing. + +The process is a very simple one. You mark off a number of points +horizontally and vertically on the study. Make as many as you think +best--if there are too few, you will have too much of the study in one +part; if too many, it makes you more trouble. It is not necessary that +there be as many points one way as the other; make the number to suit +the lines of the study. + +Draw straight lines across the study from each of the points, keeping +them carefully parallel, and seeing to it that the horizontal lines +cross the vertical ones exactly at right angles. These lines cut the +study into right-angled parallelograms, which may be squares or not +according as the vertical lines are the same distance from each other +that the horizontal ones are, or not. + +Number the spaces between the lines at the top, 1, 2, 3, etc., and at +one side the same. + +Now if you square off a part of your canvas with the same number of +spaces at the top and the same number at the side as you have done +with the study, and keep the relation of the spaces the same, you can +make it as large or as small as you please, and you can draw the +outlines within those squares as they fall in the study, and they will +be the same in proportion without your having the trouble of working +to scale. The squares furnish the scale for you, and the proportion is +not of the study to the picture, but as the vertical spaces are to the +horizontal, in both the study and the picture. + +By numbering the squares on the canvas to correspond with those on the +study, and noticing in which square, and in what part of it, any line +or part of a line comes, you can, by drawing that line in the same +part of the corresponding square on the canvas, repeat the line in the +same relation and with exactness, while still leaving the hand free to +modify it, or correct it. + +In this way the simplest or the most complex, the largest or the +smallest study sketch or drawing may be accurately transferred to any +surface you please. + + + + + CHAPTER XXV + + KINDS OF PAINTING + + +Why not recognize that conviction, intense personal attraction to a +certain sort of thing is the life of all art. How else can life get +into art than through the love of what you paint? A man may understand +what he does not love, but he will never infuse with life that which +he does not love. Understand it he should, if he would express it; but +love it he must, if he would have others love it. + +You see it is not the thing, but the manner; not the fact, but what +you can find in it; not the object, but what you can express by it. +"_Un chef d'oeuvre vaut un chef d'oeuvre_" because perfect delight in +loveliness found in a small thing is as perfect as perfect delight in +loveliness found in a great thing. And still life uninteresting as a +fact, may be fascinating if "seen through the medium of a +temperament." + +Don't let the idea get into your head that one thing is easier to do +than another thing. Perhaps it is, but it is a bad mental attitude to +think so. And even then, you may find that when you have worked out +all that its easiness shows you, some one with better knowledge or +insight may come along and point out undreamed-of beauties and +subtleties. And are they easy? To see and express the possibilities in +easy things is the hardest of all. + +=Classification.=--Divide paintings into two classes,--those +representing objects seen out-of-doors, and those representing objects +in-doors. This is the most fundamental of all classifications, and it +is one which belongs practically to this century. Before this century +it was hardly thought of to distinguish out-door light from in-door +light. + +Some of the Dutchmen did it. But it is only in this century that the +principle has made itself felt. It is this which makes the difference +of pitch or key so marked between the modern and the ancient pictures. +It has changed the whole color-scheme. + +An out-door picture may be still painted in the studio, but it must be +painted from studies made out-doors. It is no longer possible to pose +a model in a studio-light and paint her so into a landscape. It was +right to do it when it was done frankly, when the world had not waked +up to the fact that things look different in diffused and in +concentrated lights. It is not right now. You cannot go back of your +century. To be born too late is more fatal than to be born too soon. + +Whatever kind of picture you take in hand, remember that what +distinguishes the treatment of it from that of other pictures depends +on the inherent character of it. That the difficulties as well as the +facilities in the working of it are due to the fact that it demands a +different application of the universal principles. Don't think that +landscape drawing is easier than that of the figure because smudges of +green and blue and brown can be accepted as a landscape, while a +smudge of pink will not do duty for the nude figure. It is only that +the drawing of the figure is more obvious, and variations from the +more obvious right are more easily seen. + +You must study the necessities, the demands of treatment of the +different sorts of subjects--see what is peculiar to each, and what +common to all. You must find to what æsthetic qualities each most +readily lends itself, what are the subtleties to be sought for, and +what are the problems they offer. + + + + + CHAPTER XXVI + + THE SKETCH + + +The sketch is the germ of the picture. It contains the idea which may +later become the finished work. In your sketches you gather effects +and suggestions of possibilities, of all kinds. You do not work long +over a sketch, nor do you work perfunctorily. You do not make it +because you ought to, but because you see something in nature which +charms you; or because you have found an idea you wish to make a note +of. + +Understand thoroughly the use and meaning of sketches, and you will +get more good from the making of them. For your sketching is an +important matter to your painting. You do not learn how to paint by +sketching; but you can learn a great many things, and some of them you +can learn no other way. A sketch is not a picture; neither is it a +study. Each of these things has its special purpose and function, and +its proper character. + +A sketch is always a note of an idea--an idea seen or conceived. +Everything is sacrificed in the sketch to the noting of that idea. One +idea only, in one sketch; more ideas, more sketches. + +There are two kinds of sketches: those made from nature to seize an +effect of some sort; and those made to work out or express tersely +some composition or scheme of color which you have in your mind. Both +are of great use to the student as well as essential to the work of +the artist. + +[Illustration: =Sketch of a Hillside blocked in from Nature, First +Suggestion of Composition, etc.=] + +The first conception of a picture is always embodied in the form of a +sketch, and the artist will make as many sketches as he thinks of +changes in his original idea. It is in this form that he works out +his picture problem. He is troubled here by nothing but the one thing +he has in mind at this time. It may be an arrangement of line or of +mass. He changes and rearranges it as he pleases, not troubling +himself in the least with exactness of drawing, of modelling, of +color, nor of anything but that one of composition. It may be a scheme +of color, and here again the spots of pigment only vaguely resemble +the things they will later represent; now they are only composition of +color to the painter, and everything bends to that. When this has been +decided on, has been successfully worked out, then it is time enough +to think of other things. And think of other things he does, before he +makes his picture; but not in this sketch; in another sketch or other +sketches, each with its own problem, or in studies which will furnish +more material to be used later; or in the picture itself, where the +problem is the unity of the various ideas within the great whole in +the completed painting. + +It is the sketch on which the picture rests for its singleness of +purpose. No picture but begins in this way, whether it is afterwards +built up on the same canvas or not. The sketch points the way. But all +the preliminary sketches of a painting are not problems of composition +or color; are not conceptions of the brain. There are suggestions +received from nature which the painter perceives rather than +conceives. Possibilities show themselves in these, but it is in the +sketch that they first become tangible and stable. This is the sketch +from nature, always the record of an impression, the note of an idea +hinted by one fact or condition seen more sharply or clearly than any +or all of the thousands which surrounded it at the moment. + +The painter must always sketch from nature. Only by so doing can he be +constantly in touch with her, and receive her suggestions unaffected +by multitudinous facts. The sketch preserves for him the evanescent +effects of nature, which the study would not so entirely, because not +so simply, grasp. The sudden storm approaches; the fleeting cloud +shadow; or the last gleam of afterglow; these, as well as the more +permanent, but equally charming effects of mass against mass of wood +and sky, or of meadow and hill, he can only store up for future use or +reference in his sketches. + +=Main Idea Only.=--In the making of the sketch, then, no problem +should come in but that of the expression of the main idea,--no +problem of drawing or of manipulation of color. To get the idea +expressed in the most direct and immediate and convenient way, +anything will do to sketch on or with; that which presents the least +difficulty is the best. The matter of temperament, of course, comes +in largely, and technical facility. That which you can use most +freely, use in your sketching, and keep for other occasions the new +means or medium. Use freely, if you can, black and white for whatever +black and white will express, and pigment for all color effects. Oil +for greatest certainty and facility of correction. + +=Quick Work.=--Make your sketch at one sitting, or you will have +something which is not a sketch. Work long enough, and it may be a +study; but more than one sitting makes it neither one thing nor the +other. To say nothing of the fact that the conditions are unlikely to +be exactly the same again, you are almost sure on the second working +to have lost the first impression,--the freshness and directness of +purpose which the first impress gives; and this is the very heart of a +sketch. You must never lose sight of what was the original purpose of +it; never forget what it was which first made you want to paint it. No +matter what else you get or do not get, if you lose this you lose all +that can give it life or reality. + +The very fact that you have limited yourself to one working makes you +concentrate on that which first caught your attention, and that is +what you want to seize. + +Overworkings and after-paintings will only interfere with the +directness and force with which this is expressed. + +Remember that nature is never at rest. You must catch her on the wing, +and the more quickly you do it the more vivid will be the effect. + +[Illustration: =The River Bank.= _D. Burleigh Parkhurst._ +Half-hour sunset sketch.] + +"Nature is economical. She puts her lights and darks only where she +needs them." Do the same, and use no more effort than will suffice to +express that which is most important. The rest will come another time. + +Try to keep things simple. Keep the impression of unity; have the +sketch one thing only. + +Express things as they look. As they look to _you_ and at _this time_. +How they seem to some one else, or seemed at some other time, is not +to the point. What you know they are or may be will not help you, but +only hinder you in a sketch. The more facts the worse, in sketching. +Remember always what a sketch is for. Don't be beguiled into trying to +make a picture of it, nor a study of it. Above all, don't try to make +a clever thing of it. Make something sincere and purposeful of it, and +have it as concise, as terse, as direct, and as expressive of one +thing as you can. + +=Keep Looking.=--Always keep your eyes open and your mind receptive; +do not be always looking for reasons. Accept the charm as it presents +itself; note it, if you have anything handy to express it with; if +not, study it, and get something into your mind and memory from it. +The simplest way of expressing it, and the simplest elements which +cause it, you can study without the materials to preserve it, and you +so keep your receptivity and quicken your power of observation. + +Your sketch will be more quickly done, directly and more forcefully, +if you map out the thing rather deliberately first with a few very +exact lines and masses in some way: then you have a free mind to +concentrate on the effect. A few values and masses well placed are the +things you most want; you can almost always spare time to ensure +their exactness by a few measurements and two or three rubs of color +first. Of course if the sketch is of a passing gleam you can do +nothing but get a few smudges of color. But get them true in value and +in color relation; get the glow of it, or you will get nothing. + +=Canvases of a Size.=--In sketching from nature, have the habit of +using always the same sized canvases or panels. They pack better, and +you learn to know your spaces, and so you do quicker and better work. +Make them big enough to do free work on, yet small enough to cover +easily, so that you lose no time in mere covering of surface. Ten +inches by fourteen is plenty small enough, and fifteen by twenty large +enough, for most persons. Suit yourself as to the size, but settle on +a size, and stick to it. Nothing is more awkward and inconvenient than +to have stacks of canvases of all sizes and shapes. + +Always have plenty of sketching materials on hand. You will lose many +a good effect which will pass while you are getting your kit ready. + +In sketching, avoid details. When you want them, make a study of them. +In a sketch they only interfere with frankness of expression. One or +two details for the sake of accent only, may be admitted. + +Make a frame with your hand, or, better, cut a square hole in a card, +and look through it. Decide what is the essence of it, what is vital +to the effect, and do that; concentrate on that. Put in what you need +for the conveying of that, and leave out everything else. + +=Work Solidly.=--Work in body color, and lay on your paint fully and +freely. In getting an effect of light, don't be afraid of contrast +either of value or of color. Paint loosely; get the vibration which +results from half-mixed color. Don't flatten out the tone. Load the +color if you want to. In twenty years you will wonder to see how +smooth it has become. + +Freedom and breadth give life to a sketch. Don't work close to your +work. Don't bend over it. Use plenty of color, large brushes, and +strike from the shoulder. + + + + + CHAPTER XXVII + + THE STUDY + + +The qualities which make a good study are the reverse of those which +make a good sketch. In the sketch all is sacrificed to the effect, or +to the one thing which is its purpose. The study is what its name +implies, and its purpose is not one thing, but many. In a study you +put in everything which may be valuable. You store it with facts. You +leave out nothing which you wish to put in. It is all material. You +can take and leave in using it afterwards, as you could from nature. +Of course every study has some main intention, but you must take the +trouble to give everything that goes to the making of that. + +A study is less of a picture than a sketch is. For unity of effect is +vital to both a sketch and a picture. But this quality is of no +essential value in a study--unless it be a study of unity. For you can +make a _study_ of anything, from a foreground weed to a detailed +interior, from a bit of pebble to a cavalry charge. + +But in a study of one thing you concentrate on that thing, you +deliberately and carefully study everything in it, while in a sketch +you work only for general effect. The study is the storehouse of facts +to the painter. By it he assures himself of the literal truths he +needs, collecting them as material in color or black and white, and as +mental material by his mental understanding of them, only to be gained +in this way. + +In making a study you may work as long as you please, timing yourself +by the difficulty and size of the thing you are studying. A study of +an interior or a landscape may occupy a week or two; one of a simple +object for some detail in a picture may be a matter of only a few +hours. But in any work of this kind you should be deliberate, and +remember that what you are doing is neither a sketch nor a picture, +but the gathering of material which is to be useful, but which can be +useful only so far as it is accurate. + +In making studies, don't try for surface finish; get the facts, and +leave all other qualities for the picture. Don't glaze and scumble, +but work as directly as you can. Study the structure and texture of +whatever you are doing. Understand it thoroughly as you go on, and +search out whatever is not clear to you. This is no place for effects; +nor for slighting or shirking. If you do not do work of this kind +thoroughly, you might as well not do it at all--better; for you are at +least not training yourself to be careless. + +There are places where you may be careless, but the making of a study +is not that place. + +Take plenty of trouble with preliminaries. Get all your foundation +work true. Have a good drawing, get the groundwork well laid in, and +then build your superstructure of careful study. + +Don't be afraid of over-exactness, nor of hardness and edginess here. +All that is only an excess of precision, and it is just as well to +have it. You can leave it out if you want to in your picture, but a +groundwork of exactness is not to be despised. + +Be exact also with your values. If your study is not sure of its +values, it will weaken the results you should get from it later. + +Make your studies in the same light as that which the picture will +represent. You can paint a picture under any light you please if your +studies give you the facts as to light and shade that the truth to +nature requires; but studies made in one light for a picture +representing another are useless to that picture. + +No good painting was ever made without preliminary studies. When you +are to make a picture, therefore, take plenty of time to prepare +yourself with all the material in the form of facts that you may +require. Don't trust to building up a picture from a sketch or two and +your "general knowledge." That sort of thing is something which a +painter of experience may do after storing his mind for years with +all sorts of knowledge; but it will not do for most people--least of +all for a student. And it is a dangerous way for any one to work. Even +the experienced painter is apt to do the worse work for it, and if he +does so constantly, his reputation may suffer for it. Take time to be +right. + +[Illustration: =Study of a Blooming-Mill.= _D. Burleigh Parkhurst._] + +Don't be afraid of taking measurements. Every one who did anything +worth looking at took measurements. Leonardo laid down a complete +system of proportions. You can't get your proportions right without +measurements, and if your proportions are not right, nothing will be +right. Use a plumb-line: use it frequently, and measure horizontals +and verticals. If you are in doubt about anything, stop a minute and +measure. It takes less time than correcting. + +Whatever you do, get the character first, then the details. Character +is not a conglomeration of details. The detail is the incident of +character. See what the vital things are first, then search farther. + +Use your intelligence as well as your eye and hand. Think as you work. +Don't for a moment let your hand get ahead of your brain. Don't work +absent-mindedly, nor without purpose. If your mind is tired, if your +eye won't see, stop and rest a while. Tired work runs your picture +down hill. + + + + + CHAPTER XXVIII + + STILL LIFE + + +The name of still life is used in English for all sorts of pictures +which represent groupings of inanimate objects except flowers. The +French word for it is better than ours. They call it "_nature morte_" +or dead nature. + +There is no kind of painting which is more universally useful--to the +student as well as to the painter. It furnishes the means for +constant, regular, and convenient study and practice. You need never +lack for something interesting to paint, nor for a model who will sit +quietly and steadily without pay, if you have some pieces of drapery, +and a few articles, of whatever shape or form, which you can group in +a convenient light. + +You can make the group as simple or as difficult as you wish, and make +it include any phase of study. The advantage of its possible variety, +scope, and particularly, its convenience and cheapness and +manageableness, make it the fundamental work for the beginner. + +=Materials.=--Practically anything and everything is available for +still life. You should be constantly on the lookout for interesting +objects of all kinds. Try to get a collection which has as much +variety in form, size, and surface as you can. Old things are +generally good, but it is a mistake to suppose old and broken things +the best. An object is not intrinsically better because of its being +more or less damaged, although it sometimes has interesting qualities, +as of color or history, because of its age. + +What you should avoid is bad proportion, line, and color in the things +you get. The cost is not of any importance at all. You can pick up +things for a few cents which will be most useful. Have all sorts of +things, tall slim vases, and short fat jugs. Have metals and glass, +and books and plaques. They all come in, and they add to the variety +and interest of your compositions. + +=Draperies.=--The study of drapery particularly is facilitated by +still-life study. You can arrange your draperies so that they are an +essential part of your study, and will stay as long as you care to +paint from them, and need not be moved at all. This fact of "staying +power" in still life is one of importance in its use, as it reduces to +the minimum the movement and change which add to the difficulties in +any other kinds of work. The value of the antique in drawing lies in +its unvarying sameness of qualities from day to day. In still life you +have the same, with color added. You can give all your attention and +time unhurriedly, with the assurance that you can work day after day +if you want to, and find it just the same to-morrow morning as you +left it to-day. This as it applies to drapery is only the more useful. +You can hardly have a lay figure of full size, because of its cost. To +study drapery on a model carefully and long, is out of the question, +because it is disarranged every time the model moves, and cannot be +gotten into exactly the same lines again. + +Still life steps in and gives you the power to make the drapery into +any form of study, and to have it by itself or as a part of a picture. + +In draperies you should try to have a considerable variety just as you +have of the more massive objects,--variety of surface, of color, and +of texture. Do not have all velvet and silk. These are very useful and +beautiful, but you will not always paint a model in velvet and silk. +Satins and laces are also worn by women, and cloth of all kinds by +men, and so you should study them. Sometimes you want the drapery as a +background, to give color or line; and yet to have also marked surface +qualities (texture), would take from the effect of those qualities in +the other objects of the group. + +As to color, in the same way you should have all sorts of colors; but +see to it that the colors are good,--in themselves "good color," not +harsh nor crude. It does you no good as a student to learn how to +express bad color. Neither is it good training for you, in studying +how to represent what you see, to have to change bad color in your +group into good color in your picture. + +Good useful drapery does not mean either large pieces, or pieces with +much variety of color in one piece; on the contrary, you should avoid +spotty or prominent design in it. Still, the more kinds you have, the +more you can vary your work. + +If your drapery is a little strong in color, you can always make it +more quiet by washing or fading it to any extent. There is very little +material which is absolutely fast color. But when it is so, and the +color is too strong, don't use it. + +Don't scorn old and faded cloth, especially silk and velvet, or plush. +The fact that it would look out of place on furniture or as a dress +does not imply that it may not be beautiful as a background or as a +foreground color. These old and faded materials furnish some of the +most useful things you can have; a fact the reverse of what is true in +general of other still-life things. + +=The Use of Still Life.=--There is no way in which you can better +study the principles of composition than by the use of still life. The +fact that you can bring together a large number of objects of any +color and form, and can arrange and rearrange them, study the effect +and result before painting, and be working with actual objects and not +by merely drawing them, gives a positiveness and actuality to +composition that is of the greatest service to you. You can use (and +should at times) the whole side or corner of a room, and so practise +composition on the large scale, or you can make a small group on a +table. That you are using furniture and drapery or vases, flowers, and +books, instead of men and women, does not affect the seriousness and +usefulness of the problem; for the principles of composition and color +do not have to do with the materials which you use to bring about the +effect, but the effect itself. + +It is practically impossible for the student and the amateur to make +very advanced study of composition in line and mass with more than one +or two living models; but with still life he may and should get all +the practical knowledge possible. + +=Practical Composition.=--Suppose you were going to work with still +life, how would you begin? In the first place, get a good composition. +Never work from a bad one. You must learn composition some time, so +you might as well study it every time you have occasion to start a +still-life study. Take any number of things and put them on a table, +get a simple background to group them against. Consider your things, +and eliminate those which are not necessary, or will not tell in the +composition. It is a law that whatever does not help your picture (or +composition) tells against it; so get rid of anything which will not +help the composition. + +[Illustration: =Still Life, No. 1.=] + +For instance, here are a lot of things indiscriminately grouped on a +table. You might paint them, but they are not arranged. There is no +composition. They would lack one commanding characteristic of a good +picture if you were to paint them so. What do they lack as they are? +They have no logical connection with each other, either in arrangement +or in the placing, to begin with. They do not help each other either +in line or mass. They are crowded, huddled together. You could do with +less of them; or, if you want them all, you can place them better. But +suppose we take some of them away for simplicity, and rearrange the +rest. + +[Illustration: =Still Life, No. 2.=] + +Here are some of the things, with others taken away. The combination +is simpler, but still it is not satisfactory. There is some logical +connection among the objects, but none in the grouping. They are still +huddled; there is no line; it is too square; no attempt at balance; +they are simply things. If you change them about a little, having +regard to size, proportion, balance, and line, you can get something +better out of these same objects. + +[Illustration: =Still Life, No. 3.=] + +Here the coffee-pot is moved toward the centre, to give height and +mass, and to break up the round of the plaque; the handle turned +around to give more looseness and freedom; the pitcher is placed where +it will break the line of the plaque, yet not too obviously or +awkwardly; the handle is placed at a good angle with that of the +coffee-pot, and the relation of distance with the coffee-pot in +balancing the whole is considered. The drapery is spread out so as to +have some probability. It does not help much in line, but it does in +mass and in color (in the original). It could be bettered, but it will +do for the present. The cup also has a reasonable position, and helps +to balance and to give weight to the main mass, which is the +coffee-pot. There is not much light and shade in this composition, nor +much distinction. But it does balance, and would make a good study, +and is a very respectable piece of composition,--simple, modest, and +dignified. + +Now if you wanted to add some of those things which were eliminated, +and make a more complicated composition, you would look for the same +things in it when completed. We have simply the same group, with the +bottle and glass added. The stout jug in the first group is left out +because it is not needed, and it will not mass with the rest easily. +The tall glass vase is left out because it is too transparent to count +either as line, mass, or color, and does not in any way help, and +therefore counts against, because it does not count for, our +composition. The things we have here are enough, but they are not +right as they are now. They injure rather than help the last +arrangement. The bottle and glass are in the composition, but not of +it; a composition must be _one thing_, no matter how many objects go +to the making of it. This is two things. Draw a line down between the +bottle and glass and the other things, and you get two compositions, +both good, instead of one, which we must have for good arrangement. + +[Illustration: =Still Life, No. 4.=] + +Let's change them again. This is worse, if anything. We have now got +two groups and a thing. The coffee-pot and cup and saucer alone, the +bottle and glass alone, and the pitcher; the drapery tries to pull +them together, but can't. The plaque has no connection with anything. +They are all pulled apart. In the last group at least there was some +chief mass, the first complete composition. Now every one is for +himself; three up and down lines and a circle--that's about what it +amounts to. + +[Illustration: =Still Life, No. 5.=] + +Let's group them,--push them together. Place the bottle near the +coffee-pot. Because they are about the same height, one cannot +dominate the other in height; then make them pull together as a mass. + +[Illustration: =Still Life, No. 6.=] + +Place the cup about as before, and the mass pretty well towards the +centre of the plaque. Put the pitcher where it will balance, and the +glass where it will count unobtrusively, and help break the line of +the bottoms of the objects. The drapery now helps in line also, and +gives more unity, as well as mass and weight and color, to the whole. +This group is about as well placed as these objects will come. There +is balance, mass, proportion, dignity, unity. + +Of course you may make a paintable and interesting composition with +only two things. But you must give them some relation both as to fact +and as to position. The same elements of unity and balance and line +come in, no matter how many or how few are the objects which enter as +elements in your group. + +In this way study composition with still life. Move things about and +see how they look; use your eye and judgment. Get to see things +together, and apply the principles spoken of in the chapter on +"Composition" to all sorts of things in nature. + +=Scope of Study.=--Drawing is always drawing, whatever the objects to +which it is applied, and you can study all the problems of drawing and +values with still life. The drawing is not so severe as that of the +antique, nor so difficult as study from the life, but you can learn to +draw and then apply it to other things, and advance as far as you +please; and as I said at first, you need never lack an amiable model. + +All sorts of effects of lighting you can study easily with still life; +and of color and texture also. The study of surface and texture is +most important to you. If you were to undertake to paint a sheep or a +cow the first time; if you were to paint without previous experience +a background which contained metal and glass, or a model with a velvet +or satin dress, you would not succeed. These all involve problems of +skill and facility of representation. When you paint a portrait or +figure picture, or a landscape with animals, you should not have to +deal with, as new, problems of this sort. You should have arrived at +some understanding of this sort of thing in studies which are not +complicated by other problems of greater difficulty. This is where +still life comes in again to make the study of painting easier. + +=Interest.=--But the use of this sort of painting is not only its +practical _use_. You need not feel that it is all drudgery--which is +something that most students do not love! You may make pictures with a +much clearer conscience along this line; for the better the picture, +and the more interesting and charming it is, the more successful is +your work as study. You can be as interested in the beauty and the +picture of it as you please, and it will only make you work the +better. To see the picture in a group of bottles and books is to be +the more able to see the picture in a tree and sky. An artist's eye is +sensitive to beauty of color and line and form wherever he sees it. +The student's should be also. No artist but has found delight in +painting still life. No student should think it beneath his serious +study. + +=Procedure.=--Study painting first in still-life compositions. When +you set up your canvas first, and set your palette, let it be in front +of a few simple objects grouped interestingly; or, better, set up a +single jar or a book, with a simply arranged background for color +contrast. All the problems of manipulation are there for you to study. +No processes of handling, no manner of color effect, which you cannot +use in this study. + +Learn here what you will need in other lines of work. + +=Beginning.=--The best way to make a study from still life is to begin +with a careful charcoal drawing on the canvas. You may shade it more +or less as you please, but be most careful about proportions and +forms. The shading means the modelling and the values in black and +white; and you can do this either in charcoal as you draw, or it can +be put in with monochrome when you begin with paint. But you must have +the drawing sure and true first; for drawing is position, locality. +You must know _where_ a value is to go before you can justly place it. +The value is the _how much_. You must have the _where_ before the _how +much_ can mean anything in drawing. It would be well to lay in some of +the planes of light and shade, because you feel proportion more +naturally and truly so than with mere outline. The outline encloses +the form, but with nothing but outline you are less apt to feel the +reality of the form. The planes of values fill in the outline and give +substance to it. They map it out so that it takes thickness and +proportion; it is more real. And any fault of outline is more quickly +seen, because you cannot get your masses of shade of the right form +and proportion if the outline enclosing them is not right. + +=The Frottée.=--Make, then, a careful light-and-shade drawing with +charcoal directly on the canvas, working in the background where it +tells against the group, but without carrying it out to the edges of +the canvas. + +Be accurate with your modelling and values, and keep the planes simple +and well defined. Draw all characteristic details, but only the most +important, nearly as if it were not to be painted, but were to remain +a drawing. + +Fix this drawing with fixative and an atomizer. + +In beginning with paint go over the drawing with a thin _frottée_ +which shall re-enforce the drawing with color. You may do this with +one color, making a monochrome painting very thin, leaving the canvas +bare for the lights. Many of the best painters lay in all pictures +this way. What color is to be used is a matter for consideration. It +should be one so sympathetic to the coloring of the whole picture that +if it is left without any other paint over it in places it will still +look all right. Raw umber is a good color, or raw umber modified with +burnt sienna and black. You can make a mixture that seems right. This +establishes your larger values, and gives you something better than a +bare canvas, and something with which you can have a more just idea of +the effect of each touch of color you put on. + +If there is much variety of color in the various objects of your +composition, it is better to make your _frottée_ suggest the different +colors. Instead of making a monochrome _frottée_, rub in each object +with a thin mixture, approximating the color and value, but not solid, +nor as strong as it will become when painted, of course. Nevertheless, +you can get in this first rubbing in, a strong effect, which at a +distance has a very solid look, though the relations are not so +carefully studied. When you come to put on solid color with this sort +of an under-painting, it is easy to judge pretty closely of color as +well as light-and-shade relations, and you can work more frankly into +it. + +Into this painting, when it is dry, you may begin to paint with body +color, beginning with the true color and value of the lights, and +working down through the half darks into the darks. Paint the +background pretty carefully as to color and value, but loosely as to +handling. Paint slowly, deliberately, and thoughtfully. There is no +need to pile up masses of wrong color. You should try to be sure of +the color before you lay it on. Study the color in the group, mix on +the palette, and compare them. Think at least two minutes for every +one minute of actually laying on paint. You save time in the end by +being deliberate and by working thoughtfully. Put on color firmly and +with a full brush, but there is no need to load color for the sake of +the body of it. + +=Loaded Lights.=--It was a principle with the older painters to paint +the shadows thinly and with transparent color, and to load the lights. +It gave a richness to the shadows and a solidity to the lights which +was much valued. But don't think about this; don't let it influence +the frankness of your painting. The theory is in itself largely +obsolete now, and in fact has been disregarded by almost every able +painter who ever lived, in practice, no matter what he said about it. +I only speak of it because almost all books on painting have laid it +down as a rule, and you had better know its true relation to painting. +Like all other traditional methods of painting it has been used by the +greatest of painters, and has also been disregarded by the greatest of +painters; and as far as you are concerned, you may use it or not as +suits your purpose. The main thing is to get the right color and value +in the right place, in the most direct and natural, in the least +affected, manner possible. + +You may work into your _frottée_, then, more or less solidly as you +feel will give you the best representation of the color you see. + +=Solid Painting.=--Don't paint always in the same way. It is a mistake +to get too accustomed to one manner of procedure. Different things +require different handling. Let the thing suggest how you shall paint +it. If you want to paint directly, paint solidly from first to last +instead of rubbing in thinly first. But always have an accurate +drawing underneath. + +In working solidly without previous laying in, begin where each +brush-stroke will have the greatest effect toward establishing the +appearance of reality. If the canvas is light, begin by putting in the +main darks, and if the canvas is dark, do the reverse. You get the +most immediate effect of reality by the _relief_; the relief you get +most directly by putting in first those values which contrast with +what is already there. Establish your most telling values first, then +work from them towards less immediately effective things. + +=Color and Values.=--Study the color at the same time you do the +value. Put on no touch of paint as a value or a color alone. If you +do, you will have to paint that spot twice,--once for the value, and +again for the color. You might as well paint for the two qualities in +one stroke. It takes more thought, but it gives you more command of +your work. It doesn't load your canvas with useless paint, and it +saves time in the long run. + +=Relations and Directness.=--Study to give the true relations of +things. Try to get the just color quality. Give it at once. Don't get +it half way and trust to luck and a subsequent painting to correct it. +You will never learn to paint that way. Paint intensely while you +paint. Use all the energy you have. Paint with your whole strength for +a half or a whole hour, and then rest. You will accomplish more so +than by painting all day in a languid, half-hearted way. + +=Directness.=--Directness comes from making up your mind just what +tint of color and value is needed, and just where it is to go, first, +then putting it there with no coaxing. Get the right color on your +brush and plenty of it; then put the brush deliberately and firmly +down in the right place, and take it directly away, and look at the +result without touching it again till you have made up your mind that +it needs something else, and what it is that it needs. Then do that +and stop. + +Directness and justness of relation are the most important things in +painting. They tell for most, result in most, both to the picture and +to the student. Whatever you do, work for that. Try to have no +vagueness in your mind as to what you will do or why you do it, and +the effect of it will show on your canvas. + + + + + CHAPTER XXIX + + FLOWERS + + +Flower painting is the refinement of still life. You have the same +control of combination, but you have not the same control of time. +Flowers will change, and change more rapidly than any other models you +can have; and at the same time they are so subtle that the most +exquisite truth and justness are necessary to paint them well. + +People seem to think that any one can paint flowers. On the contrary, +almost no one can paint them well. There are not a dozen painters in +the world who can really paint flowers as they ought to be painted. +Why? Because while they are so exquisite in drawing and color, and so +infinitely delicate in value, they are also even more infinitely +subtle in substance and sentiment. + +When you have got the drawing and the color and the value, you have +not got the _quality_. + +What is the petal of a flower? It is not paper, and it is not wax, +neither is it flesh and blood, of the most exquisite kind. All these +are gross as substance compared to the tender firmness of the flower +petal; and the whole bunch of flowers is made up of petals. + +Yet you cannot paint the _petals_ either, else you lose the _flower_. +You must paint the _quality_ of the petal, and the _character_ of the +flower. + +All these things make the mere perception of facts most difficult, and +it must be done with full knowledge that in an hour it will be +something else, and you can never get it back to its original form +again. Yet you cannot paint a bunch of flowers in an hour. What will +you do? + +=Mass and Value.=--There is something besides the flower and the +petal; there is the _mass_. The mass is _one thing_, and it is +surrounded with air, and air goes through the interstices of it. You +must make this visible. The difference in value in flowers is +something "infinitely little," as a great flower painter said to me +once. Yet the difference is there. The bunch has its nearer and its +farther sides, and the way the light falls on it is the most obvious +expression of it. + +When you begin a group of flowers, get the _whole_ first. Make up your +mind that you cannot complete your work from the flower you have in +front of you, and that you must constantly change your models. Do not +paint the little things, the personal things first then. Paint what is +common to all the flowers in the group first. Paint the mass and the +rotundity of it, and express most vaguely the _forms_ of the accents, +and of the darks which fall between the flowers, but get their +values. For you will have to change these, and you should have nothing +there which will influence you to shirk. In this way only can you get +the larger things without hampering your future work by what may be +wrong. + +[Illustration: =Sweet Peas.=] + +Get the large values, and as little as possible of the expression of +the individual flowers; then as the flowers fade and change, +substitute one or two fresh ones at a time, in this or that part of +the partially wilted group, using the same kind of flower as that +which was in that place before; then work more closely from these new +flowers, letting the whole bunch preserve for you the mass and general +relation. As you work, the bunch will be gradually changing and +constantly renewed from part to part, and you can work slowly from +general to particular. Finally, from new flowers, put in those more +individual touches which give the personal flowers. + +This is the only way you can work a long time, and it is not easy. But +it should not discourage you. Nothing takes the place of the flower +picture, and the only way to learn to paint flowers is to paint +flowers. + +=General Principles Hold Always.=--Still, the principles of all +painting hold here as elsewhere, and what is said of painting in +general will have its application to flowers. + +Paint flowers because you love them; and if you love them, love them +enough to study patiently to express the qualities most worth +painting, even if there be difficulties. + +=Details Again.=--Don't make too much of unimportant things. The whole +is more than the part; the flower than the petal. Of course you can't +paint a flower without painting the petals, but you need not paint the +petals so that you can't see anything else. If the character of the +flower as a whole is to be seen at a glance without the emphasis of +any special petal, suggest the petals only. If the petal is important +to the expression of character, then paint it; and if you do, paint it +well. Use your judgment; make the less expressive of the greater, or +do not paint it at all. + +=Colors.=--Colors and tints in flowers are always more rather than +less subtle than you think them. If you have a doubt, make it more +delicate--give delicacy the benefit of the doubt. Still, flowers are +never weak in color. Subtle as they are, it is the very subtlety of +strength. Black will be the most useless color of your palette. Make +your grays by mixing your richer colors. A gray in a flower is shadow +on rich color, and it must not be painted by negation of color, but by +refinement of color. + +=Sketches.=--Make sketches of flowers constantly. Try to carry the +painting of a single flower or of a group as far as you can in an +hour. Practise getting as much of the effect of detail as possible +with as little actual painting of it, and then apply this to your +picture. + +Get to know your work in studies and sketches, and you will work +better in more difficult combinations. + +When you have, as you generally will have, still-life accessories to +your flowers, rub in quickly the color and values of the vase or what +not first, but leave the painting of it till the flowers are done. It +will be a more patient sitter than they. + +Apply the ways of painting spoken of with reference to still life to +the sketching of flowers. Either rub in quickly a _frottée_ and then +paint solidly into that, or work frankly and solidly but deliberately +to render the characteristic qualities. When you sketch flowers don't +take too many at a time; calculate to work not more than an hour and a +half or two hours, and have no more flowers in your sketch than you +can complete in that time. + +When you sketch, quite as much as when you work at more ambitious +canvases, get the mass first, especially if the group is large. Then +put in the accents which do most to give the character or type of the +flower. Make studies of single flowers and sketches of groups. In the +study search detail and modelling; in the sketch search relations and +relief, effect and large accent. + + + + + CHAPTER XXX + + PORTRAITS + + +Don't look upon portraits as something any one can do. A portrait is +more than a likeness, and the painting of it gives scope for all of +the great qualities possible in art. Only a great painter can paint a +great portrait. Some great painters rest their fame on work in this +field, and others have added by this to the fame derived from other +kinds of work. + +You must not think it easy to paint a portrait, or rest satisfied with +having got a likeness. Likeness is a very commonplace thing, which +almost any one can get. If there were no other qualities to be tried +for, it would hardly be worth while to paint a portrait. Back of the +likeness, which a few superficial lines may give, is the character, +which needs not only skill and power to express but great perception +to see, and judgment to make use of to the best advantage. + +=Character.=--The first requisite in a good portrait is +character,--more than likeness, more than color or grace, before +everything else, it needs this; nothing can take the place of it and +make a portrait in any real sense of the word. Everything else may be +added to this, and the picture be only so much the greater; but this +is the fundamental beauty of the portrait. Some of the greatest +painters made pictures which were very beautiful, yet the greatest +beauty lay in the perception and expression of character. Holbein's +wonderful work is the apotheosis of the direct, simple, sincere +expression of character in the most frank and unaffected rectitude of +drawing. There are masterpieces of Albrecht Dürer which rest on the +same qualities, as you can see in the Portrait of Himself by Dürer. +Likeness is incidental to character; get that, and the likeness will +be there in spite of you. + +Hubert Herkomer said once that he did not try for likeness; if only he +got the right values in the right places, the likeness had to be +there. The same can hardly be said of character, for this depends on +the selection from the phases of expression which are constantly +passing on the face, those which speak most of the personality of the +man; and the emphasis of these to the sacrifice of others. The +painting of character is interpretation of individuality through the +painting of the features, and, like all interpretation, depends more +on insight and selection than on representation. Try for this always. +Search for it in the manner, in the pose and occupation, of your +sitter. Get likeness if you will, of course; but remember that there +is a petty likeness, which may be accident or not, which you can +always get by a little care in drawing; and that there is a larger +character which includes this, and does not depend on exaggeration of +feature or emphasis of accidental lines, but on the large +expressiveness of the individual. You may find it elsewhere than in +the face. The character affects the whole movement of the man. The set +of the head and the great lines of the face, the head and shoulders +alone would give it to you even if the features were left out. Study +to see this, and to express it first, and then put in as much detail +as you see fit, only taking care never to lose the main thing in +getting those details. + +=Qualities.=--There are other great qualities also which you can get +in a portrait. All the qualities of color and tone, of course. But the +simplicity of a single figure does not preclude the qualities of line +and mass. The great things to be done with composition may as well be +done in portrait as elsewhere. If you would see what may be done with +a single figure, study the Portrait of his Mother, by Whistler. You +could not have a better example. It is one of the greatest portraits +of the world. Notice the character which is shown in every line and +plane in the figure. The very pose speaks of the individuality. Notice +the grace and repose of line, and the relations of mass to mass and +space--the proportion. See how quiet it is and simple, yet how just +and true. Of the color you cannot judge in a black and white, but you +can see the relations of tones, the values and the drawing. It is +these things which make a picture; not only a portrait, but a great +work of art as well. + +[Illustration: =Dürer=, _by Himself_. +To be studied as an example of directness and naïveté of painting.] + +[Illustration: =Portrait of his Mother.= _Whistler._] + +=Drawing.=--Good work in portraiture depends on good drawing, just as +other work does. Don't think that because it is only a head you can +make it more easily than anything else. As in other kinds of work, +the drawing you should try for is the drawing of the proportions and +characteristic lines. Get the masses and the more important planes, +and don't try for details. You can get these afterwards, or leave them +out altogether, and they will not be missed if your work has been well +done. + +Don't undertake too much in your work. Make up your mind how much you +can do well, and don't be too ambitious; the best painters who ever +lived have been content to work on a head and shoulders, and have made +masterpieces of such paintings. You may be content also. See how +little Velasquez could make a picture of! and notice also the placing +of the head, and the simplicity of mass, and of light and shade. + +=Painting.=--Of course you can help your color with glazing and +scumbling, but work for simplicity first. It is not necessary to use +all sorts of processes; you can get fine results and admirable +training from portrait studies, and the more directly you do it, the +better the training will be. + +Study the Portrait of Himself, by Albrecht Dürer. You will find no +affectation here; the most simple and direct brush-work only. You will +not be able to do this sort of thing, but that is no reason why you +should not try for it. It will depend on the brush-stroke. It implies +a precision of eye as well as of hand. It means drawing quite as much +as painting,--drawing in the painting. You will not get this great +precision; nevertheless, try for it, and get as near it as you can. +Don't try for too much cleverness; be content with good sincere study, +and the most direct expression of planes that you can give. + +[Illustration: =Portrait of Himself.= _Velasquez._] + +Let your brush follow lines of structure. Don't lay on paint across a +cheek, for instance. Notice the direction of the muscle fibre. It is +the line of contraction of the muscle which gives the anatomical +structure to a face. If your brush follows those, you will find that +it takes the most natural course of direction. + +Do the same with the planes of the body and of the clothing. Note the +lines of action, and the brush-stroke will naturally follow them. + +See that the whole form, and particularly the head, "constructs." The +head is round, more or less; it is not flat. The planes of it cross +the plane of the canvas, recede from it, cross behind, and return. +This in all directions. You must make your painting express this. It +is not enough that there be features, the features must be part of a +whole which is surrounded, behind as well as in front, by the +atmosphere. The hair is not just hair, it is the outer covering of the +skull, and of necessity follows the curves of the skull; and there is +a back part to the skull which you cannot see, but which you can +feel--can know the presence of, because of the way it is connected +with the front part by the sides. All this you must make evident in +your painting, as well as the facts which are on the side of the skull +turned toward you. How make it evident? By values and directness of +brush-stroke. + +=Background.=--Never treat the background as something different from +the head. The whole thing must go together. The slightest change in +the background is equivalent to that much change of the head itself. +For the change means necessarily a different contrast, either of color +or light and shade, and it will have its effect on the color or relief +of the head. + +Paint the two together, then. Make the head and all that goes with it +or around it as equally parts of the picture, which all tend to affect +each other. Your background is not something which can be laid in +after the head is finished. True you can paint the background +immediately around the head first, and then, after painting the head, +extend the background to the edge of the canvas; but the color, tone, +and character of the background must be decided upon at the time the +head is painted, and carried on in the same feeling. + +It is never good work to paint the head and then paint a background +behind it. Particularly is this true when there are windows or any +objects whatever in the background. It is most important that the +whole thing shall be seen in the same kind of light, and in the same +relation of light. This is hardly to be done when the head is one +painting and the background another. + +[Illustration: =Portrait.= _D. Burleigh Parkhurst._] + +This is not rigidly true, however, in cases when the whole thing is +planned beforehand, and studies made for each part, as in elaborate +portraits and compositions which include several figures or special +surroundings. But the principle holds good here also. The relation +must be kept of the head to the surroundings, and the effect of the +one upon the other always kept in mind. + +=Complex Portraits.=--It is often possible to pose your model so as to +bring out some characteristic occupation. This is often done in +portraits of distinguished men. Such a treatment gives opportunity for +composition both of the figure and of the various objects which may +make up the background. + +In such pictures you should study arrangement of line and mass, to +make the thing æsthetically interesting as well as interesting as a +portrait. Composition in mass,--the consideration of the head and +shoulders in relation to the space of the canvas,--is necessary in the +simplest head; but as soon as the canvas takes in a representation of +action on the part of the figure, line and movement must be +considered, as was done so beautifully in Whistler's portrait. In this +the study of composition is your problem. You may study it all the +time and in every picture you do, but it should be worked out before +you begin to paint. + +Plan your canvas carefully always. Know just where everything is +coming. When you leave things to chance, you are pretty sure to have +trouble later. + +=Portraits Good Training.=--I would not have you undertake to paint a +portrait rashly. You should know what you are to expect. If you are +not pretty sure of your drawing, and of the first principles of seeing +color in nature, and of representing it on canvas, you are likely to +get discouraged. Particularly if a friend poses for you, you may +expect disappointment on both sides. Drawing a head from the life is a +very different thing from drawing an inanimate object which will stay +in one position as long as you can pay the rent. So in the painting of +it, too, the color itself is alive. Flesh is something very elusive to +see the color of. And when you find that just as you begin to get +things well under way, or are in a particularly tight place, just at +that moment your model must rest, you must stop while the position is +changed and gotten back to again; then you will begin to realize that +"_la nature ne s'arrête pas_." + +I would have you know all this, I say, before you begin on your first +portrait; but, nevertheless, if you can get a start at it you will +find it extremely good practice. The very difficulties bring more +definitely to you the real problems of painting. The fact that it is +really the representation of something which has life has an interest +quite of its own. The constant change of position on the part of the +model will make you more observant, and less regardful of details; or +if you do regard the details, and forget the other things, it will +show you how inadequate those details are to real expression, unless +there is something larger to place them on. + +Don't undertake the painting of a head without considering well that +you are likely to have trouble, and that the trouble you will have is +most likely to be of a kind that you don't expect. But, having begun, +keep your head and your grit, and do the best you can. Remember that +you learn by mistakes, and failures are a part of every man's work, +and of every painter's experience, and not only of your own. + +You will save your self-esteem from considerable bruising if you make +it a point never to let your sitter see your work till you are pretty +well over the worst of it. The knowledge that it is to be seen will +make you work less unconsciously, and you will find yourself trying +for likeness, and all that sort of thing, when that is not what you +should be thinking about; and if, after all, the thing is a failure, +it is a great consolation to know that no one but yourself has seen +it! + +=Beginning a Portrait.=--The ways of beginning portraits are +innumerable. There is no one right way. Some are right for one painter +or subject, and some for others; but there are some methods which are +more advisable for the beginner. + +You can begin and carry through your painting entirely with body +color, or you can begin it with _frottées_, and paint solidly into +that. Take these two methods as types, and work in one or the other, +according to what are the special qualities you want your work to +have. + +If you have never painted a head, and have some knowledge of the use +of paint and of drawing, I would suggest that you make a few studies +of the head and shoulders, life size, in solid color, and on a not too +large canvas, say sixteen by twenty inches. This will leave you no +extra space, and you can devote your whole attention to the study of +the head, with only a few inches of background around it. You will +probably make the head too large. A head looks larger than it really +is, especially when you are putting it on canvas. If you measure them +you will find that few heads will be longer than nine inches from the +top of the hair to the bottom of the chin. Take this as the regular +size in drawing it on your canvas, and make the other proportions +according to that. + +Make a drawing of the outlines in straight lines, which shall give +only the main proportions of the head, neck, and shoulders. Within +this, block out the features largely. Don't draw the eyes, but only +the shape of the orbit; nor the nostril, but only the mass of light +and shade of the nose. + +=Construction.=--In these studies avoid trying to get anything more +than what will be suggested by this simple drawing. Use body color. +Don't think of anything but what you have to represent. Never mind how +the paint goes on, nor what colors you use, except that it is right in +value, and as near the color as you can get. Put it on with the full +brush, and try to get first the large masses and planes. Get it light +where it is light, and dark where it is dark, and have contrast enough +to give some relief. Don't try for any problems. Set your model in a +simple, strong light and go ahead. + +No details, no eyes, only the great structural masses. Try to feel the +skull under these planes of light and dark. Have the edges of them +pronounced and firm. + +Do a lot of these studies; learn structure first. You will never be +able to put an eye in its place in the orbit till you can make the +plane of dark which expresses the bony structure of the orbit. You +will feel the edge of the brow, of the cheekbone, and where the light +falls on the temple and on the side of the nose. Inside of this is +the dark of the cavity, broken for your purpose only by the light on +the upper lid. Lay these in. Do the same with the other planes, and +put your brush down firmly where you want the color, with no +consideration but the simplest and most direct expression of value and +color. + +Now, when you can lay in a head in this way, so that you can express +the likeness with nothing but these dozen or so of simple planes, you +have got some idea of what are the main things which give character to +a head. You will begin to understand how it should "construct." Into +this you can put all the detail you want, and if the detail is in +value with this beginning it will keep its proper relation to the +whole. + +Always when painting a head solidly, work this way. Get the action and +character of the head as a whole. Block in the planes of the face and +the features; and then go ahead to give the details which express the +lesser characteristics. But always get the character, even the first +look of resemblance, with this blocking in. Details and features will +not give you the likeness, to say nothing of the character, if you +have not gotten the character first by the representation of those +proportions which mean the structure which underlies all the +accidental positions of the detail of feature. + +=The Frottée.=--If you want to be more exact with your drawing before +you begin to paint, lay in your canvas with a light-and-shade drawing +in charcoal. Then make a _frottée_ in one color, and paint into and +over that, as was described in the Chapter on "Still Life." + +By careful and studious use of these two methods of work you can learn +the main principles of painting portraits, and modify the handling as +you have need; for all the various methods of manipulation are +modifications of one or the other, or combinations of both of these +fundamentally different ways of working. + +If you paint more than one sitting, get as good a drawing as you can +the first day. Put in your _frottée_ the next, or make your blocking +in; then after that do your painting into the _frottée_, or the +working out of such details as you decide to put in. + +Titian painted solidly, probably with no details; then worked these in +and glazed, then touched rich colors into the glaze. + +But you had better not bother with all these ways of painting. When +you can work well in the simplest way, you will find yourself making +all sorts of experiments without any suggestions from me. Work first +for facts of utmost importance, and technical methods are not such +facts. Perception and representation by any most convenient means are +the first things to be thought of, and nothing else is of importance +until a certain amount of advance is made along this line. + +Learn to see and paint the wholeness of the thing at once, not the +details, but the _fact_ of it. Try to lay in things so that you have a +solid ground to work onto and into later. + +Look for the vital things. Don't try for "finish." Finish is not +worked for nor painted into a picture; finish _occurs_ when you have +represented all you have to express. When you have got character and +values and true representation of color, you will find that the +"finish" is there without your having bothered about it. + +The masses you are to look for and emphasize are the great spaces +where the light strikes and the shadows fall. Close your eyes. The +lines disappear. You only see large planes of values; express these at +once and simply. + +Don't be afraid of rudeness, either of handling or of color, at first. +Don't try for finesse. All these delicacies will come later. But you +must get the important things first. Learn to be strong _first_, or +you never will be. Delicacy comes after strength, not before. + +So, too, freedom comes after knowledge--is the result of knowledge. So +paint to learn. If it is rigid at first and hard, never mind. Get the +understanding and the representation as well as you can, and try for +other things later. + +[Illustration: =Haystacks in Sunshine.= _Monet._ +To show certain characteristics of handling in "Impressionist" work.] + + + + + CHAPTER XXXI + + LANDSCAPE + + +From the usual rating of figures as the most important branch of +painting, it would be natural to speak of that kind of work first. But +work from the head must come before you attempt the figure, and there +are a good many things that you can learn from landscape which will +help you in figure-work. The manner of painting figures has been much +modified, too, of late years, owing to certain qualities and points of +view which are due to the study of landscape and the important +position that it has come to occupy. + +In the old days landscape was only a secondary thing, not only as a +branch of art in itself, but particularly as it was used by figure +painters. In this century it has so broadened in its scope that it is +now recognized to be as important a field of work as any. But further +than this, it has become the most influential study in the whole range +of painting. From the development of the study of outdoor nature, and +particularly outdoor light, it has come about that certain facts of +nature have been recognized which were before neglected, ignored, or +unsuspected, and these facts bear quite as much on the painting of the +figure as on the painting of landscape. So that it is no more possible +to paint the figure, in some respects, as it was painted as a matter +of course a hundred years ago, while other ways of painting the +figure, which were undreamed of at that time, are the matters of +course now. + +The whole problem of light has taken a new phase, and the treatment of +color in that relation is modified in the painting of figures as well +as in the other branches of work. + +=Pitch.=--In no direction is this more marked than in the matter of +_pitch_, or _key_. With the study of landscape, the range of gradation +from light to dark has broadened. A picture may now be painted in a +"high key;" the picture may be, from the highest to the lowest note in +it, far lighter than would have been thought possible even thirty +years ago. + +This question of "bright pictures" is one which demands consideration. +One has only to go into any exhibition of pictures to-day to be struck +with the fact that the key of almost every picture in it, of whatever +kind, has changed from what it would have been in the last generation. +This is not merely the result of the spread of the "Impressionist" +idea. That influence has only been strongly felt in this country +within the last ten years. It is not that which I am speaking of now. +I mean the fact that even the grayer pictures--those which do not in +any ordinary sense of the word belong to Impressionist work--are light +in color, where they would once have been dark, or at least darker. +The impressionists have had a definite influence, it is true; but the +work of the earlier "_plein air_" men--the men who posed their models +out-of-doors as a matter of principle, who studied landscape +out-of-doors--was the first and most powerful influence, and that of +the impressionists, coming along after it, has simply emphasized and +carried it farther. + +=Bright Pictures.=--Whatever may be thought of the work of those +painters who are called "impressionists," it must be recognized that +they have taught us how some things may be possible. And the present +quality of brightness will necessarily be to a certain extent a +permanent one in art. For like it or not as we may, it is true--true +to a certain great, fundamental characteristic of nature. For outdoor +light _is bright_, even on a gray day. The luminosity of color is too +great to be represented with dark paint or lifeless color. And once +this fact is recognized, it is a fact which will inevitably influence +all kinds of work. What is possible and right at a certain stage of +knowledge or recognition may be impossible when other points of view +have once been accepted. We see only what we look for, and we look +for only what we expect to see or are interested to see. You cannot go +out-of-doors now and paint as you would have painted a hundred years +ago. Then you would have painted what you saw then; but you would not +have seen nor looked for things which you cannot help seeing now. For +our eyes have been opened to new qualities and new facts, and once the +eyes have been opened to them they can never be closed to them again. + +=Average Observation.=--I say we see only what we look for, what we +expect to find; anything out of the ordinary is hard to believe at +first. In looking at nature the average observer does not even see the +obvious. Certain general facts he accepts in the general, but as a +rule there is no real recognition of what is there; no perception of +the relations of things; no analysis; no real _seeing_, only a +conventional acceptance of a thing as a _thing_. Men look at nature +with one idea, and at a picture of nature with an entirely different +idea. Nature in the picture is to most people just what they have been +accustomed to see in other pictures. They get their idea of how nature +looks from those pictures, and if you show them a picture differently +conceived they have difficulty in taking it in. + +For this reason the "bright picture" does not "look right." I remember +being asked by a man in a modern exhibition what I thought of "these +bright pictures." When I asked which pictures he had reference to, I +found that he meant the work of a man whose whole aim in painting +landscape was, as he once said to me, to get "the just note" in color +and value. One would think that the fact that the whole force of an +extremely able and sincere mind was directed to that purpose, would +produce a picture with at least truth of observation. Yet this was not +what my passing acquaintance wanted to see. The picture he liked, +which "had some nature in it," as he pointed out to me, was an +extremely commonplace landscape with a black tree against a garish +sky, reflected in a pool of water. The "bright picture" seemed to me +exquisitely gray and quiet, though high in key, and the one with +"nature in it," harsh and crude, but conventional; and that was just +the point. The average observer wants to see, and does see, in nature +what he is accustomed to accept in a picture as nature. + +But a painter cannot go on such a basis. He may paint a dark picture, +but he must find a subject which is dark to do so. He may not paint +daylight with false pitch and false relations, and say he sees it so. +With every liberty for personal seeing, there are still certain facts +so established and obvious that personality must take them and deal +with them, must use them and not ignore them, in its self-expression. + +[Illustration: =On the Race Track.= _Degas._ +To show relations of pitch and contrast out-doors.] + +The pitch of daylight is one of these facts. Light and luminosity may +not be qualities which appeal to your temperament. You may therefore +not make them the main theme of your painting of landscape; but you +cannot paint a daylight picture without in some way making it obvious +that luminosity is a fundamental characteristic of day light. There is +no other quality so universally present and pervasive. In sunlight it +is the most vital quality. You might as well paint water without +recognizing the fact that water is wet, as to paint daylight without +recognizing the fact that diffused sunlight is brilliant. + +=A Help.=--You will find it very useful as a help in seeing pitch as +well as color to have a card with a square hole cut in it to look +through at your landscape. Have one side covered with black velvet and +the other left white. Compare darks with the black, and the lights +with the white, and make the picture compose in the opening as in a +frame. + +=Key and Harmony.=--But you should remember that the high key for +out-of-door work does not mean crude nor unsympathetic color, neither +does it mean that there is nothing but sunshine and shadow. Your +picture may be as high as you please in pitch, and yet be harmonious +and pleasing. I have seen impressionist pictures of most pronounced +type hung in the same room with old pictures and in perfect harmony +with them. It means that good color is always good color, and will +always be harmonious with other good color, whatever the pitch of +either. One picture is simply a different note from the other, that is +all. The color in nature is not crude in not being dark. The relations +of spots of color are just; you have only to be as just in observing +them, and your picture will be harmonious. + +Make your notes just _all over_ your canvas. Have some of them just +and the rest false, and of course it will be wrong. Or if you try to +make crudity take the place of brilliancy, you will not get harmony. +The harmony which comes from the presence in just relation of all the +colors is none the less beautiful because more alive. You need not try +for the most contrasting and most sparkling qualities of out-of-door +color, but you should feel for the out-of-doorness of it. + +The space, the breadth, lack of confines, the largeness and movement, +vibration and life,--these are the things which the modern painter has +discovered in landscape and has emphasized; and this is what has made +modern landscape a vital force in modern art. Whatever you do or do +not see, feel, and express in your painting, these you must see, feel, +and express; for once these qualities are recognized and accepted they +are as universal as the law of gravity, and can be as little ignored. + +=Landscape Drawing.=--Landscape is more difficult to draw than is +generally thought; not only is the character affected by the _scale_ +of the main masses, but there is great probability of overdrawing. The +curves that mark the modelling of the ground are very difficult to +give justly. The altitude and slope of mountains are almost invariably +exaggerated. The twists and windings of roadways and fences are +seldom carefully drawn; yet the most exquisite movement of line is to +be gained by just representation of them. To give the character of a +tree, too, without making out too much of the detail of it, needs more +precise observation than it generally gets. + +[Illustration: =Willow Road.= _D. Burleigh Parkhurst._] + +Get the character; get the sentiment of it. Search for the important +things here first, and be more particular about the placing of each +line than about the number of lines. + +Don't draw too many lines in a landscape; don't draw too many +objects. Carefully study the scene before you till you have decided +what parts are most essential in giving the character that you want to +express, and then draw most carefully those parts. See which are the +_most expressive lines_ in it. Get the swing and movement of those +lines in the large; then study the more subtle movement of them. Get +these things on the canvas first, and put everything else in as +subsidiary to them. Have all this well placed before you begin to +paint, and allow for little things being painted on to this. + +Don't get too many things into one landscape. The spirit of the time +and place is what will make the beauty of it, not the details nor the +mere facts. This spirit you will find in a few things, not in many. +Having found which lines and forms, which masses and relations of +color and value, express this, the more carefully you avoid putting in +other things the more entirely you emphasize the quality which is the +real reason of existence of your picture. + +In studying landscape, work for one thing at a time. What has been +said of sketching and studies applies here. Landscape is the most +bewildering of subjects in its multiplicity of facts and objects and +colors and contrasts. If you cannot find a way to simplify it you will +neither know where to begin nor where to leave off. I cannot tell you +just what to do or not to do, because no two landscapes are alike. +Recipes will do nothing in helping you to paint. But there is the +general principle which you may follow, and I try to keep it before +you even at the risk of over-repetition. In no kind of picture can you +drag in unimportant things simply because they exist in nature. In +landscape more than elsewhere, because you cannot arrange it, but must +select in the actual presence of everything, you must learn to +concentrate on the things which mean most, and to refuse to recognize +those which will not lend themselves to the central idea. + +=Selection.=--When you select your subject, or "_motif_," as the +French call it, select it for something definite. There is always +something which makes you think this particular view will make a good +picture. State to yourself what it is that you see in it, not in +detail, but in the general. Is it the general color effect of the +whole, or a contrast? Is it a sense of largeness and space, or a +beautiful combination of line in the track of a road, or row of trees, +or a river? Perhaps it is the mass and majesty of a mountain or a +group of trees. Something definite or definable catches you--else you +had better not do it at all; and what that something is you must know +quite precisely, or you will not have a well-understood picture. + +When you have distinctly in your mind what you want to paint it for, +then see that the composition is so placed on your canvas that that +characteristic is the main thing in evidence. With this done it is a +very easy thing to concentrate on that characteristic, and to leave +out whatever tends to break it up or distract from it. This is the +only way you can simplify your subject. First by a distinct conception +of _what_ you paint it for, then by so much analysis of the whole +field of vision as will show you what does and what does not help in +the expression of it. + +=Detail.=--Much detail in landscape is never good painting. Whether +big or little, your canvas must express something larger and more +important than detail. Give detail when it is needed to express +character or to avoid slovenliness. Give as much detail _where the +emphasis lies_ as will insure the completeness of representation--not +a touch more. + +=Structure.=--Have your foreground details well understood in drawing +and value. This does not require the drawing of leaf and twig, but it +does require _structure_. Everything requires structure. _Structure is +fundamental to character._ If you will not take the trouble to study +the character of any least thing you put in, don't put it in at all. +Nothing is important enough to put in, if it is not important enough +to have its character and its purpose in the picture understood. + +I spoke of structure in speaking of the head. If I said nothing but +"structure, structure, structure" to the end of the section, you would +get the impression of what is the most important thing in drawing. If +you will look for and find the line and proportion expressing the +anatomy which makes the thing fulfil its particular function in the +world, you will understand its character, and that is what is +important, everywhere. + +=Work in Season.=--Make your picture in the season which it +represents. I don't say that a good summer picture may not be made in +winter; but I do say that you are more likely to express the summer +quality while the summer is around you. There is too much half +painting of pictures, and then leaving them to be "finished up" +afterwards. + +Of course you can make all your studies and sketches, and then begin +and finish the picture from them. If you are careful to have plenty of +material, to accumulate all your facts with the intention of working +from those facts, all right; but it would be better if you were to +work your picture in the season of it, as long as you are a student at +least. For until you have had a great deal of experience, you will +find when you come to paint your picture that some very much needed +material you have neglected to collect, and you cannot safely supply +it from memory. If this occurs in the time of year represented in the +picture, you can just go out and study it. + +=Out-of-door Landscapes.=--The most important movement in modern art, +the most important in its effects on all kinds of work, is what I have +mentioned as the _plein air_ movement. It was thought by some +clear-headed men that the best way to paint an out-door picture was to +take their canvases out-of-doors to paint it. Instead of working from +a few color sketches and many pencil studies, they painted the whole +picture from first to last in the open air. Working in this way, +certain qualities got into the pictures unavoidably. Necessarily the +color was fresher and truer. Necessarily there was more breadth and +frankness, and less conventionality and mere picture-making. The +spirit of the open got onto the canvas, and the whole type of picture +was changed. For the first time out-of-door values were studied as +things in themselves interesting and important. The result on +landscape pictures was that pictures painted in the studio seemed +unreal and insincere, and that men looked and studied less for the +making of pictures, and more for what nature had to reveal. + +It would be a good thing for you as a student if you would do as these +men did whenever you want to do any work at landscape, whether for +itself, or for background. If you wish to pose any kind of figure with +landscape background, pose and paint your figure out-of-doors. Make +sketches as much as you please, make studies as much as you please; +but make them for the suggestions and knowledge they will give you, +and not for material to be used in painting a picture at home. For +your picture, start, and go on with, and finish it out-doors; you will +get a feeling of freshness and truth in your work which you cannot get +any other way. You will also acquire a power of concentration and of +selection and rejection in the presence of nature which is of the +utmost importance to you. + +=Impressionism.=--It is not possible to speak of landscape and _plein +air_ without mention of the "Impressionists." You should understand +what "impressionism" really is, and what it is not, and what the +impressionist stands for. Whether we like it or not, this work is not +to be ignored. It has tried for certain things, and has shown that +they can be much more justly represented than had before been believed +to be possible, and fad or no fad, that result stands. + +In the first place, impressionism does not mean "purple and yellow." +Any one who says "purple and yellow" and throws the whole thing aside, +is a very superficial critic. The purple and yellow are incidental to +the impressionist, not essential. It is only one of the ways of +handling color by means of which it was found possible to express +certain qualities of light. + +Before everything else the real impressionist stands for the +representation of the personal conception and method as against the +traditional. He believes that if a man has anything of his own to say, +he must say it in his own way; and that if he cannot find that nature +has anything to say to him personally, if nature cannot give him a +personal message, if he can only paint by giving another man's ideas +and another man's method, then he had better not paint at all; so that +whatever he may see to paint, and however he finds a way to express +it, the value of it and the truth of it lie in the fact that it is +_his_, his way of seeing, and his way of expressing,--that it is +"personal." + +=Luminosity.=--The impressionist is imbued with the fact that all the +light by means of which things are at all visible is luminous--that it +vibrates. He does not think that living light can be represented by +dead color. He strives to make his color live also. This is the secret +of the purple and yellow. By the contrast of these two colors, by the +combination and contrast and juxtaposition of the complementary colors +and the use of pure pigments, he can make his colors more vibrant, and +so give more of the pitch of real sunlight. He actually applies on his +canvas the laws which are known to hold with light and color +scientifically. He applies practically in his work those laws which +the scientist furnishes him with theoretically. The result in some +hands is garish, crude. But the best men have shown that it is +possible to use the means so as make a subtle harmony and a luminous +brilliancy that have never before been attained. The crudity is the +result of the man, not of the method. + +=The Application.=--The application of all this to your own work is +that when you want pitch and sunlight you can get it through the +observance of the laws of color contrast, and such a laying on of +pigment as will bring this about. Try to study the actual contrasts of +color, not as they seem, but as they are in nature. Study the facts +which have been observed as to colors in their effects on each other, +and then try to see these in nature and to paint the results. + +=The Luminists.=--This is the principle of all "loose painting" +carried out scientifically. It is the cause of the peculiar technique +of those impressionists who paint in streaks and spots of pigment. The +manner of putting on paint does interfere with the continuity of +outline in the drawing necessarily, but there is a marked gain in the +quality of light; and as these men are "luminists," and light is what +they want primarily, the sacrifice is justifiable, or at any rate +explicable. + +Now if you understand the scientific principle, and the practical +application and its result on canvas, you have in your hands one of +the main instrumentalities in the rendering of one great quality of +out-of-doors. How far you adopt it is a matter for you to decide for +yourself. If the complete adoption of it implies too much of a +sacrifice of other things of equal or greater value to you, then +modify it, or take advantage of it as much as will give you the +balance of qualities you most want. There is one way to get light and +brilliancy and life into your color: adapt it to your purpose if you +need it. + +This is the application of color juxtaposition to mixing. The placing +of complementaries so as to increase contrast is another way of adding +to the brilliancy of light. You will find this most useful when you +want to give the greatest possible emphasis to the effect of sunlight +and shadow. If you keep your shadows cool, your lights will be the +richer and more sparkling because of that contrast. If you want more +strength in a note of color, get its complement as near it as you can. +Look for their iridescence of edges of shadow, and of the contours of +objects. You will get greater relief of light and shade by contrast of +warm and cool than contrast of light and dark. + +Do not misunderstand me. I am not advising you to be an impressionist. +I wish only that you shall see what there is in this way of looking at +nature and of representation of certain effects of nature, which will +be of use to you in the painting of landscape. I would have you know +what means are at your command, what is possible to accomplish in +certain directions, and how it is possible to accomplish it; then I +would have you make use of whatever will most directly and completely +serve your purpose. + +Do not use any color or colors, any method or point of view, because +of any advocacy whatsoever. Know first what you want to paint and why. +Let nature speak to you. Go out and look at landscape. Study and +observe; see the effect which makes you want to paint it, and then use +the means and method which seem most entirely adapted to it. Don't ask +yourself, nor let any one else ask you, Is this So-and-So's method? +or, Does this belong to this or that school? Don't bother about +schools or methods at all. Look frankly to see, accept frankly, and +then work to render and convey as frankly as you have seen. Be +sincere--sincere with yourself and with your painting: then you will +surely work at whatever you do from conviction, and not from fad; and +whether it makes you paint as an impressionist or not is a very minor +matter, because sincerity of purpose is the most important thing in +painting, and method of representation one of the least. + +=Atmosphere.=--A universal characteristic of nature will be a +fundamental one in landscape. A landscape which you cannot breathe in +is not a perfect one. We live and breathe in atmosphere, and the +expression of atmosphere will go far to make your landscape true. But +atmosphere is not haziness. Neither is it vagueness nor negativeness +of color. Truth of color-quality, and justness of relation will do +most in getting it. You had better not try for atmosphere as a thing, +but as a result. Anything so universal and so indefinite can be +expressed by no one thing. If you try to get it by any one means you +will miss it. Study, then, the subtlety of color relation and justness +of value. Try to be sensitive to the slightest variety of tone, and be +satisfied with no least falsity of rendering, and you will find that +your picture will not lack atmosphere. + +=Color of Contour.=--An important thing for you to look for and to +study is the color of contours. You will not find it easy; not easy +even to know what it is that you are looking for. But consider it as a +combination of contiguous values and color vibrations, and things will +reveal themselves to you. + +No form is composed of unvarying color. No combination of color +surrounding it lacks variety. All along the edge of forms and objects, +of whatever kind, the value and color relation constantly change. The +outline is not constant. Here and there it becomes lost from identity +of value and color with what surrounds it, and again defines itself. +The edge is not sharp. The color rays vibrate across each other. The +inevitable variety of tint and value, of definiteness and vagueness, +gives a never-ending play of contrasts and blendings. These are +qualities which go to the harmonizing of color, to the expression of +light, and particularly to the feeling of atmosphere. This constant +variety of contrasting edges is the constant movement and play of the +visual rays, and the study of it gives life and vibration to the +picture, and all the objects represented in it. + +Outdoors, particularly when the play of diffused light and the +movement of all the objects is continually felt, either through their +own elasticity or because of the heat and light waves, this study is +most necessary, if you would get the feeling of freedom, space, and +air. + +=Skies.=--In the painting of the sky there are several points to be +kept in mind. The sky, even on the quietest day, is full of movement. +Cloud masses change continually. If there are no clouds there is +constant vibration in the blue; constant variety in the plane of +color,--a throb of color sensation which is not to be expressed by a +dead, flat tint. + +Paint the sky loosely. Lay on the color as you will, with a broad, +flat brush, or with a loose, smudgy handling; put it on with +horizontal strokes, or with criss-cross touches, but never make it a +lifeless tone. Have variety in it; keep a pulsation between the warm +and cool color. You can work in the separate touches of half-mixed +color, warm and cool, all through the sky, so that the whole tone will +be flat and even, but not dense and dead. So far as the sky is +concerned, the atmosphere is essential, and is to be represented not +by dense color, but by free, loose, vibrating color. + +=Clouds.=--If you have clouds to paint, do not draw them rigidly. Get +the effect of the mass and movement, and the lightness of them. As +they constantly change in form, any one form they may assume cannot be +characteristic. The type form is what you must get, and the suggestion +of the motion and lightness. You can suggest, too, the direction of +the wind by the way they mass and sway and flow. The direction of the +sun's rays, too, counts in the color of them. The outline of a cloud +mass is never hard, never rigid. The pitch and luminosity and subtlety +are what give you most of the effect of it. + +Study the type of cloud, of course. It is a _cumulus_, _cirrus_, +_stratus_, or what not. This character is important; but the character +lies in the whole body of the cloud form, not in the accidental +outlines or the special position of it for the moment. + +=Sky Composition.=--The massing of cloud forms is a very useful factor +in the composition of the landscape. The cloud bank or cloud line is +capable of giving accent or balance to the picture. As it is not +constant in position any more than in form, you can place it with +truth to nature pretty nearly always where it will do the most good as +an element in the composition. Make use of them, then, and study the +forms and the possible phases of them so as to make the best use of +them. + +=Diffused Light.=--Much of the characteristic quality of out-door +light is the result of the diffusion of light due to both the +refraction and the reflection of the sky. The light which bathes the +landscape comes in all directions from the sky. Necessarily, then, the +sky will be in most cases far higher in value than anything under it. +Even the blue of the sky, which looks darker than some bit of light in +the landscape, you will find, if you can manage to get them to tell +against each other, will be the more luminous of the two, and will +look lighter. There are times when the sun glares on a white building +or a piece of white sand, when the white tells light against the blue. +But these are exceptions, and if we could get a blue paint which would +give the intensity of color, and also the brilliancy of the light, +even these cases would be most truly represented with the sky as the +higher value. It is a case of whether to sacrifice value to color, or +the reverse, as we cannot have both. + +Sometimes, however, in a storm, the dense dark of the storm sky is +really lower in value than some white object against it, especially if +there be a bit of sun breaking through on it. + +But in general, nevertheless, you should consider the sky as always +lighter and more luminous than anything under it. + +=Three Planes.=--It will help you in understanding the way the light +falls on landscape to consider everything as in one of three planes, +and these planes taking greater or less proportions of light according +to the position of the sun with reference to them. + +The position of the sun changes from a point immediately over, to a +point practically at right angles to all objects in nature. Everything +that can exist under the sun will come in one of these planes, and at +some time in the day in each. The vertical, the horizontal, or some +sort of an oblique between these two. If the sun is overhead exactly, +the flat ground, the tops of trees and houses, will get the full +amount of sunlight. The vertical planes, sides of houses, depths of +foliage, etc., will get the least, some of them being lighted only by +diffused and reflected light. The planes lying between these two +extremes will get more or less, according as they are more or less at +right angles to the direct rays of the sun. And as the sun declines +from the zenith, the vertical planes get more and more and the +horizontal planes less and less of the light, till in the late +afternoon the banks of trees and sides of buildings and cloud-masses +are gilded with light, and the broad horizontal plains of land and +water are in shadow. + +However obscured the sun may be, this principle holds more or less; +and it makes clear and helps you to observe and notice many facts in +landscape light and shade which it is necessary to know. + +Millet said that all the beauty of color and value, and the whole art +of painting, rested on the comprehension and observance of these +facts. + +He said that as the planes of any form turned towards or away from the +light and so got more or less of it, and as one form stood more or +less far back of another and the atmosphere came between, the color +and value changed; and in the observance of this, and its +representation as applied to any and every object or group of objects, +lay the whole of painting. All the possible beauties of the art rested +on it. He showed a painting of a single pear in which these things +were most subtly observed, and said that that painting was as complete +and perfect as any painting he could do simply because in the +observance of these relations was implied the observance of everything +which was vital to painting. + +=Short Sittings.=--This characteristic, and the steady change of +position of the sun and its effects on all the objects which are +directly lighted by it, make it necessary, whenever you are painting +from nature out-of-doors, that you should not paint at one thing very +long at a time. The light changes pretty rapidly; at high noon it only +takes a few moments to exactly reverse the light. It is seldom that +you can do any just study for more than an hour or an hour and a half +at a sitting. Some men do work two or three hours, but they are not +studying justly all that time; for that which was light is dark three +hours later, and any true study of value and color is impossible under +these conditions. Of course on gray days this is less marked, but you +must suit your sittings to the time and facts. + +It would be better if you had more canvases, and worked a short time +on each, and many days on all. You would have the truest work. + +Monet works never more than a half-hour on one canvas; but when he +starts out he takes a half-dozen or more different canvases, and +paints on each till the light has changed. Theodore Robinson seldom +worked more than three-quarters of an hour, or at most an hour, on one +canvas; but, he worked for twenty or thirty days on each canvas, and +sometimes had a single canvas under way for successive seasons. + +Any man who would truly study for the just value and note of color +must work more or less in this way when he works out-of-doors. + + + + + CHAPTER XXXII + + MARINES + + +All that has been said on landscape painting applies to marines. You +have the same open-air feeling and vibration of light and color. There +is no need to say the same things over again. It is only necessary to +take all these things for granted, and emphasize certain other things +which are peculiar to the sea. + +=Sea and Sky.=--To begin with, the relation of the sky to what is +under it is markedly different in color from any other relations in +painting. The sea is always more or less of a perfect reflecting +surface, and always strongly influenced in color, value, and key by +the reflections of the sky on its surface. The sky color is always +modifying the water--when and how depends on the condition of the +weather, and the degree of quiet or movement of the water. Sometimes +the water is a perfect mirror; sometimes the mirror quality is almost +lost, but the influence is there. + +This relation is the most important thing, because the sea and the sky +is always the main part of your picture; and no matter what else is +there, or how well painted it may be, if these things are not +recognized, if they are not justly observed, your picture is bad. + +I cannot tell you all about these things. The variety of effects and +relations is infinite. You must study them, paint them in the presence +of nature, and use your eyes; only remember the general principles of +air and atmosphere and light and color that I have spoken of +elsewhere--all have most vital importance on marine painting. You must +study these, and think of them, and in the presence of sea or sky +observe their bearings, and apply them as well as you can. + +=Movement.=--If "_la nature ne s'arrête pas_" ordinarily, the fact is +even more marked in marines; for the water is the very type of +ceaseless motion. Somehow, you must not only study in spite of the +continual motion, but you must manage to make that motion itself felt. +This you will find is in the larger modelling of the whole +surface--the "heave" of it as distinguished from the waves themselves. +The waves are a part of that motion of course; but give the +wave-drawing only, without their relation to the great swing of the +whole body of water, and you get rigidity rather than movement. The +wave movement is in and because of this larger motion. See that first, +and make it most evident, then let the waves themselves cut it up and +help to express it. + +[Illustration: =Entrance to Zuyder Zee.= _Clarkson Stanfield._] + +=Wave Drawing.=--How shall you "draw" so changeable a thing as a wave? +Every wave has a type of form, has a characteristic movement and +shape; and as it changes it comes into a new position and shape in +logical and practically identical sequence of movement. You can only +study this by constant watching. You look at the wave, and then turn +your eyes away to fix it on your canvas; as you look back, the wave is +not there. Well, you can only not try to make a portrait of each wave; +it isn't possible. Don't expect to. Study the movement and type forms; +think of it; fix it in your mind; decide on the mass and suggestive +relation of it to other masses, and put that down. + +There is never a recurrence of the same thing either in exact form or +color, but fix your eyes on one place, and over and over again you +will see a succession of waves of similar kind. Or look at a wave and +follow it as it drives on; changes come and go, but the wave form in +the main keeps itself for some time. + +Look over a large field of the water without too sharply focussing the +eyes, you will see the great lines and planes of modelled surface over +and over again taking the same or similar shapes, positions, and +relations. And as you look your eye will follow the movement in spite +of yourself. Your gaze will gradually come nearer and nearer; but +meanwhile, in following the wave, it will have felt that the wave was +the same in shape, but only varied in position. + +In this way you will come to know the wave forms. Jot them down, +either in color or with charcoal; but do not look for outline too +much. Try to study the forms and relations, mainly by the broad touch, +with a characteristic direction and movement. No amount of explanation +will tell you anything. You must sit and look, think, analyze, and +suggest, then generalize as well as you can. + +=Open Sea and Coast.=--The open sea is all movement. Even a ship, the +most rigid thing on it, moves with it. But you do not have to study +these things from the standpoint of invariable movement. You can start +from a stable base. Study coast things first. You have then the +relation of the movement of the water to the rock or land, and you can +simplify the thing somewhat. What has been said of motion holds good +still; but you can get something definite in a rock mass, and study +the changes near it, and then extend your study as you feel strong +enough. + +The study of coast scenery is quite as full of changing beauty as the +open sea, and it has certain types that belong to it alone. Breakers +and surf, and the contrast of land and sea colors and forms, give +great variety of subject and problem. In the drawing of rocks the +study of character is quite as important, but not so evasive, as the +study of wave forms. You must try to give the feeling of weight to +them. The mass and immovability add to the charm and character of the +water about them. + +=Subject.=--Don't undertake too much expanse on one canvas. Of course +there are times when expanse is itself the main theme; but aside from +that, too much expanse will make too little of other things which you +should study. Whether your canvas be big or little, to get expanse +everything in the way of detail and form must be relatively small, +otherwise there is no room on the canvas for the expanse. So if you +would paint some surf, or a rock and breakers, or a ship, place the +main thing in proper proportion to the canvas, and let the expanse +take care of itself, making the main thing large enough to study it +adequately. If it is too small on the canvas, you cannot do this. + +=Ships.=--The painting of the sea necessarily involves more or less +the painting of vessels of different kinds. You may put the ship in so +insignificant a relation to the picture that a very vague +representation of it will do, but you must have a thorough knowledge +of all the details of structure and type if you give any prominence to +the ship in your picture. + +=Detail.=--You do not need to put in every rope in a vessel. You do +not need to follow out every line in the standing rigging even, in +order to paint a ship properly. To do this would miss the spirit of +it, and make the thing rigid and lifeless. But ignorance will not take +the place of pedantry for all that. Every kind of vessel has its own +peculiar structure, its own peculiar proportions, and its own peculiar +arrangement of spar and rigging. Whether you are complete or not in +the detailing of the masts and rigging, you must know and represent +the true character of the craft you are painting. You must take the +trouble to know how, why, and when sails are set, and what are the +kinds, number, and proportion of them, and their arrangement on any +kind of vessel or boat you may paint. There is again only one way to +know this. If you are not especially a painter of marines, you may +find that the study of some particular vessel in its present condition +and relation to surrounding things will serve your turn; but if you go +in for the painting of marine pictures generally, you can only get to +know vessels by being on and about them at all seasons and places. +Your regular marine painter fills dozens and hundreds of sketch-books +with pencilled notes of details and positions and accidents and +incidents of all sorts and conditions of ships. Ships under full sail +and under reefed canvas; ships in a squall and ships in dead calm--he +can never have too many of these facts to refer to. + +The true marine painter is nine parts a sailor. If he does not take, +or has not taken a voyage at sea, at least has passed and does pass a +large part of his time among vessels and sailors. He knows them both; +his details are facts that he understands. And what he puts in or +leaves out of a painting is done with the full knowledge of its +relative importance to his picture and to the significance of the +ship. + +All this sounds like a good deal to undertake; but to the man who +loves the water and what sails upon it, it is only following his +liking, and any one who does not love all this should content himself +with only the most incidental sea painting; for sea pictures are not +to be painted from recipes any more than any other thing, and ships +particularly cannot be represented without an understanding of them. +And after all, you do not have to do all this study at once. If you +will only study well each thing that you do, and never paint one +vessel or boat without understanding that one; if you will study the +one you are doing now, and will do the same every time,--eventually +you will have piled up a vast deal of knowledge without having +realized how much you were doing. + +=Color of Water.=--You must study the color of water in the large when +you paint it. Remember that its color depends on other things than +what it is itself. The character of the bottom, whether it be rocky +or sandy, and the depth of the water, will affect its color; and to +one accustomed to see these things, the picture betrays its truth or +falsity at a glance, especially as the character of the wave and the +great movement of the whole surface are influenced by the same things. + +[Illustration: =Girl Spinning.= _Millet._ +Example of "_contre jour_" and out-of-door contrast of light and +shade.] + + + + + CHAPTER XXXIII + + FIGURES + + +The broadest classification of figure pictures is to consider them as +of two kinds,--those painted in an out-door or diffused light, and +those painted in an in-door or concentrated light. The painting of +figures out-of-doors you will find more difficult if you have had no +experience in painting them in the studio. The problems of light and +shade and color are more complex in the diffused light, and the +knowledge of structure and modelling, as well as of special values +gained by studio study, will be most helpful to you when you paint +out-of-doors. I should say, then, don't attempt any serious painting +of the human figure in the open air till you have had some experience +with its special problems in the house. + +=The Nude.=--No good figure-work has ever been done which was not +founded on a knowledge of the nude. Whether the figure is draped or +not, the nude is the basis of form. The best painters have always made +their studies of pose and action in the nude, and then drawn the +draperies over that. This insures the truth of action and structure, +which is almost sure to be lost when the drawing of the form is made +through drapery or clothing. The underlying structure is as essential +here as in portrait. It is the more imperative that the body be felt +within the clothes from the fact that it cannot be seen. There must be +no ambiguity; no doubt as to the anatomy underneath; for without this +there can be no sense of actuality. + +I do not say paint the nude. On the contrary, if you want to go so far +as that in the study of the figure, you must not attempt to do it with +the aid of a book. Go to a good life class. But I wish to emphasize +the principle that when you undertake to paint anything involving the +figure, you must know something of the structure of what is more or +less hidden, and must make allowance for the disguising of form which +the draping of it will inevitably cause. + +And when you draw your figure, you should lay in your main lines, at +any rate, from the nude figure if you can. If you cannot command a +professional model for this purpose, you can only be more careful +about your study of the underlying lines and forms as they are +suggested by the saliencies of the draperies. + +If this is the case, be most accurate in those measurements which +place the proportions of the parts which show through the covering, +and try to trace out by the modelling where the lines would run. By +mapping out these proportions, and drawing the lines over the drapery +masses wherever you can make them out, you can judge to a certain +extent of the truth of action in your drawing. + +The use of a lay figure will help you somewhat if you can get one +which is true in proportion. It will not help you much in the finer +modelling, but it will at least insure your structural lines being in +the right place, and that is as much as you can hope for without the +special study of the nude. + +A lay figure is expensive, costing about three hundred dollars in this +country. You will hardly be apt to aspire to a full-sized one, as only +professional painters can afford to pay so much for accessories. But +small wooden ones are within the means of most people, and will be +found useful for the purpose I have mentioned, and one should be +obtained. + +When you have assured yourself, as far as you can by its use with and +without special draperies, of the right action of your drawing, you +must do your painting from the draped model. + +=The Model.=--Never paint without nature before you. If you paint the +figure, never paint without the model. For the sake of the study of +it, it goes without saying that you can learn to paint the figure only +by studying from the figure. But beyond that, for the sake of your +picture, you can have no hope of doing good work without working from +the actual object represented. The greatest masters have never done +pictures "out of their heads." The compositions and æsthetic qualities +came from their heads it is true, but they never worked these things +out on canvas without the aid of nature. And the greater the master, +the more humble was he in his dependence on nature for the truth of +his facts. + +Much more, then, the student needs to keep himself rigidly to the +guidance of nature; and this he can only do by the constant use of the +model. + +=One Figure or Many.=--Whether you have one or more figures, the +problem may be kept the same. The canvas must balance in mass and line +and in color. When you decide to make a picture with several figures, +study the composition first as if they were not _figures_, but groups +of masses and line. Get the whole to balance and compose, then decide +your color composition. Simplify rather than make complex. The more +you have of number, the more you should consider them as parts of a +whole. Keep the idea of grouping; combine the figures, rather than +divide them. Have every figure in some logical relation to its group, +and then the group in relation to the other parts. Don't string them +out or spot them about. Study the spaces between as well as the +spaces they occupy. And don't fill up these spaces with background +objects. That will not bind the group together, but will separate it. +Fill the spaces with air and with values--even more important! + +All this arranged, paint each group and each figure as if it were one +thing instead of many. As you treat the head, the body, the dress, and +the chair as all parts of a whole in a single sitting figure, so treat +the various heads, bodies, dresses, etc., in a group as parts of a +whole, by studying always the relations of each to each. And then +study to keep the different groups as parts of whole canvas in the +same way. + +=Simplicity of Subject.=--But do not be too ambitious in your +attempts. Keep your subjects simple. Don't be in a hurry to paint many +figures. Paint one figure well before you try several. + +You will find plenty of scope for your knowledge and skill in single +figures. Practise with sketches and compositions, if you will, in +grouping several figures, and try to manage them so that the whole +shall be simple in mass and effect; but do not attempt, as a student, +without experience and skill in the painting of one figure, to paint +pictures containing several. By the time you can really paint a single +figure well, you can dispense with a manual of painting, and branch +out as ambitiously as you please. In the meantime, everything that +you have knowledge enough to express well, you can express with the +single figure. + +With the model, the background, the pose and occupation, the clothing +and draperies, and whatever accessories may be natural to the thing as +elements, it is possible to work out all the problems of line and mass +and color. If a really fine thing cannot be made with one figure, more +figures will only make it worse. + +Look again at Whistler's portrait of his mother. Consider it now, not +as a portrait, but as a single figure. What are the qualities of it +which would be helped if there were more in it? The very simplicity of +it makes the handling of it more masterly. + +Look also at the one simple figure of Millet's "Sower;" all the great +qualities of painting that are likely to get themselves onto one +canvas you will find in this. + +See what movement and dignity there are in it. How statuesque it is! +It is monumental. It has scale; it imposes its own standard of +measurement. There are air and envelopment and light and breadth. Are +these not qualities enough for one canvas? + +=Nature the Suggester.=--Take your suggestions, your ideas, for +pictures from nature. Keep your eyes open. Observe all poses which may +hint of possible schemes of light and shade, of composition, or of +color. It is marvellous how constantly groupings and poses and effects +of all kinds occur in every-day life. Humanity is kaleidoscopic in its +succession of changes; one after another giving a phase new and +different, but equally suggestive of a picture if you will take the +hint. The picture which originates in a natural occurrence is always +true if it is sincerely and frankly painted. Truth is more various +than fiction. It is easier to see than to invent. And in the +arrangement of the material which nature freely and constantly +furnishes to him there is scope for all the invention of man. + +=Action and Character.=--The picture comes from the action--resides in +it. The action comes from the act, and is natural to it, expressive of +it. Any gesture or position which is the natural and unaffected result +of an essential action will be true and vital, suggestive of nature, +and beautiful because it will inevitably have character--be +characteristic. The beauty of the picture is not something external to +the costumes, occupations, and life which surround you, but is to be +found, contained in it, and brought out, manifested, made visible, by +the mere logical working out of the need, the custom, or the occasion. + +Emphasis is only the salience of the most natural movement. + +Daily life swarms with pictures. You do not need to go to other places +and other times for subjects. If you are awake to what is going on +around you, if you see the essential line of the occupation, or the +mass and color which is incidental to every least activity, you will +have more suggested to you than you have time to do justice to. And it +is your business to see the beautiful in the commonplace. Everything +is commonplace till you see the charm in it. The artistic possibility +does not lie in the unusual in any subject, but in the fact that the +thing cannot get done without action and grouping and color and +contrast; and these are the artist's opportunities. Keep your eyes +open for them; learn to recognize them when you see them; look for +these rather than for the details of the accidental fact which brings +them out. See the movement of it, and the relation of it to what +surrounds it, and you will hardly avoid seeing the picture in it. + +Here is a composition which is an almost literal rendering of the +movement and light and shade effect of a position quite accidentally +seen. + +The whole effect of lighting and of line, the grouping and the pose, +resulted purely from the musician's desire to get a good light on his +music. There was no need to add to it. It was simply necessary to +recognize the charm of it, and to represent that charm through it as +frankly as it could be done. + +[Illustration: =Sketch of a Flute Player.= _D. Burleigh Parkhurst._] + +=Posing the Model.=--Let the character of the model suggest the pose. +If you have a scheme for a picture, choose a model whose personality +will lend itself naturally to the occupation or action natural to that +scheme. Then follow the suggestion which you find in the model. Some +rearrangement will always be necessary if you do not use as a model +the same person who originally gave you the idea for the picture. +Every human being has a different manner. You cannot hope for exactly +the same expression in one person that you found in another. But put +the model as nearly as you can in the same situation and pose, and +then when the model eases from the unnatural muscular balance into the +one natural to him, you will find the idea taken from your first +observation translated into the characteristics of your present model. + +Never try to place a model in a pose which he can only hold by an +unnatural strain. You will not get a satisfactory result from it. +Study your model; see what poses he most naturally falls into, and +then take advantage of one of these, and arrange your picture with +reference to it. + +Never attempt to represent a character in your picture by using a +model of a different class or type from it; you will not be successful +either in painting a lady from a model who is a peasant, nor in +painting a peasant from a model who is a lady. The life and occupation +and thought common to your model will get into your painting of her; +and if that is not in accordance to the idea in the picture, your +picture will be false. The dress, no less than the pose and +occupation, must be such as is natural to your model. The accessories +of your picture must befit the character you wish to paint; otherwise +your model becomes no more than a lay figure. + +Take note of the characteristics which are peculiar to your model, and +use them; do not change them nor idealize them. Rather paint them as +they are, and make them a vital part of your study of the subject. +This is the best you can do with these characteristics. They may be +the most expressive thing in your picture. If they are of such a +nature that you cannot use them in this way, then do not use this +model at all; you cannot get rid of these things. In trying to obscure +or idealize them, you only lose character, or paint a character into +your model which is unnatural to him; the result will not be +satisfactory. + +=Quiet Sitters.=--An inexperienced painter should not use a model with +too much vivacity of body or of expression. The quiet, reposeful, +thoughtful model, who will change little in position or manner, will +simplify the problem. A model too wide awake or too sleepy will either +of them give you trouble. + +Avoid very young children as models, and particularly babies. They are +never quiet, and the problems you will have even with the best of +models will be made enormously more difficult by their restlessness. + +For your first work choose models with well-marked faces, and pose +them in a direct light which will give you the simplest and strongest +effect of light and shade. + +See that your sitter is in as comfortable a position as you can get +him into, so that the pose can be held easily. Don't attempt difficult +and unusual attitudes. Such things require much skill and knowledge to +take advantage of, and to use successfully. Make your effect more in +the study of composition and color than in fanciful poses. Later, when +you have gained experience, you may do this sort of thing. + +If you are painting a face, see that the eyes are in at a restful +angle with the head, and that they are not facing a too strong light, +nor are obliged to look at a blank space. Give them room to have a +restful focus, and perhaps something pleasant or interesting to look +at. + +=Length of Pose.=--No sitter can hold a pose in perfect +motionlessness. Do not expect it. You must learn to make allowance for +certain slight changes which are always occurring. You must give your +model plenty of rest, too, especially if he be not a professional +model. A half-hour pose to ten minutes' rest is as much as a regular +model expects to do as a rule. If you have a friend posing for you, +particularly if it be a woman, twenty minutes' pose and ten minutes' +rest, for a couple of hours, is all you should expect; and if the +pose is a standing one, this will probably be more than she can +hold--make the rests longer. + +An inexperienced model--and sometimes even a trained one--is likely to +faint while posing, particularly if the room be close. Look out for +this; watch your sitter, and see that she is not looking tired. The +minute that you see the least sign of fatigue, if she shows +pallor--rest. Do not get so absorbed in your canvas that you do not +notice your model's condition. If you are observing and studying your +model as closely as you should, you can hardly fail to notice any +change that may occur, and you should at once give her relief. + +=Distance.=--Don't work too near your model, nor too near your canvas. +As regards the first, be far enough away to see the whole of the +figure you are painting, or of that part which you are doing, entirely +at one focus of the eye, and yet near enough to see the detail +clearly. If you are too near, you see parts at a time, and do not see +it as a whole. If you are too far, you see too generally for good +study. You might make it a rule to be away from your subject a +distance of about three or four times the extreme measurement of it. +If it is a full length, say fifteen to twenty feet, if you can get so +large a room. If it is a head and shoulders, about six or eight feet. +Never get closer than six feet. + +As to your canvas, work at arm's length. Don't bend over--again you +see parts, and you must treat your canvas as a whole. Never rest your +hand or arm on the canvas. Train your arm to be steady. Sit up +straight, hold your brush well out at the end of the handle, and your +arm extended; now and then, if you need closer work, lean forward, and +if necessary use a rest-stick; but as a rule your work will be +stronger and hang together better if you work as I have suggested. Of +course you will often get up, and walk away from your work. Set your +easel alongside the model, and go away to a distance, and compare +them. Too intense application to the canvas forgets that relations, +effect, and wholeness of impression are of the greatest importance, +and are only to be judged of when seen at some distance. + +=Background.=--Under the general title of background you may place +everything which will come in as accessory to the figure, and against +or alongside of which it stands. The picture must "hang together"; +must have envelopment; must be a whole, not an aggregation of parts. +Everything that goes to the making up of this whole must have a +natural and logical connection with it. From the first conception of +the picture you must consider the background as an essential part of +it, and as something which will have a vital effect upon the figure. +The color of the background must be thought of as a part of, because +affecting, the figure itself. The simplicity or variety in the +background, the number of objects in it, must be considered as to the +effect on the figure also. You cannot make the background a patchwork +of objects and colors without interfering with the effect of the main +thing in the picture. + +If your figure is simple and quiet, keep the background the same. Make +it a principle to treat the background simply always. If the character +of the case demands some detail, and a variety of objects, then treat +them so that their effect is as simple as possible; and the figure +must be made stronger, in order that the variety in the background +shall not overpower it. Control it by the way the light or the color +masses, or simplify the painting of them. Keep the background in value +as regards prominence and relief of objects as well as in the matter +of color. + +=Composition of Backgrounds.=--You can make the background help the +figure, not merely by the painting of objects which help to +explain,--that is of course,--but in the placing and arranging of them +you may emphasize the composition. Whether the background be a curtain +with its folds, or an interior with its furniture, you can and must +make every object, every fold of the drapery, every mass of wall or +object, distinctly help out in the composition as line and mass. Your +composition must balance; the line and movement of the figure must +have its true relation. The way you use whatever goes into the +picture, the objects which make up the background, the way they group, +and the spaces between them, must have a helpful reference to that +movement, and to the balance of the whole. + +=Simplicity.=--Lean always towards simplicity in composition as +against complexity. In backgrounds particularly, avoid detail and +over-variety. Don't have the whole surface of the canvas spotted with +_things_. If it is necessary, put it in; if it is not necessary, leave +it out; and if there is the slightest doubt which it is, leave it out. + +The most common and the most fatal mistake is to make the picture too +"interesting." The interest in a picture does not lie in the quantity +of things expressed, but in the character of them, and in the quality +of their representation. If you cannot treat a simple composition +well, if you cannot make a picture balance well, and make it +interesting with a quiet background, be sure a multitude of objects +will not help it. The more you put into it the worse it will be. Learn +to be master of the less before you try to be master of the more. + +[Illustration: =Milton Dictating "Paradise Lost."= _Munkacsy._ +To show use of background. Notice also the composition.] + +=Lighting.=--I have spoken of lighting in general in other chapters. +You must apply the principles to your use of figures. Study the +different effects which you can get on the model by the different ways +of placing in reference to the window. Whatever lighting will be +difficult in one kind of painting will be no less so in another. Avoid +cross-lights, and do not be ambitious to try unusual and exceptional +effects. If one should occur to you as charming, of course do it, if +it is not too difficult, but don't go around hunting for the strange +and weird. There is beauty enough for all occasions in such effects as +are constantly coming under your observation. What was said about +simplicity of subject will apply here as well, for the light and color +effect is naturally a part of the subject. The most practical lights +are those which fall from one side, so as to give simple masses of +light and dark; they should come from above the level of the head, so +as to throw the shadow somewhat downwards. + +="Contre Jour."=--One kind of posing with reference to lighting, gives +very beautiful effect, but calls for close study of values, and is +very difficult. It is called in French, _contre jour_; that is, +literally, "against the day," or, against the light. It is a placing +of the model so that the light comes from behind, and the figure is +dark against the light. From its difficulty it should not be taken as +a study by a beginner, for modelling and color are difficult enough at +best. When they are to be gotten in the low key that the light behind +necessitates, and with the close values which this implies, the +difficulty is enormously increased. But before you attempt the human +figure in the open air, you will find it very good study to work in +the house _contre jour_. The effect of a figure out-doors has many of +the qualities of _contre jour_. The diffusion of light and the many +reflections make the problem more complex; but the contrast, the close +values, and the subtle modelling which you must study in _contre jour_ +will be good previous training before going out-doors with a model. + +Look at Millet's "Shepherdess Spinning," at the head of this chapter, +as an example of _contre jour_. + +=Figures Out-of-doors.=--In painting, an object is always a part of +its environment. So a figure must partake of the characteristics of +its surroundings. Out-of-doors it is part of the landscape, +characterized by the qualities which are peculiar to landscape. The +diffusion of light, the vibration and the movement of it, the +brilliancy and pitch, the cross-reflections and the envelopment,--all +these give to the figure a quality quite different from that which it +has in the house. There is no such definiteness either of drawing, or +of light and shade, or of color. The problem is a different one. You +must treat your figure no more as something which you can control the +effect of, but as something which, place it in what position, in what +surroundings, you will, it will still be affected by conditions over +which you have no control. + +Textures and surface qualities, local or personal colors, lose their +significance to the figure out-of-doors. They become lost in other +things. The pose, the action, the mass, the note of color or +value,--these are what are of importance. The more you search for the +qualities which would be a matter of course in the house, the more you +will lose the essential quality,--the quality of the fact of +out-doors. + +When in the house, you can have things as definite as you wish; +out-doors you will find a continual play of varying color and light. +The shadows do not fall where you expect them to. The values are less +marked. The stillness of the pose is interfered with by the constant +movement of nature. The color is influenced by the diffused color of +the atmosphere and the reflected color of the grass, the trees, and +the sky. The light does not fall _on_ the face so much as it falls +_around_ it. The modelling is less, the planes are not precise. The +expression is as much due to the influence of what is around it as to +the face itself. + +All this means that you must study and paint the figure from a new +point of view. You do not make so much of what the model is as how the +model looks in these surroundings. You must not look for so much +decision, and you must study values closely. Look more for the +modelling of the mass than for the modelling of surface. Look more for +the vibration of light and air on the flesh and drapery colors than +for these colors in themselves. Look for color of contours in the +model. Study the subtleties of values of contours, and make your +figure relieve by the contrast of value in mass rather than by the +modelling within the outline. See how the figure "tells" as a whole +against what is behind it first, and keep all within that first +relation. + +[Illustration: =Buckwheat Harvest.= _Millet._] + +It is possible to look for and to find many of the qualities which +distinguish the figure in the studio light; sometimes you may want to +do so. The telling of a story, the literary side of the picture, if +you want that side, sometimes needs help that way. But in this you +lose larger characteristics, and the picture as a whole will not have +the spirit of open air in it. + +What has been said of the painting of landscape applies to the +painting of figures in landscapes. Pose your figure out-of-doors if +you would represent it out-of-doors. Then paint it as if it were any +other out-door object. If the figure is more important to the +composition than anything else in the landscape, as it often will be, +then study that mainly, and treat the rest as background, but as +background which has an influence which must be constantly recognized. + +Never finish a figure begun out-doors by painting afterwards from a +model posed in the house. Leave the figure as you bring it in. If it +is not finished, at least it will be in keeping with itself; and this +will surely be lost if you try to work it from a model in different +conditions. + +=Animals.=--Animals should be considered as "figures out-of-doors." +There is no essential difference in the handling one sort of a figure +or another. The anatomy is different, and the light falls on different +textures, but the principle is not changed. You must consider them as +forms influenced by diffused light and diffused color, and paint them +so. You will find that often, especially in full sunlight, the color +peculiar to the thing itself is not to be seen at all. The character +of the light which falls on it gives the note, and controls. In the +shade the effect is less marked, but the constant flicker makes the +same sort of variation, though not to the same extent. + +There is no secret of painting animals either in the house or +out-of-doors which is not the same as the secret of painting the human +figure. If you would paint an animal, get one for a model and study +it. Work in some sort of a house-light first, in a barn or shed, or, +if it be a small animal, in your studio. Study as you would any other +thing, from a chair to a man. The principles of drawing do not change +with the character of anatomy. The animal may be less amiable a poser, +but you must make allowance for that. + +When you have got a knowledge of the form, and the character of color +and surface, take the animal out-doors, get some one to help hold him, +and apply the same principles that would govern your study of a rock +or a tree in the open air. + +As for fur, and all that sort of thing, treat it as you would any +other texture-problem in still life. + + + + + CHAPTER XXXIV + + PROCEDURE IN A PICTURE + + +Some pictures, particularly those begun and finished in the open air, +may be frankly commenced immediately on the canvas from nature as she +is before the painter, and without any special processes or methods of +procedure carried on to completion. But many pictures are of a sort +which renders this manner of work unwise or impossible. There may be +too many figures involved. The composition, the drawing, or other +arrangement may be too complicated for it, and then the painter has to +have some methodical and systematic way of bringing his picture into +existence. He must take preliminary measures to ensure his work coming +out as he intends, and must proceed in an orderly and regular manner +in accordance with the planning of the work. It is in this sort of +thing that he finds sketches and studies essential to the painting of +the picture as distinguished from their more common use as training +for him, or accumulation of general facts. + +=Preliminaries.=--There must be made numbers of sketches, first of the +slightest and merely suggestive, and then of a more complete, kind, +to develop the general idea of composition from the first and perhaps +crude conception of the picture. All the great painters have left +examples of work in these various stages. It is a part of the training +of every student in art schools to make these composition sketches, +and to develop them more or less fully in larger work. In the French +schools there are monthly _concours_, when men compete for prizes with +work, and their success is influenced by a previous _concour_ of these +composition sketches. + +This preliminary sketch in its completed stage gives the number and +position and movement of the figures and accessories, with the +arrangement of light and shade and color. There is no attempt to give +anything more than the most general kind of drawing, such details as +the features, fingers, etc., being neglected. The light and shade on +the single figures also is not expressed, but the light and shade +effect of the whole picture is carefully shown, and the same with the +color-scheme. It is this first sketch that establishes the character +of the future picture in everything but the details. Sometimes this +work is done on a quite large canvas, but usually is not more than a +foot or two long, and of corresponding width. + +=Studies.=--After this there must be studies made for the drawing of +the single figures, and for more exactness of line and action in the +bringing of all together into the whole. This work is usually done in +charcoal, from the life, and sometimes on a piece of drawing-paper +stretched over the same canvas that the picture will be painted on, or +otherwise arranged, but of the same size. Often, however, this work, +too, is done on a smaller scale than that of the picture, especially +when the picture is to be very large. This is based on the preliminary +sketch as composition, and is intended to carry that idea out more in +full, and perfect the drawing of the different figures, and to +harmonize the composition. The composition and relation of figures +both as to size and position on the final canvas depend on this study. + +[Illustration: =Study of Fortune.= _Michael Angelo._] + +=Corrections.=--In making these studies and in transferring them to +the canvas, corrections are of course often necessary. The correction +may or may not be satisfactory. To avoid too great confusion from the +number of corrections in the same place, they are not made always +directly on the study or canvas, but on a curtain of tissue paper +dropped over it. The figure may be completely drawn, and is to be +modified in whole or in part. The tissue paper receives the new +drawing, and the old drawing shows through it, and the effect of the +correction can be compared with that of the first idea. The study +itself need not then be changed until the alteration which is +satisfactory is found, as the process may be repeated as many times +as necessary on the tissue paper, and the alterations finally embodied +in the completed study. + +=Figure Studies.=--The studies for the various single figures are now +made in the nude from the model, generally a quarter or half life +size--a careful, accurate light and shade drawing of every figure in +the picture, the model being posed in the position determined on in +the study just spoken of. Sometimes further single studies are made +with the same models draped, and generally special studies of drapery +are made as well; these studies are afterwards used to place the +figures in position on the canvas before the painting begins. + +=Transferring.=--The composition study must now be transferred to the +canvas, to give the general arrangement and relative position, size, +and action of the figures, etc. If the drawing is the same size as the +canvas it is done by tracing, if not, then it is "squared up." In this +stage of the process mechanical exactness of proportion is the thing +required, as well as the saving of time; all things having been +planned beforehand, and freedom of execution coming in later. This +establishes the proportions, the sizes, and positions of the several +figures on the final canvas. The drawing is not at this stage +complete. The more general relations only are the purpose of this. + +Onto this preparation the studies drawn from the nude model are +"squared up," and the drawing corrected again from the nude model. +This drawing is now covered with its drapery, which is drawn from the +life in charcoal, or a _frottée_ of some sort. At this stage the +canvas should represent, in monochrome, very justly, what the finished +picture will be in composition, drawing, and light and shade. If the +_frottée_ of various colors (as suggested in the chapter on "Still +Life") has been used, the general color scheme will show also. This +completes the preliminary process of the picture, and when the +painting is begun with a _frottée_, this stage includes also the +_first painting_. + +="The Ébouch."=--An _ébouch_ is a painting which, mainly with body +color, blocks in broadly and simply the main masses of a composition. +Sometimes an _ébouch_ is used as one of the preliminary color studies +for a picture, especially if there is some problem of drapery massing +to be determined, or other motive purely of color and mass. Or if +there is some piece of landscape detail such as a building or what not +to come in, _ébouches_ for it will be made to be used in completing +the picture. But more commonly the _ébouch_ is the first blocking-in +painting of the picture, by means of which the greater masses of color +and value are laid onto the canvas, somewhat rudely, but strongly, so +as to give a strong, firm impression of the picture, and a solid +under-painting on which future work may be done. Whether this +_ébouch_ is rough or smooth, just how much of it will be body or solid +color and how much transparent, just what degree of finish this +painting will have,--these depend on the man who does it. No two men +work precisely the same way. + +Some men make what is practically a large and very complete sketch. +Some paint quite smoothly or frankly, with more or less of an effect +of being finished as they go, working from one side of the picture +gradually across the whole canvas. Others work a bit here and a bit +there, and fill in between as they feel inclined. Another way is to +patch in little spots of rather pure color, so that the _ébouch_ looks +like a sort of mosaic of paint. + +In the matter of color, too, there is great difference of method. Some +men lay in the picture with stronger color than they intend the +finished picture to have, and gray it and bring it together with +after-painting. Others go to the other extreme, and paint grayer and +lighter, depending on glazings and full touches of color later on to +richen and deepen the color. All the way between these two are +modifications of method. The main difference between these extremes is +that when stronger color is used in the first painting, the process is +to paint with solid color all through; while if glazings are to be +much used, the _ébouch_ must be lighter and quieter in color, to allow +for the results of after-painting. For you cannot glaze _up_. You +always glaze _down_. The glaze being a transparent color, used without +white, will naturally make the color under it more brilliant in color, +but darker in value, just as it would if you laid a piece of colored +glass over it. And this result must be calculated on beforehand. + +[Illustration: =Ébouch of Portrait.= _Th. Robinson._ +One sitting of one hour and a half.] + +Which of all these methods is best to use depends altogether on which +best suits the man and his purpose in the picture or his temperament. +A rough _ébouch_ will not make a smooth picture. A mosaic gives a +pure, clear basis of color to gray down and work over, and may be +scraped for a good surface. It is a deliberate method, and will be +successful only with a thoughtful, deliberate painter. If a man is a +timid colorist, a strong, even crude, under-painting will help to +strengthen his color. A good colorist will get color any way. For a +student, the more directly he puts down what he sees, the less he +calculates on the effect of future after-painting, the better. + +But whichever way a man works as to these various beginnings, the +chief thing is, that he understand beforehand what are the peculiar +advantages and qualities of each, and that he consider before he +begins what he expects to do, and how he purposes to do it. + +=Further Painting.=--The first painting may be put in from nature with +the help of the several models in succession. More probably it will +be put in from the color sketch which furnishes the general scheme, +and from a number of studies and _ébouches_ which will give the +principal material for each part of the canvas. With the next painting +comes the more exact study from models and accessories themselves. The +under-painting is in, the color relations and the contrasts of masses, +but all is more or less crude and undeveloped. Every one thing in the +picture must be gradually brought to a further stage of completion. +The background is not as yet to be carried farther as a whole. If the +canvas is all covered, so that the background effect is there, it is +all that is needed as yet. The most important figures are to be +painted, beginning with the heads and hands, and at the same time +painting the parts next to them, the background and drapery close +around them, so that the immediate values shall all be true as far as +it has gone. + +No small details are painted yet. The whole canvas is carried forward +by painting all over it, no one thing being entirely finished; for the +same degree of progress should be kept up for the whole picture. To +finish any one part long before the rest is done, would be to run the +risk of over-painting that part. + +After the heads and other flesh parts, the draperies should be brought +up, and the background and all objects in it painted, to bring the +whole picture to the same degree of completion. This finishes the +second painting. It is all done from nature direct, and is painted +solidly as a rule. Even if the first painting has been a _frottée_ +this one will have been solidly painted into that _frottée_, although +the transparent rubbing may have been left showing, whenever it was +true in effect; most probably in the shadows and broader dark masses +of the backgrounds. In this second painting no glazings or scumblings +come in. The canvas is brought forward as far as possible with direct +frank brush-work with body color before these other processes can be +used. Glazes and such manipulations require a solid under-painting, +and a comparative completion of the picture for safe work. These +processes are for the modifying of color mainly; you do not draw nor +represent the more important and fundamental facts of the picture with +them. All these things are painted first, in the most frank and direct +way, and then you can do anything you want to on a sure basis of +well-understood representation. There will be structure underneath +your future processes. + +=The Third Painting.=--The third painting simply goes over the picture +in the same manner as the second, but marking out more carefully the +important details and enforcing the accuracy of features, or +strengthening the accents of dark and bringing up those of the lights. +The procedure will, of course, be different, according as the picture +was begun with an _ébouch_ of body color or a _frottée_ of transparent +color. The third painting will, in either case, carry the picture as a +whole further toward being finished. + +=Rough and Smooth.=--If body color has been used pretty freely in the +two first paintings, the surface of paint will be pretty rough in +places by the time it is ready for the third painting. Whether that +roughness is a thing to be got rid of or not is something for the +painter to decide for himself. Among the greatest of painters there +have always been men who painted smoothly and men who painted roughly. +I have considered elsewhere the subject of detail, but the question of +detail bears on that of the roughness of the painting; for minute +detail is not possible with much roughness of surface; the fineness of +the stroke which secures the detail is lost in the corrugations of the +heavier brush-strokes. The effect of color, and especially luminosity, +has much to do with the way the paint is put on also, and all these +things are to be considered. As a rule, it might be well to look upon +either extreme as something not of importance in itself. The mere +quality of smoothness on the canvas is of no consequence or value, any +more than the mere quality of roughness is. If these things are +necessary to or consequent upon the getting of certain other qualities +which are justly to be considered worth striving for, then these +qualities will be seen on the canvas, and will be all right. The +painter will do well to look on them as something incidental merely to +the picture. If he will simply work quite frankly, intent on the +expression of what is true and vital to his picture, the question of +the surface quality of his canvas will not bother him beyond the +effect that it has upon his attaining of that expression. + +=Scraping.=--The second painting will be well dry before the third +begins, especially if the paint be more rough and uneven than is for +any reason desirable. Almost every painter scrapes his pictures more +or less. There is pretty sure to be some part of it in which there is +roughness just where he doesn't want it. For the third painting, that +is to say, after the main things in the picture are practically +entirely finished, there remains to be done the strengthening and +richening and modifying of the colors, values, and accents, and the +bringing of the whole picture together by a general overworking. +Before this begins, the picture may need scraping more or less all +over. If it does need it, you may use a regular tool made for that +purpose; or the blade of a razor may be used, it being held firmly in +such a position that there is no danger of its cutting the canvas. + +It is not necessary to scrape the paint smooth, but only to take off +such projections and unevenness of paint as would interfere with the +proper over-painting. + +The third painting represents any and all processes that may be used +to complete the picture. There is no rule as to the number of +processes or "paintings." You may have a dozen paintings if you want +them, and after the first two they are all modifications and +subdivisions of the third painting; for they all add to furthering the +completion of the picture. They are all done more or less from nature, +as the second painting was. There should be very little done to any +picture without constant reference to nature. + +If you glaze your picture, glaze one part at a time. Don't "tone" it +with a general wash of some color. That is not the way pictures are +"brought into tone," nor is that the purpose of the glaze. The glaze, +like any other application of paint, is put on just where it is needed +to modify the color of that place where the color goes. The use of a +scumble is the same; and both the glaze and the scumble will be +painted into and over with solid color, and that again modified as +much as is called for. The thing which is to be carefully avoided is +not the use of any special process, but the ceasing from the use of +some process or other before the thing is as it should be,--don't stop +before the picture represents the best, the completest expression of +the idea of the picture. + +This completeness of expression may even go to the elimination of what +is ordinarily looked upon as "finish." Finish is not surface, but +expression; and completeness of expression may demand roughness and +avoidance of detail and surface at one time quite as positively as it +demands more detail and consequent smoothness at another. + +And this final completeness comes from the last paintings which I +group together as the "third." Scumble and glaze and paint into them, +and glaze and scumble again. Use any process which will help your +picture to have those qualities which are always essential to any +picture being a good one. The qualities of line and mass, composition +that is, you get from the first, or you never can get it at all. Those +qualities of character, and truth of representation, and exactness of +meaning, you get in the first paintings, together with the more +general qualities of color and tone. Emphasis and force of accent, +such detail as you want, and the final and more delicate perceptions +of color and tone, you get in the third or last painting, which may be +divided into several paintings. + +=Between Paintings.=--When a painting is dry and you begin to work on +it again, you will probably find parts of its surface covered with a +kind of bluish haze, which quite changes its color or obscures the +work altogether. It is "dried in." In drying, some of the oil of the +last painting is absorbed by what is beneath it, and the dead haze is +the result. You cannot paint on it without in some way bringing it +back to its original color. You cannot varnish it out at this stage, +for this will not have a good effect on your picture. + +="Oiling Out."=--You can oil it all over, and then rub all the oil off +that you can. This will bring it out. But the oil will tend to darken +the picture; too much oil should be avoided. Turpentine with a little +oil in it will bring it out also, but it will not stay out so long, +but perhaps long enough for you to work on it. If you put a little +siccative de Harlem in it, or use any picture varnish thinned with +turpentine, it will serve well enough. There is a retouching varnish, +_vernis à retoucher_, which is made for this purpose, and is perfectly +safe and good. + +The picture must be well dried before it is finally varnished. + + + + + CHAPTER XXXV + + DIFFICULTIES OF BEGINNERS + + +All painters have difficulty with their pictures, but the trouble with +the beginner is that he has not experience enough to know how to meet +it. The solving of all difficulties is a matter of application of +fundamental principles to them; but it is necessary to know these +principles, and to have applied them to simple problems, before one +can know how to apply them to less simple ones. + +I have tried to deal fully with these principles rather than to tell +how to do any one thing, and to point out the application whenever it +could be done. + +There are, however, some things that almost always bother the +beginner, and it may be helpful to speak of them particularly. + +=Selection of Subject.=--One of the chief objections to copying as a +method of beginning study is that while it teaches a good deal about +surface-work, it gives no practical training just when it is most +needed. The student who has only copied has no idea how to look for a +composition, how to place it on his canvas, or how to translate into +line and color the actual forms which he sees in nature. These things +are all done for him in the picture he is copying, yet these are the +very first things he should have practised in. The making of a picture +begins before the drawing and painting begins. You see something +out-doors, or you see a group of people or a single person in an +interesting position. It is one thing to see it; how are you +practically to grasp it so as to get it on canvas? That is quite a +different thing. How much shall you take in? How much leave out? What +proportion of the canvas shall the main object or figure take up? All +these are questions which need some experience to answer. + +In dealing with figures experience comes somewhat naturally, because +you will of course not undertake more than a head and shoulders, with +a plain background, for your first work. The selecting of subject in +this is chiefly the choice of lighting and position of head, which +have been spoken of elsewhere; and the placing of them on the canvas +should be reduced to the making of the head as large as it will come +conveniently. The old rule was that the point of the nose should be +about the middle of the canvas, and in most cases on the ordinary +canvas this brings the head in the right place. As you paint more you +will put in more and more of the figure, and so progress comes very +naturally. + +But in landscape you are more than likely to be almost helpless at +first. There is so much all around you, and so little saliency, that +it is hard to say where to begin and where to leave off. Practice in +still life will help you somewhat, but still things in nature are +seldom arranged with that centralization which makes a subject easy to +see. Even the simplicity which is sometimes obvious is, when you come +to paint it, only the more difficult to handle because of its +simplicity. The simplicity which you should look for to make your +selection of a subject easy is not the lack of something to draw, but +the definiteness of some marked object or effect. What is good as a +"view" is apt to be the reverse of suitable for a picture. You want +something tangible, and you do not want too much or too little of it. +A long line of hill with a broad field beneath it, for instance, is +simple enough, but what is there for you to take hold of? In an +ordinary light it is only a few broad planes of value and color +without an accent object to emphasize or centre on. It can be painted, +of course, and can be made a beautiful picture, but it is a subject +for a master, not for a student. But suppose there were a tree or a +group of trees in the field; suppose a mass of cloud obscured the sky, +and a ray of sunlight fell on and around the tree through a rift in +the clouds. Or suppose the opposite of this. Suppose all was in broad +light, and the tree was strongly lighted on one side, on the other +shadowed, and that it threw a mass of shadow below and to one side of +it. Immediately there is something which you can take hold of and make +your picture around. The field and hill alone will make a study of +distance and middle distance and foreground, but it would not make an +effective sketch. The two effects I have supposed give the possibility +for a sketch at once, and what suggests a sketch suggests a picture. + +This central object or effect which I have supposed also clears up the +matter of the placing of your subject on the canvas. With merely the +hill and plain you might cut it off anywhere, a mile or two one side +or the other would make little or no difference to your picture. But +the tree and the effect of light decide the thing for you. The tree +and the lighting are the central idea of the picture. Very well, then, +make them large enough on your canvas to be of that importance. Then +what is around them is only so much more as the canvas will hold, and +you will place the tree where, having the proper proportionate size, +it will also "compose well" and make the canvas balance, being neither +in the middle exactly nor too much to one side. + +Here are two photographs taken in the same field and of the same view, +with the camera pointed in the same direction in both. One shows the +lack of saliency, although the tree is there. In the other the camera +was simply carried forward a hundred yards or so, until the tree +became large enough to be of importance in the composition. The +placing is simply a better position with reference to the tree in this +case. + +=Centralize.=--Now, as you go about looking for things to sketch, +look always for some central object or effect. If you find that +what seems very beautiful will not give you anything definite +and graspable,--some contrast of form, or light and shade, or +color,--don't attempt it. The thing is beautiful, and has doubtless a +picture in it, but not for you. You are learning how to look for and +to find a subject, and you must begin with what is readily sketched, +without too much subtlety either of form or color or value. + +=Placing.=--Having found your subject with something definite in it, +you must place it on your canvas so that it "tells." It will not do to +put it in haphazard, letting any part of it come anywhere as it +happens. You will not be satisfied with the effect of this. The object +of a picture is to make visible something which you wish to call +attention to; to show something that seems to you worth looking at. +Then you must arrange it so that that particular something is sure to +be seen whether anything else is seen or not. This is the first thing +to be thought of in placing your subject. _Where_ is it to come on +the canvas? How much room is it to take up? If it is too large, there +is not enough surrounding it to make an interesting whole. If it is to +be emphasized, it must have something to be emphasized with reference +to. On the other hand, if it is too small, its very size makes it +insignificant. + +[Illustration: =Landscape Photo. No. 1.=] + +If it is a landscape, decide first the proportions of land and +sky,--where your horizon line will come. Then, having drawn that line, +make three or four lines which will give the mass of the main effect +or object--a barn, a tree, a slope of hill, or whatever it be, get +merely its simplest suggestion of outline. These two things will show +you, on considering their relation to each other and to the rest of +the canvas, about what its emphasis will be. If it isn't right, rub it +out and do it again, a little larger or smaller, a little more to one +side or the other, higher or lower, as you find needed. When you have +done this to your satisfaction, you have done the first important +thing. + +[Illustration: =Landscape Photo. No. 2.=] + +=Still Life, etc.=--If your subject be still life, flowers, or an +animal or other figure, go about it in the same way. Look at it well. +Try to get an idea of its general shape, and block that out with a few +lines. You will almost always find a horizontal line which by cutting +across the mass will help you to decide where the mass will best come. +First, the mass must be about the right size, and then it must balance +well on the canvas. Any of the things suggested as helping about +drawing and values will of course help you here. The reducing-glass +will help you to get the size and position of things. The card with a +square hole in it will do the same. Even a sort of little frame made +with the fingers and thumbs of your two hands will cut off the +surrounding objects, and help you see your group as a whole with other +things out of the way. + +=Walk About.=--A change of position of a very few feet sometimes makes +a great difference in the looks of a subject. The first view of it is +not always the best. Walk around a little; look at it from one point +and from another. Take your time. Better begin a little later than +stop because you don't like it and feel discouraged. Time taken to +consider well beforehand is never lost. "Well begun is half done." + +=Relief.=--In beginning a thing you want to have the first few +minutes' work to do the most possible towards giving you something to +judge by. You want from the very first to get something recognizable. +Then every subsequent touch, having reference to that, will be so much +the more sure and effective. Look, then, first for what will count +most. + +=What to look for.=--Whether you lay your work out first with +black-and-white or with paint, look to see where the greatest contrast +is. Where is there a strong light against dark and a strong dark +against light? Not the little accents, but that which marks the +contact of two great planes. Find this first, and represent it as soon +as you have got the main values, in this way the whole thing will tell +as an actuality. It will not yet carry much expression, but it will +look like a _fact_, and it will have established certain relations +from which you can work forward. + +=Colors.=--It ought to go without saying that the colors as they come +from the tube are not right for any color you see in nature however +you think they look. But beginners are very apt to think that if they +cannot get the color they want, they can get it in another kind of +tube. This is a mistake. The tubes of color that are actually +necessary for almost every possible tint or combination in nature are +very few. But they must be used to advantage. Now and then one finds +his palette lacking, and must add to it; but after one has +experimented a while he settles down to some eight or ten colors +which will do almost everything, and two or three more that will do +what remains. When you work out-of-doors you may find that more +variety will help you and gain time for you; that several blues and +some secondaries it is well to have in tubes besides the regular +outfit. Still even then, when you have got beyond the first frantic +gropings, you will be surprised to see yourself constantly using +certain colors and neglecting others. These others, then, you do not +need, and you may leave them out of your box. + +=Too Many Tubes.=--If you have too many colors, they are a trouble +rather than a help to you. You must carry them all in your mind, and +you do not so soon get to thinking of the color in nature and taking +up the paint from different parts of your palette instinctively--which +means that you are gaining command of it. Never put a new color on +your palette unless you feel the actual need of it, or have a special +reason for it. Better get well acquainted with the regular colors you +have, and have only as many as you can handle well. + +=Mixing.=--Use some system in mixing your paint. Have your palette set +the same way always, so that your brush can find the color without +having to hunt for it. Have a reasonable way too of taking up your +color before you mix it. Don't always begin with the same one. Is the +tint light or dark? strong or delicate? What is the prevailing color +in it? Let these things affect the sequence of bringing the colors +together for mixing. Let these things have to do also with the +proportionate quantity of each. Suppose you have a heavy dark green to +mix, what will you take first? Make a dash at the white, put it in the +middle of the palette, and then tone it down to the green? How much +paint would you have to take before you got your color? Yet I've seen +this very thing done, and others equally senseless. What is the green? +Dark. Bluish or warm? Will reddish or yellowish blue do it best? How +much space do you want that brushful to cover? Take enough blue, add +to it a yellow of the sort that will make approximately the color. +Don't stir them up; drag one into the other a little--very little. The +color is crude? Another color or two will bring it into tone. Don't +mix it much. Don't smear it all over your palette. Make a smallish dab +of it, keeping it well piled up. If you get any one color too great in +quantity, then you will have to take more of the others again to keep +it in balance. Be careful to take as nearly the right proportions of +each at the first picking up, so as to mix but few times; for every +time you add and mix you flatten out the tone more, and lose its +vibration and life. + +Now, if the color is too dark, what will you lighten it with? White? +Wait a minute. Think. Will white take away the richness of it? White +always grays and flattens the color. Don't put it into a warm, rich +color unless it belongs there. Then only as much as is needed. + +Treat all your tints this way. Is it a high value on a forehead in +full light? White first, then a little modifying color, yellow first, +then red; perhaps no red: the kind of yellow may do it. When you have +a rich color to mix, get it as strong as you can first. Then gray it +as much as you need to, never the reverse. But when you want a +delicate color, make it delicate first, and then strengthen it +cautiously. + +These seem but common-sense. Hardly necessary to take the trouble to +write it down? But common-sense is not always attributed to artists, +and the beginner does not seem able always to apply his common-sense +to his painting at first. To say it to him opens his eyes. Best be on +the safe side. + +=Crude Color.=--The beginner is sure to get crude color, either from +lack of perception of color qualities, or inability to mix the tints +he knows he wants. In the latter case crude color either comes from +too few colors in the mixture, or from inharmonious colors brought +together, which is only another form of the same, for an added +complementary would make it right. For instance, Prussian blue and +chrome yellow mixed will make a powerful green which you could hardly +put anywhere--a strong, crude green. Well, what is the complementary? +Red? And what does a complementary do to a color? Neutralizes, grays. +Then add a very little red, enough to gray the green, not enough to +kill its quality. + +Or if you don't want the color that makes, take a little reddish +yellow, ochre say, and possibly a little reddish blue, new blue or +ultramarine; add these, and see how it grays it and still keeps the +same kind of green. This is the principle in extreme. Still, the best +way would be not to try to make a green of Prussian blue and chrome +yellow. It is better to know the qualities of each tube color on your +palette. Know which two colors mix to make a crude color, and which +will be gray, more or less, without a third. + +=Muddy Color.=--Dirty or muddy color comes from lack of this last. You +do not know how your colors are going to affect each other. You mix, +and the color looks right on the palette, but on the canvas it is not +right. You mix again and put it on the canvas; it mixes with the first +tint and you get--mud. Why? Both wrong. Scrape the whole thing off. +With a clean spot of canvas mix a fresh color. Put it on frankly and +freshly and let it alone--don't dabble it. The chances are it will be +at least fresh, clean color. + +Over-mixing makes color muddy sometimes, especially when more than +three colors are used. When you don't get the right tint with three +colors, the chances are that you have got the wrong three. If that is +not so, and you must add a fourth, do so with some thoughtfulness, or +you will have to mix the tint again. + +=Dirty Brushes and Palette.=--Using dirty brushes causes muddy color. +Don't be too economical about the number of brushes you use. Keep a +good big rag at your hand, and wipe the paint out of your brush often. +If the color is getting muddy, clean your palette and take a clean +brush. Your palette is sure to get covered with paint of all colors +when you have painted a little while. You can't mix colors with any +degree of certainty if the palette is smeared with all sorts of tints. +Use your palette-knife--that's what it's for. Scrape the palette clean +every once in a while as it gets crowded. Wipe it off. Take some fresh +brushes. Then, if your color is dirty, it is your fault, not the fault +of your tools. + +=Out-door and In-door Colors.=--There is one source of discouragement +and difficulty that every one has to contend against; that is, the +difference in the apparent key of paint when, having been put on +out-of-doors, it is seen in the house. Out-of-doors the color looked +bright and light, and when you get it in-doors it looks dark and gray, +and perhaps muddy and dead. This is something you must expect, and +must learn how to control. + +As everything that the out-door light falls upon looks the brighter +for it, so will your paint look brighter than it really is because of +the brilliancy of the light which you see it in. You must learn to +make allowance for that. You must learn by experience how much the +color will go down when you take it into the house. + +Of course an umbrella is a most useful and necessary thing in working +out-of-doors, and if it is lined with black so much the better for +you; for there is sure to be a good deal of light coming through the +cloth, and while it shades your canvas, it does to some extent give a +false glow to your canvas, which a black lining counterbalances. + +Mere experience will give you that knowledge more or less; but there +are ways in which you can help yourself. + +When you first begin to work out-doors try to find a good solid shade +in which to place your easel, and then try to paint up to the full +key, even at the risk of a little crudeness of color. Use colors that +seem rather pure than otherwise. You may be sure that the color will +"come down" a little anyhow, so keep the pitch well up. Then, if the +shade has been pretty even, and your canvas has had a fair light, you +will get a fairly good color-key. + +=Predetermined Pitch.=--Another way is to determine the pitch of the +painting in some way before you take the canvas out-of-doors. There +are various ways of doing this. The most practical is, perhaps, to +know the relative value, in the house and out-doors, of the priming of +your canvas. Have a definite knowledge of how near to the highest +light you will want that priming is. Then, when you put on the light +paint, if you keep it light with reference to the known pitch of the +priming, you will keep the whole painting light. + +=Discouragement.=--We all get discouraged sometimes, but it is +something to know that the case is not hopeless because we are. That +what we are trying to do does not get done easily is no reason that it +may not get done eventually. Often the discouragement is not even a +sign that what we are doing is not going well. The discouragement may +be one way that fatigue shows itself, and we may feel discouraged +after a particularly successful day's work--in consequence of it very +probably. Make it a rule not to judge of a day's work at the end of +that day. Wait till next morning, when fresh and rested, and you will +have a much more just notion of what you have done. + +When you begin to get blue about your work is the time to stop and +rest. If the blues are the result of tire, working longer will only +make your picture worse. A tired brain and eye never improved a piece +of painting. And in the same spirit rest often while you are painting. +If your model rests, it is as well that you rest also. Turn away from +your work, and when you get to work again you will look at it with a +fresh eye. + +=Change Your Work Often.=--Too continued and concentrated work on the +same picture also will lead to discouragement. Change your work, keep +several things going at the same time, and when you are tired of one +you may work with fresh perceptions and interest on another. + +Stop often to walk away from your work. Lay down your palette and +brushes, and put the canvas at the other end of the room. Straighten +your back and look at the picture at a distance. You get an impression +of the thing as a whole. What you have been doing will be judged of +less by itself and more in relation to the rest of the picture, and so +more justly. + +When things are going wrong, stop work for the day. Take a rest. Then, +before you begin again on it to-morrow, take plenty of time to look +the picture over--consider it, compare it with nature, and make up +your mind just what it lacks, just what it needs, just what you will +do first to make it as it should be. It is marvellous how it drives +off the blues to know just what you are going to do next. + + + + + TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES + + +1. Passages in italics are surrounded by _underscores_. + +2. Passages in bold are indicated by =bold=. + +3. Illustration captions are indicated by =caption=. + +4. Images have been moved from the middle of a paragraph to the + closest paragraph break. + +5. The word d'oeuvre uses an oe ligature in the original on page 242. + +6. In the List of Illustrations, page number for "Descent from Cross" + is corrected to 163 (original text is 165). + +7. The following misprints have been corrected: + "heavvier" corrected to "heavier" (page 16) + "interor" corrected to "interior" (page 141) + "arrangemen" corrected to "arrangement" (page 171) + "analagous" corrected to "analogous" (page 190) + "freeest" corrected to "freest" (page 216) + "näiveté" corrected to "naïveté" (page 289) + +8. Other than the corrections listed above, printer's inconsistencies + in spelling, punctuation, hyphenation, and ligature usage have been + retained. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Painter in Oil, by Daniel Burleigh Parkhurst + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PAINTER IN OIL *** + +***** This file should be named 30877-8.txt or 30877-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/0/8/7/30877/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Ritu Aggarwal and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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