

perxc.l 





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glory of gold of its own. There is a 

 feeling of joic de vivre, of re-aroused 

 energy, in this awakening of Nature 

 after her long quiescence. We feel it 

 coursing through our veins, and long to 

 be up and doing ; and now that our 

 spring favourites are disclosing their 

 beauty, and inviting us to try and 

 reproduce their charms, we must en- 

 thusiastically seize and use every 

 moment of leisure before their brief 

 life is over for another year. 



Perhaps you may feel that, in some 

 of our talks on flower-painting, the 

 subjects chosen are not easy at all. 

 The violet is a very subtle little 

 flower to draw even, and still more 

 difficult to mass pictorially with good 

 effect. The rose, the most delightful 

 stud)- of all, is the worst floral sitter 

 I know, for she simpl)- won't keep 

 her lovely petals still for a moment, 

 and this, even to the advanced student, 

 is confusing in the extreme. Wild flowers wilt and fade, even before we 

 can hope to translate more than a suggestion of their fleeting beauty to 

 paper. But with many of the lovely bulbous plants that supply us with 

 such a display of springlike beauty, we have the great advantage of 

 patient sitters. 



Take a jonquil, a single daffodil, a spray of narcissus, etc. ; put it in 

 water, and it is possible to make an elaborate study of it before it has 

 appreciably changed. This is of immense value to the student, and I 

 have often found even beginners make excellent drawings by carefully 

 observing the beautiful lines in these flowers. 



I do not mean for one moment to imply that they do not afford an 

 immense amount of scope for the advanced student as well, far from it ; 

 he will find fresh difficulties, and therefore fresh delights, every time he 

 tries his skilled brush on their pure loveliness ; but the comparative 

 simplicity of the form presents greater possibilities of success to the 

 novice than a complicated arrangement of petals, as in a rose or 

 chrysanthemum, could possibly do. 



The beginner must learn to put in what he sees before him ; the 

 advanced student must learn what to leave out. This sounds a parado.x, 

 but I believe most artists would tell you 



it is true. We must learn, by long and 



patient experience, y ^ j what is there, and be 



jay tulips bloom 

 and sweet mint 

 curls around her 

 iiardcn bower, 



lut she is sweeter 



tha 



the 



int, 



nd fairer than 

 ic flower. 



nititticT. 



i6 



