IFaliiiiiicj 



^S. 





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negative sense, just to show us what to a%'oid, so as not to produce 

 anything so absolutely unreal. 



I sometimes think that in those far-away days there must have 

 been a sort of traditional method of painting flowers, both as regards 

 form and colour, and that actual study from Nature herself took a 

 secondary place. 



Therefore let us put our old album tenderly and reverently away, 



and tr\- to work on a distinctly different plan. 



V I need not tell you our motto shall be absolute 



fidelity to Nature, so far as our limited capacitx- 



will allow, for whatever our talents, and however 



we strive to reproduce the loveliness we sec, 



our reproduction will be far enough behind the 



original in beauty ! But at 



least it is an honest effort, 



and therefore more appealing 



to a student of Nature than 



the elaborate artificial " pretti- 



ness " of the conventionalised 



group. 



However, our business to- 

 daj' is to paint roses, not 

 merely to talk of them, so, if 

 jou have your nicely-washed 

 palette and materials in readi- 

 ness, let us start without 

 further generalities : only \ou 

 must not feel discouraged if 

 I warn you that the task on 

 which you have embarked is 

 not an easy one ! Not only 

 is the rose one of the most 

 beautiful and fascinating of 

 flower studies, but one of the 

 most difficult as well. 



We start, perhaps, a careful 

 drawing of a half-opened bud, 

 and even as we work its form 

 is changing before our eyes, 

 and the rose is opening her heart to the rays of light and warmth as 

 they fall on her from the window. We must lose no time in 

 sketching her in boldly before she alters too much, even if we have 

 to finish the details from memory or another flower. When called 

 away whilst painting roses (if only for a few minute.s) I always carefully 

 cover them up from the light. .A cardboard box (if sufficientl\' large 





70 



