Pai-i-iiiLfi'c) 



with wide-open eyes, perplexed with complications of detail, we sir 

 too vtticli. 



What we must aim at in picture making is to reproduce not so 

 much what is actually before us, as what we see of it, what strikes us as 

 a first impression. If you are looking at a bunch of flowers, or still-life 

 group of any kind, your eye is sure to be arrested at once by some 

 prominent feature in it, probably where the light catches it most strongly, 

 and although the rest of the group is there, and you are conscious of 

 its presence, it is in a measure subordinated and subdued. 



Our power of vision docs not allow us in the same moment to see 

 everything before us with the same distinction ; therefore, in picture 

 making, it is a golden rule to determine our principal point of interest 

 and concentration from the first, although, of course, this must not be 

 made too obvious and forced. 



Above all, in painting roses (or indeed any other flowers) keep your 

 colours clean and pure. It is so easy to lose the delicacy and purity that 

 are the most beautiful attributes of these, God's gifts. Look at this so- 

 called white rose : hold it against something white, say a tablecloth or 

 piece of white paper, and you will be astonished to find it is simply 

 teeming with colour, a colour quite different from the hard bluish-white 

 of the background, and so delicate and transparent, so elusive and soft, 

 that we are almost in despair at the dinginess and smudginess of our 

 humble effort at reproduction. 



I should advise a darker (but not too dark) background for this 

 subject, so as to throw the delicacy of the flower into better relief by 

 way of contrast. 



Educate your eyes to see not only form and colour, but tone values 

 as well. Compare one object with another, and note their relations in 

 tone, colour, and form. Although you cannot be making studies with 

 brush and pencil all day, you arc carrying your eyes and brain about 

 with you all the time. Train them to take mental notes of what you 

 see around you, and train your memory to retain these notes : notice 

 comparative sizes of objects, colour, forms and shapes, atmo- 

 sphere, light and shade, and all the wonders around even the 

 most commonplace everyday life. There is an infinite fund 

 of material for \-ou wherever you go, whether your footsteps 

 lead j'ou by mountain or moorland heath, open common or 

 shady glade, by river or the wide .seashore, or even in the 

 squalor and gloom of a manufacturing town. 



Just store up these impressions in your memory, adding 

 daily to the wealth of your store, and you will find they 

 become, not merely a help in your artistic efforts, but one of 

 \'our greatest possessions ami delights. 



.^^ 



First of a\\ the rose: because its breath 

 Is rich beyond the rest, and when it dies 

 It doth bequeath a charm to sweeten death. 



74 



