AMATEUR ARTISTS 315 



to improvement in art. It is always difficult, often 

 almost impossible, to take up work again in the same 

 spirit in which it was laid down. The threads are broken, 

 and cannot be joined together again, to say nothing of 

 the intense annoyance of finding the subject moved, the 

 colour-box upset, or the water spilt. The power of 

 working, in spite of such drawbacks, can be cultivated, 

 especially if it is possible to set up a table either in the 

 pupil's own bed-room, or if some disused room can be 

 handed over to her, where no one touches her things but 

 herself. 



As a compromise to the undesirableness of leaving 

 home altogether, these difficulties may very well be met, 

 if one or two amateurs club together and hire a suitable 

 room elsewhere outside their own homes. It might also 

 be possible to get the loan of a room in the house of a 

 young married woman who is the mistress of her own 

 time, where all materials remain undisturbed, and where 

 the surroundings are not annoying or distracting. Un- 

 papered walls, simply whitewashed, a plain deal table or 

 two, a few pieces of cheap pottery, are to be procured 

 at the cost of a very few shillings, a bunch of leaves 

 or a handful of Poppies or Marigolds giving the touch of 

 colour which is dear to the soul of the most incipient 

 artist. Besides the advantage to the work of quiet and 

 seclusion, it is to many women both a rest and a stimulus 

 to go out to their work daily, as men do. 



Another point which I would beg may be remembered 

 is that water-colours are far more suitable to amateurs than 

 oils. The use of oils encourages all those defects of 

 slovenliness and carelessness, speed and showy display, 

 to which amateurs are liable. A bad sketch or study in 

 oils is far more distressing than a bad sketch in water- 

 colours. The materials of water-colours are more 

 manageable and convenient for those who have neither 



