Art Out-of-Doors 



the smallest scheme is likely to be more suc- 

 cessfully planned and more rapidly perfected 

 under an artist's eye. Yet if his help is un- 

 attainable, there is no reason why the ama- 

 teur should resignedly fall back upon hap- 

 hazard ways of working. Any man can try 

 to work in an artistic spirit, even if he can- 

 not rival an artist's skill in execution. That 

 is to say, no result made up of various ele- 

 ments (even if those elements be the very 

 fewest in number) can be good which is not 

 good as a whole ; to make it good as a 

 whole we must begin by having a clear idea 

 of what sort of a whole we want ; and to be- 

 gin with such an idea is to work in an artis- 

 tic spirit, no matter how well or poorly we 

 succeed in giving it beautiful expression. 

 The scheme is the main point — the scheme, 

 and the will to stick to it and not be tempt- 

 ed by the beauty of individual things into 

 frittering away or confusing its effect. 



Is it needful to say that working in this 

 spirit we should not only work to better 

 eventual effect, but with greater pleasure at 

 the moment ? To have some appropriate 

 and charming Httle picture in our minds 



32 



