IIERAMIC STUDIO 
219 
art study. Out of the thousands of possible couibinations, it 
is difficult to know which are fine and which commonplace. 
Take any two colors such as green and violet and you will 
easily see how there may be numberless combinations of these. 
How the violet may incline to blue or red, and the green to 
yellow or blue, how they maj' be at any stage of grey, and 
lastly how they may be tints or shades of green and violet. 
Very much of one's personality enters into this choice. Out 
of these endless combinations to be able to select the best, re- 
([uires judgment and taste; for we can readilj- see that the 
majoritj' of these arrangements will be anything but good 
color. If such a varietur can be produced with only two colors, 
what possibilities open before us with three or more colors. 
Our image of any two or three colors is much more limited 
than we think. For example if the question were asked: how 
many combinations can you think and make of blue and green? 
The number will not be very large. But if you consult Scale 
No. 4 you will see that blue may have quite a number of 
qualifications between blue green and blue ^dolet and still be 
a blue. The same is true of green. It may have a range 
between yellow green and blue green. According to Scale 
No. 5 blue may have anj^ of the effects according to Scale No. 4 
plus any degree of intensity from a blue as strong as it is possi- 
ble to make it, passing to grej^ until its identity is almost lost. 
See what a great range this gives you. But there is still 
another way of modifj'ing the color. According to Scale No. 6 
blue may have any of the changes possible in Scales Nos. 4 
and 5 and pass from almost white or a mere tint to almost 
black or a shade. These three scales make combinations with- 
out number. Instead of a limited scope of colors as we are 
apt to have, it gives the entire field of possibilities to choose 
from. Now the question arises: How are we to know good 
color? In this, these scales do not help us nor can they any 
more than the scale of notes can help us to understand good 
music. For this we must go to the past and to nature. The 
past with its treasures offers the greatest sources of inspira- 
tion. As far back as the time of the Egyptians we still have 
remnants of designs, buildings, carvings and fabrics whose 
color is splendid. Each nation in its turn has contributed to 
this wealth, expressing their personalities and the influence of 
their environment. Especially rich in this respect is the art 
of Italy during the 1 6th century. The greatest painters lived 
during this period and left works that baffle the artists of to-daj- . 
The Guilds too, flourished at the same time and raised everj- 
household article and weaving apparel to the dignity of a 
work of art, manj'' of which have become our inheritance. 
Some remnants of Florentine brocade, bits of rags are 
carefully preserved under glass in our museums because thej^ 
contain the whole grammar of art. Like the paintings of that 
period thej^ contain the language of line, mass and color and 
conform to the laws of beauty. 
The Chinese and Japanese have contributed quite as much 
to our sources of art as the Middle Ages. Every article that 
they produced was an art expression. Their prints were little 
songs of line, mass and color. So complete thej^ were in com- 
position, so well interrelated every part, that if a piece of white 
paper be taken and a rectangular opening of 2 x 3 inches cut 
in the same, then placed anywhere on the print, that part of 
the print appearing in the rectangle will be a perfect composi- 
tion as to line, mass and color. Beautiful little schemes can in 
this w^ay be selected. 
Lesson. Problem I. Choose one of these rectangular 
schemes taken from the Japanese print in this number and copy 
it exactly on water color paper. Just beneath draw as many 
rectangles as you find colors in the print and place one color 
in each rectangle. Write the abbreviations under each color. 
This forms one of the best methods of studying color and at the 
same time develops technique. 
In acquiring the tecliniquc manj- diffictilties will be en- 
countered but patience and a few trials will overcome these. 
As by practice the mind acquired the power to express the 
line beauty found in flowers and landscapes, so in copying fine 
color the mind absorbs these schemes and makes use of this 
experience in future work. This is of the greatest importance 
and is sure to lead to a fine color sense. 
Problem 11. Use any flower motive; resolve it into facts 
and make some arrangement similar to the design in fig. 7 or, 
this design may be used. The size of the rectangle may be 3 
bj^ 4 inches. Copy your rectangle and design three times 
making three separate exercises. In the first use any three 
colors found in the Japanese color scheme in problem I. In 
the second any three colors not used in the first. In the third 
use one color of the first and two of the second. This gives 
a delightful use of good color in our own designs. 
No. VII. 
Note: — For convenience in studjdng the charts it is well 
to learn the abbreviations of the names of the colors viz: 
j^ellow is Y, yellow orange is YO, orange is O, red orange is 
RO, red is R, red violet is RV, violet is V, yellow green is 
YG, green is G, blue green is BG, blue is B, blue violet is BY. 
The value of a color is exjDressed by the abljreviations of the 
value scale placed directly under the name of the color, thus 
a green blue of a low dark value would be written BG 
LD. 
The intensity of a color is expressed b}- fractions placed 
under the value of the color when it is a gre3' color and leaving 
the space blank if the color is full intensity, thus blue green of 
a low dark value and very grey, say i color and J grey would 
be expressed by BG whereas full intensity would be written 
LD 
BG and half intensitv would he BG 
LD ^ LD 
-J 
Owing to the difficulties in reproducing accurate color 
