KERAMIC STUDIO 
59 
PITCHER 
Mary L. Brigham 
/^VIL the grey tones in the flowers and dust with Grey Blue. 
V-J Oil leaves and stems and dust with Florentine Green. 
All of the darkest tones and also the grey lines in borders are 
Green Gold. 
Second Fire— Paint the grey tone in the borders and on 
handle and the lip of pitcher with Dark Grey and a little Band- 
ing Blue. Retouch the Gold. 
NEW ART BOOKS WORTH READING 
Anita Gray Chandler. 
"Nights," by Elizabeth Robbins Pennell. Lippincott, 
$2.00. Mrs. Pennell has written in sprightly fashion of even- 
ings in London, Paris, Rome and Venice, where enthusiastic 
artists, critics and writers came to her rooms to talk over the 
work of the day. The reader will meet such acquaintances as 
Whistler, the Pre-Raphaelites, Beardsley and Stevenson at her 
little salons. The whole is a spontaneous picture of the artistic 
people of the last century. 
"Philosophy of Painting," by Ralcy Husted Bell. Put- 
nam, $1.25. Dr. Bell devotes himself partly to the explana- 
tion of the various kinds of art-critics, and partly to the discus- 
sion of emotionalism in art. There is also an enlightening chap- 
ter on pre-historic painting. The author predicts that after 
the great war, woman will more than ever take her place in the 
front rank of art. "The painter must express then as now the 
finer things which life feels, hopes, holds; the mind's noblest 
conceptions, love's most beautiful dreams, the music-like har- 
monies of the emotions, and all the longing fancies possible to 
their technic, that shall throng the spacious dome of time." 
Each of these books will make profitable summer reading, 
provided one has room to sandwich them in between the light 
layers of vacation fiction. 
ANSWERS TO V. P. S. 
Here's a lady china painter, one who's studied every day 
And who now is teaching pupils what she knows; 
She began by painting china in the real old-fashioned way, 
Chose a plate and in the centre put a rose. 
Then she painted sprays of flowers, little pansies scattered round, 
Or a modest bunch of daisies on one side, 
But she saw the fashion changing and she knew if she were bound 
To succeed, she'd have to paddle with the tide. 
There were paints for Royal Worcester used with tiny lines of gold 
And the Doulton with its scrolls and dots of paste. 
Though a trifle rough to handle, and the paste would likely chip, 
Yet 't was handsome, and 't was sure to suit some taste. 
Then the style for painting Dresden, dainty flowers old and quaint, 
The designs from our grandmothers' foreign ware 
And a style just then attractive, so she bought the Dresden paint 
And she made the flowers and figures with great care. 
As she was a portrait painter, soon on china she did heads 
Very lovely if 't were hung upon the line 
Of the eye, where one could view it, but most china as we know 
Must be used upon the table where we dine. 
It would seem so very funny to put gravy on a face, 
Or a chop upon a cherub or a rose, 
If 't were used her friends would take a fork and try to clear the place 
To study the design and how it goes. 
But it did not satisfy her, so she started painting fruit 
Realistic, but the background sombre shades 
Leaves would merge into the shadows, unimportant. Colors suit. 
Here the highlight. Perfect values, all the grades. 
Yet it made her tired to see it — spots of darkness in the room. 
On the table it looked heavy, coarse and cheap, 
So she went to painting monochrome — in sepia or Delft, 
But she gave it all away, 't was not to keep. 
Then she started with enamel — little dots upon the gold, 
Or she floated it and made some posies bright. 
And she dusted on the dai-ker shades, or glazed the tints, I'm told, 
With so much of flux the reds were "out of sight." 
She was weary with enamels, hard and soft, and lustres, too, 
So for weeks she painted roses large and small. 
She could shut her eyes and paint them, lovely things. But then she gi-ew 
Just so very sick and tired to see them all. 
"All my girls are painting roses, dresser sets and table ware, 
All the china's turning pink," this teacher sighed. 
"I must take a long vacation, have a change, go anywhere, 
And I ought to see some foreign work beside." 
So she went abroad and saw the Sevres china and Meissea, 
And the porcelain of Derby and of France; 
And the charming work of Japanese and Italy's designs 
And the best that German painters could advance, i 
She absorbed all she was able, then she hurried home to work 
She had seen so much she had a misty mind, 
But she knew that time would clear it and with study and with thought, 
She'd paint something that was lasting and refined. 
So she set her pupils drawing. All must make their own designs. 
They made mostly little borders, neat and chaste, 
Just a simple touch of color here and there between the lines, 
But it pleased all, for it showed the varied taste. 
These designs when placed on china made the article superb, 
And the pupils all improved so rapidly 
For they did it all themselves, which made the teacher glow with pride. 
Their exhibits all were beautiful to see. 
They took Keramic Studio, that lovely magazine, 
And studied all the photographs and so 
They knew what others painted in the different States and towns, 
Inspiration from Keramic Studio. 
And this teacher read the magazine whose influence is good 
And she left the "naturalistic" in the past, 
For she felt so very happy in the kind of work she loved 
And she said "I'm sure conventional will last". 
ANNA R. REEVES. 
