Reasons.—Painting is something more than laying on paint. It implies a
certain amount of knowledge of necessary preliminaries—technical matters which
are not strictly painting, but without which good painting is impossible.
It is all well enough to put paint on canvas, but there must be a knowledge
on which to base the where and the why of laying it on, as well as the knowledge
of how to lay it on. If anything,oil paintings for sale, the where and why are more important than the
how. There are almost infinite methods and processes of getting the paint onto
the surface. Every painter may select or invent his own way, and provided it
accomplishes the main purpose—the bringing about of combinations of form,
relative color and pitch, the expression of an idea—it is all right. But there
are laws which govern the positions of the different spots of paint, and the
reasons for placing them in certain relations. These laws are back of personal
idiosyncrasy. They are a part of the laws which control all material things. The
painter may no more go contrary to them in painting than he may go contrary to
physical laws in any of the practical matters of life. If pigments are not used
in accordance with the laws governing their chemical composition,oil paintings, they will not
stand. If the laws of proportion are not observed in composition, the picture
will not balance. The laws of color harmony are as mathematically fixed as the
law of gravity. So, too, the relations of size, which give the impression of
nearness or distance to objects, rest on the laws of optics. You have infinite
scope for individual expression inside of those laws, but you cannot go outside
of them.
Scientific Knowledge not Necessary.—It is not necessary that you
should have any special knowledge of all these laws nor even of the application
of them; but you must recognize their existence, and have some practical notions
about them and their effect on your work. where to buy oil paintings
You can of course carry the study as far as you are interested to go. The
farther the better. The more you study them the more you will find them
interesting, and the easier will it be for you to work freely within their
limitations. But this is not the place for special study. There are books which
treat particularly of these things, and you must go to them. original oil paintings for sale
But a superficial consideration of these subjects cannot be left out of any
book which would be really helpful to the student of painting. I can go into the
theory of things only so far as to give you that amount of practical knowledge
which is absolutely necessary to you as a painter. What I shall give is given
only because it cannot be wisely left out, and the form of it as well as the
substance and quantity are determined by the same reason. large oil paintings for sale
As you hope to become a painter, then, do not neglect to study and think of
this part of the book, not merely as a preliminary to the process of painting,
but as containing matter which is continually essential to it—which is part and
parcel of it. oil painted portraits
Another reason for the careful reading of these chapters is that any
discussion of the art of painting necessarily demands the use of words or
phrases which must be understood. To speak of technical things presupposes the
use of technical phrases, and without a knowledge of the words there can be no
comprehension of the thought. still life oil paintings
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