Perspective - We know now that lines receding from the eye appear to meet at the horizon, the lines above the point of sight going down to the horizon, those below rising to it. This appearance is in line with the rule of perspective which says:...
To teach how to foreshorten, entirely as a separate proposition, is difficult. Definitions of the word itself are somewhat vague. "Foreshorten - to represent figures as they appear to the eye when seen obliquely"; "to represent objects i...
The Beginner in the use of water colors should be provided with the following materials: - A box of water colors and two or three brushes. - A tablet of white water color paper (4 1/2"x6"). - A cup for water (one that is not easily tipped). - A piec...
We are told, and rightly so, that it is great fun to be able to draw and paint. Every manual of painting stresses this, and then proceeds to make the whole thing seem so difficult that we are discouraged before we begin. Of course it is difficult...
Chalks and Pastels Colored chalks and pastels don't really come into the classification of drawing media proper, nevertheless the whites are good to use with charcoal, conte and carbon on grey or tinted papers. The black pastel can be used...
Drawing boards must be used, at least in the studio. They should be light and not too thick. Half Imperial size is the most convenient. Don't use a makeshift board if you
can help it. Buy the best drawing board you can afford and look after it. Do...
Tone Tone is the degree of light or dark on, or of, any object or space. You can see the tone of anything much better if you half close your eyes and squint at it. As I mentioned before, your eyes see too much. Therefore, to see the amount of tone ava...
Most objects, people, trees, chairs, tables, houses, etc. as far as the visual aspect is concerned, can be reduced to
shapes, flat or solid. And the first thing to accustom yourself to is that whatever the object is called by name it has a shap...
The rooms of your home, the passages, the kitchen, the bedroom, the bathroom even (Bonnard often painted his bathroom) all are possible subjects. And then there is portraiture. Portraits are probably the most difficult, but the most inte...
It may not always be convenient to do a full-bodied tonal drawing. You may not even want to try. A simple line drawing is a quick and handy way to express an idea or to put down something you have seen and remembered. It is also useful for doing ske...
A point about tone and color in black and white drawing. If everything were whitewashed in nature we could draw the tone that light makes when it falls on objects quite easily. However, the things around us are not painted white. They are mult...
THE INNOCENT EYE
It is much better to do something you have seen for yourself, no matter how badly it is executed, than to copy from others except, of course, in order to find out how they did it. And once you have done so, go out and see something f...
Watercolor Boards For outdoor painting it will not always be convenient to stretch lots of sheets of paper. For this it is advisable to buy boards with paper already fixed to them. You can get Whatman boards in the three grades, Fashion-plat...
Watercolor is made either in tubes or pans. In the tubes the color is very soft and pliable. In the pans it is a little harder and must be worked up with the brush to make a wash. Because of the addition of either sugar or honey or glycerine, the col...
Colored inks can be bought at any artists' supplier and they have the dual quality of being used with a pen or a brush. When used with a brush and diluted with distilled water they behave almost exactly like watercolor except that they are far m...
Watercolor is a quick way of painting. I don't think it is necessary to go on building a watercolor into a complete, tonal painting. For that use opaque watercolor or oil. The charm of a transparent watercolor is its delicacy and simplicity....
Opaque watercolor is one of the oldest media known. The mixing of glue with the powdered color is known as distemper and most names like poster color, designers' colors, gouache, are really distemper. The addition of oil and egg yolk, casei...
I would suggest the same range of colors, red, pale yellow and two blues, umber with the addition of white, as I did for the transparent range. The mixtures will be the same. The difference will be in the constant changing of your water, the nee...
The advantages of using casein color are that it is a good paint for quick handling. It dries quickly and is able to stand nearly as much overpainting as oil. In some ways it resembles oil in so far as it is possible to build up quite heavy impasto...
A simple study you may like to try is to draw, in outline, lightly with a soft lead pencil, the corner of the room or a few assorted objects that are on the table or sideboard. Then fill in with washes of the appropriate color. Let each wash dry tho...