right for others. If this is not recognized, what room has
originality to work in?

The range of subject, of style, and of technical methods among
acknowledged masters, should alone be proof of the fact that there is
no one way which is the only good way; and if you would know how to
judge and like a good picture, the study of really great pictures,
without regard to school, is the way to learn.

=How to Look at Pictures.=--The study of pictures means something more
than merely looking at them and counting the figures in them. It
implies the study of the treatment of the subject in every way. The
management of light and shade; the color; the composition and drawing;
and finally those technical processes of brush-work by means of which
the canvas gets covered, and the idea of the artist becomes visible.
All these things are important in some degree; they all go to the
making of the complete work of art: and you do not understand the
picture, you do not really and fully judge it, unless you know how to
appreciate the bearing on the result, of all the means which were used
to bring it about. All this adds to your own technical knowledge as
well as to your critical judgment, both of which ends are important
to your becoming a good painter.

=Why Paint Well.=--You see I am assuming that you wish to be a good
painter. There is no reason why you should be a bad painter because
you are not a professional one. The better you paint the better your
appreciation will be of all good work, the keener your appreciation of
what is beautiful in nature, and the greater your satisfaction and
pleasure in your own work. There are better reasons for painting than
the desire to "make a picture." Painting implies making a picture, it
is true; but it means also seeing and representing charming things,
and working out problems of beauty in the expression of color and
form: and this is something more than what is commonly meant by a
picture. The picture comes, and is the result; but the making of it
carries with it a pleasure and joy which are in exact proportion to
the power of appreciation, perception, and expression of the painter.
This is the real reason for painting, and it makes the desire and the
attempt to paint well a matter of course.

=Craftsmanship.=--The mechanical side of painting naturally is an
important part of your problem. You cannot be too catholic in your
opinion with regard to it. It is vital that you be not narrowed by