of which was painted in defiance of some rule
some time or other alleged to be the only right one, it is not
possible to prescribe or proscribe anything in the direction of the
manipulation of colors. The result _must_ be right, and if it is, it
justifies the means. If it be not right, the thing is worthless, no
matter how perfectly according to rule the process may be. As Hunt
said, "What do I care about the grammar if you've got something to
say?" The important thing is to say something, and if you do really
say something, and do really completely and precisely express it, as
far as a painter is concerned it will be grammatical. If not to-day,
the grammar will come round to it to-morrow. Henry Ward Beecher is
reported to have answered to a criticism on grammatical slips in the
heat of eloquence, "Young man, if the English language gets in the way
of the expression of my thought, so much the worse for the English
language!" In painting, at any rate, the _complete_ expression of
thought _is_ grammatical, and if not, so much the worse for the
grammarians.

=Try Everything.=--Know, then, all you can about all the ways of
manipulating paint that have ever been used. Use any or all of those
ways as you find them needful or helpful. There is none which has not
the authority of a master behind it, and though another master may
decry it, it is because, being a master, he claims the very right he
denies to you.

Experiment with all; but never use any method for the sake of the
method, but only for what it is capable of doing for you in helping
expression.

=Safety.=--The only real rule as to what to use and what not, applies
to the effect on the permanence of your canvas. Never use pigments
which will fade; nor in such a way that they will cause others to
fade. Avoid all such using of materials as you know will make your
picture crack, or in any other way bring about its deterioration.

=Good Painting.=--But for all I have just said, there is an
acknowledged basis of what is good painting. If any man or school lays
on paint in a frank, direct way, getting the effect by sheer force of
putting on the right color in just the right place, with no tricks nor
affectations, that is good painting; and the more simple, direct, and
frank the manner of handling, the better the painting.

Let us understand what direct painting is first, and then consider
varieties of handling. For whatever may be the subsequent
manipulations, the p