,
and express; for once these qualities are recognized and accepted they
are as universal as the law of gravity, and can be as little ignored.
=Landscape Drawing.=--Landscape is more difficult to draw than is
generally thought; not only is the character affected by the _scale_
of the main masses, but there is great probability of overdrawing. The
curves that mark the modelling of the ground are very difficult to
give justly. The altitude and slope of mountains are almost invariably
exaggerated. The twists and windings of roadways and fences are
seldom carefully drawn; yet the most exquisite movement of line is to
be gained by just representation of them. To give the character of a
tree, too, without making out too much of the detail of it, needs more
precise observation than it generally gets.
[Illustration: =Willow Road.= _D. Burleigh Parkhurst._]
Get the character; get the sentiment of it. Search for the important
things here first, and be more particular about the placing of each
line than about the number of lines.
Don't draw too many lines in a landscape; don't draw too many
objects. Carefully study the scene before you till you have decided
what parts are most essential in giving the character that you want to
express, and then draw most carefully those parts. See which are the
_most expressive lines_ in it. Get the swing and movement of those
lines in the large; then study the more subtle movement of them. Get
these things on the canvas first, and put everything else in as
subsidiary to them. Have all this well placed before you begin to
paint, and allow for little things being painted on to this.
Don't get too many things into one landscape. The spirit of the time
and place is what will make the beauty of it, not the details nor the
mere facts. This spirit you will find in a few things, not in many.
Having found which lines and forms, which masses and relations of
color and value, express this, the more carefully you avoid putting in
other things the more entirely you emphasize the quality which is the
real reason of existence of your picture.
In studying landscape, work for one thing at a time. What has been
said of sketching and studies applies here. Landscape is the most
bewildering of subjects in its multiplicity of facts and objects and
colors and contrasts. If you cannot find a way to simplify it you will
neither know where to begin nor where to leave off. I cannot tell you
just what to do or
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