inds a way to express
it, the value of it and the truth of it lie in the fact that it is
_his_, his way of seeing, and his way of expressing,--that it is
"personal."

=Luminosity.=--The impressionist is imbued with the fact that all the
light by means of which things are at all visible is luminous--that it
vibrates. He does not think that living light can be represented by
dead color. He strives to make his color live also. This is the secret
of the purple and yellow. By the contrast of these two colors, by the
combination and contrast and juxtaposition of the complementary colors
and the use of pure pigments, he can make his colors more vibrant, and
so give more of the pitch of real sunlight. He actually applies on his
canvas the laws which are known to hold with light and color
scientifically. He applies practically in his work those laws which
the scientist furnishes him with theoretically. The result in some
hands is garish, crude. But the best men have shown that it is
possible to use the means so as make a subtle harmony and a luminous
brilliancy that have never before been attained. The crudity is the
result of the man, not of the method.

=The Application.=--The application of all this to your own work is
that when you want pitch and sunlight you can get it through the
observance of the laws of color contrast, and such a laying on of
pigment as will bring this about. Try to study the actual contrasts of
color, not as they seem, but as they are in nature. Study the facts
which have been observed as to colors in their effects on each other,
and then try to see these in nature and to paint the results.

=The Luminists.=--This is the principle of all "loose painting"
carried out scientifically. It is the cause of the peculiar technique
of those impressionists who paint in streaks and spots of pigment. The
manner of putting on paint does interfere with the continuity of
outline in the drawing necessarily, but there is a marked gain in the
quality of light; and as these men are "luminists," and light is what
they want primarily, the sacrifice is justifiable, or at any rate
explicable.

Now if you understand the scientific principle, and the practical
application and its result on canvas, you have in your hands one of
the main instrumentalities in the rendering of one great quality of
out-of-doors. How far you adopt it is a matter for you to decide for
yourself. If the complete adoption of it implies too much of a