It is the incompetent and the neglected artist who charges the public with ignorance, stupidity, and indifference. He raves loudly, but he is incomprehensible, even inarticulate, in his work.
In painting, whether colour reflection is apparent or not, every hue must echo neighbouring hues, so that homogeneity may be attained.
It is the sense of unfamiliar envelopment that is impressive, whether in the living grays of hoarfrost, the crimson of the heavens at sunset, or the golden suffusions of autumn.
Humility counts for much, but it may be that vanity does not dispossess that admirable quality.
Colour is as variable and evanescent in the form of pigment as in visible nature.
The true artist and the sane collector never will tolerate insincerity and impudence.
The character of the subject must influence the choice of the method of its representation.
Many a painter has lived in affluence, in high esteem, who lacked the divine spark, and who is utterly forgotten to-day.
The rewards of art are not always commensurate with its quality. It affords a precarious living.
Rhythm is as necessary in a picture as pigment; it is as much a part of painting as of music.
Every successful painter has worked hard. He cannot rest after having gained a certain degree of facility in drawing, and expect to retain it. He must advance or fall behind. Without practice he will forget; his eye will fail him; and his hand will deny its master.
Realism is condemned by those artists whose poverty of technique does not permit them to express it.
A painter may be an abandoned mimic; at school he copies his teachers, which is only right, but he copies in turn every artist in town, which is not. He may do you that honour.
Watercolour painting is notoriously difficult – so much depends on directness and speed, and certainty of intention. Tentative or fumbling touches are disastrous, for they cannot be obliterated easily.
Take away a painter’s vanity, said a famous landscape painter, and he will never touch a pencil again.
Tradition is a prop for social security.
Etching will suggest subtle variations of tone, the most delicate shadings, all with black lines, which, as far as lines go, are unsurpassed for sheer beauty.
When technique is obtrusive it becomes mere mannerism, a conscious striving for effect. It is only a means to an end – the manner of putting paint to paper. It hardly embraces the expressive side of painting.
For an intelligent estimate of your technique go to another artist working in the same medium.
Subject has the variety of life.