Notable Quotes

Painting is a matter of impulse, it is a matter of getting out to nature and having some joy in registering it. If you are not going to get a thrill, how can you give someone else one? You must feel the beauty of the thing before you start.
Charles W. Hawthorn

When a student comes before his subject his first question should be: “What is my highest pleasure in this?” and then, “Why?”
Robert Henri

When I began to paint, I could not get mountains high enough nor sunsets gorgeous enough for my brush and colors. After a considerable number of years’ experience, I am contented with very slight material-a clump of trees, a hillside and sky. I find these hard enough and varied enough to express any feeling I may have about them.
William Keith, painter (1838-1911) from a lecture

Golf is a game of luck. The more I practice, the luckier I get.
Ben Hogan

The function of the overwhelming majority of your artwork is simply to teach you how to make the small fraction of you artwork that soars. One of the basic and difficult lessons every artist must learn is that even the failed pieces are essential.
From Art & Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland

Nature does not capriciously scatter her secrets as golden gifts to lazy poets and luxurious darlings, but imposes tasks when she presents opportunities.
Edgar Payne

It is a curious fact that out-of-doors nature is to the beginner an enormously overloaded “property room.” He sees, for instance the myriad of leaves upon a tree long before he sees the tree at all.
John Carlson

(Composition) Unequal distribution of light and dark.
Edgar Payne

In composition it must never be forgotten and let this be most strongly emphasized – that the dominant aim of the student should be to train and equip himself to the point where he can judge unity and all its contributing factors by “feeling.” If he confines himself to the study that will develop this faculty, rather than trying to create unity before he knows how, he will realize that although this appears the longest road, it is really the shortest. The more thought and concentration put into his preparation, the easier will be the procedure and the finer the design.
Edgar Payne

One cannot simply take nature as she is. The task of composing a surface and arranging the material before you requires a feeling for balance and visual weight. There must be a certainty in the placement of objects, as well, as an ability to edit.
Edgar Payne

In all good paintings it may also be observed that a broad simple organization of the masses and spaces is evident. Even where there is much detail or variation, these do not disturb the bigness of the main designs.
Edgar Payne

The big form is difficult to preserve because by the time we have modeled the small forms upon the big and added the necessary highlights and shadows, the chances are that we have overdone these so that our big form is cut up and spotty. These highlights and shadows belong there, but we may put too many brilliant highlights upon it’ meaning that we may put lights upon the upright form that should possibly belong to the flay-lying plane. This passion for putting too many and too brilliant “lights” up all the forms or planes is responsible for more good studies coming to grief than ANY other cause.
John Carlson