The Mission Of Art Is To Represent

It's No Easy Matter To Paint A Background. I Venture To Say That The Old Painters Had More Difficulty With Their Grounds Than With Their Figures. You Know The Story Of Vandyke Brought To Rubens With This Recommendation: 'he Already Knows How To Paint A Background.' 'that Is More Than I Can Do!' Was The Reply.

How Are Things Visible? Can You See An Egg Against A White Background? Not By Drawing A Line Around It Can You Make It Evident.

Don't Talk Of What You Are 'going To Do!' Do It!

How Are We Going To Make Painters By Lecturing To Them? We Are Going To Make Questioners, Doubters, And Talkers. We Are Going To Make Painters By Painting Ourselves, And By Showing The Paintings Of Others. By Working Frankly From Our Convictions, We Are Going To Make Them Work Frankly From Theirs.

I Tell You It's No Joke To Paint A Portrait. I Wonder That I Am Not More Timid When I Begin. I Feel Almost Certain That I Can Do It. It Seems Very Simple. I Don't Think Of The Time That Is Sure To Come When I Almost Despair, When The Whole Thing Seems Hopeless.