The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-11-02
ART NOTES AND SUGGESTIONS.

November Art Amateur.
Excellent mats for etchings may be cut out of
some of the tinted blotting- papers now in the
market. Use sharp knife.
Prints which have grown yellow with age can
be given rich effect by being framed in white
mats The contrast of the white mat gives an
ordinary print which is trife darkened by
time much of the beauty of an impression on
India paper.
Slzetching pictures in oil which have not the
completeness necessary for heavy frames, can be
given brllIaney and finish by framing them like
water colors, under glass and with tinted mats
and gold frames. 1t is the worst Of taste to
frame a slighJ sketch as richly as a finished
masterpiece
If you only have one evening week TO devote
study devote it You will learn something, and
nothing you can learn is not worth knowing If
print or picture in a shop window attracts
you, stop and look at it 1t will only cost you
few seconds time, and you may see something
new and suggestive.
A few plaster casts, ''ivoryized" in paraffine,
serve double purpose They aid in decorating
your werk-room walls and give you something
to sketch when you are tired of serious work.
There is nothing rawer or more disagreeable to
the eye than new plaster cast, but with the
ivory color and polish it is the next best thing to
ivory itself
Find eut all you can about your materials.
The artist should know what his colors are made
of, and how his canvas is prepared as well as
how to use them. The better acquainted you
are with Your tools the more certain you will be
in their use. Besides there are eolors which
should never be used at all and only knowl-
edge of their qualities will teach you to avoid
them.
There is no more useful practice for an idle
hour at home than sketching from anything
that comes first to hand, with anything that is
Eanaiest Sketch your iBkstand with your pen,
make an impression of your neighbours head with
a burnt match anything, in Short to keep your
hand in, and you will be surprised to find how
facile you will become without being aware OF
your progress at all
Modelling in clay or wax is capital practice for
one studying drawing. There is no reason why
anybody capable of painting should not be ca
pable OF modelling too, Some Of tre f4est emf
nenf French painters are superb ia their mastery
of the clay, and some of the greatest sculptors
are almost equally eminent as painters. Thomas
| Eakins and the late William Hunt have pro
dneed plastic sketches quite as striking and
original as their easel work.
Pretty wall decorations can be made by bronz-
| ing the common Eastwood butter dishes, pro-
durable at any grocery, and painting on them in
oil Keep your picture, like avignetts, in the hol-
4 low of the dish, with the bronze for a rim. You
can prepare the wood with a coat of varnish and
/ bronze powder being careful to get it we'll dried
before Vou paint over it, or the bronze will rub
Up The bronze ground gives the celons applied
4 over it richness and brilliancy.
Ia sketching or drawing from nature follow
| your original as closely as you Do not try
h to make a picture but endeavor to copy what
\ you see. The result may not be worth trimming.
but it will give you a knowledge which viii
eventually make your pictures worth framing,
\ Go1 cannot gain any serious information from
i superficial observation. By studying closely
/ yon learn something by sketehiag you only
make a memorandum, and when you refer to it
/ afterward yen find yourself lost, for you remem-
| Der only what yeur sketch reminds you of and
| not the details itdoes not contain.
1T is as absurd for q student to begin to
| make sketches before he has learned how to
| draw. as it would be for baby in arms to at
tempt to run foot-Facep says Calvin r. Smith
Good sketches are based on knowledge. Young
workers who affect a careless and sketchy style
of drawing, with no experience behind It, are
esaltivating habit which eventually must be
| rpinous to them Fortupys power Of suggestion
was directly due to his enormous knowledge.
| He painted sketches but you could see in them
that he knew how to give them the highest fin
! ish if he chose, Learn to draw carefully first
and the more expert your hand and eye become,
| the more power and spirit viii your sketches
| have. Drawing with the pen especially will
/ teach Yea never to put down a line that does
not mean anything, and give you certainty of
| touch which you will find invaluable"