Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-06-29

cents are all that is necessary in the way
of materials From the center of card
or small piece of paper cut an oblong, as
in the Illustration. Holding the frame thus
made a short distance from the face and
looking through the opening with one eye
closed select that portion of the scene which
You wish to sketch. The simpler the subject
the better. Take the corner CT fence with
bushes and an old tree; Il group of rocks
reflected in the water; a rowboat drawn
up on the sand with an old log washed
ashore; a little cabin with its surroundings,
or an old dump cart under a tree are all
good studies. Sketch lightly the outline
as. you would any still life o. group of Cb-
Jects in room. In doing SO a certain
amount of taste should be exercised, leav-
ing out any object which would prove I'M
pleasing or crowd the picture too much.
The main object or group must not be
placed directly in the center of the paper.
but little to one side. Lines psrpendicu-
lar in reality will be drawn perpendicular,
and for determining the slant of all other
lines simple method will prove effective.
Closing one eye, hold the pencil horizontal
ly at arms length, so that one end of it
appears to touch one end of the line to be
drawn. Note the angle that the desired
line makes with the pencil. Then mark
the horizontal line corresponding to pencil
on the paper and draw the line making the
same angle as found. If the line be nearer
a perpendicular than a horizontal, hold
the pencil perpendicularly and note angle
same way. Where the sketch Is to consist
of one prominent group, begin with that
at once and regard the distance simply as
background. If 1t consist of q long
stretch Of ground with perhaps a path
and tree or bush, place the horizon line
lightly and then .he objects, the horizon
being not too low. Look through the half
closed eyes and get general idea of the
ilght and shade of the whole scene. De-
termine at once which is the very darkest
spot in your picture and shade this first,
making 1t as dark as possible. This will
serve as guide to the other darks which
however dark they may seem, will rot
rival the darkest. Note also the highest
spot and indicate this with a dot to
strengthen your memory, which will surely
be short. Begin with the distance to shade.
SO that the hand will not rub the drawing,
ana come down to the nearest objects The
greater the distance the fainter should be
the strokes. gradually getting darker and
more decided as the foreground is reached
IN making foliage, indicate the large
dark places and the large light places OBJ
serving the shapes of these masses closely
and filling them in with short strokes
DO not, under any circumstances, try
10 indicate each leaf, even though the trees
be near. Keep the dark masses distinct
as possible from the light masses, and your
sketch will be clear and strong, Let your
strokes be at all times somewhat uniform
and their direction be such as will best
suggest the object. Experiment on the
margin of the paper as to the best method
or shading. A common rule is to follow
the form with the strokes, but this method
cannot always be followed to best adj
vantage.