The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1896-01-14

tomato can. There is the groundw Of
great piece of color. 1t looks common
now, and you would not imagine that it
could be made into magnificent land
scape by few simple movements of the
feet. l will show you in lust moment
that the art of landscape painting is as yet
unknown to civilization. Talk about
Church and Turner. They are mere in
tants in the business. Watch me-"
Mr.. Keith then took a com bination OF
colors from his paint-tubes and spread
them all over his palette. He then scram-
bled them around with his knife and
transferred them in reckless way to two
pieces of matting-board that had pre-
v1ously been arranged with what the artist
called 1.-The ground work" After complet-
ing this preliminary operation he cast his
paints aside and stuck the two pices of
mating together, smeared sides in.
Now" he continued, 81 Will show you
the elements of impression. Just stand
OH to one side, where you can see me in
the act OF getting results. Don't get ex-
cited; am perfectly cool myself, so don't
get unstrung at what you are about to
witness. | am little sick to-day, but
guess L can get picture if things go right.
Are you ready to see something great?''
Eyes," an swered the visitor, expect
antly.
"All right; here goes" With that, Mr.
Keith, William Keith, the idol of the land
scape students, the most productive
painter ON the coast, the disciple of the
old masters, laid the two sheets of mating
paper upon the floor, and with the agility
OF an Apache Indian began war dance
on them. He skipped from corner to cor
ner and in all directions of the compass,
until his feet had traversed the entire sur
face OF the board.
Presently he stepped to one side,
moppec the perspiration off his forehead
and picked up the sheets with trembling
hand. 1--WE will now see what the result
Is" said he, and straightway separated
the pieces, which came apart with a noise
like North Beach kiss. "Ah-h-h-h," he
| exclaimed, holding the production at
arms length. "Great, magnificent. BY
George, that's the way to get effects. See
the trees, the pathway leading into the
woods, the = and by the eternal, there s
COW, and a strip of water, and some au-
tumn leaves, as we'll fine sky effect See
the sunlight breaking through the leaves.
Look at it. Wonderful, wonderful Did
you ever see anything so delicate as that
quality over there by the hillside? Look,
look Try one more"
In his excitement Mr.. Keith prepare d
another pair of matting-sheets and before
the visitor could catch his breath the artist
was jumping all over the place again. He
pranced around like happy sch oolboy
and looked at the production through
squinted eyes, holding it in every conceiv-
able position until the best effect was
brought out. II know l ought not to do
this when | am not well, but l can't help
1T. he Yentured by way of explanation,
land then the fun of seeing the way things
will shape themselves is sufficient compen-
satlon for the failures.
II have tried it many times and have in
some cases made good pictures. 1t gives
me ideas and | work around the ideas |
have made some of the most startling
things with my feet, and believe | have
struck something that is worth following
up. Now here is result that | got yester-
day." He then produced a small picture
that at first looked like depository for all
the refuse paint in the studio, but after a
little study it presented qualities that an
artist could not secure designedly if he
worked thousand years.
Keith looked at it lovingly moment,
and finally concluded to give it another
coat and jump on it some more, which he
proceeded to do with all the activity he
could command
This sort of amusement is regular
thing for Keith nowadays, and is at the
same time healthful and invigorating.
he hopes in time to perfect new school
OF art where the painter can throw his pic