The Kalispell bee. [volume] (Kalispell, Mont.) 1900-192?, 1902-08-29
Gle Social (lbirI x

those who sketch and those who
don't. Like the vast army of borrow
ers, the former is decidedly the
greater class Sketches from nature
are always exhibited in small rooms.
In the bedroom, above the washstand,
in the sitting room, over the mantle,
where the friend shall behold the
work" as if it were by accident.
Great is the vanity of the amateur.
There is, indeed, more failures in this
than in all the rest of the arts put
together. The beginner sketching
from nature, believes this not merely
the most fascinating of all accom-
plishments, but withal so easy.
Hence multitudes sketch. Year after
year the summer world is dotted
more and more with damsels and
meek young men armed with stool
and paint box-to say nothing of
these senile devotees we all know
who are bursting with ultra-bilious
contempt for methods other than their
own. Young or old, nothing daunts
them. Even the camera-that insid-
ious revolutionist in the realm of
art-has not checked their annual
increase; and as for the wheel, which
threatens the decline and fall of so
many pastimes and intellectual pur
suits, why, the wheel has merely fur
nished the amateur with a delightful
means of locomotion. Thus, in these
cIy tohn Ci ol
as of old, but in batallions, and the
makers and purveyors of materials
wax rich and rejoice.
Fascinating it is, beyond all ques-
ton. To "blot" with happy certainty
the bloom of some noble bulk of
trees; to trap the glory of golden
light, shot by the western sun, in a
level CLEAN along the many colored
grasses, to fix harmonious contrasts
of groups of cattle browsing in the
azure morning warmth, to catch the
mass and dignity of the Rocky noun
tains shadowing the great forests,
to capture the majesty and splendor
of clouds piled in the mellow depths
of the sky or the dapple of ret1ec-
tions in some brook babbling its wind
ing way among the hills and through
the valleys. TO essay such artistic
paths as these, is a supreme delight
apart from all results on paper or
canvas. Whether you succeed or fail
matters not whit. There is a joy,
a fascination, a subtle and poignant
in a at
the humblest amateur feels it as
keenly as the most accomplished ar
fist. We may be in ability or mas
terry as far apart as the poles, but be-
fore the love-compelling face of ma
ture, in feeling, all of us are one.
The secret of this happiness is that
the business of sketching compels a
sweet and comprehensive intimacy
with the gracious goddess She re-
ceives the sketcher in the garden, so
to speak, and at the very outset of
his sketch he shakes the dust of the
world from his spirit and passes I'M
soiled and openhearted to her un-
affected presence. Once the papers
Wilderness is washed with the first
tint, he is in the Eden of art, where
the serpent is not, where all the air
is innocence and every lovely pros
pect changes and grows more beau
tifuI. Sketching, indeed, is the purest
of pastimes.
Yet must the sketcher eat of the
tree of knowledge, alas for the anna
teur that this should be. So many
snetches (if heir authors only knew
IT'D are but affidavits of ignorance.
The sketch, as Lalanne said of etch-
ing, which Cat it's best is kind of
sketching, should be in the nature of
an improvisation. From the study"
it is distinct, The study aims at
pictorial learning, it is a searching
out and careful record of form facts,
of color facts and facts of light and
shade. But the sketch is swift note
of broad effects, of the general char
acter of things, the instant impress
sion, say, of a color contrast; or
some vivid or melting incidence of
light on objects and atmosphere. It's
foundation is simplicity, its vitality
and significance and charm are born
of the passion of the moment. The
sketcher must record his impressions
using a selection of the facts essential
to its most vivid expression. This is
what the best sketchers do, it being
understood, of course, that they eX.
press their impressions with force
and certainty and charm. Here il
is, that sketching from life is so diff
ficult.
Nature is ever changing and an
hours difference in the sun, the pass
ing of cloud, profoundly alters the
aspect of the landscape and the effect
that put into you the fire of picto
rial desire passes ere you can &C
complish one-fifth of the massed
glOOmS and maltinor gI0rfac