I have already suggested as a subject looking out of a window, but this may not always be possible, especially if you want to draw after dark as is often the case.

Interior subjects come from the most unlikely places: a corner of the living-room, for instance. A lamp illuminates a chair, a couch, a figure reading a book or newspaper. A study in light and shade, perhaps with the light falling on the objects and the figure, the background of the room in dramatic shadow, the characteristic pose of a figure reading.

Rembrandt, the great Dutch painter of the seventeenth century, did hundreds of drawings of this type of subject and if you are interested in studies containing lots of light and shade it would repay you a hundredfold to look at some of them. Rembrandt was a master of light and shade; most of his portraits, landscapes, figure groups, Biblical studies, start from this standpoint. A study of Rembrandt’s drawing will also help you to understand the way to draw light falling on the different planes of the head.

There is a room full of Rembrandt paintings in the Metropolitan, but if you want to see his drawings and etchings, it is better to go to the British Museum, where they have an enormous collection. If the drawings, for some reason or other, are not on view you may see them by going into the drawing and print library and have them brought to you. It is a pleasant experience to be able to sit in the quiet and hold a Rembrandt in your hand, able to study it at leisure. You can do the same in the Victoria and Albert Museum, Drawing and Print Department, in London.

Still life, the grouping of miscellaneous articles on a table, fruits, vegetables, flowers, pots, pans, jugs, bottles, china – still life, next to landscape and portrait, are still the most popular of subjects to draw and paint. However, nothing is duller than to see, time after time, the same old arrangement of jugs and china, the same vases of flowers and the same arrangement of plate, cloth and Chianti bottle. You have probably seen pictures of them by the score. Why not, instead of arranging a group, merely throw a heap of assorted things together and let them arrange themselves.

The random group holds more surprises than the carefully contrived stilI life group. I feel, when I see those beautiful arrangements, that I am looking at a piece of window dressing. It is often quite a nice piece of window dressing, but then I ask myself why bother to go to all the trouble of sorting out a beautifully designed effect, which looks quite well on its own, and then draw or paint it? It doesn’t seem right to spend an hour arranging the group and only ten minutes drawing it.

Some of the most delightful random still life paintings I have seen have been painted over and over again by a French painter, only recently dead, Pierre Bonnard. He used to paint the tops of tables after tea or dinner, with the clutter of empty plates and half-filled cups, piled up crockery and so on. Though it is, in fact, only a still life, it has the breath of life in it and so commands our attention in a way the carefully contrived still life does not. The French call still life nature morte, dead life. They have a point there. Well, don’t let your still life become dead life. Let it spring from the spontaneity of life. Go into the kitchen and draw the pots and pans as you find them. Don’t move them about. Accept them as they are. Your work will have an interest that can never be obtained by any other means. After all, when you go outdoors, you won’t be able to push the landscape around to suit your fancy. You will have to take it piecemeal just as it is. So do the same with still life.

Exercises in Ornamental Pen Drawing, shown in Figs. B and E (Figs. 26 and 27), are much less complex than would appear at first glance. The method of producing these examples of confusion in decorative design is as follows:

Make a drawing on thin, rough, linen paper of the motif in Fig. A. Then transfer in group form-one transfer over the other.

The pencil transfers will appear as at B, only the spaces will be dark. Then outline with ink but do not cross the dark spaces. When the ink is dry erase the pencil lines and the design will appear as in B.

As a preliminary exercise to the design, Fig. E, make a pencil drawing of the unit Fig. C and outline with ink. Erase pencil lines and the unit design D will appear. The design E is a repetition of the unit D, the only difference being that when the pencil transfers from C are made care must be taken not to cross with pen lines any of the dark transfer lines.

The complicated design at the right is an example of what can be done with a cardboard curve.

The outlines of the cardboard curve, as shown on that page and reversed, were repeated several times with faint outlines. The outlines were then strengthened and accentuated untiI the accompanying design was developed. The operation is quite simple and quickly done.

Fig. 14-1 – A geometrical rosette or medallion, drawn with
a compass, except the external cog-like projections.

Fig. 14-2 – A conventionalized daisy in medallion form. Draw the circles with compass; the rest free hand. If pen and ink, sketch details with very light pencil lines. For exercise draw a border containing four rosettes, alternated or separated by a circle about one-fourth the diameter of the rosette.

Fig. 15 is not intended as a copy for a single rosette, but for eight separate ones; each of the eight sections to be repeated eight times, when the circle will be filled. The units may be adopted also for border designs.

Historic Ornament

Individuality in ornament has been characteristic of most nations, even among the barbaric. Each nation seems to have adopted some unit or series of units and adapted them so repeatedly that they have derived a claim to some specific form of ornament. When these designs have passed down the ages they have been accepted as the historical ornament appertaining to the respective nations.

The greatest historic styles of the ancients are the Egyptian, Greek and Roman.

Of the Middle Ages there are the Byzantine, Romanesque (founded on the .later forms of the Roman ornament and approaching the Gothic), Saracenic and Gothic.

The modern styles which, however, included those prevailing for several centuries past (since 15th century) are usually termed Renaissance, meaning literally, new birth, or the revival of anything which has been extinct or in decay. Previous to the Renaissance there had been a tendency to imitate in decoration the Byzantine and Gothic.

The revival of Roman and Grecian art was called the Renaissance. Among the ancient styles are included, but as secondary, the Assyrian and Persian styles. There is today a tendency toward their revival.

The Oriental styles are the Persian, (East) Indian, Chinese and Japanese.

Graceful lines running in the same general direction is all that is aimed at in Figs. 19, 20 and 21. The shading is to be added, with the same display of quick lines flowing along the same curves.

Models for drawing flowers and like forms of vegetation are so easily procurable that it seems unnecessary to give many examples in these pages. Real flowers, etc., are better than copies.

For purposes of a model one flower is as good as another; one leaf is as good as another.

The only advice to be given is that the beginner should be given a simple flower or leaf.

Afterward the more complex flora may be studied and drawn, from nature preferably. A daisy, a dandelion, or a pansy is better to begin with than a rose, a peony or a chrysanthemum.

Any Weed Offers Good Practice

Nothing is better than a twig with a leaf or two attached. When the natural flowers are not to be had, artificial ones can be made to fulfill the purpose.

The general lines of direction in a drawing should be indicated, and the general shapes of the detail also should be shown by light lines before the finishing touches are attempted. By doing so, defects in the lightly drawn lines can be easily remedied; whereas, after the drawing is completed this is almost impossible without smudgy effects being produced. See Fig. I.

In the sketches shown on page 114, the idea conveyed in the foregoing paragraph is illustrated, and three stages of progress shown.

Curved and Straight Lines

The pupil should become equally proficient in the use of curved and straight lines, both being useful for different purposes. For instance, in the example shown in Fig. 3, straight lines are most effective for drawing the pine cones, the twigs and needles; on the other hand, curved lines are best for rendering the cherries, etc., at the right.

In the earliest exercises, when drawing flowers or leaves from nature, the objects themselves should be rendered in simplified form. For instance, remove the leaves from the stem, leaving only a single flower. Again, remove the flower, leaving only one or two leaves. Increase complexity as ability develops.