Crafts

EXTRACT

"I DON'T know how it is, but I can't do trees" is a remark an artist frequently hears; and it is too often justified by the poor and crude attempts at tree painting that accompany it. And to the regretful exclamation perhaps something is added about "want of knack" the "right sort of touch" as though, in order to successfully draw or paint a tree (as distinct from the painting of any other object) some extraordinary gift or sleight of hand were necessary, some special cleverness of manipulation that should enable its possessor to accomplish "tree-work" perhaps without effort, and certainly without very much study. "I'm very fond of out-door sketching, nothing is so nice; and although I love trees, and have tried to paint them many times, somehow or other I can't manage it," continues the disconsolate artist. This idea of natural inability in regard to tree-painting perhaps becomes in him a settled conviction and he goes floundering on for of course he cannot give up his sketching, blotting in his trees with meaningless and inartistic dabs (which by-and-by become his recipe) and from this very hopelessness, making little or no attempt at reproducing the forms, which, as a matter of fact, he sees quite plainly, and is perfectly conscious of.

Now, this theory of spontaneous foliage-cleverness we entirely disagree with. Of course a natural love of art is quite essential to success in any kind of painting, but we hold that, given the artistic ability, it is just as capable of being turned in the direction of tree-painting as in any other; and with success, if only the study of tree form be set about in a right manner and with conviction. "Freedom of handling" we are told, and "lightness of touch" are necessary to tree-painting. This is undoubtedly true, for a tree is an object that is continually on the move, swayed by the wind first one way and then the other and through which a bird can fly. It is only with certain dexterity that this appearance of life and motion can be given.

But "freedom of handling" is only another name for that sureness of brush which results from practice, and from the knowledge obtained by the mastery of the subject from its elemental stages upwards. When painting a tree it should always be kept in mind and never forgotten, that it is a tree, composed of delicate, feathery leaves, and not a solid, immovable substance like brick or stone. It ought to be the painter's aim to portray the quality and material of the tree as well as its form and colour.