"The value of a canvas depends almost entirely on your mental attitude, not on your moral attitude; depends on what kind of a man you are, the way you observe."
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Quote collection
Charles Webster Hawthorne quotes (page 2 of 2)
37 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"Painting is just like making an after-dinner speech. If you want to be remembered, say one thing and stop."
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"Try to do ugly things so that you make them beautiful... The more delicate the thing is in nature the more one must look for the solemn note. Color in nature is never pretty, it's beautiful."
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"We must all teach ourselves to be fine, to be poets."
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"If you are not going to get a thrill, how can you give someone else one? You must feel the beauty of the thing before you start."
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"The mechanics of putting one spot of color next to another, that is the fundamental thing."
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"There is an aesthetic excitement about painting which is one of the most beautiful experiences that can be. Put things down while you feel that joy."
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"Swing a bigger brush - you don't know what you're missing."
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"Get into the habit of doing what you see, not what you know. Human reason cannot foresee the accidents of out-of-doors."
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"It is so much better to make a big thing out of a little subject than to make a little thing out of a big one."
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"Chase used to say, 'When you're looking at your canvas and worrying about it, try to think of your canvas as the reality and the model as the painted thing.'"
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"Be humble about it. Paint the color tones as they come against each other, and make them sing, vibrate. Don't ask me to look at those self-satisfied, pretty things."
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"Avoid distant views, paint objects close up. If the foreground is well done the distance will take care of itself."
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"Keep this little canvas, it is a promise for the future. When I say 'keep this canvas,' I mean for the influence on yourself. When one does a good thing, it's well to keep it to show how foolish we are at other times."
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"It is so hard and long before a student comes to a realization that these [first] few large simple spots in right relations are the most important things in the study of painting. They are the fundamentals of all painting."
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"Paint what you see, not what you know."
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"The successful painter is continually painting still life."
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