File:Drawing and painting self-taught (1922) (14740756726).jpg

Identifier: drawingpaintings00cros (find matches)
Title: Drawing and painting self-taught
Year: 1922 (1920s)
Authors: Cross, Anson K. (Anson Kent), 1862-1944 Cross, Evelyn F. (from old catalog)
Subjects: Drawing Painting
Publisher: Winthrop, Mass., A. K. Cross
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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ory, and calls the result a Free-handPerspective. It is true to the proportions seen, and since it rep-resents parallel lines by straight lines that converge to onepoint, it is as true in representing the facts of form and theirrelations as is the scientific perspective that is false in proportions. 154. Vision Before Theory.—Follow Ruskins advice andavoid all theory until you can draw well by eye alone, and do notthink that theory will wisely do away with the labor involvedin drawing from nature. Theory is necessary when nature can not be studied, but itsresults are not as desirable as those due to vision, because themore exact they are as theory the more they differ from whatthe eye sees. Even if you can save time by using theory it willpay to work longer and travel far to gain the inspiration ofnature and her visual proportions which a plane perspectivenever gives. 155. Theory Aids Vision.—Theory aids both vision andquick results, more when it is unconsciously applied than when
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,,*<£; Fig. 40.—From pen and ink drawing by Anna M. Hathaway. Fig. 41.—From pencil sketch by Anna M. Hathaway. /86 DRAWING AND PAINTING SELF-TAUGHT its vanishing and measuring points are used, for the exact sciencenever has the charm of work done by relying on the eye for anglesand proportions. Science lacks this charm not only becauseit distorts but because nature vibrates and the air causes eventhe most sharp and rigid edges in nature to appear to trembleand waver so much that a sharp even line in any free-hand draw-ing is not as satisfactory or artistic as one that gives the impres-sion of straightness without mechanical exactness. 156. Free-hand Perspective Before Scientific.—The artistis most interested in the theory that relates to what he reallysees. This is the picture given on a plane that is at right anglesto the direction in which he sees an object. This perspectiveis very different from the distortions of scientific plane perspec-tive. It is called Free-hand Pers

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