. Art crafts for amateurs . ed, and that is about allthe conditions observed, except that very little foreshortening(or drawing in perspective) is attempted. This flat wayof treating nature is not necessarily good decoration, assome think, but to draw in perspective, and still more topaint a foreshortened form, is much more difficult than totreat the same flat. It is, therefore, better to attempt too littleand succeed than be over-ambitious and fail. Gesso can bevery helpful here, as these forms nearer the eye can beactually in relief, and the modelling can be effected by thegesso instead of b
. Art crafts for amateurs . ed, and that is about allthe conditions observed, except that very little foreshortening(or drawing in perspective) is attempted. This flat wayof treating nature is not necessarily good decoration, assome think, but to draw in perspective, and still more topaint a foreshortened form, is much more difficult than totreat the same flat. It is, therefore, better to attempt too littleand succeed than be over-ambitious and fail. Gesso can bevery helpful here, as these forms nearer the eye can beactually in relief, and the modelling can be effected by thegesso instead of by elaborate painting. The backgroundcould be gold, or floated in with transparent colours, suchas blues and greens, to give a deep peacock blue, mixedwith varnish. The bird can be in tones of blue, and theleaves in pale quiet greens ; but it is better to keep wellwithin ones capacity, and not to attempt too much. Where GESSO. any good wood is used, of course this should be valuedand left, only the decoration being Man will always go back to the past for ideas. Whatwas done a century ago commands a respect and venera- ART CRAFTS FOR AMATEURS. tion to which no modern work can pretend, and so wemeet with quaint ships in decoration. I think the reasonsuch motifs are used is that they strike us as so much morepleasing than the present make of such objects. Themodern ironclad may be a good decorative motif in an agewhen man goes about in flying machines, or is shot throughtubes, as are telegrams, but at present we prefer a galleon ora galley to a monitor or ram. The one in No. 9, Chapter II.,is taken from a carved pulpit that was in a City church nowdestroyed, and is a contemporary portrait of a ship. Alwaysgo first-hand to the fountain-head of inspiration, and if youelect to use old motifs, do not work from some modernrendering of them, but turn back to contemporaryexamples. The decoration of a frame in gesso is so obviously acapital way of employing ones time, that it mi
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectdecorat, bookyear1901
