DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18972#0262
234
THE ELEMENTS OF DRAWING. [letter hi.
illustrate the laws of harmony; and if you want to
colour beautifully, colour as best pleases yourself at
quiet times, not so as to catch the eye, nor to look
as if it were clever or difficult to colour in that
way, but so that the colour may be pleasant to you
when you are happy, or thoughtful. Look much at
the morning and evening sky, and much at simple
flowers,—dog-roses, wood hyacinths, violets, poppies,
thistles, heather, and such like,—as Nature arranges
them in the woods and fields If ever any scientific
person tells you that two colours are " discordant,"
make a note of the two colours, and put them
together whenever you can. I have actually heard
people say that blue and green were discordant;
the two colours which Nature seems to intend never
to be separated, and never to be felt, either of them,
in its full beauty without the other! — a peacock's
neck, or a blue sky through green leaves, or a blue
wave with green lights through it, being precisely
the loveliest things, next to clouds at sunrise, in this
coloured world of ours. If you have a good eye for
colours, you will soon find out how constantly Nature
THE ELEMENTS OF DRAWING. [letter hi.
illustrate the laws of harmony; and if you want to
colour beautifully, colour as best pleases yourself at
quiet times, not so as to catch the eye, nor to look
as if it were clever or difficult to colour in that
way, but so that the colour may be pleasant to you
when you are happy, or thoughtful. Look much at
the morning and evening sky, and much at simple
flowers,—dog-roses, wood hyacinths, violets, poppies,
thistles, heather, and such like,—as Nature arranges
them in the woods and fields If ever any scientific
person tells you that two colours are " discordant,"
make a note of the two colours, and put them
together whenever you can. I have actually heard
people say that blue and green were discordant;
the two colours which Nature seems to intend never
to be separated, and never to be felt, either of them,
in its full beauty without the other! — a peacock's
neck, or a blue sky through green leaves, or a blue
wave with green lights through it, being precisely
the loveliest things, next to clouds at sunrise, in this
coloured world of ours. If you have a good eye for
colours, you will soon find out how constantly Nature