The Painter in oil

and women, does not affect the seriousness and usefulness of the problem; for the
principles of composition and color do not have to do with the materials which you use
to bring about the effect, but the effect itself.
It is practically impossible for the student and the amateur to make very advanced
study of composition in line and mass with more than one or two living models; but with
still life he may and should get all the practical knowledge possible.
Practical Composition. - Suppose you were going to work with still life, how would
you begin? In the first place, get a good composition. Never work from a bad one. You
must learn composition some time, so you might as well study it every time you have
occasion to start a still-life study. Take any number of things and put them on a table, get
a simple background to group them against. Consider your things, and eliminate those
which are not necessary, or will not tell in the composition. It is a law that whatever does
not help your picture (or composition) tells against it; so get rid of anything which will
not help the composition.
For instance, here are a lot of things indiscriminately grouped on a table. You might
paint them, but they are not arranged. There is no composition. They would lack one
commanding characteristic of a good picture if you were to paint them so. What do they
lack as they are? They have no logical connection with each other, either in arrangement
or in the placing, to begin with. They do not help each other either in line or mass. They
are crowded, huddled together.
You could do with less of them; or, if you want them all, you can place them better. But
suppose we take some of them away for simplicity, and rearrange the rest.
Here are some of the things, with others taken away. The combination is simpler, but
still it is not satisfactory. There is some logical connection among the objects, but none
in the grouping. They are still huddled; there is no line; it is too square; no attempt at
balance; they are simply things. If you change them about a little, having regard to size,
proportion, balance, and line, you can get something better out of these same objects.
Here the coffee-pot is moved toward the centre, to give height and mass, and to break up
the round of the plaque; the handle turned around to give more looseness and freedom;
the pitcher is placed where it will break the line of the plaque, yet not too obviously or
awkwardly; the handle is placed at a good angle with that of the coffee-pot, and the
relation of distance with the coffee-pot in balancing the whole is considered. The drapery
is spread out so as to have some probability. It does not help much in line, but it does in
mass and in color (in the original). It could be bettered, but it will do for the present. The
cup also has a reasonable position, and helps to balance and to give weight to the main
mass, which is the coffee-pot. There is not much light and shade in this composition, nor
much distinction. But it does balance, and would make a good study, and is a very
respectable piece of composition, -simple, modest, and dignified.
Now if you wanted to add some of those things which were eliminated, and make a
more complicated composition, you would look for the same things in it when
completed. We have simply the same group, with the bottle and glass added. The stout
jug in the first group is left out because it is not needed, and it will not mass with the rest
easily. The tall glass vase is left out because it is too transparent to count either as line,
mass, or color, and does not in any way help, and therefore counts against, because it