The Painter in oil

It has been said that there are as many ways of painting as there are painters. Certainly
there are as many ways as they are men of any originality. For however a painter has
been trained, whatever the methods which he has been taught to use, he will always
change them, more or less, in adapting them to his own purposes. An as the main intent
of the art of an epoch or period differs from that of a previous one, so the manner of
laying on paint will change to meet the needs of that difference. The manner of painting
to-day is very different from that of other times. Some of the old processes are looked
upon by the modern man is quite beneath his recognition. Yet these same methods are
necessary to certain qualities, and if the modern man does not use or approve of those
methods, it is because he is not especially interested in the qualities which they are
necessary to.
There is probably no one statement which all fair-minded painters will more willingly
acquiesce in, then one which friends at the method by which the result is attained is
unimportant, prodded that the result is attained, and that it is one worth attain. Every
man will, whether it is right or not, use those methods which most surely and completely
bring about the expression of the thing he wishes to express. In the face of this fact, and
of the many acknowledged masterpieces, every one of which was painted in defiance of
some rule some time or other alleged to be the only right one, it is not possible to
prescribe or proscribe anything in the direction of the manipulation of colors. The result
must be right, and if it is, it justifies the means. If it be not right, the thing is worthless,
no matter how perfectly according to the rule the process may be. As Hunt said, “What
do I care about the grammar if you’ve got something to say?” The important thing is to
say something, and if you do really say something, and do really completely precisely
and express it, as far as a painter is concerned it will be grammatical. If not to-day, the
grammar will come round to it tomorrow. Henry Howard Beecher is reported to have
answered to a criticism on grammatical slips in the heat of eloquence, “Young man, if the
English language gets in the way of the expression of my thought, so much of the worse
for the English language!” In painting, any rate, the complete expression of thought is
grammatical, and if not, so much the worst for the grammarians.
Try Everything. - Know, then, all you can about all the ways of manipulating paint
that have ever been used. Use any or all those ways as you find them needful or helpful.
There is none which has not the authority of a master behind it, and though another
master may decry it, it is because, being a master, he claims the very right he denies you.
Experiment with all; but never use any method for the sake of the method, but only for
what it is capable of doing for you in helping expression.
Safety. - The only real rule as to what to use in what not, applies to the effect of the
permanence of your canvas. Never use pigments which will fade; nor in such a way that
they will cause others to fade. Avoid all such using of materials as you know will make
your picture crack, or in any other way bring about its deterioration.
Good painting. - But for all I have just said, there is an acknowledged basis of what
is good painting. If any man or school lays on paint in a frank, direct way, getting the
effect by sheer force of putting on the right color in just the right place, with no tricks
nor affectations, that is good painting; and the more simple, direct, and frank the
manner of handling, the better the painting.