Charles Webster Hawthorne Quotes

A sketch has charm because of its truth - not because it is unfinished.

It is so much better to make a big thing out of a little subject than to make a little thing out of a big one.

There is an aesthetic excitement about painting which is one of the most beautiful experiences that can be. Put things down while you feel that joy.

Anything under the sun is beautiful if you have the vision it is the seeing of the thing that makes it so.

Each day has its own individuality of color.

Do studies, not pictures. Know when you are licked - start another. Be alive, stop when your interest is lost.

If you look into the past of the successful painter you will find square miles of canvas behind him.

Paint what you see, not what you know.

To see things simply is the hardest thing in the world.

Swing a bigger brush - you don't know what you're missing.

Do not let it look as if you reasoned too much. Painting must be impulsive to be worth while.

Put off finish as it takes a lifetime - wait until later to try to finish things - make a lot of starts.

Put variety in white.

The successful painter is continually painting still life.

The mechanics of putting one spot of color next to another, that is the fundamental thing.

Study continuously, developing yourself into a better person, more sensitive to things in nature. Spend years in getting ready.

By having the big lines of the composition going out of the canvas, your imagination can wander beyond the edge. It will make it seem part of a large composition.

If you are not going to get a thrill, how can you give someone else one? You must feel the beauty of the thing before you start.

We must all teach ourselves to be fine, to be poets.

Try to do ugly things so that you make them beautiful... The more delicate the thing is in nature the more one must look for the solemn note. Color in nature is never pretty, it's beautiful.

Painting is just like making an after-dinner speech. If you want to be remembered, say one thing and stop.

Realize the value of putting down your first impression quickly.

Paint with freedom. It gives you more mastery of the nature of paint.

Avoid distant views, paint objects close up. If the foreground is well done the distance will take care of itself.

Spend a lifetime in hard work with a humble mind.