need of them. They have
become the stock in trade of the craft.

The artist may use them as he will, provided only he will take the
trouble to understand them. He must understand them, because the
manipulations which make up these different processes accomplish
different effects and different qualities; and as the painter aims at
results, if he does not understand the result of a process when he
uses it, he will get a different one from that which he intended.

The painter should not be hampered by process; he should not be
controlled in the expression of himself by tradition. He should feel
free to use any or all means to bring about the result he aims at, and
he should allow no tradition or point of view to prevent him from
selecting whichever means will most surely or satisfactorily bring
about his true purpose.

Of course there are many ways of using paint which are unsafe. Some
pigments are unsafe to use because they either do not hold their own
color, or tend to destroy the color of others. You should always bear
this in mind; and if you care for the permanence of your work, you
should not use such materials or such processes as work against it.
But beyond this, the whole range of the experience and experiment of
the workers who have gone before you are at your command, to help you
to express yourself most perfectly or completely; to represent
whatever of visible beauty you may conceive or perceive.

And this is the whole aim of the painter; to stand for this is the
whole purpose of the picture.

CHAPTER XII

ORIGINALITY

Originality is not a thing to strive for. If it comes, it is not
through striving. The search for originality seldom results in
anything worth having. It is a quality inherent in the man; and the
best way of being original in your work is to be natural. Perhaps the
most useful advice which you could receive is that you be always
natural. Never be artificial nor insincere; never copy another
person's subject, manner, or method, with the intention of doing as he
does. The most original things are often the most simple, because they
have come naturally from a sincere desire to express what has been
seen or felt, in the most direct way.

If every one were content to be himself, there would be no dearth of
originality. No two people are alike, neither are any two painters
alike; they could not be. They do not look alike, nor s