expanse of sea and sky. To
make a picture of it there was needed at least a moon, and some birds,
or better, a ship and some reflections. All this sort of thing is
idle. A picture is not a picture because it has more of this or less
of that; it is a picture because it is complete in the expression of
the idea which is the cause of its existence. And that idea may be
tangible or not. It may include many details or none. It is an idea
which is best or only expressed by being made visible, and which is
worthy of being expressed because of its beauty; and when that idea
is wholly and fully visible on canvas or other surface, that surface
is a picture. What the contents of a picture shall be is a matter
personal to the painter of it. The manner in which it is conceived and
produced is determined by his temperament and idiosyncrasy.

A picture is a visible idea expressed in terms of color, form, and
line. It is the product of perception plus feeling, plus intent, plus
knowledge, plus temperament, plus pigment. And as all these are
differently proportioned in all persons, it is only a matter of being
natural on the part of the painter that his picture should be
original.

CHAPTER XIII

THE ARTIST AND THE STUDENT

It is a mistake to make pictures too soon. The nearest a student is
likely to get to a picture is a careful study, and he will be as
successful with this, if he makes it for the study of it, as if he
made it for the sake of making a picture--better probably. The making
of a picture for the picture's sake is dangerous to the student. His
is less likely to be sincere. He is apt to "idealize," to make up
something according to some notion of how a picture should be, rather
than from knowledge of how nature is. Real pictures grow from study of
nature.

They are the outcome of maturity, not of the student stage. This
implies something deeper than superficial facts, and a power of
selection,--of choice and of purpose which must rest on a very broad
and deep knowledge. The artist is always a student, of course; but he
is not a student only. He is a student who knows what and why he wants
to study; not one who is in process of finding out these things.

=Aims.=--It should be noted that the aim of the student and the aim
of the artist are essentially different. The student's first aim is to
learn to see and represent nature's facts; to distinguish justly
betwee