Shading.We endeavour to make our shading course a good foundation for painting. We give exercises in flat tinting and graduating to obtain power over the material (chalk, charcoal, pencil or otherwise) and to ascertain its possibilities. We draw from objects having flat planes such as a cube, placed so as to receive a strong contrast of light and shade; from cylindrical or other rounded objects, in which we study specially the shaded side with its reflected light, and the position of the high light. We work from groups of objects of various colours, trying to obtain their relative tones, textures, etc.
Sacrifice.We try to arouse interest in the light itself, showing (by working with the class) how we must sacrifice minor details to emphasise its play on the group; Mystery.also in the mystery of shade, wherein reflected lights must often be subdued and details lost. Pupils have to draw also from memory.
The figure or painting may follow.
No originality is claimed for the methods and course advocated. They are founded on the desire to be educationally useful, interesting to the pupil, and a good ground on which to build artistic work in painting and designing for wood carving, china painting, needlework, etc.
BRUSH DRAWING.
By Mary Farbrother, Cert. Fröbel Society.
All children take pleasure in drawing. Who has not seen a baby make unintelligible strokes on a piece of paper, at the same time exclaiming, “See, a chicken!” “a train!” “a gee-gee!” But the pleasure caused by such productions is not to be compared with the delight with which a child of three or four years old will handle a brush, dip it in the paint, and then produce a coloured impression on the paper. The happy laughter of the baby as he sees his flower or leaf appear will not soon be forgotten by those who have put this magic wand into tiny hands. And the interest derived from brush drawing does not pass away. Each year the child will be able to obtain truer representations of the objects he attempts to reproduce, and every fresh effort will give pleasure anew to the child and the teacher.
Brush drawing may be regarded from an educational standpoint. Many useful papers have been printed showing its educational value, and the help it gives in developing the artistic sense, powers of observation, etc.
With very little children it seems best to keep to the simplest exercise for some time, and to let them represent any leaves, flowers or insects, which can be made with the flat impression of the brush; they will soon learn to hold the brush perpendicularly, and thus obtain thin lines for stems and branches, and the finer parts of other objects. Later on they will be able to represent the forms of various animals, as well as an infinite variety of flowers and leaves.
It is most essential that the class should have the real object to observe and copy, and whenever possible a specimen should be given to each child, for, as Ruskin says, “The sight is more important than the drawing”; and an earnest seeking after truth and accuracy must leave its impression on the character.