Making and Using a Finder.
If you look on [page 4] you will see three little pictures that seem quite complete in themselves, and yet look like parts of the picture on [page 2]. The upper sketch shows the same big tree by the stream, and the lower right sketch has been taken from the left side of the large picture. A small part near the middle of the large picture was then selected, and this part was enlarged to make the third sketch shown.
You can often find some parts of your large sketches that are more interesting than others. On this page are some drawings of a little device which will help you to do this. It is called a finder, and is simply an oblong opening cut from a piece of paper so as to leave all around it a margin an inch or two wide. It looks like a little mat for a picture, or like a window-frame. Two square corners or L-shaped pieces of paper can be placed together so that the size of the opening can be changed by pushing the uprights nearer together or by pulling them farther apart. An adjustable finder like this (shown in the right sketch) can be used in a number of ways.
Draw on a sheet of 9 × 12 paper, an oblong seven inches high and three, four, or five inches wide. Around the oblong, which is to be cut out, leave a margin of at least an inch. Slip this large finder over the autumn sketch you made in the lesson on [page 2], until you have found the part you like best. Cut this part out, and mount it on a large sheet of fresh paper, leaving a pleasing margin. The class sketches will make a fine exhibition.
Shapes and Growth of Trees.