MEETING OF WATER AND LAND. LAKES, SPRINGS, ISLANDS. HIGH AND LOW TIDE.
The artistic appeals to the higher or finer qualities of our nature, and to be artistic is to show forth or make visible these qualities. Work which is truly artistic can only be produced when we are in such harmony with our subject that these qualities predominate. These truths are so important that I ask you to experiment and discover them for yourselves. How will you get the “atmospheric” effect unless you realize that a certain volume of atmosphere is between you and the distant object? How will you keep true values unless you see truly (correctly)? In all drawing of any special subject it should be the aim to keep everything subordinated to the main point of interest, just as in writing you make every word or sentence bear upon the main point of your theme or your argument.
The meeting of land and water can never be represented by a continuous line; as line indicates direction of surface, and as the surface planes of both land and water are continually changing, the direction of line is changing or being broken, even if on the same general plane. [Fig. 15] (a lake among the hills) shows the horizontal plane of water surface meeting the oblique surface of land. Where the water falls over the rock, the oblique and curved lines used are broken, to represent the nature of the rock underneath. Notice that the depth of each little fall corresponds with the stratification of rock. The water, as it recedes, lies level, also. You will have no difficulty in drawing ponds and lakes, if you think of the farther shores as less distinct, and the waves, although rough and broken in the foreground, as merged and blended together in the distance.
20 21 22 23 24
[Figs. 16 and 17] are high and low tide on the Piscataqua River. (The ocean tides flow in for miles up the river.) These illustrations show the broken, or short, nearly horizontal lines used to indicate the tops of the little waves and ripples in the foreground. As the water lowers a little in the river, the island ([Fig. 16]) is seen, connected with the mainland by an isthmus, or narrow neck of land; and in [Fig. 17] it is seen as a part of the mainland. [Figs. 18 and 19] are springs flowing out from hillsides. Notice the relation the grasses and rock bear to the water. [Fig. 20] represents North Cape; [Fig. 23], a coral island: both show water in active motion, compared with that in [Fig. 15], and with [Fig. 21] (a rocky island). [Fig. 22] shows rapids in a New England stream. Notice the velocity and volume of water. [Fig. 24] is a map of the Mississippi River. The upper part of the map is drawn without any lines between river and land. The lower half has a line drawn close to the edge of the water, to indicate the levees, which are necessary in that region, to prevent inundation. For a map of continental islands and drowned valleys, see map of the fiord coast of Alaska, in the Introduction.