Part 2

Grasses and sedges are some of the "green things" that need but little encouragement. In fact, they grow to greatest size in some neglected fence corner or in places so wet that other plants do not flourish. Grasses lack the bright colors of flowers, but they are fine studies to draw, because of their simple, direct growth and the interesting shapes of their leaves and heads.

You will enjoy brush drawings, using color or ink, of different kinds of grasses. Select three or four of large size and place them in a bottle. They will then fall gracefully into a natural position. Behind the bottle place a tall background of some kind, so that the shapes of the grasses will be clearly seen. Use paper large enough to show in life size the grass heads and part of the leaves and stems. Before beginning the study, practice drawing grass leaves with one stroke of the brush, without first outlining their shapes. Then draw from the arrangement before you, working freely with the brush. In studying the leaves, notice where the greatest width is seen. Observe the size and direction of the stems, and draw them so that they express the upright growth and the grace of the plant. Grass stems are not like the stems of flowering plants or vines. Try to see and express the difference.

Selecting with a Finder the Most Interesting Part of a Sketch.

Do you see what has been done with the drawing of grasses? A finder was moved about on the sketch until a pleasing arrangement of shapes appeared within the opening. You will notice it was not necessary to show the whole of each leaf and head. The sketch on this page would be quite satisfactory, if it were cut out along the inner edges of the finder and mounted upon another sheet of paper.

Brush drawings of grasses and common weeds are beautiful when drawn in color upon a tinted background. You can tint paper with water-color in much the same way that you put on landscape washes. Dampen a sheet of paper, and then apply a very little red, blue, and yellow, washing the three colors down the sheet. A little practice will teach you how to use the color to get a green-gray, a yellow-gray, or a blue-gray tint. Tint several sheets at one lesson.

Using a sheet of your tinted paper, make a brush drawing in color, from a growth of grass or sedge. Draw in large size, and make a "finder" picture from your sketch.

Autumn Leaves and Berries.

If you have never seen the bitter-sweet vine growing over a dead tree, you have missed a beautiful sight. In the fall its bright berries hang in graceful clusters, and stay on the vine long after its leaves have fallen. The real berry is held in the close grasp of a several-parted case until a sharp frost bursts the outer covering and shows the scarlet fruit within.

The sketch on this page is from a spray of bittersweet before the leaves have dropped.

You can see that in the leaves more yellow than is usual was used, because their color is decidedly yellow-green. Most of the berries are shown, still held in their orange-colored cases. Can you tell what two colors were used in painting the berries?

Sometimes yellow and green alone do not give you the green you may desire; if you add a little red it will soften, or make gray, a green that seems too bright.

Choose a bright spray of autumn leaves and place it against a background. Study the growth, the different shapes of leaves and berries, and the color. Paint in life size just what you see.

A Flower and Its Growth Expressed in Color.

Members of the iris family are found in many places. The dwarf garden iris blossoms very early in the spring, and has short, stout stems, bearing several flowers. The common blue flag found in wet places is a country cousin of the garden iris. Both are related to the flower-de-luce, the stately lily of France. They are unlike other flowers in shape, and are beautiful in color, with sword-shaped leaves.

The sketch on this page shows two different colors of the iris. If you cannot find flowers like them, choose a stalk of blue flag or early garden iris. Flowers of all kinds must be painted with fresh, clean colors, used directly from the box. Do not mix or stir color in the palette. Colors that are "handled" too much become muddy and dead. One color may be dropped in another, allowing them to blend on the paper. You have made stained glass effects in this way. Sometimes two colors may be taken in the brush at once. They will flow together as you draw. For instance, if you fill your brush with yellow and dip it lightly in blue, you can make a brush stroke of green. In painting the violet iris, red may be dropped in blue. Before painting your flower study, practice drawing leaves and large petals in this direct way.

A Flower in Different Positions.

Suppose that in the sketch on page 20, each leaf had been of the same size and shape. Would you have liked the picture as well? Plants that are regular in their growth, like the fern or the ivy, are seldom chosen for sketches. We like to see a variety of shapes and sizes. Even when the leaves of a plant have the same general shape, their positions make their shapes appear unlike.

So it is with flowers. On this page are three different drawings of the same flower. Can you tell why they are not alike? It is because the flower was held in three different positions. When the flower-head is turned toward you, as in the first sketch, its shape is quite like a circle. In the second sketch, the shape is much narrower from front to back, and some of the petals appear shorter. Can you tell how it was held? The third sketch shows the back or under side of the flower, and the shape is again different. You see, then, that every flower you draw must be studied carefully, to find the shape as it really appears to you.

Take a large flower, like the brown-eyed Susan or the sunflower, and draw it in different positions. Use brush or crayon for your sketches.

Growth and Shapes of Tree Buds.

In the bright days of February or early March, before spring has really come, place some branches of common trees and shrubs in water, and keep them near a sunny window in the house. You can then watch the buds swell, as they waken from their long winter sleep. Every day will show some change in their shape and size. You will enjoy making sketches of the twigs, from day to day, as the buds grow and the little leaves appear.

On this page are some drawings that show us different forms of growth, and the different ways in which Mother Nature protects her tender baby leaves.

Make some sketches from the beautiful tree buds of early spring.

A Study of the Geranium.

In any window box of growing plants, you will be almost sure to see the geranium. It lifts its bright blossoms among the green leaves, and grows thrifty and strong, if its simple needs are supplied.

The sketch shows you a stalk of geranium. The leaves were very similar in shape as they grew, but in the sketch their position has given them four different shapes. When you study your own stalk, see if the leaves show you the same interesting variety. Do you notice that the flower-head does not show each blossom, separate and distinct? The shape of the whole cluster is expressed, with a few petals showing more plainly near the outside of the cluster.

A good way to get the bright scarlet of the flower cluster is to paint it in with a yellow wash; then drop in red. You will need red to soften the green of the leaves, and probably you will see a rosy color in some parts of the stalk and stems.

Paint a stalk of geranium against a background, at some distance from you.

Root Growths of Spring.

On your walks through the woods in the early spring days, you surely have discovered these plant growths from roots which have lived all winter. They are the bloodroot, the hepatica, and the fern.

The hepatica comes first, with its pale violet blossoms nearly hidden under a thick covering of the dead leaves of the forest. Its little buds seem to be protected from the cold by soft garments of fur. All winter long the spotted leaves of last autumn have stayed on the plant. They are beautiful now, in shape and in color.

The bloodroot has a large round leaf which folds close about the flower-bud until the snow-white blossoms open. Its root is a sort of underground stem, and has a bright orange or red juice, from which the plant is named.

Find some of the root growths of early spring. Dig them up carefully, without shaking the earth from the roots, and place them where their whole growth can be seen. Make charcoal or brush drawings of the whole plant.

The Growth of Leaves.

There are certain forms of growth that belong to different plant families. In drawing from flowers and plants, these family likenesses must always be truthfully shown. A rose leaf does not grow like the leaf of a thistle, and a pine needle is not at all like the thick, round pad of a water-lily.

On this page are shown different growths from trees and plants that you know. Find the sketch of the slender leaves of the pine; the palmate or hand-like leaves of the horse-chestnut, with its seven leaflets growing from one footstalk; the honeysuckle, whose leaves sit closely on the stem; the familiar clover, with its three-parted leaf; the rose, and the wandering jew, or joint plant. Study the ways in which these different growths are expressed.

Bring twigs or sprays of different trees and plants, and draw them carefully with pencil. These are good studies for your sketch-book.

Interesting Growth of a Vegetable.

Vegetables from the garden make fine studies to draw and to paint. Almost any fruit or vegetable is more interesting if studied as it grows. We do not often choose to paint or draw a single flower without its stem, leaves, buds, and all of the parts that are included when we speak of its growth. It is the presence of all of these shapes that gives variety to a drawing. Do you not think the sketch of the tomato is much more interesting because it shows the growth of the plant? The leaves, stems, stalks, and the large and small tomatoes make an attractive arrangement of shapes. They were first drawn just as they appeared, and then the finder was moved about upon the sketch, to find its most beautiful part.

Beans, peas, beets, turnips, radishes, and many other vegetables may be brought from the school garden or from the garden at home, to use in a drawing lesson. A growth of cucumber vine would be an interesting study. Make a brush or charcoal drawing from something of this kind, and then use your finder to select the most interesting part. Cut out your "finder" picture and mount it neatly.

The Growth of the Orange Tree.

=A Familiar Fruit.= When you see the bright pyramids of oranges on fruit-stands or in store windows, do you wonder where the fruit comes from, or upon what kind of a tree it grows? In certain parts of our country there are a great many orange trees, and the children of Florida and Southern California know them as well as the children of the north know apple or cherry trees.

=The Orange Tree.= Look at the picture of the tree, on page 29. It is not a tree that one would choose to put in a landscape, because it is not what is called picturesque--it is too trim, even, and regular. Its chief beauty is in its coloring. Its "spheres of golden sunshine" hang in the midst of glossy, dark green leaves, and sometimes the fruit stays on the tree until the buds and blossoms of a new crop appear. It is no uncommon sight to see an orange tree bearing leaves, buds, blossoms, and fruit, all at the same time. One of the sketches shows you a spray of orange blossoms. They are white and waxy, with a strong, sweet fragrance.

=Gathering the Fruit.= Sometimes, the trees are so heavily laden with fruit that props are put under the branches to keep them from breaking off before the crop is ready to be gathered. The fruit is not allowed to fall from the tree, but when it is ripe an army of pickers, each one provided with a cutter and a canvas bag, comes to the grove. The pickers do not climb the tree and shake the boughs, as you would do if you were gathering nuts, but they mount ladders, carefully cut each orange from its twig, and put it in the bag. The bags, when filled, are emptied into boxes, which are carried to the packing house. There the oranges are sorted into lots, according to size, wrapped in tissue-paper--each orange by itself--and packed in boxes for shipment. You have seen them in their tissue wrapping, after they have reached their journey's end.

=Designs from the Orange.= One of the sketches on page 29 shows the growth of some oranges with their leaves and twigs. Below is a design made by repeating the shapes of the orange, its leaves and stem. Any shape or group of shapes that is repeated in a design is called a unit. Do you know what suggested the unit shown in one of the small sketches above the tree?

Sketch from the growth of any fruit you can get. Try to make from the shapes you find in your own study, a simple unit of design.

People and Animals.

=An Out-of-door Picture.= On the opposite page is a picture that seems to invite you to close your books and go into the country for a picnic or for a day's fishing. You cannot look at the grassy meadow, the little river, the tall trees, the distant hills and woods, without wishing that you might be there. What fun it would be to sit on those big, flat stones and dabble your feet in the water while you ate your lunch, or to hold your fish-pole over one of the deep pools, "where the gray trout lies asleep!"

=A New Interest.= If any one should ask you to tell what part of the picture interested you most, what would you say? Would you think first of the stream, its pleasant banks, the tall trees, the large stones, the distant hills and fields? Or would you say at once that it was the presence of the boys in the picture that first attracted you? You wonder where they came from, where they are going, what they are carrying over their shoulders and in their hands. You are glad that there are two boys instead of one in the picture, for in your own sports and games the pleasure is doubled if some one is with you.

=Our Companions and Friends.= Suppose you were able to live in that part of the world that seems most beautiful to you. Do you think that the landscape alone, or the most interesting of plants and flowers would be enough to make you happy? No matter how much you enjoyed these things, or how much you might love the beautiful country, nothing could take the place of companions and friends. No books or toys or fine houses could keep you from being lonely if you had no one to talk to or to play with. Our brothers and sisters and friends are worth all the books and toys and fine houses in the world.

=Our Friends among the Animals.= We have many good friends, too, among the animals. It is true they cannot talk with us, but some of them seem to understand what we say to them, and they show us in many ways what they think and how they feel. Do you not know when your dog is glad or sorry, thirsty or hungry, proud or ashamed? How does he tell you?

=Drawing our Friends.= In the chapter that follows, you will study your playmates,--the boys and girls that you know and like,--and some of your friends among the animals. You will learn to draw them as they look, and to express their action just as you expressed what you discovered about flowers.

"The world is so full of a number of things, I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings!"

Drawing from a Pose.

Little children with their bright dresses and picturesque bonnets make delightful studies for us to draw and to paint. They are generally glad to "pose" for a few minutes, while having their pictures taken.

The sketch of this little child was made from the pose, in a school-room. The little girl stood on a table in front of the pupils and held a string, which was fastened to a toy boat. The color and shape of her sunshade and of the color-mass of her dress, the position of her arm, the size and length of her legs and feet, were all carefully studied and drawn. The blue waters of the lake, the sail-boat, and the sandy shore, were added from memory to complete the picture.

Make a pose drawing from your small brother or sister, or from some little friend. A pink or blue bonnet might be used as part of the costume, instead of a hat. Let the pose represent some character or occupation. Add a very simple landscape. Use water-color or colored crayons.

Different Positions of the Same Pose.

In your study of plants you found that the appearance of a leaf or flower depended upon its position. In making a picture of a daisy as it grows, we do not show the exact size and shape of leaves and petals, as they would look if we laid them on paper and traced around them. Such a drawing, while it might show certain facts of the plant, would not tell the truth about its appearance.

In drawing from boys and girls, also, we must study appearances. We know that our model has two eyes and two ears, and that the nose is in the middle of the face. Yet the model may stand so that we do not see all or any of those features. Study the four drawings above, and tell how the girl is standing in each sketch.

One of your schoolmates will pose while you make four five-minute sketches from four different positions of the same pupil. Make large drawings, using charcoal or crayon. Your model should not stand more than five minutes without resting.

Three Steps in Pose Drawing.

When you drew the shapes of trees, you found that if you made a mistake in the proportions of a tree you could not make the picture truthful by drawing the branches, the foliage, or the little twigs ever so perfectly.

So it is in drawing from the figure. Suppose you plan a sketch that is ten inches from the top of the head to the foot. A good way to do would be to draw a light line or place two dashes, to indicate the height. Then decide how much of that height is needed for the head; for the waist; for the length of skirt or trousers; for the legs and feet. Next, think about the width and shape of these various parts, and sketch them in as lightly and brokenly as the lines are in the first sketch on this page. If your work is correct up to this point, you can finish the shapes a little more, as in the second sketch. You will now have studied the shapes and proportions of the things of most importance in the sketch. Then the masses of light and dark may be expressed.

From the pose of one of your schoolmates, try one large sketch, done by the three stages shown above. Use charcoal or crayon.

Some Proportions of the Human Figure.

Although these skeleton figures are stiff and angular in appearance, from them you can learn something about the human figure that you will be glad to know. In each of them the thigh line is exactly half way between the top of the head and the foot. The knee-joint is half way between the thigh line and the foot. The shoulder line is placed at the base of the neck, and the elbow-joint is between two slanting lines that represent the lower and upper arm.

A knowledge of these things will help you in drawing the garments or clothes of a pose. The waist is a little above the thigh line, and is so drawn in Figure 4. The bottom of the blouse in Figure 2 is a little below the waist line, but is still above the thigh line. Stand up and hold your arms close to your sides, and notice where the tip of the middle finger comes, in relation to the knee-joint. Be careful not to draw the arms too short or too long.

Draw two skeleton figures like Figure 1. Make them at least four inches tall. On one skeleton draw the garments of a boy, carefully studying the clothes worn by a real boy. The other is to be dressed like a girl.

Actions and Attitudes of the Human Figure.

Action and attitude, as well as proportion, can be expressed by the simple line figures on this page. You do not need the second and fourth sketches to tell you of the action expressed in the first and third.

In the figures on page 35, the lines were nearly all vertical and horizontal; the figures were standing still. In Figure 1 on this page, you notice that every line is slanting; the figure expresses action. Stand erect, and think of the direction of lines that your body takes. Then push hard with both hands against a wall. You can feel that your erect position is changed. The vertical lines become slanting, or oblique.

Study the lines and their changed relations in Figure 3. Draw several line sketches that express a familiar action, such as walking, jumping, running, lying, or sitting. "Clothe" these action sketches.

Hands and Feet.

You have drawn from the figure long enough to find out that hands and feet are by no means the easiest things in the world to draw. Like almost everything else, they change their appearance with every change of position. We cannot learn to draw a hand or a foot so that we can use it in all kinds of poses. We can only learn to see the different sizes and shapes which each new position shows, and try to draw them as they appear.

The sketches on this page are good studies for you to copy. When you can do this well, try to draw the hands or feet of one of your friends. Sometimes a pair of boots or rubbers may be placed in exactly the same position that they would be in were the pose actually standing. Practice drawing from studies like these until you are better able to see shapes, and to draw them truthfully.

An Animal Pose.

Have you a dog that will sit up and beg, or carry a basket? Perhaps he would not object to posing in school, with his master or mistress.

If your teacher can arrange for a lesson of this kind, choose large paper, and sketch rapidly with charcoal or crayon. Begin with the dog, for he will change his position soon, and you must get quickly the main lines that will show his attitude and shape. Then you can sketch the figure of the boy or girl after the dog has grown tired.

Do you notice in the picture, the fine arrangement of light and dark? The boy's light waist contrasts well with his dark trousers and cap. The little dog, too, is more attractive because of his white spotting. Finish your drawing by adding dark masses, as suggested by the pose.

Actions and Attitudes of Animals.

You will enjoy making skeleton sketches of animals. On this page are shown three different positions of a dog. Very few lines are used in Figure 1, yet they are so placed that you know at once the animal that is represented, its attitude, and its shape. Lines that tell the important facts about an object are called leading lines. The skeleton figures we have been studying show us the leading lines in certain attitudes of people and animals. If the leading lines of any object are correctly drawn, the finished sketch is almost sure to be good.