Nature is economical. She puts her lights and darks only where she needs them.

I don't like persuaded sitters. I never could paint a cat if the cat had any scruples, religious, superstitious, or otherwise, about sitting.

You can't do a fine thing without having seen fine examples.

I tell you it's no joke to paint a portrait. I wonder that I am not more timid when I begin. I feel almost certain that I can do it. It seems very simple. I don't think of the time that is sure to come when I almost despair, when the whole thing seems hopeless.

How are things visible? Can you see an egg against a white background? Not by drawing a line around it can you make it evident.

You can always draw as well as you know how to. I flatter myself that I feel more than I express on canvas; but I know that is not so.

Let me give you a few simple rules for learning to draw. First, see of what shape the whole thing is. Next, put in the line that marks the movement of the whole. Don't have more than one movement in a figure; you can't patch parts together. Simple lines; then simple values. Establish the fact of the whole. Is it square, oblong, cube, or what is it?