NATURE DRAWN IN PERSPECTIVE

DISTANCE
HITHERTO we have been concerned, for the most part, with the drawing and arrangement of objects near at hand. Here
most sketchers stops because here the real difficultie-begin. But to do si)-is to lose most of the fascination of sketching. There is a thrilling sense of achievement in being able to represent miles of distance—meadows, forests, mountains, clouds—on a few square inches of paper. Every power that the artist needs is called into play—knowledge, construction, imagination, and technical skill. Conspicuous success in the higher reaches of the art may not come to many, but none save the timorous should hesitate to attempt it, or to think of giving in without a struggle.
Curiously enough, the chief difficulty is not in the subject but in the mind of the sketcher : a rooted dislike to face certain plain facts, and to act upon them. An illustration will make this point clear. A tiny stone, or perhaps a flower, seen near at hand may appear to be larger than a huge mountain twenty miles away. But we are so impressed by our knowledge of the actual size of the mountain that we tend to draw what we know and not what we see. To the end of their days many artists are the cockpit of a fight between knowledge and vision. Allied to this tendency is that of making distant objects too dark, too clear, and too detailed, as if no atmo-
sphere existed. Happy the sketcher who can set out armed with mental control ; for he will be spared most of the blunders that fall to the common lot !
Let us approach the problem by easy stages. Plate XII shows two versions of a sketch of some elm trees in groups at different distances from the sketcher. The first group is so near that the tops almost reach the top of the picture. The next group, about half a mile away, though actually about the same size, appear to be only one-fifth the height. The third group is tiny.
A considerable effort of will is required to set out the proportions exactly as we see them and to refuse to modify these proportions when drawing. Measure the heights and widths of the large group again and again until there is no possible doubt of its correctness. Draw a few firm lines round the masses and then treat the other groups in the same way. When every proportion is right beyond question (including, of course, the horizontal lines and the edge of the pond) determine that they shall not be altered. Imagine, for the moment, that the upper sketch is the actual scene. The lower sketch shows the first stage of the drawing just described. Next note exactly the differences in tone. Compare the lighter parts of each mass with the parts in shade. Keep these relations firmly in mind from one end of the drawing to the other. Cover each mass with two flat tones, one for the lights and another for the shadows, and do the same with the ground and the reflections as shown in the first sketch.
Then, having gained full control over every wayward desire, start again and finish as in the upper sketch. Draw sketch after sketch in this way till the registration of relations become auto-
Plate XVI
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matic. Do not imagine that this is a slow, mechanical, inartistic method. On the contrary it is quick because it is sound ; and being sound it will soon enable you to concentrate on artistic expression unhindered by other considerations. Effects of distance to be obtained in this way are, necessarily, limited to a comparatively few subjects, because the surface of the earth is horizontal and is scarcely noticed. When we begin to consider undulating surfaces as the chief features in the pictures, scope and interest are greatly increased as well as the problems involved. How, for instance, can we represent distance if there are no trees or other objects situated at various distances of which we know the actual size ? There are two methods which embrace most of the others : receding lines and receding tones.
The first of these methods needs some creTargif explanation. Plate XIII, Figs. i to 4, illustrate four ways in which receding lines can create an illusion of distance. Each represents a road going from the front of the picture to the horizon, on a stretch of flat country. In Fig. i it goes straight back ; in Fig. 2 it goes to the right at an angle of about 45 degrees ; in Fig. 3 the road turns sharply at a right angle, and in Fig. 4 it takes the same directions but is curved. In every case the road vanishes to a point at the horizon. Neither of these pairs of lines would give the impression of distance, because we should not know they are intended to represent roads. But if the slightest other indication is given—railings, some trees, or houses on the horizon—then these two converging lines give to a space of 4 in. high an impression of miles of distance.
The next four diagrams (5 to 8) show roads going over a tract of country partly flat (in front) for a few yards and then rising at an angle of
about 45 degrees, followed by another horizontal stretch to the horizon. Notice in each case that while the parallel lines on the horizontal surfaces vanish at the horizon, the other vanishes at a point higher up, and that the more the surface slopes the higher this point will be. If we imagine all these surfaces to be ploughed fields, as in Fig. 8, the effect of converging lines in creating a sense of distance is made doubly evident.
Now let us consider the other method—receding tones. It is possible to give a considerable effect of distance by three practically flat tones if, as before, there is something in the shape to indicate that a landscape is intended. The first two sketches on Plate XIV illustrate this point. In Fig. i there is some slight indication of distance, because we know that a mountain must be far away to look so small, and all doubt is removed by the receding lines of the road. In Fig. 2 the effect is greatly intensified by the receding tones only. In Fig. 3, by combining receding tones and receding lines, a sense of distance is conveyed with ease. Note, too, how the effect is completed by the gradated sky.
Plate XV is a still more effective combination of the two methods. Here an outline drawing alone would give a considerable effect of distance, because we conclude that the trees are more or less the same size ; and when we see railings in the foreground as high as trees in the distance, and nearly as high as the hills beyond, the sense of space is easily suggested. The converging lines, too, lead the eye back over miles of fields. But the shading with four pencils-6H, F, 2B, and 6B—invests the picture with sunlight and atmosphere, and doubles the effect of recession.
One more example needs to be considered.
Plate ,XVII
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Near objects are not always dark. On a day with passing clouds the nearest part may be in sunlight and the farthest in shadow, but the shadows will probably be darkest when nearest at hand. The sketches on Plates XVI and XVII show how all the methods are used, on an undulating country and on a mountain district, under such circumstances.
Do not regard these as artificial methods invented to give certain effects ; they are records of everyday happenings in nature correctly estimated and intelligently used.