The average artist pays too little attention to the foliage in flower
painting. He starts out to paint a flower and the leaves seem like a
secondary consideration. Any handling is often thought to be good
enough. This is a great mistake, as the treatment of the leaves may be
the making or marring of a decoration. Many people are of the opinion
that they are very easy to paint. This is another mistake. They are
just as difficult and require as careful handling as the flowers or
fruit itself. It would be very hard to give definite instructions on
this subject. The many varieties with their various beautiful edges and
veinings, need individual handling, just as much as flowers do. The
shape of the article on which the decoration is placed, has much to do
with the handling.
There are, however, a few rules that will generally apply.
Leaves must present a crisp appearance. To accomplish this, the color
should be applied with as few strokes as possible. All detail work must
be left for the second firing. Large regular leaves can be completed
with two strokes—using the dark color for one and lighter color for the
other.
The student should aim to make irregular leaves as simple as possible.
It stands to reason, however, that more strokes will be necessary for
these than for regular ones. In china painting, lights are
supplementary. It is the shadows that give real character to the
subject. These should be fired first, and the lights second.
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[Illustration]