To play your colors by eye is worse than playing the piano by ear. John French Sloan More Quotes by John French Sloan More Quotes From John French Sloan Every good picture leaves the painter eager to start again, unsatisfied, inspired by the rich mine in which he is working, hoping for more energy, more vitality, more time - condemned to painting for life. John French Sloan vitalitypaintingenergy Art is the result of a creative impulse derived out of a consciousness of life. John French Sloan consciousnesscreativeart When you draw a crowd of people in a street or room or landscape, decide whether you want to say that the people dominate the place or that the place is more important than the people. John French Sloan crowdsimportantpeople Art is the response of the living to life. It is therefore the record left behind by civilization. John French Sloan recordscivilizationart Color is like music. The palette is an instrument that can be orchestrated to build form. John French Sloan instrumentsformcolor Artists are the only people in the world who really live. The others have to hope for heaven. John French Sloan artistheavenpeople Don't be afraid to borrow. The great men, the most original, borrowed from everybody. John French Sloan borrowedimitationmen Originality is a quality that cannot be imitated. The technique of the language, on the other hand, is something that belongs to all who can understand it. John French Sloan qualitytechniquehands The purpose of subject matter is to veil technique. The great artist uses the cloak of resemblance to hide the means. John French Sloan techniqueartistmean Be sensitive to your mistakes. Put it on the wall for a couple of weeks. It may be that you can learn more from the study of your own work than from others. John French Sloan wallcouplemistake Form your own color concept of things in nature. I have no rules for fine color to give you. John French Sloan finecolorgiving Most art students are generous till it comes to squeezing their colour on the palette... Many pictures haven't become works of art simply because the artist tried to save a nickel's worth of colour. John French Sloan generositystudentsart Have a special interest, a positive prejudice about some clump of trees or one particular knoll, an excitement about them can spread through the whole composition, and so fire the rest of the things that you are only mildly interested in. John French Sloan specialfiretree Line is the most powerful device of drawing. John French Sloan drawinglinespowerful I always think of shade as being full of light. That is why I like to use the word shade rather than light and shadow. Shade seems to play over the thing, envelop it, better define it, while shadow seems to fall on the thing and stain the surface with darks. John French Sloan lightfallthinking Consistency is the quality of a stagnant mind. John French Sloan consistencyqualitymind The emphasis on original, individual work in the past years has done a great deal to produce a crop of eccentric fakes and has carried art away from the stream of tradition. Tradition is our heritage of knowledge and experience. We can't get along without it. John French Sloan pastyearsart In the hands of a master, light and shade is one of the great qualities of art. John French Sloan lighthandsart The artist does not see both eyes alike. There is always 'the eye' and the other eye... It adds life and plasticity to the drawing if the eye in the light is darker than the one in the shadow. It gives the head vividness. John French Sloan lighteyeartist The subject may be of first importance to the artist when he starts a picture, but it should be of least importance in the finished product. The subject is of no aesthetic significance. John French Sloan artistmayfirsts
