Page:Drawing for Beginners.djvu/243

 a few near in shape and in three shades&mdash;light, dark, and middle&mdash;and place them in a simple light and clear of their surroundings.

If you have not the ordinary bread-knife depicted in any drawing, choose another, but let it be a large knife rather than a small one, and do not select a clasp-knife. The latter is not so simple in form, nor so shapely, as an ordinary cooking- or carving-knife. The French cooking-knife is an excellent study for light and shade, for it has invariably a straight, smooth, and pointed blade, and a shapely handle.

The bread-knife presents a simple plane, a flat blade and a rounded handle. The brightest lights leap at once to the eye from the edge of the blade and the square-shaped hasp. The rounded handle throws an oblong shadow; the blade also throws a decided shadow on the tray.

The wooded handle shares the tone with the background. It is a middle tone, and only requires a few slight touches to 'lift' the light shape away from the background. The shadows on the rounded handle are strongly moulded (or shaped); the groove in the wood catches both light and shade, and can be drawn with a dark streak against light strokes of chalk.

The little Japanese figure of papier mâché in my drawing (Fig. 105) has a face almost as white as the white edge of the stand. She turns to the light and presents a narrow upright shape. The glossy hair has dark shadows, not quite so dark as the dark folds behind the sleeve and sash. A broad white shadow lies over the upper part of the back.

There is little variety of colours and tints in these groups. They are neutral, with the exception of the lady's grey-blue dress, and the mauve silk flower in her hand, and the small book with the dark crimson cover supporting the candlestick.

And the objects gathered beneath the bright artificial light are all of a uniform whiteness, chosen for this very reason.

Colour confuses the consideration of tones. Whether colour represents dark tones or light tones depends to a great extent on the light which falls upon it.