Page:Landscape Painting by Birge Harrison.djvu/145

 IX

PIGMENTS

question of the medium in which the painter shall execute his pictures is an affair of temperament. Each artist must consult his own feelings in this matter and select the medium which is to him the most sympathetic. To-day, there are practically but three systems of painting in common use, tempera having gone out of vogue, and fresco having very wisely been discarded in favor of better and sounder methods. The three remaining methods are, of course, pastel, water-color, and oil. Each of these has its own special advantages, and its countervailing disadvantages. Pastel, the most exquisite and [107]