Page:Landscape Painting by Birge Harrison.djvu/211

FEARLESSNESS IN PAINTING I met him again, and he assured me that his whole success as a painter dated from that lesson. But there is another form of courage which is more important than either of those referred to—and that is moral courage—the ability to stand squarely upon your own feet and say, "Thus do I see the thing, and thus will I paint it." Look at Winslow Homer and at Whistler. Do you imagine for an instant that either of these masters ever concerned himself with the question of how any one else saw nature? Their pictures say, hardily, "This is the way that I see it." Stick to your own vision therefore, if you would rise above the throng. Stand aloof! and force the note, if possible—your own personal note. But first of all, be sure that you have something to say; for an empty boast awakes only a smile, and a bluff is soon called. [163]