Then there
may be bits of old advertisement of which here and there a gaily
coloured fragment may remain, or a rusty iron hook or a bit of bright
green moss; few indeed are the old walls, even in the grimiest parts
of London, on which no redeeming bits of colour can be found by those
who are practised in looking for them. To like colour, to wish to
find it, and thus to have got naturally into a habit of looking for
it, this alone will enable a man to see colour and to make a note of
it when he has seen it, and this alone will lead him towards a
pleasing and natural scheme of colour in his work.
Good colour can never be got by putting down colour which is not
seen; at any rate only a master who has long served accuracy can
venture on occasional inaccuracy--telling a lie, knowing it to be a
lie, and as, se non vera, ben trovata. The grown man in his art may
do this, and indeed is not a man at all unless he knows how to do it
daily and hourly without departure from the truth even in his boldest
lie; but the child in art must stick to what he sees. If he looks
harder he will see more, and may put more, but till he sees it
without being in any doubt about it, he must not put it. There is no
such sure way of corrupting one's colour sense as the habitual
practice of putting down colour which one does not see; this and the
neglecting to look for it are equal faults.
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