Windows

One of the most frequent queries I've had during my years of teaching is "How do you paint a window?" It is essential to learn this if you are to paint buildings successfully. A window, of course, is transparent, but often it also is a reflecting agent.           
 
At the bottom of the page are three stages in painting a window. First, apply a wash of Payne's gray and yellow ochre. While this is still wet, apply a darker wash of the same with a touch of Antwerp blue at the top of the window (stage 2). When this dries, paint the frames. Should you wish to put in a curtain as indicated, paint a dark area to the center and then add other, less dark, values for wrinkles (stage 3).On the following page are shown two types of windows—one, such as that illustrated below, and the other, a shack window, The same procedure is used in these, only note in the fishing shack that I have left one pane lighter than the others to lend an interesting contrast. The pencil sketch shows how this window was constructed.

Young Traders-Haiti

The picture at the top of the opposite page, "Young Traders—Haiti," appealed to me because of the texture of the building walls. As you will note, there is cement over brick, and the old brick showing through the broken stucco made an interesting pattern. This picture was painted from pencil sketches and photographs made in Haiti and finished at my studio.
In painting this picture I worked in my usual way of light to dark. I kept the entire picture moving at all times, covering all surfaces that were not to remain white, and worked like a sculptor, modeling and giving form to things. The last areas to be painted were the textural effects of the bricks,

the stones, and the sandy areas, which were dabbed with a sponge. The contrast of the soft texture of the dresses against the hard structure adds an interesting effect.

Colorado Winter

At the bottom of the opposite page is a scene called "Colorado Winter." The text on page 61 on smoke applies to the execution of this picture.

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