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Monday, October 15, 2012

Quote: Hold Plenty Of Value-Scale In Reserve

"... there is practically no effect in nature that cannot at least be suggested by a wise and skillful use of pigments...the actual color-scale of nature is a thousand times more powerful than that of the artists's palette; yet by a careful selection of the register and a wise adjustment of the scale it is quite possible not only to render the illusion of [a] radiant scene, but to do this without exhausting our limited value-scale. In fact, in this, and in all similar effects in which radiation of light is the principal motive of the picture, it is of the utmost importance to keep well within the limits of the scale, in order that even the deepest shadows shall remain luminous and palpitant. Nature never exhausts her value-scale. Even in the most violent effects, she always holds plenty in reserve. And, so far as is possible with our limited scale, we should do the same."

Birge Harrison

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