Quote: A Picture Is Often Complete Long Before You Suspect It

Moonrise on the Beach

"See big! Grab the essential, and leave the little things for any foolish person who chooses to gather them up. To tell the truth, detail is so blatant, so insistent, that it takes years of hard training to see beyond it, to appreciate the essential bigness of things. This is particularly true of outdoor nature... An outdoor picture motive is complicated indeed if it cannot be divided into four or five dominant values. If these are understood, and painted with sympathetic truth, it is astonishing how little detail it requires to complete the picture the trunk of a tree, a few scattered leaves, the curve of a road, and the trick is turned. Always leave something to the imagination of the beholder. A picture is often complete long before you suspect it."

Birge Harrison