John F. Carlson

We must not imitate the externals of nature with so much fidelity that the picture fails to evoke that wonderful teasing recurrence…

— John F. Carlson

You will learn to paint trees only by understanding them, their growth, their nature, their movement - and realizing that they are…

— John F. Carlson

A work of art in paint should be beautiful and expressive as abstract colour and form and should not interest us necessarily…

— John F. Carlson

The great paintings are the ones with the most subtle value relationships. The closer you could bring your values and still distinguish…

— John F. Carlson

Art is a thing so much of the imagination, of the soul, that it is difficult to descend to the fundamentals of…

— John F. Carlson

Good colour really means good taste; and 'powerful' colour means a reserve, to give a climax its full force, and not 'red,…

— John F. Carlson

If you're going to paint from photos, make sure you've painted for at least ten years.

— John F. Carlson

Clouds are fascinating to paint because they are the only element in a landscape that possesses free movement.

— John F. Carlson

Trust your feelings entirely about colour, and then, even if you arrive at no infallible colour theory, you will at least have…

— John F. Carlson

This art of conservation is strength, and makes the masterpiece a masterpiece. Otherwise, the man who simply brought all the different colors…

— John F. Carlson

The eye and soul are caressed in the contemplation of form and colour. The subtle changes of colour over a surface -…

— John F. Carlson

It is a curious fact that out-of-door nature is to the beginner an enormously overloaded 'property room.' He sees, for instance, the…

— John F. Carlson

Too much reality in a picture is always a disappointment to the imaginative soul. We love suggestion and not hard facts.

— John F. Carlson

Reserve is strength; overstatement is weakness. No one cares to hear the singer's topmost notes when the voice is 'nigh onto breaking.

— John F. Carlson

A picture is a work of art, not because it is 'modern,' nor because it is 'ancient,' but because it is a…

— John F. Carlson

In the anxiety to get beautiful colour harmony do not exhaust all combinations on one canvas.

— John F. Carlson

To the artist, the forest is an asylum of peace and dancing shadows.

— John F. Carlson

Rest assured that if you work every day at your art, using the materials nearest at hand, you will gradually discover such…

— John F. Carlson

It is the ability to determine consciously what it is that interests him, and why, that differentiates the artist from the art…

— John F. Carlson

If you train yourself in memory work, you fearlessly attack and rearrange your material, for you can retain your original impression.

— John F. Carlson

The artist himself is often surprised at the finished work of art. He cannot tell 'how it happened', nor could he repeat…

— John F. Carlson

The underlying principles or fundamentals should be so hidden away by the beauty they are eventually to support, that it would require…

— John F. Carlson

Do not be afraid that too much labour over the composition is going to kill the spontaneity. Those who absorb and digest…

— John F. Carlson