John F. Carlson Quotes

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

The great paintings are the ones with the most subtle value relationships. The closer you could bring your values and still distinguish between them, the stronger you were as a painter.

Art is a thing so much of the imagination, of the soul, that it is difficult to descend to the fundamentals of technique and yet make it plain to the student that these are but the ‘means’ and not an end in themselves.

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

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

Art is the transmittable, personal impression of one quality in the quantity before us. It is the ability to determine consciously what it is that interests him, and why, that differentiates the artist from the art student.