“William M. Chase admonished his students to develop appreciation, have high ideals, select inspiring motives, paint in a grand style, and never be satisfied with reaching for a mere star but for the greatest one.
While it is necessary that the painter look for visual qualities in nature, he needs also to sense attributes which are beyond vision. The power is given to him to feel the mystery and charm of fleeting clouds; the immensity and depth of blue skies and atmospheric distances; the grace and rhythm of living and expanding trees and other growths; the nobility, grandeur and strength of mighty peaks; the endless movement and vitality of the sea and its forms. All these and many more offer unlimited material for worthy ideas. The motive selected should not include anything that disturbs the complete ideology of beauty or pure esthetic pleasure. In painting pictures, one needs to think of the esthetic intent. Art has been used and abused all through the ages. It has been employed to illustrate all manner of things far removed from its actual purpose. Artistic quality is the goal, it is never the story in the picture. The painter may choose any subject he desires and make a fine work of it, technically speaking. But will any subject fulfill all requirements of art? While life or existence is a continual strife between ignoble and noble motives, art is definitely on the side of spiritual constructiveness.”
From “Composition of Outdoor Painting” by Edgar Payne
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