Author: William Maxwell

Cites

• Francisco Pacheco (1)
  • IN: Time Will Darken It (1948) Fiction, NULL
    EPIGRAPH: The order observed in painting a landscape -- once the canvas had been prepared -- is as follows: First, one draws it, dividing it into three or four distances or planes. In the foremost, where one places the figure or saint, one draws the largest trees and rocks, proportionate to the scale of the figure. In the second, smaller trees and houses are drawn; in the third yet smaller, and in the fourth, where the mountain ridges meet the sky, one ends with the greatest diminution of all. The drawing is followed by the blocking out or laying in of colors, which some painters are in the habit of doing in black and white, although I deem it better to execute it directly in color in order that the smalt may result brighter. If you temper the necessary quantity of pigment -- or even more -- with linseed or walnut oil and add enough white, you shall produce a bright tint. It must not be dark; on the contrary, it must be rather on the light side because time will darken it.... Once the sky, which is the upper half of the canvas, is done, you proceed to paint the ground, beginning with the mountains bordering on the sky. They will be painted with the lightest smalt-and-white tints, which will be somewhat darker than the horizon, because the ground is always darker than the sky, especially if the sun is on that side. These mountains will have their lights and darks, because it is the custom to put in the lower part -- after finishing -- some towns and small trees.... As you get nearer the foreground, the trees and houses shall be painted larger, and if desired they may rise above the horizon.... In this part it is customary to use a practical method in putting in the details, mingling a few dry leaves among the green ones .... And it is very praiseworthy to make the grass on the ground look natural, for this section is nearest the observer.
    FROM: NULL, (1654), NULL, NULL

Cited by

• Colum McCann (1)
  • IN: Dancer (2003) Fiction, Irish
    EPIGRAPH: What we, or at any rate, I, refer to confidently as a memory -- meaning a moment, a scene, a fact that has been subjected to a fixative and thereby rescued from oblivion -- is really a form of storytelling that goes on continually in the mind and often changes with the telling. Too many conflicting emotional interests are involved for life ever to be wholly acceptable, and possibly it is the work of the storyteller to rearrange things so that they conform to this end. In any case, in talking about the past we lie with every breath we draw.
    FROM: So Long, See you Tomorrow, (1979), Novel, US
• Aaron Starmer (1)
  • IN: The Riverman (2014) Fiction, Young Adult Fiction, American
    EPIGRAPH: Too many conflicting emotional interests are involved for life ever to be wholly acceptable, and possibly it is the work of the storyteller to rearrange things so that they conform to this end. In any case, in talking about the past we lie with every breath we draw.
    FROM: So Long, See You Tomorrow, (1979), NULL, US
• Jonathan Lee (1)
  • IN: Joy (2012) Fiction, British
    EPIGRAPH: Happiness is the light on the water. The water is cold and dark and deep.
    FROM: All the Days and Nights, (1995), Book, US
• John Irving (1)
  • IN: Until I Find You (2005) Fiction, American
    EPIGRAPH: What we, or at any rate what I, refer to confidently as memory-- meaning a moment, a scene, a fact that has been subjected to a fixative and thereby rescued from oblivion-- is really a form of storytelling that goes on continually in the mind and often changes with the telling. Too many conflicting emotional interests are involved for life ever to be wholly acceptable, and possibly it is the work of the storyteller to rearrange things so that they conform to this end. In any case, in talking about the past we lie with every breath we draw.
    FROM: So Long, See You Tomorrow, (1980), Novel, US