sketches, yet not a single leaf is shown as you would see it if you held it in your hand. What is it, then, that tells the story? It is the truthful drawing of the big things—the shape of the mass of foliage, the height and width of the trunk below the boughs, the size and direction of the branches, and the way they grow from the trunk.

In the sketch of the willow, the many small branches are plainly seen, and you can easily understand why it is that the willow bends and sways so gracefully in the wind. The brush strokes show something of the slender, pointed character of the leaves.

The sycamore is not round and regular like the willow, but shows patches of foliage and stretches of bare branches in a ragged and uneven way. Its shape is very different from the shape of the willow.

Make a large drawing with ink or crayon, from some tree out of doors.

Shapes of Bare Trees.

Winter is the best time in all the year to study the growth of trees. Although the leaves are gone and the branches are bare, the trees themselves are beautiful.

It is well to study a tree that is at some distance from you, so that its dark branches may be seen against the light sky. The willow and the sycamore are shown without their leaves on this page, and their shapes stand out clearly. You can see the strong trunk, and the branches that spring from it. The trunk of the sycamore becomes smaller as it throws off its boughs, and all the branches and twigs taper at the end.

Measure the height of the sycamore tree in the sketch,—from the topmost twig to the ground,—and see what part of the whole height the trunk below the foliage measures. Is it half as high, or only a fourth or a third? Notice trees out of doors and see how much of their height is above the trunk. Children sometimes draw trees with tall, stiff trunks and short, stunted tops.

Study and draw a beautiful tree without leaves. Make it of large size and use brush or crayon. Try to tell in your picture just what tree you studied.

What fun it is to gather nuts in the fall!

See the children in the picture. One boy "clubs" the tree until the nuts come rattling down and are half hidden in the grass and dry leaves.

Recall some pleasant time you have had gathering nuts or apples. Draw a picture showing where you were, what you gathered, and the kind of a tree on which the fruit grew. Show distant bushes and trees, and place the main tree so that its branches rise against the sky.

Make your picture tell an interesting story.

Sunset in Winter.

When you painted autumn landscapes, you thought, no doubt, that the world was more beautiful in October than at any other season. Perhaps it seemed to you that the cold, snow-covered earth could never be so interesting to paint.

Look at this winter picture. The sky is bright and the distant trees look violet. Did you ever notice that the snow at sunset does not seem to be white as you look across it to the horizon? If you hold a sheet of white paper in your hand and glance from that across the snow-covered fields at sunset, you will see that the whiteness of the snow has changed to violet-gray. Sometimes, too, the snow seems to be tinted by the rosy light of the sunset. As you study out-of-door objects, you will find that their colors appear different at different times of the day, or as they are near you or far away.

Paint a winter sunset. Try to see and to paint truthfully the color of distant trees, snow-covered ground, a far-off steeple or tower, or a tree near at hand.

A Sunset Picture in Values.

We can show with black crayons, with charcoal, or with brush and ink many pictures of out-of-doors that are rich in color. Even a sunset sky can be shown in grays, so that we will think of the lovely colors that the grays, or values, express.

Here is our winter sunset, shown in values. You will remember that by values we mean the different degrees of light and dark used to express color. Compare the two sunset pictures. The light gray-violet of the snow is shown in a light gray or neutral value in the picture on this page. The trees are very much darker, and the sky is neither as light as the snow nor as dark as the trees. The little rabbit makes a dark spot in the snow, and the foreground—that part of the picture that seems to be nearest—is white. You see that it has taken about four values to express the colors seen.

Draw in values the sunset picture you painted in the lesson on page 8. Which of all the colors used do you think should be shown in darkest value? Which in lightest? Make your picture large, and use charcoal, crayon, or brush and ink. Then with your finder select that part of your picture which you like best. Cut out this part, and mount it neatly.

A Different Arrangement of Values.

When you are out of doors or are looking through a window at some of nature's pictures, think how you would paint or draw in values the different things you see. Notice which objects appear darkest, which lightest, and which might be expressed by a "half-way" gray, or middle value. If you learn to see these light and dark effects in the world about you, pictures, photographs, and out-of-door scenes will become matters of great interest to you.

On this page is the same little piece of the world we saw under sunset skies. The sun has gone to rest, and the bright colors in the sky have given place to darkness. But in the midst of the darkness the moon rises, and sheds its white light over the sleeping world. How beautiful "out-of-doors" is now!

See the darker value of the sky at night, and the pleasing contrast made by the big white moon. A soft gray shadow is over all the snow. The moonlight on the snow does not dazzle our eyes, as the sunshine does by day.

Paint with ink or draw with crayon a moonlight picture.

A Beautiful Composition.

In painting or drawing a picture, it is not enough to put down a number of shapes or lines without regard to their relation to each other. We must arrange or compose them, just as we arrange furniture in a