“I know very well what I am about and that my skies have not been neglected, though they often failed in execution - and often no doubt from over anxiety about them.” KnowsWellsDoubtSkyAnxietyNo DoubtExecutionNeglected Book:Constable: paintings, drawings and watercolours Source: Constable: paintings, drawings and watercolours
“It is much to my advantage that several of my pictures should be seen together, as it displays to advantage their varieties of conception and also of execution, and what they gain by the mellowing hand of time which should never be forced or anticipated. Thus my pictures when first coming forth have a comparative harshness which at the time acts to my disadvantage.” ShouldFirstsHandsTogetherGainsAdvantageVarietyConceptionDisplayExecutionDisadvantagesHarshness Book:Correspondence Source: Correspondence
“My picture [A Boat Passing a Lock, 1823-6] is liked at the [Royal] Academy, indeed it forms a decided feature and its light can not be put out. Because it is the light of nature - the Mother of all that is valuable in poetry - painting or anything else... my execution annoys most of them and all the scholastic ones - perhaps the scarifies I make for 'lightness' and 'brightness' is too much but these things are the essence of Landscape.” LightFormMotherToo MuchPaintingDecidedEssenceValuablePassingPassingsBoatLandscapeFeaturesAnnoyingExecutionLocksCan NotRoyalAcademyBrightnessLightnessScholastics Author:John Constable
