To have the real knowledge of color and form is not easy for every artist. The sensibility for the minute shades of different colors and for the variety of shades in one color is a natural gift, which no study nor practice can teach, unless the artist is inspired by his own genius. It is difficult to have the feeling of the slight differences of thinness and thickness of the structure, and it is still more difficult for the average person to distinguish between the slight changes of color and form unless he is gifted by artistic insight. No doubt there is only one way of development, and if that way comes by itself so much the better.

Keenness of observation is both cause and effect of patience, love, and perseverance. A keen observation in reality is a concentration with open eyes; and when the gaze is fixed on an object of beauty and the mind, stilled by its effect, reflects the same effect from within, it becomes a complete concentration, a heaven in itself, if viewed mystically. This brings one to the realization of the philosophy that beauty in every form is perfection, and this perfection can be brought about by the harmony of two opposed things.

When the eyes are looking at a certain object and the mind is thinking of something else, this must naturally create a collision; for two activities going on at the same time in different directions, having no touch of harmony, must of themselves fail to prove successful, since conflict is a breach of the law of perfection. No one can concentrate better than a real artist, and no one can become great in art without developing concentration of mind. Both mind and body act and react upon each other, so as art helps concentration, so concentration helps art.