Life is like the movement of lines. The beauty of lines is the wisdom and the beauty of life. Who understands lines understands God's plan. Color is a later creation than the line. Color is the fulfillment of the line. The line is God's power (mind); color His softness (mercy, wisdom); light is His ever-enduring life. Symbology means to understand every form, every color, every light. To understand this in its ever-creating action is to understand the language of symbology.

The artist needs three faculties: observation, concentration, expression.

Observation in itself is a concentration when it is keen and well-focused. The keenness of observation comes from the clearness of mind and from the appreciation of beauty. Clearness of mind: The mind becomes clear when it is stilled, as the reflection is clear in water which is still. When the water is disturbed, the reflection becomes blurred. Appreciation of beauty: For appreciation of beauty, love for beauty is necessary, which is inborn in the artist, but is developed by a continual tendency to admire all that is beautiful.
Concentration is divided into three aspects: designing, filling, finishing:
1. Designing: Whatever one is concentrating upon one must first be able to form the outline of. This faculty can be developed by observing and taking in the outline of the object.
2. Filling: Filling has its two aspects: i) filling with the parts and items that compose the object, however minute; ii) grasping the right sense of the color. The former comes from the analytical observation and exactness in taking up the object into one's mind. The latter comes by the development of the sense of color, which is a natural faculty in man.
3. Finishing: Finishing is again going over the object one has in mind with an examining attitude, and noticing every little detail separately and collectively, and comparing it with the object that the eyes have seen. This requires not only an analytical tendency, but also exactness and development of memory.
Expression. Every atom of the body, the eyes which see and the hand which holds the brush, are obedient servants of the mind. When an artist produces a picture on the canvas at a time when his body is not in perfect submission to his mind, and his mind not completely disciplined by his spirit, he cannot produce the picture to his satisfaction. His mind must be respondent to the guiding voice of his soul, and his hand must be led aright by the power of his mind. It is necessary that the hand of the painter is well-practiced in order to act rightly according to the suggestion of the mind. If the hand is not trained enough, the mind is not satisfied. It is necessary that the material in the way of brush and color and canvas is all up to the choice of the painter to the best of his satisfaction. It is necessary that the surroundings of the artist are congenial and at least harmonious if not inspiring. But artistic environments, harmonious atmosphere, and beautiful surroundings are helpful.

The mind of the artist must be free from the worries and anxieties of life. No thought of ugliness and badness of anybody's nature, nor bitterness or spite must take hold of the mind of the artist. For the mind must be perfectly free for receiving beauty in order to produce beauty. The artist must reject all badness of his nature. It is the sweetness of his nature which will express itself in the beauty of his art. The artist must not be irritable by nature, must not be impatient, and must not have bitterness against anybody, for these are the things in life which hinder beauty. The artist must love beauty of manner and express it in his own actions, and must refrain from all that is lacking beauty in thought, feeling, word, and deed. The purer the heart of the artist, the greater his art, the greater his love in his art, the more beauty he will produce.