Look for the kind of nature that suits your temperament.
The motif should be observed more for shape and color than for drawing.
. . . Do not define too closely the outline of things; it is the brush-stroke
of the right value and color which should produce the drawing. Don't
work bit by bit, but paint everything at once by placing tones everywhere.
. . . Don't proceed according to rules and principles, but paint what you
observe and feel.
Camille Pissarro
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In 1869 Pissarro moved from Pontoise to Louveciennes, on the outskirts
of Paris. After the outbreak of war in 1870, as the victorious Prussians
advanced, he removed his family from danger, first to Brittany and later
to London. While he was away, the Prussians took over his house and,
rather than splash their uniforms with French country mud, put down
Pissarro's stored paintings as duckboards and tramped over them.
According to Pissarro's own estimate, no more than 40 paintings
survived out of 1,500. In this respect, at least, Pissarro would have
suffered less if his paintings had sold more readily and been dispersed.
As it is, he is known primarily for his work affer 1869. Fortunately he
had not yet reached his most creative period.