ABSTRACT
If you mean that you want to paint complete natural leaves it cannot be done in ornamental work. You must be an artist or nothing. You seem to make the usual mistake of supposing conventionalism to mean nonsense, that is non-nature. It means practical nature. When you outline a leaf with black the outline is conventional, the only way you have of showing the form on certain terms. You needn't outline it absurdly. There are also certain qualities in non-natural ornament, as bands, etc., to which you need not limit yourself. But to conventional representation you must limit yourself or become an artist at once.
