Who to Study With?

[Chris Saper]

Pat and Kim,

I do teach a weekly class, but I am also conducting two one-week workshops, four students per class. To download the brochure from my website, you just have to click on the Acrobat pdf icon.

Information is also posted here:
http://forum.portraitartist.com/showthread.php?t=4525

[Sharon Knettell]

Who to study with?

Hmm..., it would seem in my often not too humble opinion, what your point of view in terms of art is and what it is you want to achieve.

Do you want to make art or use your concept of it as the quickest route to an imagined commercial success.

Do we want instant applause for the easy and from the easily charmed or do we want to go deeper and perhaps take risks and risk having your work disregarded.

Do what we want to add to the enormous pile of human effort, something of value or another trifle.

There are those teachers who demand a lot and those who are comforting and ready back patters.

Who indeed to pick.

[Michele Rushworth]

I think it just comes down to choosing someone whose work you really admire. I wouldn't be at all concerned at the quality of the work of the other students entering his program.

[Tony Pro]

Here's a concept not too many people hear or want to hear. Any good art teacher can only show you tools and methods of learning but the real way to get good at drawing and painting is home practice. PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!

Don't touch a paintbrush until you have come to a good level of drawing. You should find a good atelier in your area or a respectable drawing instructor who can teach you the foundations of good drawing practice and then go home and draw, draw, draw. At the same time, ABOVE ALL, you need to learn to SEE as an artist. That is the goal of any art student. Learn to see. See shapes, see values, see edges. Learn to translate that from the 3-D to the 2-D surface.

Then once you feel comfortable at drawing, you should start in painting. Its hands on experience which is most necessary. Get some books on painting and read.... Richard Schmid's Alla Prima is a good start. Don't try to copy his techniques but use his knowledge of the tools to your advantage. He has 50+ years of painting experience that he poured into that book and that was the number 1 book that taught me to paint aside from long hours at the easel.

Hope this helps!

[Jen Reinstadler]

To follow up on Tony's comment, you should ask around about life drawing sessions. Everywhere I've lived, a local art musem sponsors weekly sessions, without instructors. The downside is, the artists who show up must control the pose and the lighting, and the squeekiest wheel gets the grease. So you really have to speak up if the poses are too short or the lighting doesn't work for you.

It really is helpful if you can take a class first and learn the fundamentals from a live instructor, but this is a great place to keep your pencils sharp.

[Patricia Joyce]

Thanks Tony and Jen,
for the good advice. I have been in life drawing classes for two years. Unfortunately the Cleve Institute of Art has cancelled it's evening/weekend programs for this academic year as they are "reconfiguring" the structure for future terms. This was very upsetting to me as I have not been able to find a life drawing class to replace what CIA offered.

But, I think this is going to work out fine as I have just begun an oil painting class which will keep me quite busy until the end of November. I am completing my first assignment and anxious to begin the second one which is to copy a master. Of course I have chosen Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl!!! I have watched many artists study and copy this painting on this forum and in the past could not wait until I too, could attempt my own copy.

It is exciting to be learning oil painting. And it may be several paintings before I have the courage to post one here for critique!!! But more than likely it will be in the copy the masters thread!!

Happy Holiday Weekend
Paint away!

[Sharon Knettell]

I studied with a well known painter in Providence many years ago. My art school experience had been so negative, that I was unsure as how or whether to proceed as an artist.

This gentleman encouraged and challenged me in more ways than I can explain. He pushed me on my weaknesses, which were color, design and point of view. He did not let me get away with what was facile and easy for me. There were many times I wanted to scream in utter frustration and fatigue and do something easy, something that was, I knew, crowd pleasing, pleasant and pretty.

He made me believe that I was far better than I thought I was and should never, ever accept limits to my abilities.

During this time I met some life long friends, some of whom are still practicing artists. One is a very well known fashion photographer.

I think a good teacher can open your eyes far wider and faster than just books.

[SB Wang]

Quote and adapted quote from Lin Biao:

"one should have specific problems in mind, study and apply his works in a creative way, combine study with application, first study what must be urgently applied so as to get quick results, and strive hard to apply what one is studying".

In order really to master theory, it is essential to study many of basic concepts over and over again, and it is best to memorize important statements and study and apply them repeatedly.

[Patricia Joyce]

Thank you, SB for the good advice. I was told the same thing by Anthony Ryder when I took his drawing workshop this past January. He is considered a living master and he told us that when his teacher/mentor gave him a nugget of truth, he would write it out and hang it on the wall of his studio. I, too, have such words hanging on my walls too.

Since I have not found a good teacher in Cleveland, I must rely on the professionals here on the forum (and they are superb, as you must agree!) and the serious, in-depth workshops I take once a year (this year, January, with the Great Marvin Mattleson!!)

[Marvin Mattelson]

Great?!?