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                “I’ve learned more from you in four weeks than I learned in four years at [a well known Washington art school].”
                --JG, Great Falls
 
                “I now look forward to a lifetime of painting.”
                --KB, Great Falls
 
Many people have thought about taking up painting as a pastime, as Winston Churchill, not a bad painter as a matter of fact, called it. But quite often they are put off by puzzling questions, such as:
 
  • What if I can’t draw very well?
  • Perspective seems so complex—do I really need to study it?(1)
  • One paint maker offers over 150 colors—how many do I really need?
  • Is it a good idea to paint from photos?(2)
  • How do I get started—what do I paint first?
  • How do I actually apply the paint?
  • Besides paint and canvas and brushes, what other materials do I need?
  • For that matter, what brand of paint, what canvas, what brushes?
  • What painting manuals are reliable? How important is composition?(3)
               
And so on. Clearly, our prospective painter needs some help, but in what form? Classes? Workshops? Books? Videos?

Well, all of those can help, but they also have certain limitations.

Videos generally show how one painting was produced. Some go stroke by stroke through the process in such detail that by the end the viewer is…unedified, to say the least. And a lot of the (valid) information may be completely non-germane to the viewer’s own inchoate artistic agenda, which is of course utterly unaddressed by any video.
  
Some books are extremely valuable but others are almost entirely without merit, even negative in their impact. How can the beginner tell the difference?

Classes and workshops can provide information and even inspiration if the teacher is talented at both teaching and painting, but consider this:

Suppose you take a 3-day workshop that is limited to 15 students. And let’s say each day consists of a one-hour demonstration and six hours of student painting (you really can’t do much more). That means that each day each student can receive no more than 24 minutes of individual attention—and in reality it’s going to be even less than that, since other exigencies obtain. We’ll say that at best you’re going to receive 20 minutes of personalized instruction each day. In the three days that’s just…one hour. One hour for which you’ve paid hundreds of dollars. And believe it or not that can still be money well spent if you come away with just one new or reinforced concept that changes your painting practices for the better.

But it’s something to bear in mind.

Another problem with classes and workshops is that some people seem to become addicted to them. They sign up for workshop after class after workshop and travel the globe to study under different teachers—all of whom offer a different approach, a different technique, a different outlook, and as a result these class and workshop “junkies” tend not to mature as artists. They may never find their own direction because they are always following someone else’s lead. They don’t experience the deep satisfaction of hammering out their own style in the smithy of their own struggle with the endlessly fascinating possibilities of the translation of human vision into a plane surface covered with pigments and oils.
 
What I offer is something different: intensive, individual, one-to-one instruction in the basics of oil painting, the things that every painter needs to know, whatever his or her personal vision—and then you’re on your own.
 
What I seek to provide is a foundation on which you can build your own artistic edifice. I want to prepare you to teach yourself—for any number of great painters were self-taught.
 
Monet was. After two weeks in the atelier of Gleyre he left to follow his own incomparable path.

1 Answer: I can show you all you need to know in five minutes.

2 Answer: No, it isn’t.

3 Answer: It’s absolutely crucial.

 
Winslow Homer was. He even avoided visiting museums or looking at other painters’ work, so intent was he on maintaining the purity of his personal and unique interpretation of the visual world!
 
Edgar Payne, the great California plein-airist, was self-taught. George Inness was mostly self-taught. Maynard Dixon was self-taught. Tintoretto was self-taught. The list is long and impressive. And I encourage you to add your name to it.
 
Because no one can teach you to paint in the manner that the angels have given you to paint—no one but you. Who but Monet could have taught Monet to paint like Monet? And I believe the same is true of you, even if you never become such an artistic giant. It is up to you to work and delve and battle the demons of complacency and dredge out and fire and refine your own true, precious, golden glimpse of the meaning of our world of beauty and light.
 
So the question is, why do you need me? And of course the answer is that you really don’t. You can read and work and experiment and practice all on your own. That might be best! On the other hand, however, I continue to believe that my program of individual instruction has something to offer you.
 
I think I can help you avoid some dead ends. I think I can help you steer clear of some frustrations and get you going faster on your way. I know I can save you some money by helping you limit your materials expenditures to those items that are really of some use. I fully believe that I can help you experience the thrill of initial success much, much sooner than would otherwise be the case.
 
Not only that, but (and this is rather valuable, I think) for our first few sessions together I will supply all the materials you need—you don’t have to buy a single brush or tube of paint. Eventually, of course, you will want to work on your own and you’ll need to have a complete painting kit. But in the beginning I will provide everything—even a snack for our break if we meet in my studio.
 
Together, we’ll determine what kind of painting you want to work on—whether landscape, still life, portrait, figure, interior, seascape, cityscape…or some or all of these. Myself, I spend most of my time on “plein air” (outdoor) landscape painting, and if your interests lie in the same direction we’ll have a couple of sessions indoors going over some fundamentals and then most of the rest of our sessions will be spent outdoors.
 
But note this: within the first fifteen minutes you will be working hands-on with paint and canvas and you will complete an oil painting during our first session, one that you can take home and hang on your wall and keep forever and show with pride. If your interests run more to portraits or still lifes we’ll naturally be working indoors. In either case, you will very quickly learn what it means to “view” (that is, actively perceive rather than passively see) what I call “the ensemble” (the harmonized, dynamic totality that makes up the real subject of your picture) as an artist. This is something that many painters take years to achieve (if they ever do), but you will not leave my studio without having experienced it, and, believe me, it is a true liberation. Never will you feel compelled to slavishly imitate the endlessly complicated coils of unharmonized nature—a pointless and impossible task, but one that some painters spend their careers attempting. You will not be painting, for example, the trees and the sky and the water but the unity of your own “viewing” of trees/sky/water. You will understand that the artist’s role is not to create or recreate more nature (there’s plenty of that already) but to record the unique harmony that only you perceive. That is why any number of painters can portray, for example, the Grand Canyon or New York City or just an apple or a flower with dramatically different results—and yet they can all be valid portrayals.
 
So, how many sessions will be required to get you started on your way, and what will it all cost? I would plan on spending from four to seven sessions with you, each of about three hours. That should stand you in good stead for a beginning. Later on, you may want to come back for a refresher session or two, as you feel the need.

And remember that each session is focused exclusively on you and your understanding and progress. Every minute of every session is devoted to you—and we will not be wasting time.
 
The cost is quite moderate. If what I have described seems of interest to you, please phone me (at 703-437-9681) and we’ll arrange a meeting over coffee to discuss financial arrangements, schedules, and your own particular interests. We can meet just about anywhere in Northern Virginia. Also, please note that there is absolutely no commitment. The program is pay-as-you-go and can be discontinued instantly if you ever feel that its value to you is diminished in any way.
 
Please note that the number of students I can accept is very limited, so call today.