Who to Study With?

[Patricia Joyce]

I "met" with a local portrait artist this week, via a phone conversation about an hour long. I will be meeting him at his studio, with my portfolio this evening. Perhaps some of the professionals here could offer me some advice about how to choose someone to study with.

I have been searching for a talented and successful portrait artist to study with. Last year I met with Stanka Kordic, is a member of SOG who lives 45 min from me. It was pure inspiration to visit her studio and to see her beautiful paintings in person. And she is delightful, and very successful, and very busy. After the experience of being in a pro's studio, I knew I needed a professional who is looking to pass his/her knowledge to a willing student.

The gentlemen I will be meeting has a large portfolio of professional commissions with university presidents, CEOs, wealthy families through three generations. He has worked extensively as a portrait artist for American Greetings and his work hangs in several museums in this area. He holds a small class one evening a week in his studio and says he hopes to pass his knowledge on to aspiring portrait artists.

Can any of you offer suggestions of what to look for when meeting him tonight? I have NO knowledge of painting to speak of so I am an empty canvas, so to speak. At 49 yrs, I do not want to learn one way only to have to relearn to paint another way. The luxury of wasting time is not mine!!

Thank you,
Pat

[Joan Breckwoldt]

Originally Posted by Patricia Joyce

The gentlemen I will be meeting has a large portfolio of professional commissions with university presidents, CEOs, wealthy families through three generations. He has worked extensively as a portrait artist for American Greetings and his work hangs in several museums in this area. He holds a small class one evening a week in his studio and says he hopes to pass his knowledge on to aspiring portrait artists.

Hi Pat,

My thought is "gosh, what are you waiting for?". This sounds like a fantastic opportunity to study with someone who, from your list above, must be quite an accomplished portrait artist. What kind of commitment does he require? Do you have to sign up and pay for a year of his classes? Six months?

When we lived in Holland I took lessons from an excellent portrait artist for a year, I signed up in advance. She also had painted dignitaries, Dutch royal family, etc. . . She was a great painter and pastel artist but when I look back on the experience I realize she wasn't that good of a teacher. Not to mention the fact that she spoke only Dutch and I didn't . . . you can imagine how little communication there was. But, am I sorry I spent all that money and time going to her workshop to paint twice a week for 3 hours? No. It was one of the best experiences of my life. I learned a lot by watching her, by practicing painting from life at each workshop, and by having her come by and grab my paint brush to show me what to correct.

So, I say, why not? My feeling is that you'll be able to bring a lot away from most learning experiences like this. Unless, and I didn't get this impression from your e-mail, you've got a handful of other artists that you're considering studying with and you're trying to make a decision about which one to pick, then I'm not much help on which questions to ask except to look at the style you like.

hope this helps,

Joan

[Patricia Joyce]

Hi Joan,
Your experience with learning to paint in a language foreign to you made me laugh!! But your story is very encouraging. Thanks for sharing that.

To answer some of your questions, no, artists are not lining up to teach me!!! In fact I haven't been able to find anyone until now. He has a small class of ten students and teaches on Thursdays for three hours. But he has taken particular students under his tutelage,(over the years students have lived with he and his wife in a room off the studio!) He only requires that I pay for the first ten weeks up front and then it is pay as you go. He has some students who have been coming for years and he says it is like a small art community.

Here is why I am hesitating. He used to use live models but doesn't anymore. He strictly lets his students come in with photographs. That one issue is very worrisome. I understand that most artists take photos and do not paint from sittings but I don't know if that would be the best way for me to begin, from all that I read here. I was thinking about asking him if I could bring in a model as I have a niece and her friends who are willing to pose for a small fee. This is just a thought right now.

I'll definately know more after meeting him tonight!!

[Joan Breckwoldt]

Hi Pat,

Maybe he would be open to you bringing a model and maybe some of the other students would want to split the fee for the model. Perhaps others would want to learn to paint from a live model too. That might be something to discuss with him. Of course, he might have some reason why he doesn't want a live model around??? Let me know how it goes tonight.

Either way though, you could still probably learn a whole lot from him. Does he mainly paint from photographs? I would ask him how he expects you to learn to the best of your ability without learning to paint from a live model. It would be interesting to hear what he has to say about that, especially since he is such a succussfull portrait artist.

You could also consider taking the classes from him AND spending a few hours a week painting your neice and her friends if that's something that might work for you.

Good luck, I'll be curious to hear how this turns out,

Joan

[Patricia Joyce]

Just to let you know how last night went, meeting this portrait artist who takes students individually.

His paintings are beautiful, very realistic. His house is full of oils and pastels. However the newest painting hanging in the house is almost 15 years old. But it is a beautiful portrait which I immediately recognized as one I had seen at a show several years ago. It really stuck in my mind and I was so suprised to be standing in front of a piece I remembered falling in love with. He could have sold me then and there, but then his students started to arrive . . .

His studio is a family room-turn classroom with good easels and good lighting. About ten easels were set up and I was there until his students came, an interesting range of ages from gradeschool to middle age. A couple of them had some very nice pastel portraits going which were commissions. Some of the other students' work was pretty weak. One girl was drawing from a magazine pic of Julia Roberts - yuck!

He showed interest in my drawings and asked if I was getting commissions, what was I charging, etc. He told me what he felt I could charge. Well, this is not exactly what I care about right now. I want to grow as an artist more than I want to earn money (though I would never turn down a chance to make a buck here or there!!) He waxed on about how successful his students are at making a living off their art. I asked why he does not have a live model in his class anymore (he had told me he used to, years ago) and he said it was because everyone was interested in working on their own commissions with their reference photographs. He said he does not just teach you how to paint realistic portraits but he helps you start your own business.

I saw that several students had terrible reference photos - studio photography, magazine pics, flash photos! That's when I figured this was not the guy for me!

I would rather save my $30/week until I have enough to take a class with Marvin!!

And so it goes . . .

[Timothy Mensching]

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