[Marvin Mattelson]

Sorry Enzie. I hate to say it, but, in my experience, it just don't work that way. Had I not met and studied with John Murray who studied with Frank Reilly who studied with Dean Cornwell and Frank Dumond who studied with Gerome who studied with Delaroche who studied with David, it would have taken several lifetimes to arrive at the point I am now. That's a heck of a lot of accumulated knowledge that each subsequent generation has both digested and added to.

How can one possibly strengthen a weakness that is a result of being left to one's own devices to begin with? If you knew what your weaknesses really were they wouldn't be weaknesses. The history of Western Art was built on a tradition of great masters training apprentices who in turn became great masters, etc.

David begot Ingres, Bouguereau begot Leyendecker, Carlos Duran begot Sargent, Gerome begot Paxton and Eakins. Life is simply not long enough for one to develop knowledge and understanding on one's own.

I'm afraid you haven't studied with the right teacher. You have a lot of talent but based on the amount of time you have invested you should not be having the kind of problems that I see in your work. If you think that by listening to advice from people who are simultaneously asking you for advice is the path to artistic savvy, I think you are in for a big surprise.

The forum is great but anyone who thinks they will become a great artist using the advice here is borderline delusional. I just doesn't work that way. Find yourself a master, surrender and save yourself decades of spinning your wheels.

I hope you take this in the spirit it is offered, a kindly stranger offering directions to a fellow traveler.