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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.
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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