New member from Dallas, TX

Jonathan Hardesty · 05-23-2006, 05:49 PM

Hi Everyone,
I'm glad to be part of this forum and community. William Whitaker encouraged me to join the community here so I took his advice. I have gleaned so much information from just browsing through the threads here over the last year. It will be nice to be fully involved now.

I started drawing and painting about 3 1/2 years ago when I couldn't stand my office job any longer. I was trained in an atelier in South Dakota named Pantura Studios that has now closed down and moved to Sweden. The style of training was a modified version of Florence Academy of Art's program. I'm now in the process of building up my body of work to begin my professional career. I also currently teach a small number of dedicated students. You can view my website here if you are interested:

My Website

Also I attached a portrait I recently completed at one of Bill's (William Whitaker's) workshops.

Claudemir Bonfim · 05-23-2006, 08:03 PM

Welcome to the Forum Jonathan.

I was delighted to see your work on your website.

Marina Dieul · 05-23-2006, 09:39 PM

Hi Jonathan!
Beautiful and sensible portrait. I hope you will post some more...
Welcome to the forum.

Alexandra Tyng · 05-24-2006, 10:06 AM

Hi Jonathan, I'm glad you've joined the forum! I enjoyed seeing your work and I'm hoping you will be posting more of it.

Can you tell us a little more about the way you were trained, and how it was different from the Florence Academy? I notice you use a lot more color than the "typical" (if there is such a thing) F.A.-trained artist.

Casey Childs · 05-24-2006, 01:38 PM

Jon,
Great to see you on the forum! Everyone here will definitely benefit from your skill and artistic knowledge. You're work is truly amazing. I also look forward to seeing where your career takes you.

And not only is he a great artist, Jon is just the nicest guy you would ever meet. I think the guy could make friends with anyone.

Jon, when are we going to go to another Whitaker workshop?

Karine Monaco · 05-25-2006, 06:38 AM

Hello Jonathan,

Warm welcome to this forum! I hope this will not hurt anyone, but I must admit I am not very fond of still lives. Still, yours are just beautiful (this is a word I rarely use, and I mean by it that looking at them brings more than just an aesthetical pleasure to me, it also fills me with a warm contemplative feeling

Jonathan Hardesty · 05-25-2006, 01:17 PM

Claudemir Bonfim - Thanks so much!

Marina Dieul - Thanks for the kind words. I will definitely post more if I can pluck up the courage hehe.

Alexandra Tyng - Thanks! My training was different in a bunch of really small ways I guess. For instance they didn't make us do a grisaille figure painting (although I never go to this stage...but others didn't have to)...also they only made us do two painted casts because they said that if you were going to do something basically in grayscale than why not do it in charcoal or graphite. Also if we did exceptional work they would sometimes let us skip a bargue/cast if they felt that we didn't need it. This was rare but it happened sometimes.

They also pushed imagination a lot as well. They really encouraged us to do imaginative works as opposed to just academic ones. That was a big difference. Then there were a bunch of little things changed as well. I think the reason that most of florence academy's student work has that muted look is because of the way they approach the rendering/modeling. I think the more you model or render something the more dull the color will become. Sargent's colors are beautiful because he left them alone when he placed them. I think my teacher's valued color more than Florence Academy did and I think I value color more than my teacher's even did. If that makes sense. Work from the water street atelier and some others have a more muted look to them as well because of the level of detail in rendering they provide. I love that style and love paintings like that but I just really like color too hehe.

I painted two casts under my teachers and then one small fruit. Then it was announced that the studio was closing and my wife and I moved to Texas. So I never really studied under them for painting. Drawing and seeing values, edges, etc... is the really important thing anyways and they gave me that foundation. I'm happy to experiment with paint application on my own. I use much more paint than my teachers did hehe...they would be aghast I think if they saw the blobs I placed on my palette hehe.

Sorry for the lengthy response but I hope that helps answer the question. Thanks again for the kind words.

Casey Childs - Thanks man! Just so everyone knows...Casey is one of the nicest guys you will ever meet. Offerred me a ride around provo when he didn't even know me. And if I ever met someone with a goatee like mine (I cut it off btw) I don't think i would trust him heheh. You rule Casey! Any Whitaker workshop...any time...I am game!

Karine Monaco - Thanks for the kind words. I have a little secret too ...I'm not crazy about still life paintings either! I like doing them but I would much rather be painting the figure/portrait in north light. I am going to be getting a new studio in about a month that has north light and enough room for me have live models so I am extremely excited about that. I'm really happy to hear that my paintings were still able to make you feel contemplative. I have a crazy lighting setup that I had to rig in order to work in this small space and i feel frustrated with it constantly. So to combat that frustration I try to put more into these still lifes than just an academic exercise. It's subtle but I'm glad you picked up on it! That's really encouraging to me. I definitely have fallen in love with painting. My wife always comes first but she used to call painting jokingly "the other woman"...well...half jokingly hehe. I will definitely be posting more of my work and thanks for your kind words and warm welcome!

Here is another portrait from my website in case you didn't see it:

Alexandra Tyng · 05-25-2006, 08:15 PM

Really nice, Jonathan--and thanks so much for the detailed explanation. Florence Academy is very popular in the Phila. art scene but I find it lacking in color. Your work certainly is not lacking in color!

Jonathan Hardesty · 05-25-2006, 08:39 PM

Thanks Alexandra! I really appreciate it. Now all i need to do is figure out how bouguereau rendered things so beautifully and also kept such magnificent colors. Amazing. In reproductions I have never seen a good representation of the color that one sees in Bouguereau's paintings when you view them in reality. Juicy colors. I have some theories about how he did it...but that's all they are at this point heheh.

Heidi Maiers · 05-30-2006, 11:41 PM

Having been away from the forums for a while, it was a pleasure to drop in and see you here as a new member Jonathan. Hard to believe you are not crazy about still life since you are so skilled at doing them (you know you are my new favorite still life painter - usurping my own mother (shhhh)).
Of course your portraits are spectacular as well and you even do a little sculpting! I'm sure you will be well received here - it's a great forum.