Teachers: who has influenced your work?

[Richard Bingham]

This could be a fun discussion. As to "pedigrees", I see at least two possible threads . . . those who have studied so closely with a "powerful" painter and continue working with that instructor's visual vocabulary, as opposed to those who absorbed what an instructor had to offer and developed personal visions far removed from the work of their mentors - e.g., Ives Gammell traced his "painting pedigree" directly to Gerome, while Matisse was Bouguereau's pupil.

Personally? I learned to paint from Robert Brackman, Fred Taubes and Hayward Veal, all now deceased (and way off the popular radar). So where does that leave me? I don't feel I've ever been an "exponent" of any of their styles.

As their work resonates deeply with me, by turns I have for a long time tended to feel more "influenced" by long-dead masters whose work I perennially return to examine and study . . . especially Velasquez, Hals, Zorn, Sorolla . . . lately the Tiepolos and Mancini (in contrast) have my interest.