Art Instruction
If you follow my YouTube channel you know I've been hard at work on some instructional videos for months now. The video format is a place I feel comfortable because I have been sharing videos of my painting process since 2014.
Over that time, I have passed along a lot of tips and information and as I shared my paintings on a weekly basis with my YouTube subscribers. About three years ago I started the Members Area on my channel where all of the live recordings of my painting sessions are shared for a nominal monthly fee.
Country Road 8x12
The instructional videos I've been working on are different from the recordings of my painting sessions in that the entire process is geared towards illuminating the painting process for the student. The recordings of the live sessions are more about being a fly on the wall in the studio and picking up tips and tricks.
I purchased a few instructional painting DVDs many years ago. Two from Bob Rohm and later on a series from Richard Schmidt. I also have books from both of those gentlemen as well as Kevin McPherson's two books. Bob and Kevin really provided me with an excellent foundation when I was starting out. Around 2013 I joined Dennis Sheehan's online painting Academy (which is no longer active). I got some great insight into oil painting from Dennis.
As a painter, I am mostly self educated but I will always be thankful for the initial foundation provided to me by Kevin and Bob and later Richard and Dennis. The right insight at the right time can change everything. I know this firsthand and this is why I teach through a method of imparting insights.
I'm in the process now of creating my marketing pages for my courses and so have taken some time to look around the Internet and see what is out there. So much has changed since I started out with books and DVDs 14 years ago.
There is no shortage of people doing their best to teach painting. A few of the courses I saw in my recent research are being taught by Masters. There is a far larger quantity of courses being taught by painters that are less than masterful.
A real problem with our modern age is that it is the age of the shortcut. People want shortcuts to creating good paintings and there are many teaching painting that should be taking painting courses from Masters instead. In essence they're trying to take a shortcut to being Masters in that they are teaching before their work is at a level deserving to be taught.
Campbell’s Pond 6x8 - Painting from 2009
I'm not going to put shade on any specific painter out there engaged in teaching when they should be engaged in learning. However, if you're somebody who is painting with an eye to attaining a level of mastery and you're looking for a teacher, you should be careful to take instruction only from a Master. Someone better than you. Survey the works of the teachers available to you and choose the teacher that has the best work. Appraise and judge their approach to composition, color and brush handling.
It can be tempting for painters starting out to think that learning from a teacher that is closer to where their skill level is at, will help them. This is a mistake. You want to learn from the best teacher available that is working with the materials you use and in the style that you want to work in.
Not every teacher is going to appeal to every student. There are many different approaches to teaching painting. When you do find someone who is a good fit it's important to apply yourself industriously to putting the principles and practices that you have learned into your own paintings on a regular basis.
There can be a real tendency with so many teachers and lessons available now to just create paintings based on lesson after lesson, teacher after teacher.
You may be able to decorate your home with all the paintings you generate from those lessons. However without applying the discipline of working at painting each day putting the guidance of your teacher into practice you will not attain much.
Take good care and stay out of trouble,
Mike