This is where things began. Actually they began with a bunch more crappy paintings than the ones I'm sharing here, but I threw those away years ago. I dug around in my closet and blew the dust and cobwebs of of these old painting to take out on the deck and shoot for you guys.
These are all oil paintings and all but one are from life. This is how I learned to paint. When I was in arts school I was fortunate enough to have access to free workshops several times a week. On a typical week I'd go to anywhere from 6-10 workshops in addition to my classes.
This is the one not from life
I think nowadays there's a debate on whether or not art school is worth the money, and my answer is it can be. There is a lot there that you can take advantage of, but a lot of people don't. If I'm being honest and realistic, if I wouldn't have gone to art school, I wouldn't be an artist today. That's just me, people do it all the time, but I don't think I would have.
Also I know I've mentioned before that I think the best way to learn to paint overall is landscape painting from life. This is a pretty boring looking painting, but I remember I learned a lot painting stuff like this.
Thanks for looking and listening to my ramblings peeps. How important do you think foundations are? How many of my fellow artists here are schooled vs unschooled? For those that are schooled, how was your school experience? Worth it? Would love to hear your inputs! :)