Mentoring & Critiques

Zoom Mentoring:  Are you looking to improve your painting and career as an artist?

I am now offering one-on-one mentoring via Zoom.  Mentoring consists of weekly one-hour sessions over the course of four weeks for $300. The first session consists of an initial evaluation of your work, a discussion of your goals and an assignment designed to take you in the direction you wish you to go. Following sessions consist of a discussion of the previous week’s assignment while addressing any questions you may have plus a new assignment. In the final session, I will give you an action plan for the future.  (Sessions preferably run over one calendar month.)

I am available most of the year, except when I am traveling between my summer and winter studios. I usually travel in late May and early June, and also in late August and early September.

In-Person Mentoring:  Do you prefer in-person mentoring?

I also offer in-person mentoring via my Private Intensive workshop.  For details, go here.

About Mentoring

Mentoring originated from Greek mythology, in which Mentor was a wise and trusted advisor to Odysseus. Under Mentor’s direction and guidance, Telemachus, the son of Odysseus, became a much-loved ruler. Today, a mentor is an advisor and supporter, and perhaps even a friend and role model, of someone pursing specific goals.

Because people have different goals and life experiences, mentoring isn’t a science. Instead, it requires the mentor to carefully assess each case and to respond accordingly and effectively.

Mentoring is not just about advanced instruction. It’s an opportunity for the serious painter to address issues that are bigger than mere craft. As you work shoulder-to-shoulder with an experienced professional who gladly coaches, motivates and shares wisdom, you may:

• • • Give your art a mid-course correction
    • Create an action plan for the future
    • Define where your career is headed

Zoom Critiques: Are you looking for feedback on your paintings?

I am now offering personal critiques via Zoom.  For $50, I will critique two of your paintings and both show and discuss the changes with you via Zoom. This one-time session lasts an hour.  We’ll arrange a mutually-agreeable date and time to meet.

For most of us, painting is a solitary endeavor. In our studio or out in the field, we work on our canvas and then step back, alone, to evaluate what we’ve done. Even if we’ve learned the important skill of self-critique, the eyes of another may better help us see where to improve. During my workshops, I give a great deal of feedback on paintings. For the student, this is often the most rewarding part of the week.

For each of the critiques, I ask for images in advance. Then, before the session, I run each image through what I call my “Photoshop mill” and make changes to improve the piece. This is something I cannot do in a workshop because of the preparation time. And, rather than me just pointing to different parts of a painting and talking about it—which is all I can do in a workshop—I am actually able to share my computer screen and show the changes, step by step.

Once I receive payment, I’ll send an e-mail confirmation and let you know where to send the two images. We’ll also set up a date and time for our session then.

Image Formatting Guidelines

• • JPEG format
  • 2000 pixels on the longest side (or if pixels give you trouble, just try to keep the file under 2 megabytes in size)
  • Send these as attachments to your e-mail and not embedded in the text as “inline” images

Guidelines for Choosing Which Paintings to Have Critiqued

• • Landscape paintings only (no still lifes, figures or portraits)
  • Paintings can be en plein air or studio
  • Paintings should be recent work; you are most likely a better painter than you were five or ten years ago, and my suggestions will be more helpful to you

I hope you’ll take advantage of my offer. Painting is lonely enough without having to do your own critiques!