We found four new videos of Bill that never made it to television.
Bill had strong beliefs about many things. He showed “no mercy” when it came to letting his fans know how he felt about something.
Today’s video clip is about developing the most important skill an artist can have.
In Bill’s autobiography, he mentions how he would take his students out into the field. They didn’t paint. In fact, Bill had very strong feelings about painting plein air.
Plein air, by the way, is simply the practice of painting out of doors.
Bill preferred to take his students into the field and teach them to see. Learning to see is a skill we can develop with practice. The problem is that many of us don’t take the time to see.
In many of Bill’s videos, he talks about how he sees what he is going to paint before he begins to paint. It is because he developed the skill of seeing and bringing Mother Nature back to his studio.
A lot of folks use a camera to capture a scene. Even Bill admits that’s an option.
The problem with photographs, though is that the photo will always be just a little bit “off.” But even if the photo was a true representation of nature, we wouldn’t want to paint it exactly as the photo shows.
As Delacroix said, “Of course I use a camera but I never paint the product of a machine.”
The ability to see — that’s the key.
If you want to learn to see with the eyes of an artist, our Master Class can help. Tom doesn’t just teach you to paint, he teaches you to see the world around you. Master Class was tested over thousands of students while being developed over the last twenty-five years. If you want to paint like a master artist, Master Class can help you get there.