This is the first in a series of portraits called Teachers of a Self-Guided Artist. Check out the intro post The Self-Taught Myth to read more about it.

At the end of 2011, I was feeling pretty stuck with painting. I’d been doing it on and off for maybe 5 years, mostly using acrylics, and mostly learning by trial and error, having never had any painting lessons. I was frustrated, and wanted to learn how to paint properly. I considered moving to London to go to an art school there, but it was expensive, and I didn’t even have a job at the time.

So I started looking at what options were available online, and after a bit of searching, I found a website called Classical Art Online, run by Jonathan Hardesty.