I love Freud, Sargent, Velasquez, Manet, Hals, Kline, deKooning, Fischl, Andrew Wyeth and others, all of whom embody the above philosophy. My work method is simple – I work on a portable easel, usually partly on site with portraits or cityscapes and then finish up the paintings with photos at home. I do preliminary drawings using grids, and do rough paint sketches to get a sense of the light, organization and coloring. For the final work, I use a colored gesso surface, then do a monochromatic rough painted “sketch” to establish lights and darks. Then I simply color the whole thing in. A painting usually takes from 20-60 sessions (2-4 months) to complete. I keep working to shorten this time period.