April News

As summer nears, I’m excited to share new paintings, upcoming classes and workshops, and an expanded selection for collectors.

Mark your calendar for April 13th, when I’ll debut The Librarian—a new 24 x 32” oil painting on my website.   High‑resolution images of the finished work will be captured by Bob Polett, whose extensive experience includes photographing historical works for the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

On May 16th I’ll be returning to my hometown to lead a Portraits From Life workshop at the Yocum Institute for Arts Education. It’s a full‑circle moment, as my first teaching experience after graduate school took place at the Institute of the Arts in 2005, and I’m genuinely excited to revisit the space where my teaching career began.  See the Classes and Workshops listings below for more information and to enroll today.

(above) Oil Sketch (Gesturing Man), oil on canvas, 10 x 8", 2022; $250 in the Under $500 Store

Finally, for anyone looking to begin or expand their collection, I’m offering a growing selection of studies, sketches, and small works on my website. With a wide variety of subjects, media, and sizes, there is definitely something for new and seasoned collectors alike!  Explore the latest works priced $500 and Under at robertdalewilliams.com.

Warm wishes for the months ahead,

Robert Dale Williams

CLASSES AND WORKSHOPS:

Portraits From Life at Yocum Institute for Arts Education

This beginner-friendly workshop introduces the process of observing, measuring, composing, blocking, and rendering portrait drawings or paintings from observation. Principles covered in this workshop include color theory, tonal development, and form resolution utilizing the media of the student’s choice. There will be an hour break for lunch, and recommended supplies list sent upon registration of the class.

Saturday, May 16^th, 2026 | 9 AM to 4 PM

Yocum Institute for Arts Education

3000 Penn Ave., Reading PA. 19609

 

For more information and to enroll, please visit;

https://portal.iclasspro.com/yocumarts/camp-details/575?typeId=22&filters=%7B%22programs%22:%2269%22,%22sorting%22:%22time%22%7D&campTypeName=One%20Day%20Workshops&campTypeNamePlural=One%20Day%20Workshops

 

Online New York Academy of Art Summer Class Offering

Introduction to Photoshop for Artists is your gateway to revolutionary creative software.  This revised and beginner-friendly course introduces artists to the essential tools and techniques of Adobe Photoshop. Students will learn how to navigate the interface, work with layers, and apply basic image adjustments tailored to creative workflows. Whether you're preparing reference material or experimenting with digital composition, this course lays the groundwork for artistic exploration.

Save $50 with discount code: williamsdiscount50
Wednesdays 6:30–9:30 PM | May 20 – June 24, 2026

For more information and to enroll, please visit;
https://www.academyeverywhere.com/courses/online-introduction-to-photoshop-for-artists-summer-i-2026

Visual Composition -- My First Online Workshop for the New York Academy of Art!

I’m excited to present my first online workshop through the New York Academy of Art! 

Visual Composition Workshop – Online - By integrating their sketches, studies, and reference images, students will learn how to shape visual narratives with heightened intention and clarity. The class will examine a variety of compositional tools and techniques, including compositional grids, using light and shadow to guide the viewer’s eye, manipulating crisp versus blurred edges to suggest focus and atmosphere, and experimenting with both open compositions that feel expansive and closed compositions that feel contained. Utilizing these approaches—supported by digital paint-over demonstrations from Williams—students will build more dynamic and expressive visual compositions.

Saturday and Sunday 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM | March 21st – 22nd, 2026

Enroll for the workshop at:

https://www.academyeverywhere.com/courses/online-visual-composition-workshop-spring-2026

 

I've Returned to Patreon!

I've resumed posting to my Patreon page this week, and I'm looking forward to expanding offerings for both free and paid members!

Today I've added a video, previously posted to my YouTube channel, that is now exclusive to Patreon.  In the Painting Studio Journal episode, "Should You Go to Art School?", I discuss the ins and outs of attending a traditional four-year university for art education versus the kind of educational options that are available to aspiring figurative painters today.  This 20-minute video is available for view with a free membership!

Become a member today for just $5 monthly and access the already expansive library of video tutorials I've posted to my Patreon page!

Portraits From Life Workshop

 The Portraits From Life workshop was held this weekend at the York Art Association, and it felt great to be back in a classroom!  Participants observed our model, Jonathan, and crafted portraits using a variety of media.  Throughout the day, I continued work on my demonstration piece;

I began work on the demonstration portrait on a 20 x 16" canvas with a medium grey ground.

Work continued on the portrait sketch throughout the day.

Another work-in-progress image of the portrait demonstration.

The portrait sketch at the end of the workshop.

David & Goya: The Propagandist vs. The Witness

Jacques-Louis David of France and Francisco Goya of Spain took their place in history on radically divergent paths in the turbulent age of revolution that marked the late 18th and early 19th centuries.  While David’s Neoclassical compositions served to elevate imperial authority and reinforce state power, Goya crafted unflinching chronicles of human suffering that condemned violence and exposed the brutal realities of tyranny.  It is a compelling study in contrast: the painter as propagandist… versus the painter as witness.

Through epic works like The Oath of the Horatii (1784), The Death of Socrates (1787), and The Death of Marat (1793), Jacques-Louis David emerged as a leading figure during the French Revolution, aligning himself with the radical Jacobins and later becoming the official painter of Napoleon Bonaparte.  His career seemed to mirror the rise of centralized power in France—from revolutionary fervor to imperial dominance. David aligned his talent with the machinery of state power, producing works that shaped public sentiment and legitimized authority.

Francisco Goya, meanwhile, began his career under the relatively enlightened rule of Charles III and Charles IV of Spain. He was appointed Director of the Royal Academy in 1795, then became the Prime Court Painter, the highest rank for a Spanish court painter, in 1799.  However, in 1808, his world was upended by the Napoleonic invasion of Spain, followed by brutal warfare and the restoration of absolutist rule under Ferdinand VII. Goya’s work, as both a painter and, perhaps more notably, as a printmaker, evolved in response to these traumas, reflecting the anguish of a nation torn apart by foreign occupation and internal discord.

David’s paintings were designed to elevate and mythologize power. His Napoleon Crossing the Alps (1801) presents the French leader as a fearless, almost divine figure, the embodiment of heroic, masculine perfection astride a rearing horse complete with windswept cape and commanding gesture. It is a fantastical piece of pure propaganda—Napoleon actually crossed the Alps on a mule.  Contemporary critics lamented its departure from realism, calling out its obvious purpose as propaganda.  A few years later, Napoleon’s dutiful court painter spent three years capturing the pomp of imperial ceremony with meticulous detail and classical composition in The Coronation of Napoleon (1807). Critics immediately noted the contradiction with his earlier revolutionary works.  Now the subject worthy of an enormous 20 x 33-foot canvas, Napoleon crowns himself, the symbolic gesture of his self-made nature, free from papal authority at last.  Here he is literally another face in the crowd, but no less the center of attention.  From the majestic heights of the granite pillars to the ever so slightly wrinkled carpet surrounding the throne, David imbues the scene with grandeur to glorify an empire.

While David regaled Napoleon with fawning tributes, Goya was crafting a series of satirical etchings to mock the ignorance, superstition, and corruption of Spanish society.  After witnessing the horrors of the Peninsular War, Goya painted The Second of May 1808 (1814).  A melee ensued when the French Imperial Guard were tasked with subduing Spanish citizens.  Goya leads the eye to a knife wielding soldier in the grip of the crowd, his face laden with fear as he realizes he is about to be pulled from his horse.  In The Third of May 1808 (1814), Goya painted a haunting depiction of French soldiers executing Spanish civilians.  Guns raised, their backs to the viewer, the French are almost a unified form as they prepare to execute another set of unarmed, innocent civilians, one of which raises his arms in an unforgettable, defiant protest that has echoed through the ages.

Goya’s commentary on the conflict wasn’t reserved for canvas alone.  Etched between 1810 and 1820, though not published until decades following his death, his Disasters of War series further documents the brutality of conflict. Rendered with unflinching honesty, his depictions of starvation, mutilation, assault, and despair in the wake of war, are unmatched before, or since, their creation.

David is remembered as the master of Neoclassical painting and a key figure in shaping the visual language of power. His influence extended to academic art and political portraiture for generations. Yet his close alignment with authoritarian regimes has led some to question the ethical dimensions of his work.

Because he dared to depict the darkness of his time through his work, Goya is considered a pioneer of social commentary. His courage in depicting suffering and injustice inspired creative movements and, critically, left a contemporaneous record of horrific events that speaks for the countless lives silenced by war and oppression.

Jacques-Louis David and Francisco Goya offer two distinct models of artistic engagement with power. David served it, crafting images that glorified rulers and reinforced authority. Goya questioned it, exposing the suffering of the oppressed and the horrors of war. Their work reminds us that stories depicted in paintings are never neutral—they can be a tool of an empire or a voice of conscience. In an age of upheaval, both painters left indelible marks on history, showing how creativity can either uphold or challenge the forces that shape our world.

View the latest episode of Light of the Masters for this look at two painters whose work spoke of the turmoil of their time, and has echoed through the ages.

Join me for a Portrait Painting Workshop at the York Art Association!

 

Join me for a Portrait Painting Workshop December 6th, 2025 at the York Art Association!

This intensive workshop introduces the process of composing, blocking, and rendering portrait paintings from observation. Oil painting principles covered in this workshop include color theory, tonal development, and form resolution utilizing a traditional academic “flesh” or “limited” palette.

Recommended for students with intermediate drawing ability, ages 18+

Saturday, December 6, 2025 |. 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM

Location:  York Art Association 220 S. Marshall St York, PA 17402

$175 for non-members  |. $150 for members of the York Art Association

 

To enroll, please visit;

https://yaa42.wildapricot.org/event-6325106?CalendarViewType=1&SelectedDate=11/30/2025

Andrew Wyeth At Kuerner Farm: Eye of the Earth at the Bradywine Museum of Art

This weekend we visited the Bradywine Museum of Art to view the Andrew Wyeth exhibition, "At Kuerner Farm: The Eye of the Earth".

This exhibition features many well-known works by Wyeth, including preliminary studies that take you into Wyeth's mind during the creative process, most notably for Spring (1978, pictured above).  Additionally, I was pleased to see there were a number of works that have never been publicly displayed.

The last time I viewed a large number of Wyeth's works was in 2017, also at the Brandywine Museum.  On Saturday, I was quickly reminded of how rough and loose many of the studies were, not to mention their sheer size.  In one, Wyeth imagines his own funeral with some scarcely visible graphite figures in attendance, and the composition expands more than 5 feet in both directions.

Wyeth never stops reminding you of death.  In Snow Hill (1989), he bends the earth itself to include the railroad crossing where his father lost his life.  For me, the aforementioned Spring was the haunting show stopper, with Wyeth depicting Karl Kuerner's peaceful transition into oneness with his land.

(above) Study for Spring

The new episode of Light of the Masters provides more of my perspectives on Wyeth and features high resolution details of some of our favorites from the show.

"Andrew Wyeth At the Kuerners: The Eye of the Earth" runs through September 28th 2025 at the Brandywine Museum of Art.