The Master and His Art

Richard Schmid is described as a “painter’s painter”—and, oh, what a painter he is. His work is in high demand—as are his books, which include ‘Alla Prima: Everything I Know About Painting,’ which was released in 1998 and is in its 12 printings, and ‘Alla Prima II: Everything I Know About Painting and More,’ which was released in 2013 and currently is in its fifth printing.

“At the time I wrote the first edition of ‘Alla Prima,’ I did not think of myself as a prodigy,” Schmid says, “but I realized I had marvelous training in the key aspects of painting, and I wanted to share the things I was taught about painting with other painters.” Also popular are his books ‘Richard Schmid Paints the Figure’ and ‘Richard Schmid Paints the Landscape,’ both of which he wrote in the 1970s, and he recently complete another book—‘My Still Life Art’—which will be released in December and is, he says, a comprehensive book on his still life paintings.

Still lifes, Schmid says, differ from other subjects in many ways. “Usually, a still life doesn’t look back at me,” he says. “A still life does not move. A still life does not get tired or need a break. A still life does not charge me for posing for my picture. The light for a still life can be precisely controlled.