Alain PicardFEATURE ARTIST APRIL 2019
Alain J. Picard is an award-winning artist, instructor, author and speaker. His acclaimed pastel and oil paintings have been exhibited throughout the US, Europe, China and the UK. Alain travels internationally as an art instructor, demonstrator, speaker and artistic advocate for the vulnerable.
Alain’s work and writing have been featured on numerous occasions in such publications as The Artist's Magazine, The Pastel Journal, and Practique des Arts. In an effort to share his passion for art, Alain has written three instructional books, including “Mastering Pastel” and “Beginning Drawing,” and stars in a growing collection of instructional art videos. Alain has lectured and demonstrated for The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Arts Club in New York City, Vose Galleries in Boston, MA, the IAPS Convention in Albuquerque, NM, and the Biennial International Pastel Art Exhibition at Ming Gallery in Suzhou, China. Alain has garnered top awards in esteemed exhibitions, including the Pastel Society of America, The American Artists Professional League, Hudson Valley Art Association, the Portrait Society of America, and the International Association of Pastel Societies (IAPS). He is a judge and juror of international exhibitions, and a sought-after portrait artist and landscape painter. He makes his home in Connecticut with his wife and two sons |
Alain Picard
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PSST: As an international artist of note, your style is influenced by fine art masters, including Edgar Degas, John Singer Sargent, and Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida as described in your page for Wikipedia. In workshops and artist demonstrations, you teach artists the keys to success for the painterly style.
As a young artist, what was most influential in the development of your current way of working in pastel and of your art style? Was there a particular moment at which you knew you would become a professional painter? Alain Picard: I always smile when I get questions about my early development as an artist, because becoming a painter was not my original intention. The truth is, my boyhood dream was to become a left-handed pitcher in the major leagues. I wore those baseball blinders all the way into my college years. It wasn’t until my sophomore year that I discovered it wasn’t going to happen for me, that I didn’t have what it takes to “go pro” as an athlete. Looking back though, art class was always my favorite course at school, and drawing was a hobby I really enjoyed. I just didn’t pay enough attention to this talent growing up. But when my college baseball coach broke the news to me that I wasn’t going to be draft material, it wasn’t long before I came to my senses and resolved that I would need a new dream to chase after. That’s when serendipity struck. I happened to be taking an elective drawing class at the time, and my drawing instructor grew frustrated with me. Essentially, she was upset with my lack of investment in what she perceived to be an unusual drawing talent. We were reviewing an assignment that I had just finished, and she remarked while pointing at my work, “What are you doing with this talent? You could teach this drawing class right now!” |
Apsara Dancer - 18x12
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That comment really startled me and woke me up, so I decided it would be a good idea to pursue a major in art. I really didn’t know what that could mean vocationally though. No one in my life was a professional artist, and I needed guidance. So I transferred the following year to Western Connecticut State University where I could continue to play on the college baseball team, while also declaring an art major. The first thing I did was to line up a meeting with the Chair of the Art Department. I dragged my portfolio of high school and early college art projects in for review.
That’s when I met my next mentor, Abe Echevarria. He was from Spanish Harlem, and had a successful career as a book illustrator in New York, before moving to CT to raise his family and becoming an art professor. Abe encouraged me to declare a major in Illustration because of my drawing ability. I was looking for direction, and he was an amazing artist, so I did what he said.
It was Abe who first exposed me to the great illustrators of the early 20thCentury like N.C. Wyeth, J.C. Leyendecker, Norman Rockwell and Howard Pyle. They were all extraordinary painters in their own right, with an incredible facility for bold brushwork. Abe guided me toward a love for loose, painterly work. He also introduced me to the work of his own Spanish hero, Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida. I fell in love with this loose, bold style. He had impeccable taste, and nurtured me along the right creative path during this early stage. It was later as a young professional that I migrated toward being a portrait painter and gallery artist and stopped illustrating.
As far as working in pastel is concerned, I was required to buy a set of Rembrandt pastels for my figure drawing class during my junior year of college to capture quick figure studies from life, in color. This is where I first began to use the medium and fell in love with its immediacy. I loved working in oil as well, but over the years I have fallen more and more in love with pastel. It always felt like home as a medium, so familiar, so personal. I just love it.
That’s when I met my next mentor, Abe Echevarria. He was from Spanish Harlem, and had a successful career as a book illustrator in New York, before moving to CT to raise his family and becoming an art professor. Abe encouraged me to declare a major in Illustration because of my drawing ability. I was looking for direction, and he was an amazing artist, so I did what he said.
It was Abe who first exposed me to the great illustrators of the early 20thCentury like N.C. Wyeth, J.C. Leyendecker, Norman Rockwell and Howard Pyle. They were all extraordinary painters in their own right, with an incredible facility for bold brushwork. Abe guided me toward a love for loose, painterly work. He also introduced me to the work of his own Spanish hero, Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida. I fell in love with this loose, bold style. He had impeccable taste, and nurtured me along the right creative path during this early stage. It was later as a young professional that I migrated toward being a portrait painter and gallery artist and stopped illustrating.
As far as working in pastel is concerned, I was required to buy a set of Rembrandt pastels for my figure drawing class during my junior year of college to capture quick figure studies from life, in color. This is where I first began to use the medium and fell in love with its immediacy. I loved working in oil as well, but over the years I have fallen more and more in love with pastel. It always felt like home as a medium, so familiar, so personal. I just love it.
PSST: Congratulations on the selection of “African Princess” for the International Association of Pastel Societies 33rd Juried 2018 Web Show. Seeking further about your art, this image appears among your series Reflections of Hope from travels to Rwanda and other mission areas overseas.
Does this particular painting hold significant meaning for you? What is the most important aspect of a painting or drawing series?
Alain Picard: Yes, I would say this painting does hold a special meaning to me. My wife, Mirjam, and I travelled to Rwanda together back in September of 2005, It was my second trip to Rwanda that year. We were leading a team of young adults from our church in partnership with World Relief.
We met Evelyn, that was her name, in Ruhengeri while serving with World Relief deep in the northern hills of Rwanda close to the Congolese border. We were working alongside her and others from her community there, while building a clay brick house for one of their elderly. She stole our heart immediately, and my wife, who is a wonderful photographer, actually captured some beautiful photo reference of her that day. Evelyn was the leader of the kids in her neighborhood; make no mistake, she was in charge.
I’ve painted a few different portraits of Evelyn with her banana leaf crown propped up on her head since that trip over 13 years ago. I think about her often, and where she might be now as a grown woman. My hope and prayer is that she has found opportunity. But honestly, I don’t know. It’s been a real passion project to explore cultures like Rwanda and Cambodia that have survived the horrors of genocide, along with many other difficulties of developing nations.
I’m compelled to find the beauty that lies on the other side of the brokenness, which they’ve encountered through poverty and injustice, and to help others see and value that beauty as well. I continue to work on these paintings from my “Reflections of Hope” collection. I imagine it will be a lifelong project, leading to other interesting places and cultures worthy of our celebration.
Does this particular painting hold significant meaning for you? What is the most important aspect of a painting or drawing series?
Alain Picard: Yes, I would say this painting does hold a special meaning to me. My wife, Mirjam, and I travelled to Rwanda together back in September of 2005, It was my second trip to Rwanda that year. We were leading a team of young adults from our church in partnership with World Relief.
We met Evelyn, that was her name, in Ruhengeri while serving with World Relief deep in the northern hills of Rwanda close to the Congolese border. We were working alongside her and others from her community there, while building a clay brick house for one of their elderly. She stole our heart immediately, and my wife, who is a wonderful photographer, actually captured some beautiful photo reference of her that day. Evelyn was the leader of the kids in her neighborhood; make no mistake, she was in charge.
I’ve painted a few different portraits of Evelyn with her banana leaf crown propped up on her head since that trip over 13 years ago. I think about her often, and where she might be now as a grown woman. My hope and prayer is that she has found opportunity. But honestly, I don’t know. It’s been a real passion project to explore cultures like Rwanda and Cambodia that have survived the horrors of genocide, along with many other difficulties of developing nations.
I’m compelled to find the beauty that lies on the other side of the brokenness, which they’ve encountered through poverty and injustice, and to help others see and value that beauty as well. I continue to work on these paintings from my “Reflections of Hope” collection. I imagine it will be a lifelong project, leading to other interesting places and cultures worthy of our celebration.
Dawning of a New Day - 20x36
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PSST: In teaching your fellow artists, what are the most common struggles in making art? Do you have specific advice for pastel painters in selecting study guides or materials?
Alain Picard: Wow, where do I start! I would say, after listening to so many artists share their struggles and working alongside them to encourage their development, a very common problem that artists face is how to find their creative voice or their personal style. We often question our own approach, and don’t think we have something unique to share with others. So I have begun to share as much encouragement as I am able by video on YouTube and other vehicles, to spur artists on to believe that they have something wonderful inside worth sharing. We work toward helping them cultivate their creative voice through authentic, vulnerable, and consistent practice. I share a ton of practical and technical helps with fellow artists in these videos to ensure they can feel confident about the tools and techniques they use to accomplish their work. But the more important challenge, and much more difficult to accomplish, is to empower artists to nurture that authentic voice that is within them, and allow it to come out. |
Noelle - 16x12
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PSST: Pastel Journal lists a number of classes, workshops, and demonstrations of your pastel painting techniques, including at IAPS Convention, June 7, 2019, 8-10 am, “Celebrating Beauty and Diversity Through Pastel”, a live model portrait demonstration. You are holding pastel workshops around the US, as well as a painting retreat in Southern France in 2020.
With these examples in mind, along with your many other classes and demos coming up for 2019-2020, how do you keep yourself healthy and fit for working away from home? What are you most enjoying about this busy time in your career?
Alain Picard: I have a wonderful wife of almost 18 years marriage now, and two great sons that are 12 and 9. I love to be with them at this important stage of life. But I also consider it a joy and an honor to share this creative journey with others.
My wife Mirjam and I actually run the art business together, she does all the workshop scheduling and knows exactly where I ought to be at any given time. So our basic agreement is that I am not away for more than a week a month. We try very hard to avoid booking two big trips within the same month for instance. This allows me to be present at home and participating in family life. This balance has worked pretty well.
I love the opportunity to travel, seeing new places and meeting artists all over the world. It’s life-giving to me. When travel plans open up in Europe though, we try to arrange for the whole family to go overseas; my wife is German, and we have family to visit there. When we head over to France, we plan to be together there as a family.
I am really enjoying the opportunity to share the joy of pastel painting with artists throughout the world at this stage of life. It’s my mission to reveal beauty through art and help others develop their creative potential. I consider it a gift from God to be able to live out this mission with passion as an art instructor. YouTube, social media and the wonders of the Internet have brought the worldwide pastel community so much closer together. It’s a very unique time in history to be an artist. I am very grateful.
With these examples in mind, along with your many other classes and demos coming up for 2019-2020, how do you keep yourself healthy and fit for working away from home? What are you most enjoying about this busy time in your career?
Alain Picard: I have a wonderful wife of almost 18 years marriage now, and two great sons that are 12 and 9. I love to be with them at this important stage of life. But I also consider it a joy and an honor to share this creative journey with others.
My wife Mirjam and I actually run the art business together, she does all the workshop scheduling and knows exactly where I ought to be at any given time. So our basic agreement is that I am not away for more than a week a month. We try very hard to avoid booking two big trips within the same month for instance. This allows me to be present at home and participating in family life. This balance has worked pretty well.
I love the opportunity to travel, seeing new places and meeting artists all over the world. It’s life-giving to me. When travel plans open up in Europe though, we try to arrange for the whole family to go overseas; my wife is German, and we have family to visit there. When we head over to France, we plan to be together there as a family.
I am really enjoying the opportunity to share the joy of pastel painting with artists throughout the world at this stage of life. It’s my mission to reveal beauty through art and help others develop their creative potential. I consider it a gift from God to be able to live out this mission with passion as an art instructor. YouTube, social media and the wonders of the Internet have brought the worldwide pastel community so much closer together. It’s a very unique time in history to be an artist. I am very grateful.
Radiance - 10x18
UPCOMING WORKSHOPS at this link:
April 1-5, 2019, The Painterly Landscape & Portrait
Five-Day Workshop, Greenville, New York. Hudson River Valley Art Workshops.
May 3-4, 2019, The Painterly Landscape
Two-Day Workshop, Westerville, Ohio. Friday and Saturday 9:30am-4:30pm.
May 18, 2019 The Painterly LandscapePlein-Air Workshop, Florence Griswold Museum, Old Lyme, Connecticut. Saturday 9:30am-4:30pm.
April 1-5, 2019, The Painterly Landscape & Portrait
Five-Day Workshop, Greenville, New York. Hudson River Valley Art Workshops.
May 3-4, 2019, The Painterly Landscape
Two-Day Workshop, Westerville, Ohio. Friday and Saturday 9:30am-4:30pm.
May 18, 2019 The Painterly LandscapePlein-Air Workshop, Florence Griswold Museum, Old Lyme, Connecticut. Saturday 9:30am-4:30pm.