About the Artist
My name is David Tanner and I’m a representational oil painter. I live and work in Richmond, Virginia. My first love as a painter is depicting the human figure, but I also enjoy plein-air landscape painting and still-life. Here's a video with an overview of my process.
Background & Training:
As a kid, I loved drawing and painting, and thankfully had encouraging parents. When it came time for college, there was no question that I would study art, although what kind of art wasn’t so clear. I had never met anyone who actually made a living as an artist. So, I studied commercial illustration at Virginia Commonwealth University because it seemed like a financially viable career choice in the arts, and got my BFA degree in 1991. After graduating and getting some experience, however, I realized my heart wasn’t in commercial illustration. I wanted to be a traditional painter creating work for galleries, rather than creating ads for corporations.
In my first 10 years out of school, I waited tables while pursuing my painting. Since people were my favorite subjects, I sought commissioned portraits as a way to pay some bills and more importantly, improve my skills through practice. You see, I really didn’t have all that much basic painting instruction from VCU. They were far more interested in concepts, and less so in technique. So I was basically teaching myself post-college.
By the early 2000’s the commissioned portrait work was consistent and I no longer had to wait tables to pay the rent. And even though I was proud of what I had accomplished as self-taught painter, I knew there were many gaps in my learning. The growing atelier movement — learning from master painters in their workshop – came onto my radar, so I decided to check out some of the small painting academies that provide a traditional education in painting the human figure. This type of education was the mainstay of western art until the mid-20th century when abstraction and modernism declared that representational painting was dead.
Between 2003 and 2008, I traveled regularly to study with some superb figurative artists. A few multi-week workshops with Nelson Shanks at his Studio Incaminati in Philadelphia were critical in my development, as were weekly classes with Robert Liberace at the Art League in Alexandria, Virginia. Both teachers coupled an Impressionist approach to seeing color with an academic approach to draftsmanship. For the first time, I was learning solid principles of painting from life. In both experiences, it was gratifying to realize how much I knew already through self-teaching, but also enlightening to understand how I could improve and streamline my process.
There’s a real distinction in my work before and after my training. My work became looser after my training, but ironically more accurate than my earlier, tighter realism. I suppose I was finally learning how to say more with less.
Career:
By 2007, I no longer sought commissioned portraits, and instead focused on paintings for galleries – in particular, painting people of my choosing as subjects of narrative paintings. I fell in love with staging a scene, and finding just the right model for specific themes.
Around this time, plein-air painting became a steady part of my diet. Frequent traveling provided rich opportunities for capturing the light and color of locations in Russia, Italy, Spain, Morocco, and Great Britain. Museum visits abroad gave me the chance to study the work of historic painters I admire, including John Singer Sargent, Joaquin Sorolla, Anders Zorn, Ilya Repin, and other late 19th and early 20th century masters.
I’m fortunate to have some wonderful collectors, many of whom I’ve developed close relationships with. Due to the active patronage of mostly local and regional collectors, I’ve been able to maintain sufficient sales from my home base in Richmond. A rotating display of available paintings hang year-round in my gallery space at Crossroads Art Center. Interested collectors can also visit my studio to see other available paintings. My website and social media presence have prompted a growing number of national and international buyers to collect my work.
It’s also been extremely satisfying to receive peer recognition. Beginning in 2010, my paintings have won awards in national competitions by the Portrait Society of America, PleinAir Salon, The Artist’s Magazine, Raymar Fine Art, and the Boldbrush Painting Competition. Juried national exhibitions include Oil Painters of America, Salon International, Plein Air Richmond, and Sedona Plein Air Festival. Articles on my work have been published in American Artist, Plein Air Magazine, and Fine Art Today, and a television interview was conducted on PBS’ Virginia Currents.
Working Method:
I am happiest and most artistically satisfied when painting from life. Whether in my studio with a model, doing a still-life for a classroom demo, or out in the field painting plein-air, working from life is thrilling. My senses seemed heightened. Frankly, this is when I feel most alive and connected to the world around me.
When time limitations make generalizing essential (like when painting a model or working plein-air) the abstract beauty of the paint is much more likely be evident. Paint can never offer a literal translation of what I’m seeing, but it can create an optic effect that feels not only true, but often poetic.
Many complex paintings require dozens of hours, however, and working from life alone is not an option. In these situations, I’ll work from a combination of sketches painted from life and photos of my subject as my references.
Fun Facts:
I’m a Gemini.
I love old movies.
I love music from the postwar era---Patsy Cline, Elvis, Nat Cole, Rosemary Clooney, and the like.
I’m married to a wonderful guy who’s totally supportive of my work, but long ago stopped accompanying me to art museums because I take too long.
We have two cats and a mortgage.
Click here to watch an interview on PBS "Virginia Currents"
Gallery
A rotating display of available paintings can be seen year-round in my gallery space at Crossroads Art Center (2016 Staples Mill Road, Richmond Va, 23230, Tuesday-Saturday 10-5 pm, Sunday 12-4 pm, Closed Monday).
Collectors can also visit my studio in Richmond's Museum District (by appointment only).
For new work announcements & special offers, sign up for my e-newsletter.
Social Media
Follow me on Facebook and Instagram by clicking the icons at the bottom of this page.
