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It is always a learning experience meeting up and talking with artist, activist, and teacher, Alex Schaefer.  A self-confessed Red Pill* thinker, Alex provided me with a preview of his upcoming Rancho Santa Fe Art Guild painting demo scheduled for Oct 17th, 2022. 

Personally, I have attended many extraordinary classes and several painting demonstrations conducted by Alex over the years and have learned so much.  I consider him one of my mentors in art.  Alex is a graduate of the ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena.  His professional work as a fine art painter, digital artist, and an art instructor at both CSU Los Angeles and the ArtCenter make him a formidable teacher of the arts.  Alex mixes his skills as an artist, his extensive knowledge of art history and his his vast technical skills to create a thorough and entertaining learning experience. 

We sit down in his studio where he begins to explain the theme of his upcoming demo.  He starts out on the topic of painting from a photograph rather than from life.  As an artist who works both in studio and en plein air, Alex explains why, if one is painting from a photo reference, one should use a computer monitor and not a printout. He also discusses the many new tools available to artists today to view and manipulate these references.  He explains the new technologies and tosses in many references to the work and lives of various famous artists who also used tools to create great masterpieces.  Alex explains his preferred computer programs and how one can use them to get the most accurate rendering of any portrait or scene.  With several finished paintings “because two are better than one”, Alex walks us through his tools – some electronic, some handmade – all to produce an accurate painting in oil colors.

Not all of Alex’s tools are modern.  In addition to a computer, Alex utilizes Antonio Mancini’s graticola. It’s a system of two identical wooden frames, each of which have strings or wires stretched both vertically and horizontally across their middles to create a grillwork of squares.  Alex has taken the use of the graticola to a more modern end, using the tool in the studio but also for the

 use of the graticola for plein air painting.  Mounting one of his handmade versions of the graticola of different sizes on to a tripod, Alex demonstrates the use of the graticola for not only an accurate drawing, but for brush stroke placement.  Rendering this exceptional contraption into a multipurpose tool.  You might think why not just a grid.  Well with just a few strokes of your brush and bye-bye grid.  Also, the graticola allows you to view through on to your subject.  This tool, which you can make on your own once you see it in action is quite the bomb, even though Mancini came up with it 100 years ago.

Antonio Mancini Wikipedia

Mancini's Graticola

With 27.3k Instagram viewers, Alex’s contribution to the art world is considerable.  His art is sought out by many modern collectors and is shown in many galleries in California and on the internet.  His work is not without social commentary.  His burning bank paintings are burning up the NFT art world, with one painting fetching upwards of $25,000.  He contemplates “where is art going today” but continues to use the bit of good from the old ways (let’s talk paint quality) and all the good of today.  So, take a chance and pop a red pill and learn about the modern tools to make your work more precise and accurate.  Don’t miss Rancho Santa Fe Art Guild’s Artist in residence demonstration this Oct. 17th, a must-see for all artist and art patrons alike. Photos, Viewfinders and Values

Alex Schaefer Wikipedia

The Rancho Santa Fe Art Guild presents art demonstrations for members, patrons, and nonmembers.  Seats are limited so call today.  

*The terms "red pill" and "blue pill" refer to a choice between the willingness to learn a potentially unsettling or life-changing truth by taking the red pill or remaining in contented ignorance with the blue pill. The terms refer to a scene in the 1999 film The Matrix