About Will Cunningham

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Living in Southern California with his wife and kids, Will volunteers at the Commemorative Air Force in Camarillo, CA, where he helps introduce new members to the CAF and helps run the website. This has provided him with countless opportunities to take photos of, and even ride in, vintage aircraft. It is from these photos that he is inspired to paint, with an impressionistic style, the propellers and aircraft that are the subject of many of his paintings. Of course, he also paints military tanks, as well as familiar California landscapes, buildings, and other subjects.

Will took many art classes in Jr and Sr High School, and also from Santa Barbara City College continuing education program where he learned from Thomas Van Stein, a local artist who paints mostly nocturnal scenes in oil. Learning from Mr. Van Stein was where he started to find his stride and push the envelope of what was to be his style. Also, it was his teacher who first introduced him to the CAF and thus propelled him (pun intended) to paint military aircraft and vehicles. At the time of this writing, Will paints almost completely alla prima - that is, in one sitting. Typically, he'll identify a photo he's taken as the subject of his next work, choose the size of canvas, and when the time is right, he starts painting. A typical painting will take many hours, 4-8 is usual, depending on the size and complexity. Working sometimes well after dark, he usually finishes the work to a degree of 90-95%.

Then, he lets the painting sit for a few days, while he watches it. This allows him to really look at it and decide if more is needed, or changes are required. Often, for a week after the painting is initially done, you can find him picking up the palette knife and making small changes. And rarely, but it does happen, he decides a glaze is required. Using the brush almost exclusively to mass-in the paint, he then switches to his set of palette knives to apply and blend more paint. Mostly, he chooses to not add medium (walnut oil) to the paint, but rather use it straight from the tube, with only a blending of colors done before applying. Too much oil, and sometimes not enough, will cause cracking and over-mixing/blending to happen. Also, you can find that he'll tie in colors around the canvas to excite the eye of the observer.

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