The Art of
William Whitaker
Into the Woods 20 x 20" oil on canvas 1989
Stone Turtle 18x14" oil on canvas 2000
Tabled Roses 12x9" oil on panel 1994
Steamer Trunk oil on canvas 1980
A Season's Dance 16 x 24" oil/ on panel 1986
The Roses of Santa Fe 12 x 9" oil on panel 1991
Performance 20 x 16" oil on canvas 1991
Pathway 20 x 16" oil on canvas 1998
Paranymph 28x22" oil on canvas 1989
The Next Day 30x24" oil on panel 2001
Monarch 14x18" oil on canvas 2001
Member of the Company 12x9" oil on panel
Magic Carpet ; 1981
Dancer 18x15" oil on panel 1997
Treasure 14 x 18" oil on panel 1992
The West Window 16 x 12" oil on panel 1992
The Letter 13.5 x 9" oil on panel 1993
Primary Trio 1984
Island Pathway 12x9" oil on panel 2001
Mandolin Dancer ; 25 x 19" oil on panel 1986
High Brasil 9 x 12" oil on panel 1992
Green Park 1987
Fresh Air
Flight of Fancy 18x14" oil on canvas 2000
Weaver 1983
Portuguese Flying Carpet 14 x 20" oil on panel 1983
Cutty Sark 12x9" oil on panel 1983
Country Quilt 1993 !
Nederlandse 9x12" oil on panel
Plains Portrait 24x18" oil on canvas 2000
Harvest Home 1985
The Concert Artist 12 x 16" oil on panel 1995
Charity's Dance 18 x 24" oil on panel 1992
Caryatid 32 1/2 x 22 1/2" oil on canvas 2000
Cartimandua 1990
Nut Brown and Green 1985
The Open Window 12x9" oil on panel 1993
A Box of Keys 24x16" oil on canvas
Black Irish 24 x 16" oil on panel 1999
Bachianas Brasileiras 16 x 20" oil on panel 1984
The Yellow Dress 24 x 16" oil on canvas 1981
The Water Jar 36 x 24" oil on panel 1977
Vikings Daughter 9 x 12" oil/ on panel 1986
Araucana and Blue Andalusian 22 x 28" oil on panel 1982
A Letter to Alessandra 20x24" oil on panel 2000
Spring Come Again 16x24" oil on panel 2000
A Game of Spoons 12 x 20" oil on panel 1990
A Season at Iosepa 30 x 42" oil on canvas 1983
Holiday and Mountain Home 22 x 28" oil/ on panel 1986
The Lady Abish 12 x 9" oil on panel 1993
About the Artist
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The only son of an artist father, William Whitaker grew up in the special world of the working artist. He had access to the finest art materials and was painting in watercolor and oil at the age of six. His fondest early memories are of the sights sounds and smells of the art studio.
The art world of his childhood and youth was the brave new world of abstract ｅxpression!ism and until he was well out of college his natural inclination to draw accurately and his love for traditional realism was a source of inner conflict. Nevertheless he was fortunate, starting at age 17, to receive a thorough grounding in academic figure drawing and painting from the portrait painter Alvin Gittins at the University of Utah, and after exploring other styles he followed his heart into traditional art.
Whitaker loves to paint from life in an old fashioned studio. No matter what direction his art takes him, he always comes back to the model in the studio, the form bathed in the beautiful quiet cool light coming down from a high north window. He refers to this kind of seeing and painting as the Old Testament of art and feels there is enough magic to engage him there for the rest of his life.
He believes the value of painting is to be found in its spiritual power. Having been told all his life that the kind of painting he enjoys is dead, he takes quiet comfort in lovingly attempting to capture something the camera cannot see. He is also delighted that there are so many wonderfully talented young artists who are not bound or inhibited by contemporary art world conventions and who are out to paint beautifully crafted pictures without apology.
He has been a professional artist since 1965, during which time he has conducted workshops and been a university art professor. He continues to work with one or two advanced student artists for fun. He paints about three or four hours every day ands spends the rest of the time trying not to ruin any good work he's done
Claire Peterson |
drawing by Paul Calle
Whitaker giving a workshop at Brigham Young University, fall 2002.
carlas