How did you get started painting?

C.H. - When I was in school in Pasadena I lagged behind the other students as I was the only person in my class who had been admitted to school with absolutely no prior painting experience. As hard as I would try I just couldn't grasp the basics of painting. Finally after having enough frustration I decided to sequester myself in my room from Friday afternoon until Monday morning and concentrate on finding a way to paint emerging only to use the bathroom. I found an eccentric technique that worked and the rest began to come together and make sense.

What is your preferred medium. Was/is it difficult for you to adapt? Any mediums you do not like?

C.H. - These days I work mostly in oils, but I like to work in most anything. In the 80s I worked in acrylics. I also paint in resin and encaustic which I find to be weirdly fun.

Do you approach painting any differently now then when you began

C.H. - I am pretty much a dinosaur in my approach to art. I have always drawn them and painted them except in the case of plen air painting where the drawing stage is skipped over and consumed by paint manipulation in the spirit of painting. The only thing that has changed in my narrative art is the final medium that I use. I no longer use acrylics.

What do you look for in a painting when admiring others work.

C.H. - I look for the signature to see if it can be easily removed and replaced with my own

Where did you go to art school?

C.H. - I started at Southern Oregon University. I went there principally as a member of the wrestling team. That was hell! I challenge anyone to be an artist in a wrestling room. I eventually ended up at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena CA.

What was your first payed painting job?

C.H. - It was a monster on note book paper. In the fifth grade I had a thriving business and actually earned silver, nickels and dimes by drawing an assortment of creatures for other students. As time went on I earned much more silver but have since returned to my fifth grade income level.

How did you start at Willardson & White

C.H. - The primary reason that I was hired on at W/W was due in large part to my tenacious ability to be a pest. Much more so than any of my artistic abilities. Six months earlier had graduated with honors from the Art Center. I had done magazine illustrations in my final terms and felt that I would have a promising career once I graduated only to find that I could not get anything anywhere. So I worked in concrete construction in an effort to support my family. When I got wind of a studio that was being established by two legendary illustrators I became relentless in my harassment seeing this as my final chance.

Have you ever had or do you get writers block (painters block), and how do you work through it?

C.H. - Once in a great while This happens to me but not often. When one does this for a living you have no choice but work through it as deadlines are not about to change for one's mood swings and clients don't care about your painter's block, nor should they. I find that a ball hammer to the head usually does the trick

What do art schools NOT teach that you think they should

C.H. - You must remember that when I went to school it was a time when the earth had just cooled and strange creatures of all sorts roamed freely on the plain. Back then I would have wished for more business related classes.

Not everyone can paint like you the 1st time they pick up a brush, What should people focus on?

C.H. - Since drawing is the foundation, I advise every one to carry a sketch book. Sketch from observation, from imagination, from photographs, etc. Just draw. Then I would paint in values not color. When using oils olive green and white are a good combination when mixed to make a value scale. When moving forward to color I would have an understanding of the color wheel, a basic knowledge of the Golden Section and paint as though you are stuck in practice mode for awhile. Don't try and paint masterpieces yet, just paint to refine your skills, make your paintings to throw away or give away. These paintings will serve as your foundation to bigger and better things. Always think of yourself as a life time student.

Your wife is a sculptor, has her style influenced you, and what have you taken away from her work that has helped your own?

C.H. - My wife, Jan is a tremendous talent. Lately she and I have been collaborating on artworks and that has pumped new energy in my work. The one really striking aspect about Jan's work is her abiity to really think outside of the box and take her art in many different directions. She is also a superb craftsman who has invented and established many of her own techniques and processes.

Who are some of your favorite artists, living or dead?

C.H. - Brangwyn, Dean Cornwell, Thomas Clement Coll, Thomas Moran. John Singer Sargent, J.w. Waterhouse, Cowper Herbert Draper, J.C. Leyendecker, C.W. Mundy, Norman Rockwell, Mick McGinty, David Darrow, Dan Gerhartz, Michael Dudash, Philip Howe, Maxfield Parrish, George Bellows, John Henry Twatchman, Max Ernst, Mian Situ, Illia Repin, Valentin Serov, Nicolai Fechin, The list goes on and on...

What is your favorite painting you have done?

C.H. - That painting is probably in the future

Have you done any paintings that have become famous?

C.H. - I don't believe that I have painted anything particularly famous however I still receive email and other correspondence in regard to the Styx Paradise Theater album cover art and the album cover art for Oingo Boingo Only A Lad. I find this is both funny and disturbing since I painted that art 27 years ago and I would have hoped that I would have improved since then however old theater fans and Styx fans really aren't interested in anything else that I may have painted. I have also done theme art for Super Bowls 20, 21, and 23 and the movie marquee art for "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom"

What inspires you?

C.H. - Inspiration is simple. I have always loved to draw and when I learned to paint that was every bit as addictive as drawing. I like the idea of being a life time student.