David HETTINGER ~ Still Life ✿

Award winning painter David Hettinger began drawing around the age of 8. His subjects were T.V. and movie cowboys. At age 13 he was given a set of oil paints by Mike Spencer, a local artist who ran the barber shop across from St. Joe's School where Hettinger was a student. Formal art training began at the American Academy of Art in Chicago under Joseph vanden Brouck.

Under Mr. Van, as he was called, Hettinger learned classical realism and the techniques of the Flemish, Dutch and Spanish Masters. After four years at the academy, Hettinger moved to New York City where he studied with David Leffel and Richard Schmid.
During his two years in Leffel's studio he painted still-life's and figures, always working from live models.

He learned the importance of working from life from Schmid and Leffel and to this day attends life drawing sketch groups twice a week to keep his drawing skills fine tuned. Since beginning his career as a professional artist he has had 21 one-man shows in galleries across the country.