Marc Dalessio is a classically trained naturalistic painter who has established himself as one of the foremost landscape painters working today. He was recently described as the world's best living Plein air painter by Eric Rhoads of Plein Air magazine. Born in 1972 in Los Angeles, California, Marc’s artistic training began at the University of California at Santa Cruz where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in Fine Art. He then moved to Florence, Italy and studied portraiture for four years with Charles Cecil at his atelier. After receiving a full scholarship at Cecil Studios, Marc taught portraiture and landscape painting at the school. He later taught landscape painting for the Florence Academy of Art. Marc currently resides in Estremoz, Portugal where he keeps a large studio with his wife and fellow artist, Tina Orsolic Dalessio. They travel to paint landscapes much of the year and exhibit regularly in the US and in Europe.

See the timestamps below for interview highlights:

12:53 Establishing his career after Florence

15:35 Advice to emerging artists on getting quality training

19:07 The role that drawing plays in his painting career

20:18 How he uses photographs as reference in his landscapes

21:45 Tackling the challenge of painting landscapes over several days (With changes in lighting)

24:57 Marc's palette

27:20: His new philosophy on grinding your own pigments

28:53 The question of Alizarin

30:46 On using photos as reference in portraits and painting with live sitters

32:24: Lighting portraits and painting family groups with children

35:55 His trick for getting children to sit still while posing for a portrait

40:52 His surprising trick for “loosening up” his technique

44:09 His recipe for the medium he paints with

47:47: Technique advice for landscape painters