THOMASTON – We’ve all had that desire to take up a brush and canvas at one time or another in our lives. But where do you start? Some do follow through and decide to take a class to get started.

Ronald Frontin is an accomplished painter. His portraits hang in state houses and private estates. He also helps people get started by conducting classes twice a week at Thomaston’s American Legion Post 37 on Starr St. in Thomaston.

“What I’m trying to do is take the process of painting out of the mix,” said Frontin. “Get them to understand what they need to do first, second and third and so on. And then what they do with that information makes them their own artist.”

Frontin made the analogy that painting is similar to building a house.

“To build a house there are certain things everybody has to do,” he said. “You have to dig a hole and build a foundation an on and on. Then what you do to finish that is what makes your building different then somebody else’s. It’s the same thing with art, it’s very similar.”

To learn to paint you have to learn to see, Frontin explained.

“It’s amazing how little we observe” said Frontin. “I try to get people to paint what they see and not what they know. There are different ways of doing that and I set them all up for a fall so they understand their shortcomings. Once they understand what they need to know, we build from there. I can teach you to paint, but I can’t make you an artist.”

Frontin said all you need is a desire, and that if you’ve never held a paint brush in your life, that’s probably a good thing.

“There’s a lot of misinformation out there,” he said. “And a lot of people have seen too many books and listened to too many rules. If all that is floating around in your head it’s actually a hindrance and not a help.”

Frontin said sometimes he will use a model for his class, sometimes they will paint still life and sometimes they will go outdoors and paint on location.

Frontin said he can’t really put a number for the people who take the class.

“I have a revolving base,” he said. “There’s maybe 35 to 40 enrolled, but at any one given time there might be between 15 and 20.”

There is a Monday night class that goes from 5 p.m. to 7:30 or 8 p.m. During this class Frontin will paint in front of the students while they observe and ask questions, noting what he sees and does.

On Thursdays the class will run from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. For this class the students paint and Frontin goes from person to person, working address their problems as they emerge.

Frontin said Thursday’s all-day class runs $23.

“This is not a money making venture for me by any stretch of the imagination,” he said. “It pays the rent on the building and that’s about it. It used to cost me $200 a month just to teach. Obviously I’m not a great business man, but this is not a business, this is sharing information and helping those who want to learn.”

Frontin has been painting since he was in fifth grade. His most recent gallery showing was in Philadelphia and revolved around the artist Nelson Shanks.

John Nelson Shanks was an American artist and painter. His best known work is probably his portrait of Diana, Princess of Wales, completed in 1996.

“The show was about a year ago,” said Frontin. “About a dozen artists were chosen who he influenced and they, in turn, are influencing painters today.”

Frontin said he would describe his style as being realist to a certain degree. Frontin said he’s not a photo-realist, but his paintings look realistic even though he takes liberties that the observer may not understand.

“Like Andrew Wyeth, he’s considered a realist,” he said. “but when you look at his paintings a lot of times he would eliminate a lot of information because it suited his needs. He would have a house and instead of putting six windows, he would put two. You can’t say he’s a slave to reality, but he’s a realist. I think I follow in the same steps.”

Though Frontin never worked under Andrew Wyeth, the two were good friends.

“Andrew was a great friend of mine,” he said. “He would come to my studio and pick me apart,” he said. “Then he would invite me to his studio so I could do the same.”