May 5, 2021 - I never met Richard Schmid,  but I really wish I had. I was peripherally aware of his work for a long time, mainly through ads for through prints of his work published in the 80s and 90s through the Greenwich Workshop. It was not until the publication of his great book “Alla Prima- Everything I Know About Painting”  that I sat up and paid attention. This influential book, the result of several years of planning and a lifetime of knowledge, has since become the bible of numerous realist painters.  I have found his book to be a fountain of usefull practical knowledge and great quoteable quotes. For example: Even Mozart occasionally listened to his father. I regard my disasters as invitations to learn more. Painting is by definition a discretionary act and its latitude for…