Picture this: 1960, a young boy is in the outfield playing baseball. As he daydreams, a fly ball bounces past him, his coach and teammates yelling at him to wake up! Now: fast-forward to October 2010, Madrid, Spain. That boy is a grown man and demonstrating painting a portrait outdoors in the gardens of the Museo Sorolla for a group of Spanish and American painters. It is a dream come true for northern Michigan artist William Hosner!

Hosner said: “I was in Montreal, Canada last fall when I met with José del Riego (President of ASPAS, the newly formed pastel society in Spain). José mentioned, “while Spain has a rich tradition of great oil painters from Velázquez forward, pastel was just beginning to come into serious recognition.” That is when I told him I would be in Madrid in October 2010 to teach, study and paint and offered to demonstrate for his group. He was very excited about the idea. It was José’s idea to try and do it in the gardens of the Museo Sorolla. You can’t imagine the excitement I felt when José emailed this summer to say it was a go!” A selection of photos from the demonstration are below. To see more, click here. To watch a video of the afternoon, click here.

Joaquin Sorolla is considered one of Spain’s greatest painters. He often painted outdoors along the ocean, in his home province of Valencia. His work is full of everyday life, natural effects and color. Hosner, whose work is primarily dedicated to the art of plein-air painting, traveled to Madrid in 2008 to study Sorolla’s paintings firsthand. This year he returned with a small group of students to share those and other studies.

While Hosner currently makes his home in a work-live space in Traverse City, he lived in Petoskey for three years prior to that and he considers all of Northern Michigan his home. “I paint where ever I am and the entire north of Michigan is where I do my best work!”

To learn more about Bill’s work and the Café Society Educational Fund, a higher education scholarship that Bill initiated this summer with a show in Petoskey by donating any proceeds from 30 portraits he created of northern Michigan baristas, visit: williamhosner.com and suttonsbaygalleries.com.