I study painting and composition for its own sake, and in this program I am pursuing it from a narrative or pictorial stance, much as did earlier artists, and doing so in contemporary terms. Distinguished examples of illustrators could include such artists as Raphael, Michelangelo, Rembrandt and Rubens, and modern practitioners such as Wyeth and Baskin. The illustrator needs not only control of his means, but also other qualities in addition to those of a studio painter. He needs an imagination that will allow portrayal of scenes and viewpoints that can't be arranged in a studio. The artist's memory and invention are primary requisites for illustrations involving distant times and places.