In this painting, Gambrel Barn, artist Camille Przewodek's colorist leanings are clear in the broad swaths of pigment she uses to create form. The overall effect is subtle and atmospheric.

If I have a single regret about attending American Artist’s Weekend With the Masters this past September, it is that I couldn’t be everywhere at once. Multiple times throughout the four days of the event, I found myself asking other participants something like, “You did what? Where?!” Because while I was watching a riveting painting demonstration by Quang Ho or listening to a group of artist-instructors discuss the future of realism, other great workshops and lectures were going on as well. I just couldn’t be everywhere I wanted at once.

Painting Workshop With the Masters is our newest publication that makes sure I am in "the know" on art instruction no matter where it happens, from coast to coast. It is dedicated to sharing the teachings, artwork, and resources of America’s top traditional-art practitioners. I’ve been flipping through this special issue, which can only be purchased on newsstands or on our store website, again and again, discovering new ideas and enlightening takeaways just about every time I open it.

I wanted to share some of these tips with you, so here are my top five highlights from Painting Workshop With the Masters—things I could have learned in person if only I could figure out how to clone myself.

#1: Painter Jeremy Lipking’s palette is a piece of glass resting on unfinished pine. On it he has warms and cools of the primaries, plus a few helpful additions, including compose green and a light-blue he mixes from ultramarine blue, alizarin crimson, and titanium white, which he uses to depict cool natural light.

	Jeremy Lipking's palette is relatively simple, including cool and warm hues of the primaries.

#2: Artist Camille Przewodek traces her painting lineage all the way back to Monet via Charles Hawthorne and Henry Hensche of the Cape Cod School of Art. “Hensche kept the Impressionist movement alive during the Abstract Expressionist period,” she says. “But he modified the Impressionist method by using big, flat color notes to create form, instead of laying notes of stippled colors next to one another.”

#3: Esteemed artist Philip Pearlstein started painting the nude a radically new fashion in the 1960s. He evaluated the figure with a dispassionate eye, employing offhand poses and hard-edged linearity with no trace of sensuality.

#4: Daniel Graves, founder of The Florence Academy of Art, finds that when painters are being trained and learning their craft, they should eschew photographs. “Realist painting is inspired by nature,” Graves says. “By using photos and removing yourself from direct observation, I believe you are making things more difficult … But making art is a different matter; artists should use whatever means are at their disposal so long as it supports their ambition to make great paintings.”

#5: Susan Lyon tells students that if a model’s face is not directly level with yours, the nose will be foreshortened. Artists often don’t take this angle into account, then they measure incorrectly and draw the nose too long.

All that from Painting Workshop With the Masters? Maybe I’ll skip the body-doubling and just keep the magazine on hand at all times. It is a great resource for anyone who wants to brush up on the great art instruction and latest practices of esteemed artists all over the country. Enjoy!

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