Cindy Salaski - Oil Painting with the Masters: Essential Techniques from Todays Top Artists

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PHILLIPS MILL STREAM IN WINTER

George Gallo

Oil on canvas, 48" 60" (122cm 152cm)

KATIE PAINTING

Jeremy Lipking

Oil on linen, 14" 11" (36cm 28cm)

While reading one of my favorite art books, Watercolour Impressions by Ron Ranson, I thought to myself, This is such a wonderful book. Why hasnt someone written one like it featuring the great master oil painters of today? As I continued to turn the pages, admiring one beautiful impressionistic watercolor painting after another, the thought struck me, Why dont I write it?

Like Ranson, I became interested in painting late in life. I became consumed by the beautiful work of the contemporary Impressionists. Great painters like Albert Handell, Kevin Macpherson and Jeremy Lipking fascinated me. I began to search for more oil painters who had this gift, this magic touch. I sought out the great master oil painters of today and I found them.

If youre like me, you aspire to paint like a master. You stand in front of a painting in a museum and say to yourself, If only I could paint like that. You watch a master like Camille Przewodek paint during a workshop and you think, That looks easy. I think I can paint like her. So you try to paint like Przewodek, but you discover that its not as easy as it looks.

You try to do another painting. Once again, its not as good as Przewodeks. You might think, I just dont have any talent. I havent been blessed with the magic touch. Thinking like that is a big mistake. Each one of us possesses that natural gift we assume belongs only to the chosen few.

A strong passion for painting and years of hard work are what made the painters in this book the great masters they are today. Unleash your talent by learning everything you can about composition, values, color, texture and edges, and doing hundreds of paintings following the methods of the masters.

I worked at drawing on and off for years. Copying cartoons from the newspaper or comic books was easy for me. My copies looked exactly like the originals. Yet whenever I tried to draw a portrait of a person, it looked like something a child drew.

Then one day I discovered the book How to Draw Lifelike Portraits from Photographs by Lee Hammond. That discovery led to a big turning point for me. After studying Hammonds book and learning how to use pencil shading and blending, I began drawing portraits that looked like real people.

Ill never forget the day I showed one of my brothers a portrait I did of Pierce Brosnan. He just stared at it and said, You did this? And when I showed it to a cousin, she said, Wow! Cindy, you should be an artist! My confidence grew by leaps and bounds thanks to that book. I became a bit arrogant after that, though, figuring that if drawing was that easy, then painting should be a cinch.

Its been five years since I began painting in oils, and I still havent reached that Wow moment yet. Yes, oil painting has humbled me. But I dont blame my failure on a lack of talent. I blame myself for not scheduling the time to paint every day.

If youre like me, and you havent reached that Wow moment yet, then I encourage you to keep working hard until you do. Once you reach it, the feeling you experience will be one of the most joyous of your life. I know. Ive experienced that feeling, that strong sense of achievement, with my drawings and I cant tell you how I yearn to experience it with my paintings.

If you dont aspire to paint like a master but just want to have fun painting, then Im sure youll also enjoy this book. After all, if you want to learn how to do anything and do it well, its always wise to seek out the best teachers in any given field.

It is my pleasure to present to you twenty of the greatest master oil painters of today. I hope you enjoy the journey you take with them and achieve whatever goals you desire. Keep in mind that persistence and determination are the keys to success. So work hard. Feed your passion. And you, too, can become a master.

Cindy Salaski

SILVER COFFEE URN

C.W. Mundy

Oil on linen, 12" 9" (30cm 23cm)

JANUARY MOONLIGHT

Marc R. Hanson

Oil on linen, 9" 12" (23cm 30cm)

When I judge art, I take my painting and put it next to a God-made object like a tree or flower. If it clashes, it is not art.

PAUL CZANNE

Marc R. Hanson doesnt have to be inspired to paint. Being alive and living with art in my life is enough to keep me painting for the rest of my life. I am constantly curious and interested in exploring the visual qualities of many things, but Mother Nature is my muse. The constantly changing landscape and mood of the natural world is what makes my artistic blood flow.

As a child, Marc enjoyed drawing birds. He was fascinated by them and felt he wanted to spend his life studying them. During college he majored in biology with the goal of becoming an ornithologist. He soon realized his interest in birds was more aesthetic than scientific, so he transferred to the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, where he majored in illustration.