Learn from some of the all-time best artists with the help of four painting exercises demonstrated by Susan Abbott.

This article is featured in the September/October 2022 issue of “The Artists Magazine.” A digital issue is available to members for free and is available for non-members to purchase.

Recently I was lucky enough to take a trip to visit museums, something I’ve missed doing over the last few pandemic years.At the National Gallery of Art, in Washington, D.C., I wandered past a painting by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (1796–1895) of an Italian woman posed in front of a landscape, did a double take and stopped in my tracks. When I was in art school, my teacher Israel Hershberg took our class to the National Gallery to copy the masters. I had painted a copy of Agostina then, standing at my easel for hours studying every color and brushstroke. Now, many years later, greeting her like a long-lost friend, I was grateful for all she’d taught me about Corot’s technique and palette and about composition and drawing. I learned from Agostina just how much long-gone artists can teach us.

You may not have had the chance to copy a work in a museum, but there are many other ways you can learn from great painters and then translate those insights to your own work. Here are some of my favorite private lessons from the masters that I’ve tried myself and shared with students. For these exercises, you can work from postcards, photocopies or art books.

Composition Study

This exercise will give you practice in seeing the big picture rather than picky details. Start by finding a reproduction of a painting that has a composition you find interesting. Draw the outside edges of the painting (the format) as accurately as possible, which you can do most easily by measuring the sides of the rectangle so that the composition is in proportion. Now loosely sketch the main shapes, using two colors of pen or pencil for more contrast if you like. Note where important lines hit the edges of the format box and pay attention to the in-between negative spaces that look like puzzle pieces. Start with the biggest areas and work down to the smaller sections, keeping your drawing loose and leaving out details. Feel free to jot down thoughts and feelings about the painting. How did the artist create movement and balance? What appeals to you most about the composition?

You can use the same master work for more than one study. Besides providing great insights into composition, Weyden’s Descent “From the Cross,” with its strong color shapes, has a lot to teach regarding color triads. Once again, start this lesson by drawing the format proportions as accurately as you can. Then pick a red, a yellow and a blue pigment that look similar to the main colors in your reference. For my copy, I used a triad of ultramarine blue, cadmium red and Hansa yellow. This study helped me see how the strong blue, red and gold shapes create contrast that heightens the tension of the composition. As you paint, simplify shapes rather than getting caught up in details. Mix any colors you want to include with your triad, but don’t worry if you can’t get exact matches; you’re making your own interpretation in your own style. Also, consider the color choices the artist made. Are colors repeated to move the eye around the painting, or do they stand alone as focal points? Is the color composition warm and energetic, or do cool colors give the painting a peaceful, calm feeling?

Temperature Study

In this exercise you’ll explore a master painting while keeping an eye toward color temperature, a powerful tool that’s sometimes overlooked by students. Painters use temperature to create contrast, set a mood and even suggest space (warms push forward and cools recede). To begin, pick a reproduction with a mostly brown and blue palette. You’ll most easily find this color predominance in a painting from the 1800s or earlier. Draw the format dimensions as accurately as you can, then do a quick sketch within it of the main lines of the composition. Use just two colors: Paint warm shapes in brown and cool shapes in blue. I like to use quinacridone sienna and ultramarine blue because they have a wide temperature contrast. As you paint, don’t worry about being exact. Remember, you’re experimenting rather than making exact copies. Do you see places where the artist created forward and backward movement with warm and cool contrasts? Are there areas where the two colors mix into “warmish” or “coolish” light or dark values? Is the composition mostly warm or cool?

This exercise of abstracting the palette of a master painting is a favorite of mine for exploring the possibilities offered by a particular color composition. First, choose a reproduction with a wide range of hues. Then draw a grid with 16 squares. Mix the main colors you see in your reference and paint each one in a square. Analyze the colors in the grid. Do you see a warm color theme that includes yellow, orange, and red—or maybe a cooler scheme of blue, violet and magenta? Are there complementary color pairings? Are there any colors the artist didn’t use? Take this exercise one step further and shake up your color habits by painting your own composition with this palette.

You’re in good company when you draw inspiration and ideas from the work of past artists. Degas, Van Gogh, Picasso and many others have done the same. Experimenting with master painters as our guides is a wonderful way to learn from the best teachers that art history has to offer and, at the same time, jump-start your creativity by looking at old, familiar things in new, less common ways.

Susan B. Abbott

Susan B. Abbott earned an MFA from the Maryland Institute, College of Art and exhibits her paintings widely in galleries and museums. To see more of her work plus her class schedule, visit susanabbott.com. Follow her on Instagram @susanabbott_art.