So many of these short biographies were familiar to my growing up as a 2nd generation Italian --and at the same time different. The varied experiences due to time, place and background give lie to the south of Italy stereotypes. Also interesting were the varied perceptions of these people as they grew up as to minority status vs. pride of ancestry. Would like to see update on these people and others. A fine job but would have liked longer pieces with more detail--oh, well, don't we always

I bought this book in hardcover when it first came out. I simply love it. The essays by famous Italian-Americans are concise, yet filled with lovely anecdotes and things all Italian-Americans can relate to. Two of my adult children have recently discovered it and also loved learning a little about their heritage and more about how their mother grew up.

This book should have been titled "My Method Of Painting". David Leffel is famous american painter who makes no secret of his admiration for Rembrandt and Chardin. His thoughts, hints and pieces of advice collected here are helpful and valuable, particulary to those beginners and intermediate painters who want to paint in the manner of Van Rijn. Or Leffel.
If one prefer style of some other great painter - say Titian, Vermeer, Bouguerau..., he might be somewhat dissapointed.
I admit that I expected elaborate account on the basics of the painting technique: recipes for mediums, ground and varnishes, the way the pigments behave in mixtures, how to achieve certain effects, what is recommendable and what should be avoided in painting - that sort of thing.
For the truth sake, it should be emphasized that due to the fact that this book was not written by Mr. Leffel himself, no wonder it isn't as systematic and comprehensive as one might expect from such a prominent painter.
Yet, what may confound an aspiring artist even more are contradictory pieces of advice like this:
"Make your light strong so the viewer doesn't look at the shadow" vs. "Make the shadow on your objects more vivid"
Or:
"To make something look darker, make the light next to it look lighter" vs. "If something looks dark and you want to lighten it, see how much light you can put in an adjacent area."
(Of course, these quotations were not culled from the same page)
In addition, most of the reproductions here are out of focus. In a painting technique book, high quality illustrations are essential. Whoever photographed Mr. Leffel's paintings should have visited ophtalmologist first.
In a nutshell - by purchasing this book an art student can't go wrong, but there are better ones; for instance Vernon Blake's "Creative Color For The Oil Painter".

OK, so the title of this review got cut off. It should read: "My secrets of how to read 'Oil painting secrets from a master.'"

Anyway, how in the world that a book could get excellent reviews in some comments, yet was claimed to be a disappointment in others? Here is the truth, as I see it.

THIS IS A BOOK ON OIL PAINTING TO OWN; and I say this based on my experience reading a considerable number of art books (see my "About You Area" for your info), as well as my own oil painting experience.

To keep it as short as possible, the following are facts and my opinions.

1) The artist: David A. Leffel is a realist artist, his style will certainly reminds the readers of Rembrandt's, you know, "the Old Master's".

2) To oil painting beginners: This book is NOT meant for beginners. Instead of giving this book a poor review, readers may be better off keeping it for future reference, when their painting skills up to par.

3) To others: This is what are covered in the book in extended bullet point format:
- Artistic thinking: on seeing, the concept
- Painting process: materials, brushstroke techniques, chiaroscuro (light/dark), massing, painting procedures, planes
- Basic advice: light and shadow, values, edges, color, painting still lifes, painting portraits, painting backgrounds
- General observations: comments on painting, attitudes that can hold you back.
For the demos, close-ups (from final painting) are shown to express points in case.

Here are my additional view:
- Mr. Leffel is one of the great names in contemporary American art (read my other reviews should you wonder what other great names may be). His open-minded and humble attitude towards painting and the learning process is very easy to connect, in my opinion, to individuals who love painting for the love of it. These individuals include those who go through painstaking efforts to ever improve their skills.

- This book is very enjoyable and profound. Advice and "secrets" (for those who love "shortcuts", or as I see them, "how an experienced, professional artist would do it - there are NO secrets, THEY ARE JUST GOOD SOLUTIONS THAT FIT YOUR STYLES AND SKILLS) like those in this book are valuable tricks of the trade.

My hat off to the artist (although I rarely wear one), and above all, let's get one thing straight: this book is a FIVE-STAR!

STRONGLY RECOMMENDED!

While I highly recommend this book it is not a text so much as a compilation of notes. In many ways, it is like reading the written comments of a talented painting instructor compiled and organized into chapters. Thus, there are some gaps and apparent contradictions just as you might expect in any compilation of the oral comments of an instructor simply expressing his views as he lectures and critiques students.