Last week I had come to watch 2 videos and it made me realize that I followed a great master and mentor to get me to this place I am today as a fine artist. The 2 videos I watched are posted below and the master I followed and studied when I was in school was Andrew Wyeth and my mentor was the great watercolorist Irving Shapiro.
Having a master that you follow, copy work from, research, and read about is an amazing way to inspire you to further your education and learn a great deal about painting like that master.
Having a mentor to follow and learn from is also an amazing way to speed up your education in learning how to paint because they can take away all stuff that you would have to learn on your own which takes so much more time. A mentor is also a great way to get inspired by and you will feel the need to impress your mentor so you work really hard to achieve a level that your mentor will be proud of!
I also had a few other masters and mentors that I followed... I would say find as many mentors and masters as you can handle, Every master and mentor will give you something to better your painting skills!