Rob’s Waterco☺ler

I started this 30 x 40 inch oil painting over a year ago.  It has been sitting on my easel facing the house front window waiting to be finished.  It is pretty bad when my kids tell me thier teachers like the painting in the window (when will it be done…lol).  Well over the holidays I did some substantial finishing to it.  It might be done

Below is the previous version (circa April 2008):

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Friday Night I participated in the Manassas Galley Walk in Old Town Manassas.  I met some wonderful people strolling through the old town on an unseasonably warm November evening.  Sold a nice watercolor/graphite sketch I had done of the old landmark Episcopal Church to the new owners.  They are going to open an international restaurant and cafe in a few months and we are all looking forward to its opening.

I also put together the above clay pot watercolor (12×16 on Arches) and graphite sketch as a demonstration painting.  Not sure I achieved the exact effect I was looking for, but it was fun.  No telling what will come out of these live demos :)  Well see if it warms up on me.

Rob

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Been cooking this one up for over a year.  Sometime in the summer of 2007 I started this Goliath of a watercolor with a mess of hermit crabs all over the place.  I got burnt out on the crabs and it has been sitting unfinished, and taking up my very expensive 18 x 24 watercolor block.  Last weekend it came out of the closet and I saw a real direction to take it.  Sometimes these things just gotta sit for awhile.  Hopefully it does not take over a year on too many unfinished works or I will run into a storage problem sooner, rather than later

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Saturday was the 3rd annual Manassas Art Guild Fine Arts Festival and I did a full sheet (22×30) watercolor demonstration (above).  I used my John Pike tray with tons of Winsor Newton, Maimeriblu and Lukas watercolor paint.  The two interest colors are the turquoise blue which I applied liberally to the background, and Scarlet Lake which I used to gradually deepen the intense orange of the fish (Lemon Yellow base).  The picture conveys a bunch of motion and hopefully brought a smile to many a spectator’s face.  I certainly enjoyed spreading the paint around!

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Today was a absolutely beautiful day for the annual Manassas Fall Jubilee.  Vendors and entertainers lined the streets of Old Town Manassas and provided a wonderful back drop for this 16 x 20 watercolor looking down Center Street towards Battle Street.   A sign of the economy: big crowds, few sales.  People are really hanging onto their money and can’t say I blame them.  Guess it us a good thing that I enjoy the painting side of it much more than the business side.

Rob

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Cassie Updated today (21 Sep 2008) and finished.  I washed some Burnt Sienna and Rose Madder Genuine in to get some red accents and signed it.  Hope I hit the mark.

Slight glare on it because I wrapped it in the acetone bag before taking picutres.  A bad habit….need th think…think…think…!

I started this watercolor today.  There is a story behind the dog, which I will not elaborate on other than she was a good dog, taken too early.  The painting will be a gift for a coworker who is retiring this month and has significant meaning to her.

I painted this on 100 lbs Lana paper.  I really like to sketch on the Lana paper, and it also makes a great substitute for hot pressed watercolor paper.  It is 100% cotton and archival with a surface somewhere between hot and cold pressed, and lightly brushed.  It holds the pigment VERY well and accepts light rework.  I would not push it too far though.  The best thing is it is very warm and inviting, unlike watercolor paper which can be cold.  Since I have a lot of white showing, and did not want a tinting wash, I used it for this painting.

The painting is in an interesting combination of Indian Red, Cadmium Yellow, French Ultramarine Blue, Burnt Sienna, and Rose Madder Genuine.  Tomorrow I will go back at it to add some minor details (leaving it rather loose), and then drop it in a 14 x 18 museum matt, already cut.

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Today I was painting en plein air at the International Children’s Festival with the Northern Virginia Artist League.  We were invited in to be a back drop for the performing arts going on around the park.  We had a good deal of traffic come and go between the events, and the day was fabulous!  I found a nice spot next to a stream and composed a 15 x 22 loose watercolor.  I am happier with the base sketch than I am with the painting.  Might be a defeat snatched from the jaws of victory and end up in the hall of shame, or I might put it through.  Needs contrast and some color simplification…hmmmm.

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Been awhile since I painted in my oils, so I thought I would break them out.  This weekend I ripped a stack of Pannelli cotton panels to 8×10 on my table saw and now have a nice stack to inspire some quick oil and acrylic sketches.  This is from a nice friendly squirrel picture I shot a few years ago and it made a nice subject.  This was done very quickly (about an hour) and kept loose.  I also used the six warm/cool primary palette.

Rob

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Plein Air Painting in the Meadow

Saturday September 13th from 10 a.m. to Noon

5 artists from the The Northern Virginia Artists League (NOVAL) will demonstrate plein air painting, capturing the performers, crowds, and scenery in the Meadow. Plein air painting is done
outside, rather than in a studio, and comes from a French term en plein air, meaning “in the open air.”

The artists are:
Lorrie Herman, Rob Burkhard, Louis Negri, Mary Moon, and Donna Clawson.

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Thought I would drop a quick post in to show what I am currently working on.  This is a 10×14 watercolor inspired from a larger, and incomplete, oil painting I have been working on for some time.  I really have not had much inspiration to work on the unfinished oils this summer.  Saving them for the winter when I am stuck inside is usually best.  Still this painting of a boy fishing on a river bank is inspiring and I did a quick sketch here.  The drawing was done in a hotel while on vacation over the Labor Day weekend, and I am almost finished dropping in the majority of the color.  Now I will let it sit for a few days and make adjustments, as needed.

Of note, is the colors I used.  Besides the standard 6 primaries (3 warms and 3 cools) I also used Burnt Sienna, Naples Yellow (a favorite) and English Red.  I usually don’t like to use the English Red, except on trees because it is very opaque, almost chalk like.   I think it helped bring out some dimension and contrast in the painting though.

Rob

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