MAG Artist’s Blog

I am back from North Carolina and not to be out done by Michele in Paint! Manassas, I am busy painting the town away, so to speak.  Above is a watercolor and graphite sketch of the Manassas Old Presbyterian Church I have been messing with tonight.  I started this as an 11×14 very wet-in-wet painting and then have been attacking it with an 8b pencil.  After it dries completely I might go back at it with a harder H pencil and scratch out some whites.  It might not amount to anything but is was sure fun to put together!

Rob Burkhard

 Not to be outdone (yeah, right) by that pesky Rob, I have now started more paintings for “Paint! Manassas” than I can count. But will I finish any of them in time? The suspense is killing me…. michele frantz
 

May 10, the day of the long-awaited “paint-out” which officially kicked off our 2nd annual “Paint! Manassas.” Alas, the weather did not favor us; damp and windy. As a result, not as many people in town as we hoped. Still, about 2 dozen artists braved the chill and rain to begin their creations, and I managed to inflict about 30 flyers on unsuspecting gogglers. They all seemed happy to receive one.

Our friends from the Northern Virginia Art League (NOVAL) joined us; that’s Lorrie Herman and Mary Moon painting Center Street, above, while below left Lou Negri chats with a group of curious visitors. Meanwhile, below right, I took a stab at painting the walkway between West and Battle…..

     (Click on the little images to see them larger….)

I have my misgivings about this painting, the only thing I’ve conveyed properly so far is how dark and stormy the sky looked while I stood there. (And me just recovering from a cold.) Below left, this little quick study of the Manassas Battlefield is turning out a lot better, and call me crazy, but below right may be — my next subject???? So cute!

Anyway, many thanks to all the intrepid artists who braved the raw weather in order to kick off Paint! Manassas. On to the exhibit on May 31!

– michele frantz, shows coordinator

It rained today.  I started off with Selina, from the Manassas Art Guild, in Clifton Virginia and I fully intended to finish my Old Clifton General Store painting.  Did I mention that it rained today?  No sooner did I get my french easel set up and it started again

As a back up plan we went to Old Town Manassas and painted en plein air under the old train station.  I did a very wet-in-wet impressionist painting of Fosters Grille and other stores across the tracks.  I will let is dry for a few days then go back into it with an 8B pencil to really bring out some hard lines.

Selina went to work drawing some sketches of the Candy Factory.  Both of us are gearing up for the official kick off of Paint! Manassas 2008 on Saturday

 Rob Burkhard

Today I spent most of the day parked on the corner of Center Street in Old Town Manassas.  From my wonderful seat I was able to capture this 18×24 value sketch (on rough watercolor paper) and add some watercolor before the sun came up and ruined my light.  I did get about 3 hours of quality light.

This will be a PAINT! Manassaspainting that I plan to finish on May 10th in Old Town Manassas at the kick off.  I need to get the shadows right before I go back out becausee the light shifts very quickly between the buildings and it reeks havoc with perspective, color and tone.

Rob Burkhard

 Well today is the first day of my first retirement (before I go back to work next month ).  I celebrated by going to the Manassas Battlefield with Michele, Maria, Selina and Mary Ellen to gear up for the spring en plien air season.  I will let the paintings speak for themselves.  The top on is 15 x 22 on 300lbs paper and the one below is in my ~5×9 Raffine Sketch Book with Lana Paper.

It was a great day to paint and the company was very enjoyable

Tomorrow I will go to Old Town Manassas and Thursday I plan to go back to Clifton.  The rest of the days this week I plan to do some volunteer work in my kids’ school.

Rob Burkhard

Tonight was the May 2008 MAG monthly membership meeting and we were treated to an exceptional demonstration by local portraiture artist, Patty McMahon Rice.  In under two hours Patty demonstrated how to do an under-painting on canvas which can serve as the tonal foundation or reference for the portrait.  Patty spent time and attention covering pitfalls, hard spots, techniques and anatomy critical for doing portraits in any medium.

Patty has regular classes in her Warrenton Virginia studio with the schedule posted on her website.

This event was video taped so check the video page in a few days and it will be posted.

Thanks Patty

Rob Burkhard
MAG Treasurer

MAG is using a free online selling service called ArtByUs to promote and sell MAG Member’s art online.  If any member desires to have their art work listed under the Buy MAG Artwork Page, simply go to ArtByUs and register, then email me with your user ID.  After that it is up to you to list your items on ArtByUs.  Anything you list will be automatically displayed on this page for the duration of the time it is for sale.

ArtByUs is completely free. It works. I have sold paintings on it.

Yes, sold paintings online.

Did I mention completely FREE?

I am also available for help, as needed.

 Best Regards

Rob Burkhard
Treasurer, MAG

Please remember to sign your name to any posting that you make to this blog. That way people will know who the posting was made by. This is as simple as putting your name at the end of the posting. If you are acting in an official capacity for MAG (i.e. Announcements, Programs, etc.), please also identify your position or committee.

Thanks!

Shane C. Williams
President, Manassas Art Guild

A new video has been posted to the “MAG Videos” web page. This video is the video of Sandra Fox and her presentation on “Mandalas”. The video is 1 hour and 46 minutes long, about 260MB.

Please check it out.

Shane C. Williams
President, Manassas Art Guild.