Paint! Manassas wrapped up today. It was a whopping success! I’ve updated the Paint! page if you want to see some of the work exhibited during this event.
Artist Leonard Justinian was our judge. Here are the winners of this year’s Paint! Manassas:
1st place: Sunny Spot (Manassas Battlefield), acrylic by Michele Frantz
2nd place: Noon Train, acrylic by Michele Frantz. 3rd place: Sudley Manor, watercolor by Laura Lavarnway.
Honorable Mentions: (in no particular order:) 1. The Things I Love, by Maria Briganti. 2. Manassas Presbyterian, by Katherine Nace. 3. Prospero’s, by Lorrie Herman. 4. Have a Nice Day, by Laura Lavarnway. 5. Path Less Travelled, by Anita Faurot.
We also gave out a “People’s Choice” award, for which members of the public were asked to vote for their favorite piece. It resulted in a 3-way tie:
1. May, by Michele Frantz 2. Sudley Manor, by Laura Lavarnway 3. Train Station, by Rob Burkhard
posted by Michele Frantz, shows coordinator
Take a look at the “Paint! Manassas” page if you’d like to see what some of our participating artists have been up to. Several paintings posted so far, hope to see more soon! — michele frantz, show coordinator
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
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
MAG members Rob Burkhard, Mary Ellen Semat and myself took advantage of the glorious spring weather to “paint out” at the Manassas train station. On the left, that’s Rob and Mary Ellen (I’ll let you guess which is which) hard at work, and on the right, Rob applies oil paint to his board with a palette knife. Scritch, scritch…. we all agreed that was a beautiful sound.
After we got rid of that pesky Rob, Mary Ellen and I tried to cram in one more painting each before we had to get back to our less glamorous lives. Below, that’s Mary Ellen packing up to leave on the left, and on the right a shot of my big accomplishment for the day…. a little 2×3″ half-finished painting of Foster’s Grille. That’s three unfinished paintings for me in two days! — michele frantz
Charlotte Pavone & I braved the chilly wet weather to spend a couple of hours painting in Old Town Manassas. I am hoping to get some art ready for the Train Festival in June, so I worked on this acrylic painting of the train station, which I had started about a year ago and never got back to. Here’s the results so far. Charlotte remarked that it looked like I was painting it upside down, now I see what she means! Just remember it’s not finished! The best part of the whole day was going over to the Victorian Tea Room afterwards for scones and tea (Monk’s blend, mmm.) Another Paint-Out tomorrow!
—–michele frantz
