
Mood paintings
WATERCOLOR WORKSHOP
with Michele Frantz
Saturday, February 28 • 10 to 4
at Manassas Baptist, 8742 Sudley Road, Manassas
$45 members & seniors • $60 non-members
For adults, all skill levels. Using only six tubes of paint, learn simple techniques for adding mood, atmosphere and drama to your landscape paintings. Shed pre-conceived notions about color and value, and push your paintings to a new level. Work from reference materials provided by the instructor. A supply list will be provided when you register.
Download the registration form here (pdf format) or contact Laura Lavarnway, laura.lavarnway@ngc.com.
You can see more of Michele’s work at www.myarcadia.8m.com.
The Manassas Art Guild held it’s annual meeting on Thursday, Oct. 2, 2008. At this meeting, all members of the Board of Directors were up for re-election. In addition, the membership was voting on revisions of the MAG Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws. The following members of the Board were re-elected to their positions:
Shane Williams – President
Laura Lavarnway – VP
Michele Frantz – Secretary
Rob Burkhard – Treasurer
Roger Frey – Member-At-Large
In addition to the BOD election, the Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws were voted on and passed with unanimous vote. The “new” AOI and Bylaws immediately went into effect. Since the Bylaws changed the BOD membership to a total of 7 members, there was a vote on the 2 “new” positions. The following members were elected to the positions:
Gerry Schaeffer – Member-At-Large, will be taking over Treasurer position following transition period with current Treasurer
Terri Branham – Member-At-Large
Following the annual meeting, the regular membership meeting was held with a Watercolor lecture and demonstration by Mike Flynn, President of Art Beat and former MAG Treasurer. Mr. Flynn demonstrated his style of watercolor painting by painting a landscape. Mr. Flynn also commented on and answered questions on watercolor and watercolor techniques.
Shane C. Williams
President, MAG
Posted by Rob Burkhard under Painting on Sunday Jul 13, 2008

Watch the Move: the Pirate that doesnt do Anything
For those who were there you already know that our MAG president is a pirate in real life. We now have the proof. Watch if you dare (and lock up your kids)!
Two new videos has been posted to the “MAG Videos” web page. One video is the video of Patty Rice and her presentation on “Portraiture”. The video is 1 hour and 42 minutes long, about 250MB.
The second video is of Michele Frantz and her presentation on “Using a Limited Pallete.” The video is 1 hour and 9 minutes long, about 170MB.
Sorry for the delay in posting these.
Please check them both out.
Shane C. Williams
President, Manassas Art Guild.
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






Thursday night we had the monthly Manassas Art Guild membership meeting with our very own artist, Michele Frantz, doing a limited palette lesson and demonstration. Michele went over the advantages of using a limited palette (less paint = more $ in your pocket) and the ways she uses a limited palette to achieve consistent colors in her works. Below is a chart showing how to use a six primary color wheel.

Michele’s colors are:
- Cool: Phthalo Blue, Cadmium Yellow Light, Quinacridone Red
- Warm: Ultramarine Blue, Cadmium Yellow Medium, Cadmium Red Light
As you can see from the picture above Michele also did a very nice demonstration of a still life using an acrylic six primary limited palette. I was not able to stay until the end so I did not get to see the finished painting but Michele got off to a great start.
Rob Burkhard


The above photos are of the reference photo that Michele used and the “finished painting” at the end of the demonstration.
Shane Williams
Posted by Rob Burkhard under Painting on Sunday Jun 1, 2008

The morning was beautiful and the it rained with damaging thunderstorms in the afternoon, however, the show went on. Paint! Manassas 2008 succeeded in drawing 18 local artists to create and display over 50 pieces of fine art which depicted Old Town Manassas and the historic Manassas Civil War Battle Grounds. Numerous pieces of original artwork where sold to local business owners and citizens at the show. The remainder are on display at the following Old Town businesses through June 2008:
ArtBeat Gallery
Ashby Jewelry
City Square Cafe
Creative Brush Studio
Fulton Bank
Manassas Museum
Opera House Gourmet
Prospero’s Books
The Things I Love
Click the above picture to visit the gallery of Paint! Manassas 2008 show pictures.

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