I'm baaaack!

Left: Study for "Winter Hay"
Pastel on Art Spectrum Colourfix paper
11x14"

Below right: "Tangerine Still Life"
Pastel on Art Spectrum Colourfix paper
8x10"

Man, I've been away from this blog for much too long! Hoping to correct that from here on out, as this kid is getting capital-P prolific, drawing and painting-wise. I've done some things, which I will post here over the next day or so, and I've got a whole list of projects I'm working on now, or starting over the next week -- let along the coming months. It's a pretty ambitious itinerary, and, well... you'll just have to stick with me to see what's coming.

My apologies to anyone who's wondered why I haven't been posting to the blog. What with the recent elections and what not, you could say I just got sidetracked. In any event, I'm back on the track now, and will be running like a freight train, with respect to this "makin' art" thing.

Stay tuned! This is where it starts to get goooood.

Copyright ©2008 by Rick Koobs

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Never thought I'd be painting... bluebirds???

"Bluebird Couple"
Oil on Masonite
16x12"

I love the song, "Bluebird," by Australian songbird Kasey Chambers. Come to think of it, I dig that other song of the same name by Buffalo Springfield. However, it wasn't a song that inspired me to paint this rather decorative piece. I looked out on our back deck recently and spied a fat little bluebird perched atop the railing, looking 'round as though he owned the place. He's the first bluebird I've seen since we moved into this house a year ago.

Still, I didn't have the idea just then to try painting one -- or two, as it turned out -- of these fascinating lil' critters. A day or so later, I was browsing throughThe Ultimate Guide to Painting from Photographs (James Markle and Layne Vanover, editors; North Light, Cincinnati). The book discusses ways to combine muiltiple photo reference images into new, original compositions, and I wanted to do something like that. There's a whole section on painting birds in this manner. One demonstration in particular inspired me to try the decorative approach you see here.

I worked from two separate images of the birds found on the World Wide Web. In both instances, I flipped the original images using Photoshop. From the Web, I also learned that bluebirds enjoy honeysuckle berries, so I found a number of images of these, finally settling on one that was useful in creating my own set of branches, leaves and berries.

It was a bit of a trick getting the final composition drawn the way I wanted it onto tracing paper, then transferring it, using graphite paper, onto the masonite board, which I'd previously covered with three coats of white gesso. Atop the gesso coats I'd applied a coat of Folk Art linen-colored acrylic paint (by Plaid), atop which, while still wet, I used a sponge roller to work in a few globs of Folk Art white acrylic, to get the mottled effect.

Seems the easiest part was actually painting the birds, berries, branches -- and leaves!

This was a fun project, and I'm quite pleased with the results, if still a little surprised that I've actually tried something like this: my first foray into wildlife art! I will certainly have to give it another go before long.


Copyright ©2008 by Rick Koobs

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I paint a genuine "movie star"... and revisit a lovely Italian Garden from my childhood

The last week was a productive one. I attended my first open studio, where I began this view (in pastel on 12x16" Canson paper) of the Britons Arms Coffee House and Restaurant and adjacent gardens, which are located in the Elm Hill area of Norwich, in Norfolk, England. I've been by here a few times since 2004. Elm Hill is one of the oldest streets in Norwich. Largely rebuilt after the great fire of 1507, it still retains its Tudor character to the present day. The narrow cobbled streets are flanked either side by genuine Tudor houses, some of which are now pretty little shops. It’s a rather startling fact that there are more Tudor houses in Elm Hill than in the whole of the City of London. Here's a photo of the Britons Arms from the front side.

I didn't know this until just now, but the Britons Arms plays a part in the 2007 Neil Gaiman fantasy film, Stardust, for which it was converted into the "Slaughtered Prince Inn." In fact, a whole portion of Elm Hill was transformed into a town in the fictional Kingdom of Stormhold. Read all about it and see a photo of the transformed Britons Arms here.

The second view (also in pastel on Canson paper) is the upper level of the lovely Italian Garden at Maymont Park, overlooking the James River in Richmond Virginia.

It was the day before Easter when I made the photo this is based on. You're looking across some of the parterres, or geometrically patterned flower beds comprising the main level of the Italian garden, toward the pergola, a structure consisting of parallel rusticated granite colonnades supporting a trellis-work roof on which two species of wisteria are trained.

It had been the better part of forty-seven years since I last visited this park. My first eight years of childhood were spent in Richmond, and Maymont is one of the more vivid memories of those early days before 1961, when my family moved to New York state. (We returned to the South in 1968).

Copyright ©2008 by Rick Koobs

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Second portrait try (my wife won't let me post the first!)

"What Would 007 Do?"
Pastel on Canson tinted paper
12x16"

I've been wanting to try my hand at people for the longest time, and portraits, specifically. "But what if I can't get a likeness?" I ask, and a hundred self-doubts and excuses keep me from trying. But no more!

Yesterday, I sat down with my wife and did a drawing, in pastel, of her. Darned if it didn't work out quite well... extremely well, in fact, except for one aspect: the mouth! Oh it was close, but no ceegar. Something was not right about it, which is why she won't let me post it here, alas.

I was so encouraged by the overall sucess of the portrait, however, that I resolved to try another human subject, though, for practice purposes only, from a photograph this time. And a famous person at that. Stumbled upon this particular image I've not seen until today, so I whipped out a pastel rendition within a couple of hours. Tried to keep things loose, y'know? I'm extremely pleased with the likeness, though it's kind of hard to miss with this guy's oh-so-distinctive features.

Whadday'all think?

I'll sit my wife down for another very soon, and hopefully will be able to share the next one!

Copyright ©2008 by Rick Koobs

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Three U.S. States, all in one painting!

"Maryland Heights, Looking toward Virginia"
Pastel on Art Spectrum Colourfix Paper
11x14"

Yikes! It's been a month since my last posting here. Sorry for the delay, folks. I've actually worked on some paintings, but the other two, while great learning experiences, were not so successful, in my judgement. I like this one quite a bit, however, and hope you will as well.

I was looking over photos from our late-June trip to Pennsylvania, Maryland, and the Virginias, and found a shot taken from the heights above Harper's Ferry, West Virginia. With a little judicious cropping, I had what seemed a good point of departure for the painting you see here. You're actually looking at three states: the foreground where you are "standing ," so to speak," is West Virginia -- specifically, somewhere on Shenedndoah Street, in Harpers Ferry, proper. The elevation on the left is Maryland Heights, which is, of course, in Maryland. The more distant landscape is Virginia. Connecting all three is the Potomac River. Though you can't see it, the Shenendoah River flows into the Potomac just to the right of the scene.

Oh, and if you're wondering why there's a little "doorway" in the side of the mountain, that's a railroad tunnel. Just so you know.

It will probably be a while before I get back to this most lovely -- and historical -- place, but get there I will, one of these days. When that day comes, it will certainly be in the Autumn.

Copyright ©2008 by Rick Koobs

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Our recent spontaneous journey through Pennsylvania, Maryland, and the Virginias

Left: "Gettysburg Path"
Pastel on Canson paper
8x10"

Below: "Shenendoah Valley View"
Pastel on Art Spectrum Colourfix paper
11x14"

Man, I've really been out of the swing of things the last month or so. Long story short: some medical issues made it difficult to spend time at the easel. Be that as it may... I HAVE over the last couple of weeks gotten back drawing and painting. Not putting it all up here now, but thought I would share my two most recent pastel pieces.

The first is a relatively quick drawing from a trip Sarah and I took a couple of weeks ago, back to -- where else? -- Pennsylvania. We first visited a place called State College, in the very center of the Commonwealth. It's the Home of Penn State University, and the best little totally happening place you'll find out in the middle of nowhere. The painting, however, doesn't depict anything remotely like State College. On the way back, we crossed part of the Alleghenies down to Harrisburg, on over to York, and then west to our favorite destination: Gettysburg! (Third visit in seven months!) Only stayed a few hours this time. The above is a view from the southwestern part of the battlefield, looking east toward the Round Tops.

Later that day, we drove down to Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, which may be the subject of another painting very soon. Also visited the nearby Antietam National Battlefield in Sharpsburg, Maryland. When we finally drove home, through the ever-beautiful Shenendoah Valley of Virginia, I got this second view near the town of Front Royal. Incredible as it seems, this scene is looking out from a McDonald's parking lot! Anyway, I think I've done a very decent job with the pastels on this one. Got a way to go, technique-wise, but I feel I'm heading in the right direction. What do you think?

Copyright ©2008 by Rick Koobs

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A Tranquil View From the Beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains

Left: "Blue Ridge Morning"
Pastel on Ampersand Board
11x14"

Below: "Peonies"
Pastel on Canson paper
14x16"

Finally shifting into gear, with two new images done all in the space of a few days... and another, large format oil painting underway. I climb ever-so-slowly – but surely – along that steep learning curve.

The first image is one I've wanted to do for many months: a typical scene from the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. Specifically, this view is in the proximity of Todd, NC (a town you can read about on the Blue Ridge Blog, as well as in the New York Times, of all places! Todd is located in the extreme northwest corner of North Carolina, in Ashe County.

The support is a green-tinted 11x14-inch Ampersand Pastel Board – which was a random choice, but the right one, I think, for this subject. I'm quite taken by this view, and since I've needed for many months to come up with something to fill a space on our living room wall, I've begun working up a much larger version in oils.

The second image is my very first attempt at a floral, and a rapidly done one at that. It's executed from life with semi-soft and soft pastels on a creme-colored Canson paper; probably not the best choice, as I brushed on a bit of isopropyl alcohol here and there, which tends to buckle the paper somewhat. But it was all in fun, as well as in the interest of experimentation. For a first attempt – a glorified sketch, really – I'm actually rather pleased. You should probably count on more florals to come!

Copyright ©2008 by Rick Koobs

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