BobBlast #214

Quick and Simple Figures.

Welcome Back to Another BobBlast!

In this BobBlast I show you some fun exercises I will do as part of a short Landscape Workshop at the upcoming  Trade Shows - Artisan Expo and Art of the Carolinas . The links are below.

This BobBlast is all about how to quickly suggest the figure in your landscape painting. The addition of figures is a simple way to help heighten interest. It helps to suggest the narrative and may also explain the title of the painting.

As you can see in this week's video, I practice a whole row of sketchy "figures" that may have started out as "carrots" - I practice in black and white. I start off with a small, round dot (the head) then move the brush down to the bottom of the carrot, giving yourself creative freedom to wiggle the brush a little to suggest shoulders or hips. The last stroke anchors the carrot figure to the ground and gives it a shadow.

Use a large brush - no skinny handled two-hair brushes - ever! Besides, you'll poke your eye out with that thing. Practice these carrot figures for several rows. The full sheet (22x30 inches) looks like a crowd of people! Don't spend a long time on each, or make them perfect - they are sketches at this point.

Next - add clothes to these figures! Use color to give them different color combinations - top of the carrot may appear as a colorful shirt, the bottom could be pants... you might even have a row of golfers!

You can also use Rembrandt-style lighting technique for your carrot exercises - remember with this style of lighting the top of the background is gradated dark at the top, to light at the bottom. The figure is light at the top, at the head and dark towards the bottom, at the feet. The mantra you hear me saying constantly is "Dark against Light... Dark against Light..."

These carrot people are ready to make an appearance in your landscapes! Pretty soon you'll start seeing figures in all your loose abstracts!

Add a Figure. It adds life to your work!

Thank you for your interest, questions, comments and support! 
To view more of my favorite art materials, go to my website and click on my "Studio Resource List" - you can download it as a PDF.

Thanks again for watching and telling your friends! All my BobBlasts are archived on my  website  and my YouTube Channel.  We post new studio tips weekly that offer real content, substance and useful techniques that work for me. And they're free! We appreciate your interest, questions, comments and support!

Here's a quick a reminder and some upcoming workshops and dates. 
If interested, sign up now!

Featured Workshops:

September 4-7, 2018
Loosen Up with Aquamedia Painting
4-day Painting Workshop (Tuesday-Friday)
North Valley Art League, Redding, CA
Contact Carla Canter, (530) 247-7104
or canteringreader@gmail.com

Sept 11, 12, 13, 2018
Abstract Acrylic Painting & Collage
Southwestern Watercolor Society
Dallas, Texas
Contact Lou Bono (469)744-7559 

September 17-19, 2018  (Monday-Wednesday)
Loosen Up with Aquamedia Painting
Sedona Arts Center
3-day Painting Workshop (Monday-Wednesday)
Sedona Arts Center, Sedona, AZ
Contact (888) 954-4442 or (928) 282-3809

September 21-23, 2018  (Friday-Sunday)
Contemporary Abstract Figure
Sedona Arts Center
3-day Painting Workshop (Monday-Friday)
Sedona Arts Center, Sedona, AZ
Contact (888) 954-4442 or (928) 282-3809

September 27-30, 2018 
Artisan Expo
(505) 954-4179 ext. 119
artspot@artisan-santafe.com

October 15-19, 2018
Loosen Up with Aquamedia Painting
5-day Painting Workshop (Monday-Friday)
Vancouver Island Art Workshops
Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada
Contact Mary, (250) 714-8080 

November 8-11, 2018
Art of the Carolinas - Trade Show
Sponsored by Jerry's Artarama
Raleigh, North Carolina
Contact Sharon DiGiulio (800) 827-8478 ext 156 

January 7-11, 2019
Loosen Up with Aquamedia Painting
Quayside Gallery, Pensacola, Florida
Contact Quayside Gallery (850) 438-2363
or Diane Goeller (850) 348-3652  dgoeller@cox.net
or Pat Page (850) 293-5414 pjpage@bellsouth.net

January 19-26, 2019
Abstract Acrylic Painting & Collage in Mexico
Casa de Los Artistas
Boca de Tomatlan, 10 miles South of Puerto Vallarta
Contact Robert Masla, (413) 625-8383

View Bob's Workshop Schedule, click here. 
...Check out his 2018 Studio Workshops!  click  here .

Hope you have enjoyed these short, weekly blasts! Sign up on my website and keep watching. There are lots of them! 

Click HERE to view BobBlast Issue 214
"Quick and Simple Figures."

Quick and Simple Figures

Love, Peace & Happiness,
Robert Burridge
www.RobertBurridge.com
BobBlast #214 - Video run time 13 minutes, 37 seconds

*To read about Bob's studio practices, intentions, and painting tips, 
check out his Loosen Up and Studio Notes Workbook. Click here for more info and to order.

*You can purchase Bob's Color Wheel from his website by clicking here.

*You can purchase Bob's Travel Wheel from his website by clicking here.

*You can purchase Bob's Composition Chart from his website by clicking here.

You can purchase Bob's Rembrandt-Style Lighting and Value Chart from his website by clicking here.

You can purchase Bob's Painting Abstract Landscape & Trees DVD from his website by clicking here.

*For more info about Bob's Workshop Schedule click  here. 

  *Or scan the QR code on the right!
Click  here for BobBlast Archive