SABINO POTTERY

While in Tucson I also stayed with Janet Burner. She owns Sabino Pottery which is in this historic adobe house. She has done a wonderful restoration. We are long time friends. We were studio partners and instructors at the Tucson Museum of Art School for years.

This is inside the gallery portion of her house. She works in stoneware and raku.

This is inside her kitchen. Left to right Janet Burner, Jim Waid (facing out), John McNulty, and Rhod Lauffer. Each is an extremely talented artist. Jim is a big-time painter with galleries all over, google him.

TUCSON MORNINGS

This is a very early morning photo looking west from the University area of Tucson. I never did adjust to the time change so I was up every morning walking at 5:30 am.

For a few of my vacation days I stayed with my long-time friends, John and Jeff. They took a ruin and turned it into a haven. We walked together in the morning and then had breakfast on this delightful patio.

Jeff is on the left and John is to his right. Our breakfasts together were a great way to start the day.

WORKSHOP PHOTOS

Bob uses really large brushes, fingers and paper towels.

Have a great Memorial Day Weekend.

TREES IN PROGRESS

Here are my trees in progress. I need to look at them a day or two before I can decide if they are finished.

NEGATIVE SHAPE PAINTING - MAKE A MESS, AND THEN, "OH LOOK, A TREE"

demonstration examples by Bob Burridge

More thoughts on the Robert Burridge Workshop

For every exercise we did Bob put examples on the wall. The photos above and below are his examples. The above photo is for our negative shape paintings. First the paper is toned with various shades of yellow-orange. Next a "mess" is made with other colors. It is dabbed on with paper towels and splattered. Then we painted over the parts that weren't the tree, with some additional tweaking, of course. The 3 trees in a row shows how Bob works in a series.

demonstration examples by Bob Burridge

Above is Bob's group of trees at night. I haven't quite finished my grove of trees. But when I do, I'll show the photo.

http://www.robertburridge.com/

25 BITS OF USEFUL INFORMATION

One of the wonderful things about workshops is the free exchange of really useful information.

The photo above shows different size mats within easy reach. These are used to isolate your image and determine what, if anything else, needs to be done. Here are some other nuggets of information I learned.

1. Don't be scared, just get some paint down.
2. Paint brushes have two ends, use both.
3. Use larger brushes.
4. Or don't use brushes, use your fingers and......
5. .....Viva paper towels.
6. Use more water,
7. No really, USE MORE WATER!
8. Paint flat.
9. Stand with one foot on a brick.
10. Draw more.
11. Don't be afraid of black.
12. Make a mess, and then, "oh look, a tree".
13. Nova paints, the world's best kept secret.
14. Paint a series, always.
15. Composition and color theory are a road map to a successful painting.
16. Under every good painting is a good abstract painting.
17. Dark against light, light against dark.
18. Where's your focal point?
19. The answer is always "YES"
20. Your artists statement is always changing.....
21. .....and yes, you must have one.
22. You can change your mind.
23. Minwax Polycrylic - artist quality acrylic varnish at hardware store prices.
24. Utrech gesso.
25. Paint, Paint, Paint.

ROBERT BURRIDGE WORKSHOP

Almost every photo I took of Bob came out blurry. The man is ALWAYS in motion. One of the early segments of the workshop dealt with landscapes. In this photo Bob is working on two at once. He used paper towels and fingers. Notice the paints right on the table.

"VOILA"

http://www.robertburridge.com/

ROBERT BURRIDGE WORKSHOP

Here are some photos of my work space at the workshop. We each had a large table that we covered in plastic and then we used the surface as our palette. That gave us a very large area for mixing paint. I really liked it.

This is a view of my whole table.

BACK FROM MY WORKSHOP AND VACATION

The workshop was a very intense learning experience. We covered tons of information in a short period of time. 3 days sounds like it is going to be a long time but it went by in a blur. I tried to soak up all the information I was given. The photo above is our work room. My table is the one with no person behind it. Notice the paintings on the walls. Apparently the the space where we were going to have the workshop turned out to be unacceptable, no air conditioning, no water, no restrooms, so we ended up working in the gallery area of the Tubac Art Center. The work on the walls was the complete opposite of what we were aspiring to, so in some ways it was a good example of how not to paint ( for the context of this workshop).

One of the many themes we explored was "loose and juicy florals". Here is my example from that section. It still needs a little work.