THE THREE AMIGOS!

CHRISTOPHER SCHINK, MYRNA WACKNOV, DAVID LOBENBERG AND MODEL

My wonderful friend, Bonnie Crosse received a grant for the Oakmont Art Association in Santa Rosa, California, to put on a wonderful program for the community.  

Yesterday, three figurative artists spent two hours painting a wonderful model, complete with a parrot, while a very attentive large crowd watched, asked questions and mingled during the model breaks.  Topher Schink lives in Santa Rose and was very instrumental in helping the committee to formulate the program and share his extensive experience in performing these multiple artist demos.  David Lobenberg came from Sacramento and I drove up from the SF Peninsula and the three of us had a ball painting.  After a break for lunch, we each spent about 20 minutes each giving a powerpoint presentation on our influences, history and current directions of our art.  It was unplanned, but it turns out each of us tend to focus on different elements of art.   Topher Schink is all about Shapes abstracted in a geometric fashion.  The elements that I am most passionate about are Texture and Line.  David emphasizes Value and Color utilizing the innate value of the color in his vibrant portraits.  It was a little intimidating to be flanked by such talented, experienced painters.  It wasn't a competition but one always worries that they don't mess up.   

The whole event was filmed while they projected on a large screen what each of us was doing.  I was focused on my painting but my husband said they moved from artist to artist and stayed with each of us for a while, so everyone could see how we were progressing as we worked.  Because of the setup, my station was directly in from of the model and we needed to work upright for the camera.  Since I normally work much flatter, this was an interesting challenge in my process.  My board blocked my view of the model and I couldn't turn the easel sideways for me to see her or the camera couldn't pick up what I was doing .   I took a photo of the model in the beginning and worked from that image most of the time.  There is always a work-a-round for every challenge.

It was a wonderful day of sharing our passion for art with lots of folks who share the same passion!  

Here are the finished paintings from each of us.  

Christopher Schink

David Lobenberg

Myrna Wacknov

The Pose