Tag: europe

What a Patio!

KERBEY LANE CAFE, SAN MARCOS | 9 x 12” | Oil on Canvas Board

As a nod of thanks and appreciation, I recently completed a landscape of the Kerbey Lane Cafe in San Marcos, where I recently wrapped up a solo show, “Something for Everyone”. The restaurant is located in a historical building on the San Marcos River. The view of the river from the patio is amazing, but the sight of the restaurant from the river itself is arguably the better perspective. 

Now the first time you look at this painting, you might actually need the reference photo to know what you’re looking at. It’s not every day that one comes across a restaurant with “river AND a waterfall” as a seating option AND $7 local brewery pints! 

This painting introduced new challenges and the according hard lessons along the way. Two of particular note dealt with architectural elements:

  • Window Reflections: I’ve done reflective surfaces numerous times, so I understand the foundational techniques. However, the windows on the back of the restaurant had a coating that effectively made them massive mirrors. This meant the sky reflections needed to be more precise, yet despite numerous wipes and re-paints of the windows, I couldn’t get it just right… something just looked artificial about it. On a whim I put the vertical window seams into the composition and “voila!”, suddenly it translated as mirrored windows!
  • Screen Windows: There is a real nuance to getting this right, and something I’d never tackled before. I’ll be honest, luck had more to do with the final result than anything – my artistic creativity isn’t the best of friends with architectural features of the world. If you look closely at the screened-in patio, you’ll notice the most prominent part is in the sunlight, and that area is nothing more than the original underpainting of burnt sienna. The very thick, toothy nature of the canvas board also contributed ideally to the aesthetic without much need for artistic technique. That said, I’ll remember this bit of serendipity the next time I run into a screened porch. 

Ultimately, I’m very happy with the final result. The staff at this location were fantastic supporters of my artwork and an absolute pleasure. I’ll have to do another show at that location in the future. 

#austinart #artbern #berntx #crashboomzip #abplanalp #austinartists #texasstate #txst #oldmain #texasarchitecture #sanmarcos #paintings #kerbeylanecafe

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Texas State Architecture

OLD MAIN – TEXAS STATE | 9 x 12” | Oil on Canvas Board 

I’m a fan of wandering university campuses, both in the US and abroad, in large part because they’re often home to intriguing architecture, beautiful grounds, and chock full of history. Some do it better than others. For example, the University of Texas is by many measures a great school, but let’s be honest, people don’t go there for campus aesthetics. Alternatively, wander onto the stunning grounds of the University of Colorado and you may never leave. 

However, there are also a long list of wonderful colleges and universities – no, I don’t know the difference -hidden between neighborhoods and history, more notable for their pride than their size, and arguably constitute the backbone of “usable” degrees. While I’ve never spent a day as a student at Texas State University, I can say with assurity that the San Marcos campus has enough beautiful open space and intriguing buildings to make for a nice afternoon wander.

In this piece I wanted to capture the university using an iconic building… say hello to OLD MAIN at Texas State. I assume this is one of, if not the site of the original building on campus, which is a beautiful piece of architecture. I used a reference photo from the University website, but it was pretty flat in terms of lighting, yet the perspective of the composition was excellent. I opted to “wing it” with the lighting, incorporating strong sunlight that lit up the facade and cast dark shadows downstream. 

Ideally this piece finds a home with a Texas State alumni, but failing that it would be well suited for a fan of architecture. I’ve been pushing my painting style to be more impressionistic, but I had to tamp that back a little with OLD MAIN so as to include the necessary details of this beautiful building. 

​OLD MAIN will be added to the “Something for Everyone” show at Kerbey Lane Cafe in San Marcos. Drop by for a beer, some pancakes and art! 

Thanks for reading!

#austinart #artbern #berntx #crashboomzip #abplanalp #austinartists ​#​texasstate #txst #oldmain #texasarchitecture #sanmarcos #paintings #kerbeylanecafe

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Cuenca: Multi-Focal Point Strategy

CUENCA | 9 x 12” | Oil on Canvas Paper

More European inspiration, this time from a little city called Cuenca, Spain, which is located about 100 miles east of Madrid. Cuenca is magnificent and thankfully not on  the itinerary of the selfie-taking, speaker phone talking, culturally ignorant hordes. This city is in the mountains, founded by the Moors (like most everything in central Spain), and best known for their hanging houses, called “casas colgadas”. In my view, they’re the original “room with a view” architecture, and it’s frankly amazing they’re still clinging to the cliffs. 

We were visiting in late May and did a lot of strolling as we explored the old town. This particular scene is from the Plaza Mayor, looking north towards the Cathedral of Santa Maria and San Julian of Cuenca. Even during this morning hour, there was a lot of activity and the city had a sense of energy and vitality, which I’ve tried to capture with this piece.

Initially, the intent was to do a quick study in preparation for a larger piece. While I still intend to do a larger, more composed painting, I kept getting sucked into the details of CUENCA. There are two focal points – I know, I know, that’s not how the rules work – but I’ve developed the opinion that multi-focal point perspective in a composition can work really well. In this case, focal point 1 is the Cathedral, which anchors the background as it captures the morning light before the rest of the buildings. Focal point 2 is the guy in the foreground walking right at you, also touched by the light, contrasted by the shaded patio immediately behind. 

Lastly, there are various bits of sky blue incorporated through the piece. It’s an experiment to see if it gives the viewer the sense of having a relatively blue sky overhead, adding to the depth of the painting. Not sure if it works because I was actually in Cuenca to take this photo, therefore I always have that sense of a sky overhead when I think about this scene. 

If you haven’t been to Cuenca, Spain… go! The setting, sights, food and people are wonderful. 

Thanks for reading!

#austinart #artbern #berntx #crashboomzip #abplanalp #austinartists #pleinair #cafe #spanishcafe #spain #cuenca #patio #europe #atxart #atxartist #atxlife #contemporaryart #spainart

Progress 1
Progress 2
Final
Detail Focal Point 1
Detail Focal Point 2
CUENCA Plaza Mayor
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Dappled Lunch

LATE LUNCH | 16 x 20” | Oil on Canvas

Inspired by past trips to Europe while enjoying a mid-afternoon lunch on a beautiful day, LATE LUNCH is meant to capture the slow pace of catching up with friends in an idyllic setting. 

There were numerous challenges with this one, most of them self-inflicted as I really wanted to capture the presence of people doing their thing at the restaurant. I have a fair bit of experience incorporating people in landscapes, but not many have been seated. To my surprise, managing proportions of someone seated is particularly tricky and takes some practice. But even more arduous were the chairs, which have shapes that are all over the place and best done in an impressionistic style… which I will do next time. 

Ultimately, though, LATE LUNCH is anchored on dappled sunlight and starkly contrasting values from tree shade. The dappled effect is designed to frame the scene between the umbrellas and the foreground, with the expansive green tree limbs putting the viewer in the cool shade of the afternoon. 

Thanks for reading!

Progression of LATE LUNCH

#austinart #artbern #berntx #crashboomzip #abplanalp #austinartists #pleinair #cafe #frenchcafe #patio #europe #atxart #atxartist #atxlife #contemporaryart

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Brunch Anyone?

AVOCADO | 6×8” | Oil on Panel
MIMOSA | 12×16” | Oil on Canvas Board

Two more paintings have found their forever home! AVOCADO and MIMOSA caught the eye of a customer while having breakfast tacos at Kerbey Lane Cafe last week. The stories of why people buy a given painting is a very rewarding part of the experience for me. In this case, the buyer was planning to gift the paintings to an Aunt she was visiting while in the San Marcos area. I guess she’s a fan of brunch. 

This sale also provided me the opportunity to conduct my first “virtual” sale of the “Something For Everyone” show, which went seamlessly and worked well for everyone involved.  As someone who spent the majority of their career in high tech, the logistics of a virtual sale make for a fun intersection between art and tech. Each piece of art at the show has a label detailing the name, size, medium, and price, as well as a QR code. The QR code allows a diner at the cafe to simply scan with their phone, which brings them to my website, www.artbern.art, from which they can readily find my contact information. 

After a few email and text exchanges, she sent me payment via Venmo and I notified the restaurant that the paintings could be removed from the wall and left in the office for customer pickup. Aside from taking the paintings off the wall, the restaurant staff didn’t have to deal with any logistics. Everyone was happy with the process and the final outcome!

Stay tuned to find out about the new artwork that will replace AVOCADO and MIMOSA!

#austinart #artbern #berntx #crashboomzip #abplanalp #austinartists #pleinair #pleinairaustin #paa #sanmarcos #paintings #kerbeylanecafe #coffee #txst #avocado #mimosa #happyhour #brunch 

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