Sunday, July 6, 2008

Brooster The Rooster!

The bottom watercolor painting is Brooster who always stands tall and has attitude to spare. This was a demo I gave in my college watercolor class about 2 or 3 years ago. My favorite part is Brooster's tail done with an aggressive dry brush stroke...ya gotta have attitude when painting in watercolor! The top watercolor painting is of Brooster's Chinese cousin. I am somewhat reluctant to post it because his cousin's name is Fook Yu. "Fook Yu" translated into English means "Have a great day" and anytime a watercolor painting goes well, you are having a great day!

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Excellent birds. My attitude when painting with watercolor is mostly depression at the results.

Myrna Wacknov said...

Love the freshness of both and the beautiful color. It's nice how demo's don't get overworked.

Anonymous said...

Brooster is on my wall here at work, where I admire him daily. As a fan of poultry (I show chickens), watercolor, and Lobenberg, he makes my day. And also gives other people the impression that I have good taste. Jan James

David Lobenberg said...

Thanks Onpainting. Yep, yep... h2o painting has a tendency to do that. It can be a real rascal of a medium and with my style of doing it, you can run but not hide. And if you blow it, oh well, tear your effort into itty bitty pieces, walk away and come back later to start a new painting.

David Lobenberg said...

You are absolutely correct Myrna... demos don't get overworked, because you are too busy communicating with your students and not mulling over what you are doing.

Nava said...

Great brush stroke at the tail's end!! See, when I come up with such a stroke, I look at it, think "that is so cool - let me improve it a bit!", mess it completel and join OnPainting's mood.

So, let me see if I got that right: what you're sayin' here is that if I went up to someone and wished them "Fook Yu" - they would be happy that I am full of good intentions towards their day?

Mike said...

Dave I must admit to temptation to write a Fook Yu treatise here, but alas, I must demure. I don't wish to be famous for the wrong reasons :p)

I will step out here, however, and say you are making too much of watercolor. There are myriads of corrective measures that can be taken if errors arise . . .and they ALWAYS do . . .

These roosters are delightful! I especially like the chinese cousin . . . .I can almost FEEL the hand as the artist bent back the bristles to the heel of the brush and deliverd the tail in a flourish! Wow!

David Lobenberg said...

Nava: If you can't speak a lick of Chinese, and the person you are speaking to can't speak a lick either, then fine and dandy...give him or her a hearty "Fook Yu!" (followed immediately with my translation). Now if the person speaks Chinese and those words come out of your mouth, I'd run like hell on fire!

David Lobenberg said...

Mike: I think when it comes to watercolor painting, I can get a tad iconoclastic. I grew up studying old master Asian painters who devoted their lives mastering brush and stroke. So I only speak from my perspective. Watercolor evolves. There are many paths to follow.
Fook Yu!, you wonderful watercolor artist you!

Anonymous said...

a mighty fine looking rooster.

paz

David Lobenberg said...

Fook Yu, Paz. Hope you read the Chinese translation!

FCP said...

Oh wow, these are great. I love the strong value contrast and attitude of the Chinese cousin, David.
Faye

David Lobenberg said...

Thanks Faye. Yea, its fun to just work with a few high contrasting values. As they say in the watercolor world, "save your whites!"

Jared Shear said...

Love these roosters!.....like you said you have to have attitude when painting with watercolors, and especially when painting roosters in watercolor!!

Marleen said...

Okay, I like Mike's comments. See it's okay to tweek. However, Brooster is definitely strutting and proud. Makes me not give up on a painting. Slow and steady as a turtle as I learn the intricacy of watercolor. It's always full of surprises. I like the unpredictability of it.

Anonymous said...

Hi, David! I found Fook Yu via a Google image search several months ago, and he's now planning to be the color study for a resin chicken that I bought recently... http://curvesnangles.wordpress.com/2012/06/12/spot-the-beginning/
Thank you! He's beautiful!
Karen

David Lobenberg said...

curvesangles, Fook Yu is honored!