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Hi. My name's Rob Schamberger. I'm that guy who paints rasslers. And other stuff. Overwhelming millions every day.

I had a bit of a breakthrough with this new Darby Allin painting. I had a completely different idea for it when I started and then something kind of magical happened. I was using one of my normal techniques, where I used some Payne’s Gray purple shade to do a monochromatic tonal underpainting. It’s a method called ‘indirect painting’, where one can work out a lot of the desaturation right from the beginning, saving a ton of time with mixing and the like. It’s not the right method for every painting, but it’s a wonderful tool when it fits.

Anyway! So I did that underpainting and then used a big brush to apply some water over it and then washes of pyrrole orange and lilac and once that dried I was like, wait, this looks like it might actually be almost done. There’s a dreamy quality to it that completely changed my mind about what it should look like.

I amped up a little here and there, added some lavender and selectively applied some shadows and this turned out far, far better than what I had set out to do. It’s a trap I fall into a little too often, adding more steps than may be necessary and not always knowing when to stop. Watercolor can often be overworked and I skirt that line sometimes. Not this time, though! This one worked.

Card subject to change.

Rob’s Art on ShopAEW
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Rob and Jason Arnett's novella Rudow Can't Fail!
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Rob’s prints and shirts at Pro Wrestling Tees
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Bluesky
Cara
YouTube
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Katy’s book Oldest Kansas City

A few weeks ago I told you I’ve been diving into the art reference library at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, learning about all of the things I don’t know. I’m not to the point where I know how much I don’t know, but I’m getting there! Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been focused on modern Chinese art, from the 1900’s to present. The works that caught my eye right away are by Xu Beihong.

In reading more about him, Beihong is considered to be the preeminent and most-influential painter in the modern era of China. Rightfully! His work is gorgeous. He studied abroad in his youth and brought the Classical European painting traditions to the Chinese art scene and it was like a bolt of creative lightning. His techniques and methods are still the primary ones taught in Chinese art schools today, from what I read.

On one hand, I’m super excited to learn about any accomplished artist. On the other, wow I’m only now finding out about one of the most accomplished and famous artists in the world from the past century. Hooray for Eurocentric education, I guess. It’s like Columbus ‘discovering’ America AND ALL OF THE PEOPLE ALREADY LIVING THERE.

But that’s why I’m making a point to purposefully learn about the areas I know nothing about, right? I don’t know how much I don’t know, but I’m for sure getting an idea of how limited my education is. No one can be expected to know everything, that’s impossible, but there’s beauty and wonder in continuing to learn and to take in voices and histories from around the world.

I love walking around the neighborhood this time of year, as the plants all start waking up for the spring season. Down the street there’s a star magnolia tree that’s started blooming and it’s just magnificent. My hydrangea have started sprouting and the blackberry bush is starting to develop some leaves (this should be our first year it fruits!) and the lilac bush out back has started budding.

I get excited to mess around with my yard every year. I’ll start preparing the grass after this cold snap ends, putting a bit of fresh seed down once the next heavy rain comes through (hopefully). Still a couple months away from moving the plants outside, but I can see that light at the end of this tunnel!

Love you more,
Rob

PS: Abolish and prosecute ICE.