France and Switzerland

I visited France and Switzerland in the not so distant past and had an amazing experience. My time was spent between the Sollies Ville in the south of France, for a BD (comic book) Festival, then onto Geneva, where I met with my publisher, Pierre Paquet, then onto Paris, where myself and the rest of my friends from Out Of Picture, had a show at the Gallerie Arludik. It was two of the most amazing weeks of my life, where I had the chance to meet some amazing artists and equally amazing people. Here are a few sketches from the trip.

In the Latin Quarter

Cafe by Saint Severin

one of several drawings I did of old men on their motorcycles

Diane and the waiter

Out of Picture Drawings

These drawings were actually in the show at the Galerie Arludik. Some of them are still available for purchase.

Gouache Painting

This is a more rendered version of the study below. Typically when I use gouache, I will treat it like water colour in the begining of a painting. In fact, I often use the two mediums interchangably. I usually start of painting very light and use a lot of water. I am somewhat reckless in applying paint in the begining, however I try to be careful in preserving the white of the paper for my brightest highlights. While the pools begin to dry, I try to pay attention to the edges, to make sure that they dry the way I want them to. In this early stage I try not to blend too much with my brush. I like to tilt my board to allow the pools colors to run into each other. By allowing the colors to mix together, rather than blending them with a brush, I can preserve the intensity of the colors. As I get further into a painting I will tend to paint more opague (with more pure pigment) and with less water.
In this painting, I actually rendered it tighter and more opaque than I usually do. I find it a really fun challenge to try and find new ways to handle the medium.

Gouache Studies

I did these studies in gouache, which is a water based medium, which very similar to watercolor, only it can be used more opaque. I really love this medium, because it is so versatile.
The paintings are based loosly off friends I know. The angry looking guy with the fish is my old swim coach Doug. Doug was one of my favorite coaches I ever worked with, eventhough it was not unusual for him to put on a face like the one in this painting. The girl is a friend of mine from San Francisco, who is in fact the owner of a pair of hairless cats.

Welcome to my Blog

Hello! My name is Robert Mackenzie. I am an artist currently living in nyc. Here are some samples of my work. These paintings for the book Out Of Picture, a project I worked on with some of my friends at Blue Sky Studios. They were done in gouache on Strathmore 500 series illustration board (cold press), I hope you enjoy them.