High School
College years
1980's
Tuesday, February 28, 2023
Untitled Beach Scene
Reminiscent
of an earlier time, this beach scene populated by beach combers and bathers,
appears to be getting started for the day. Maybe the boardwalk lies just beyond
the umbrellas and shacks.
Untitled Beach Scene 9½x13½, watercolor, framed, unsigned
Loose and Fun
It seems that Dick had fun with water colors as is apparent with this farmers market on the side of the road. The viewer is given just enough to imagine the owner has just opened up for business and awaits travelers and shoppers needing a reprieve from the road to and pickup a few items to snack on.
Whether
it is a sketch for future paintings or just for fun this watercolor has
confident and fast feel about it.
Farmers Ranch Market, watercolor, unframed, unsigned, Dick Burg
Thursday, February 23, 2023
San Pedro Harbor
In 2022 I was in communication with Shirley’s daughter Jessica who lives in Bend, Oregon about retrieving a number of paintings of Dick’s. While there visiting, Jessica relayed a most interesting story about Dick. Jessica wasn’t sure of the specifics of year and place but apparently Dick was involved in a show with Winston Churchill and that he mentioned after the show had closed, in his subtle humorous Dick Burg way that he had sold one of his painting and that Winston had sold none. “I sold more than Churchill.” He was gloating. At first I was skeptical of the tale but after investigating and some research I found evidence that in deed there was truth to the story.
In the past The Hallmark card company in Kansas City that Dick worked for sponsored a gallery art showing of paintings by Dick but that would have nothing to do with Churchill. As I searched I located a document of a list of paintings and it indicated a painting #119 San Pedro Harbor 20x30 that was gifted to Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri. Westminster College was Dick’s alma mater and the home of the Winston Churchill Museum. Dick must have had a show at the college and gifted the painting then. I contacted Westminster College and verified that the painting was in the art collection on the campus.
#119 San Pedro Harbor 20x30, unframed, oil, canvass on Masonite, signed
Monday, February 20, 2023
Too Young To Work
The
sun saturates the foothills with a warm light in the distance. A bow legged
man heads back to the barn. Dick’s fascination with rural barn structures
continues. The familiar “Dick Burg Dots” are scattered on the tin roof of the barn.
#24 Too Young To Work 15x30, framed, acrylic, canvass on Masonite, signed
Ken's Ranch
#18 Ken’s Ranch – 18x24, framed, oil, canvas on Masonite, signed
#1 After
The Roundup – 12x24, framed, acrylic, canvas on Masonite, signed
Dick remarried in 1981 after Betty passed in 1978 He had met Shirley Kelly at the San Gabriel Fine Arts Association where they were both active members. They had decided to take a road trip for their honeymoon to Shirley’s cousin, Ken Masson, in Nebraska. The plan was to barrow, Dick’s daughter Melissa’s yellow VW beetle and take a leisurely drive into the Midwest. On the way in the vast empty plains of Nebraska their beetle over heated and caught fire and was incinerated leaving a ghastly burn mark in the asphalt highway. After that spectacle, the newlyweds hitched a ride in a bread truck into the nearest town for assistance and then travelled on to Ken’s.
Ken’s Ranch is a misnomer. Ken was the foreman at a ranch named Moon Bow in Dunning, a cow town located in Blaine County, western Nebraska with a sparse population of 100 persons. Moon Bow was a working ranch of a few thousands acres that bred Black Angus and Red Angus with Herford cattle. The Dismal River flowed through the ranch. While there Dick and Shirley were treated to a real traditional round-up. They even mounted horses and rode around the property. Not bad for a seventy year old.
With all the activity Dick was able to sketch and take photographs of the area for later development of paintings. The paintings of this period interestingly featured horses for the first time.
#18 Ken’s Ranch – 18x24, framed, oil, canvas on Masonite, signed
Blue Vase and Flowers
This brisk impressionistic still life must have been a simple study due to being unsigned. The flowers and vase are punctuated by the intensity of the dark background.
#137 Blue Vase and Flowers – 16x20, Framed, Oil, canvass on Masonite, unsigned
Marine Scenes
#112 Three at Rest – 18x24, framed, oil, Canvass on Masonite, signed
Marine scenes continue with these two works. It is likely that they were executed in Morro Bay area. Morro Bay is home to Morro Rock, which is ancient volcanic mound. There are several Morro Rock paintings that Dick has done, but there are an abundance of docks and small piers that dot the bay that are quite picturesque as well.
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