SHOP TALK: Rob Schamberger Newsletter06OCT24
Am I only dreaming or is this burning an eternal flame?
Hi. My name's Rob Schamberger. I'm that guy who paints rasslers. And other stuff. Do you feel my heart beating? Do you understand?
WORDS
My latest statue painting is of this first century(!!) sculpture of wrestlers at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy. Obviously with my main subject matter this piece caught my attention, but it's also an incredible work unto itself that I’ve been excited for a while to paint. I love the movement of the figures in the statue and did my best to accentuate that here.
Here’s a preview of Thursday’s first-ever Deonna Purrazzo painting. I love when I get an excuse to use some green paint! Not a color used too much in pro wrestling, oddly enough.
UPCOMING AEW/PWT PAINTINGS
Deonna Purrazzo - SIGNED
Darby Allin
Sting
Abadon
Jamie Hayter
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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Instagram
Threads
Cara
YouTube
WHAT I LIKED THIS WEEK
I started watching The Conners, somehow having not seen it yet. I was a really big fan of the original series back when I was a kid and this does an excellent job of finding fresh new ways into where the characters are at now. They had to sort of reinvent the show after the original lead was no longer available to them and the first episode in how they addressed all of this, both in-story and in-reality is a masterpiece that should be taught in writing classes. But when you’ve got John Goodman and Laurie Metcalf, it’s kind of hard to make a bad show. Both are forces of nature.
I’m about halfway through reading Star Trek Library Volume Three, collecting some early IDW comics focused on the characters from the original series. There’s nothing Earth-shattering here, but I fuggin love Trek and this is a lot of fun stories about Kirk, Spock, Bones and the gang.
I’ve been excited for Final Cut by Charles Burns, as I’ve been a fan of his work going back to my teen years with Black Hole. On the surface it’s a story about a bunch of kids trying to make their own sci-fi movie, discovering who they each are and how they do and do not fit with one another. Under the surface, it’s a story about just how hard life was before we knew about things like PTSD and mental health in general and how to effectively treat it. Plus it’s just gorgeous to look at, drawn by someone in Burns who’s been at the top of his craft for about as long as I’ve been alive.
Friday night Katy and I went to see Speak No Evil and had a hell of a time. Two of its leads, Mackenzie Davis and Scoot McNairy starred in one of our very favorite shows Halt & Catch Fire so we HAD to go. It’s a gripping thriller, excellently done with plenty of unexpected-yet-earned moments. But what made it over the top for us was the crowd we saw it with. Lots of screams and people yelling at the screen things like, “GIRL RUN!” and “Shoot the sumbitch!” and “Don’t open the door, moron!” Like, it’s a HEAVY movie but thanks to the crowd we had FUN.
My pad for the next six-ish months.
YOU GOOD?
The time came for my semi-annual move up to Studio North aka the upstairs. It’s called that because, and this is a stretch so stay with me, it’s on the north side of the house. Studio South is in the sun room but I’m not going to get into all of the minutiae of how it got its name. Complicated stuff, yo.
Our upstairs isn’t ventilated too well so it gets just slightly too hot in the warm months. And because of the Earth’s egg-like shape and how it wobbles around the sun, in the cooler months the daylight shines right into the sun room making it almost impossible to work in due to how it shines through the trees, creating a strobing effect that, well, sucks.
I do enjoy switching up the view a couple times a year, though. It keeps things fresh for me in my fairly isolated days and both views are really lovely.
Love you more,
Rob