Robert W. Cook doesn’t need a photo album to remember his favorite spots. He paints them in watercolor. From the old buildings of Cuervo, New Mexico, to cafes in France, if a scene captures his eye, it goes on canvas. One unique factor of Bob’s work is the great amount of detail that is tediously placed in his paintings. While it takes Cook an average of 4 days to complete a painting, a setting, like the streets of New Orleans, will take much longer.
Artist Cook grew up in Kansas City, Missouri, and like many kids of the 50s, took a job delivering newspapers. His route included downtown Kansas City where merchants awaited the latest news. One storefront, in particular, always caught his eye. A retouching art studio, where air brushes were used to bring life to prints, seemed to mesmerize Bob. Before long, he was working for this shop as a gopher, just to get close to the industry. The company evolved into an architectural rendering business where structures were created in real life artwork. This work was significant to an architect’s presentation long before a project was started.
These humble beginnings led Cook to Dallas, Texas, where he spent the next 30 years as an architectural illustrator. His professional career led him to produce over 13,000 paintings, shown in prestigious areas such as the Chicago Art Institute, the US Architectural Perspectivists Society and the Japan Architectural Renderers Association.
Today, Cook is retired and a fulltime fine watercolor artist. Awards and honors have been collected from the National Watercolor Society, the Society of Watercolor Artists, the Southwestern Watercolor Society, and the Florida and Louisiana Watercolor Societies. He has been accepted in many major shows, including Rio Brazo.
    “El Metropole†is an example of how Cook may be casually having dinner with friends, then turns as he leaves the restaurant to see a spectacular scene that must be captured. Lights that drench the front of the establishment create a haunting shadow among the darkened buildings, and leaving a feeling of melancholy. The scene is from Mirande, France, and is realism, painted in watercolor.
Landscape is another passion of Cook’s as he takes in every detail of the reflection from the sun as it pours over the simple scene of “Oak Point†that the viewer is able to share to same astonishing beauty as the painter, which is what every artist strives to achieve. The leaves almost a look as if they are swaying and provide that same dizzying effect that is so enjoyed from the color bursts of autumn.
In a video found at www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OJUBHajib0, Bob explains from his studio how the application of frisket is used in his watercolor painting. He uses rubber cement and thinner as a solvent for perfecting certain elements and edging of his paintings. Frisking is also used in airbrushing.
Robert W. Cook’s gallery, Your Private Collection is located on the Square, in Granbury, Texas, where his paintings can be seen first-hand and see more at: http://1-robert-cook.artistwebsites.com.
Editor’s note: For the print format edition, click on:
Sharing memories with watercolors – Portrait of Robert W. Cook.
