Nicholas Simmons and Da Vinci liquid acrylics
Nick's Koi ~ A Beginning ~ Stop by later for the finished paintingWe learned so much today and had so much fun trying out Nicholas Simmons’ “batik” technique of painting a Koi fish. He prefers working large, but to save time he painted a demo with a ½ sheet (15” x 22”) hot press paper. He drew a contour drawing of one Koi with plants with wide leaves in the background, did some splatter with mask and then the magic started with Nick painting with the Da Vinci fluid acrylics and boldly wielding a spray bottle, and mixing the colors on the paper and not on the palette. He welcomed crawl backs and blooms and made slight color changes. We had a great time walking around and viewing the other students’ work and seeing their colors as we all wanted to paint a Koi like Nick.
If you’d like to see the whole process with about 2 hours of instruction his DVD, Innovative Water Media, from Creative Catalyst is now available. I found my copy in the mailbox as I was leaving the house to go to an art opening on Friday and oh, how I wanted to stay home and watch it but felt fortunate I got to see it all the way through before the workshop began Monday. He gives a good discussion of his materials including his brushes and they run the gamut from a toothbrush to a 4” house painter’s brush. One innovative thing about this DVD is that Nick composed and performed his own original music.
I didn’t finish my painting today as I need to work on my Koi and I will post it later. Artist Showplace has an overhead mirror and a separate table for each of us upstairs in a quite area of the gallery with a microwave and refrigerator nearby and a large sink for cleanup. It’s just a great experience and the participants are so fortunate to be able to take a week off and get a chance to study with this 2007 National Watercolor Society top prize winner.
Other blogs where I post:
· http://artistfoodnetwork.blogspot.com
· http://canvasbycanvas.blogspot.com
· http://myspace.com/nancystandlee
· Web site: http://www.nancystandlee.com
· Eat Well ~ Paint Your Food ~ Laugh Often
1 comment:
Oo-oo-oo! I KNEW you couldn't resist logging on while at the Simmons workshop. I'm really sorry I had to miss it. Thanks for posting the images and I think his style fits very well with yours. Hope to see more. BT
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