Liz Hill Workshop

"Gloria" by Nancy Standlee
15 x 22 in.
watercolor, collage, charcoal on hot press paper

I joined Daily Painters of Texas and discovered Liz Hill's work and it didn't take me long to get signed up for a workshop, Figure Painting in Mixed Media, October 16, 17, and 18Th in Houston at the WAS-H building. Check out Liz's blog and web site and you'll see some exciting work using watercolor, acrylic and collage.
We had a model each morning to sketch and would spend our time getting warmed up on sketch paper and then taking a longer time to draw with charcoal on 140 lb. hot press half sheets of paper in preparation for the afternoon of painting. Liz works in an intuitive and very exciting method of applying washes of color, and going back in with more charcoal, using gesso and collage. I don't know how long or if ever, it would have taken me to produce something even similar to "Gloria" without her instruction and supervision. She was fun to paint with and she shared her knowledge with about 12 of us in demos and while walking around the room giving individual attention. If you enjoy working with figures and collage check out Liz's schedule for her next workshop but she is a busy lady drawing from models 3 times a week.
An added treat for me was a visit the Archway Gallery where she and Susan Sheets have a show, Double Vision and I was able to view several of Liz's recent works. One particular painting called my name and is making the trip back to Arlington with me, Liz's painting "Patricia".

In this painting above you see some of Liz's award winning style of texture, pattern and exaggeration and how she pushes traditional watercolor a step beyond. I have enjoyed this workshop very much and seeing the beautiful facility and meeting new friends and painting and learning some new techniques. In a later post I'll try to show some of the other student's work.