Acrylic Expressionist Ladies ~ Robert Burridge Workshop ~ Granbury by Texas Daily Painter Nancy Standlee

Ladies 1
7 1/2 x 11 in. Acrylic and gold on watercolor paper

Ladies 2
7 1/2 x 11 in. Acrylic and gold on watercolor paper

Ladies 3
7 1/2 x 11 in. Acrylic and gold on watercolor paper

Bob Burridge at the Granbury TX 4 day workshop April 12-15, 2011 and my 9th Robert Burridge workshop and I'm scheduled for 2 more at Dena's Ranch in August. The above warm up paintings are on gessoed watercolor paper with acrylic with some gold paint and that makes them very hard to photograph.
Why so many workshops? He says he doesn't teach painting he teaches self esteem and most of the students come away from his class ready to try new methods and experiment with techniques they've never tried before. Painting is not something you get as there is nothing to get, just do a lot of paintings and that includes a lot of bad paintings - just take a peek under my bed!! What makes a good idea for a painting - something that excites you. One of my favorite Bob quotes that I repeat often "It's all been done before, but not by you." He says working bigger (larger) will make you looser and sometimes he varnishes the painting when it's 3/4 done and then keeps on going. We use his color wheel to choose our color and a composition chart to choose our design, write down our intentions, and then play and have fun. If it doesn't look right, keep painting until it does.
Bob and Kate have a great Artsy Fartsy Newsletter, that's free and you can sign up on their site. Click the link to see the current issue and yours truly is in this one with a photo of her recent collages from the Derek Gores workshop. It was pretty insane what I did. I packed my car for the Burridge workshop and left it parked at DFW airport when I flew to Derek Gores Portrait workshop in FL. I flew in Sunday evening and headed to Dallas ready for the Burridge workshop on Monday without going back home. I brought in the FL collage to show the class and Bob.

This is the cover of one of the small Strathmore 400 series 4 x 6 in drawing pads I'm recording some images in. Check my last blog post for more information. I can see that I will fill up these little books pretty quickly and I've decided to collage on the front and cover with clear mailing tape - something quick and easy. On this one I put about Bob's Granbury workshop and the KE stands for the Kathleen Elsey workshop I've just finished in Santa Barbara.
This partial page is in a 9 x 12 journal that I use to record daily or weekly events and memories. This week Krogers had 12 oz containers of blackberries on special for $2.88 and it brought back memories of my mom picking us blackberries for a delicious cobbler and as an elementary librarian one of my favorite books to read the younger ones was Peter Rabbit. I will talk about how I journal and why at Dena's for my "Love Your Life" workshop May 19 and 20th. The class is $200 and you can contact Dena Wenmohs for more info and the info that is shown 3 day here will be changed soon to a 2 day and the cost is less.

BLOG................http://NancyStandlee.blogspot.com

WEBSITE..........http://NancyStandlee.com

WEBSITE..........http://CanvasbyCanvas.com

PAINTED PAPER COLLAGE PAINTINGS ~ TORN PAPER PAINTINGS ~ WATERMEDIA ~
COLLAGE ART ~ MIXED MEDIA TEXTURED ABSTRACT PAINTING ~ TORN PAPER COLLAGE
~ TEXAS DAILY PAINTER ~ NANCY STANDLEE CONTEMPORARY ART ~ ACRYLIC FLORAL

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"Breakfast at the Beach" ~ Kathleen Elsey Workshop ~ Santa Barbara CA ~ Art Journal Workshop TX ~ by Texas Daily Painter Nancy Standlee

"Breakfast at the Beach"
16 x 20" acrylic on canvas pad
Painted in the Kathleen Elsey's workshop
Santa Barbara CA

This morning my heart is in Santa Barbara with Kathleen Elsey and the last day of her "Paint the Colors of Spring" plein air workshop April 27-29 but check out her workshop page and there are two more coming up in Sonoma and France if you'd like to join us...wish, wish. This was painted in her "Paint Everything" April 19-22, in Santa Barbara overlooking East Beach.

How do I choose a workshop? This time I Googled Open acrylics and found Kathleen and knew nothing about her except what I read online - no friend recommendations or nothing!! Fortunately I was not disappointed. I walked into a studio situation filled with fresh flowers of iris, ranunculus, zinnias, fresh fruit and beautiful set ups to paint. We didn't use the Open's but Kathleen was using the new Winsor Newton Artists' Acrylics. I brought Golden in tubes, packed in plastic disposable containers but this is a reminder to me..put the plastic containers back into plastic bags as when the TSA finished looking or when the baggage was found and by the time I opened my bag the tubes were loose and wild in my suitcase; however still secure in their tubes. It could have been a disaster.

Kathleen recommended this Atelier airtight peel off paint palette for plein air. You order art supplies before the workshop, buy while you're there and then you discover new products like this palette or the name of a book and you have to order when you get home. During the year when any of my Canvas by Canvas group finds a new art supply, we covet and buy and sometimes they just go ahead and get 8.

In Kath Macaulay's workshop she introduced me to the Strathmore Drawing pad (400 series) 4 x 6 in. to keep close by to draw and watercolor in, making notes of places visited (see blog post HERE). I used it a lot in Santa Barbara and the image above is one quickly done. Notes can be made on the back page of the image. At my Love Your Life workshop scheduled for May 19 and 20 at Dena's Ranch I will demonstrate how I used this to record fabulous restaurants in Santa Barbara. Check with Dena as to price as she has it on her site as a 3 day and it's a two day and the price is lower.

This is the little journal I couldn't pass up at the Art Essentials store in Santa Barbara - A Holbein 6 x 9 Multi-drawing book from Japan with a tie..loved the ties. I had to record the centennial cup I purchased in Solvang for the first page.

Kathleen thinking about the colorful ranunculus against the cobalt cloth.


These flowers were brought in by a student from her Mom's garden.


First lay in of color.

The finished Rananculus Floral by Kathleen Elsey has been removed at her request . (See more of her finished paintings on her website HERE.)

Restaurants:
These are some of the fabulous restaurants I visited and made little notes about them in the Strathmore Drawing sketchbook.

Harbor Restaurant

Ca' Dario

Br0phy Bros. Seafood Restaurant

La Playa Azul Cafe

Holdren's Steaks and Seafood

The Boat House

BLOG................http://NancyStandlee.blogspot.com

WEBSITE..........http://NancyStandlee.com

WEBSITE..........http://CanvasbyCanvas.com

PAINTED PAPER COLLAGE PAINTINGS ~ TORN PAPER PAINTINGS ~ WATERMEDIA ~
COLLAGE ART ~ MIXED MEDIA TEXTURED ABSTRACT PAINTING ~ TORN PAPER COLLAGE
~ TEXAS DAILY PAINTER ~ NANCY STANDLEE CONTEMPORARY ART ~ ACRYLIC FLORAL

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Van Gogh's Iris Table ~ Kathleen Elsey Workshop ~ Santa Barbara CA ~ Art Journaling Dena's Ranch TX ~ Nancy Standlee Texas Daily Painter

Van Gogh's Iris Table 20 x 16 in. Acrylic on Canvas Panel

To See More of Kathleen's Work and Workshop Dates Click HERE>

I painted this on Tues, the first day of class in the Kathleen Elsey workshop in California last week. She had named all the still life set up tables with such interesting titles it made you want to paint that particular set-up. This one was beside the window overlooking the beach on the 2nd floor. You could glance up and see sunbathers and volleyball players below us. However, Cezanne's table was impressive also but I chose a pass on that one because it contained a violin...brrr.. maybe next time. More paintings to come.

How do you travel and paint large? Kathleen suggested we get canvas panels and canvas sheets in pad form like these from Art Alternatives. We brought our easels so we could easily move around the still life setups. I have an easel that hasn't been used much because I mostly paint on a table, but it was easy to set up and use. Look at Valpod Artist Easel that uses a camera tripod. Kathleen paints plein air often and she demonstrated her easy set up with her Soltek Easel. What a package that is. In case we forgot something or just had to go look which I did, Santa Barbara has a very impressive art store, Art Essentials.
I couldn't pass up a Holbein 6 x 9 in journal for water color and multi-media as I love all types of art journals. I will add here that I will be teaching a 2 day art journaling workshop at Dena's Ranch May 19 and 20, Thursday and Friday. If you're interested and want more info please email Dena at Dena Wenmohs ; Last year it was titled "Love Your Life" art journaling workshop and I will add some collage to this workshop so expect to experiment with painted and found papers in your journal. Remember if you stay at the ranch Dena provides breakfast (you fix) and lunch (she prepares) and then we bring and share for the night meal. It is a quiet retreat about 15 miles from Marble Falls, out in the country with the cows and donkeys, but we have all the laughs.

BLOG................http://NancyStandlee.blogspot.com

WEBSITE..........http://NancyStandlee.com

WEBSITE..........http://CanvasbyCanvas.com

PAINTED PAPER COLLAGE PAINTINGS ~ TORN PAPER PAINTINGS ~ WATERMEDIA ~
COLLAGE ART ~ MIXED MEDIA TEXTURED ABSTRACT PAINTING ~ TORN PAPER COLLAGE
~ TEXAS DAILY PAINTER ~ NANCY STANDLEE CONTEMPORARY ART ~ ACRYLIC FLORAL

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"East Beach, Santa Barbara" ~ Kathleen Elsey Workshop ~ Texas Daily Painter Nancy Standlee

"East Beach, Santa Barbara" 16 x 20 in. Acrylic

Nancy and Kathleen

"Paint Everything" Class 13 in the class. Myrna was taking the photo
April 19-22 Santa Barbara CA

It's been a busy month since my last Tucson sketching workshop post. Canvas by Canvas had a Friday night gallery walk at the Good Art Company Gallery in Fredericksburg, McKinney had a one day Main Street Art show by way of Laura Moore Gallery, and I had a wonderful Granbury 4 day workshop with Robert Burridge and there will be posts to come on that fun workshop.

Kathleen Elsey: See more of her work on her website HERE:
I found Kathleen Elsey online Googling "Open" Acrylics, liked her work and since I lived near Santa Barbara in Lompoc for a few years in the 60's decided to make the trip. One of my boys was born in Lompoc and I haven't been back since until this trip.
Check out Kathleen's website Elsey.com as she has some exciting workshops in the works - one to France. Would I like to go? Silly question and then a plein air in Sonoma in October and I don't even like plein air but I like her way of paint application. She describes herself as a Fauvist Expressionist and that means thick paint with wild colors.
The workshop was held in the Veterans Memorial Building, 2nd floor overlooking the beach and it just doesn't get any better. Kathleen brought in furniture and set ups, table coverings, backdrop cloths, for still life paintings for Tues and Wednesday, Thursday we painted the beach from photographs she provided and Friday we could move to another set up in the room or finish a painting. She encouraged us to paint large (16 x 20 for me) and one whole suitcase was devoted to art supplies and I might add it was searched coming and going by the TSA and I guess long handled brushes, corkscrews and lots of tubes of paint can look a little suspicious.
Kathleen suggested we make drawings of our still life in our sketchbook before beginning to paint. She has recently started using Winsor and Newton Artists' Acrylic Colour and applies them with a brush similar to using a palette knife. The paints stay wet longer and dry close to the original color that's applied. It's humid in Santa Barbara and on one of her Masterson palettes she removed the sponge. Once the initial lay in of color she begins to work thicker once confident of her composition.
She paints with a group, New Fauves and you might like to see some of their work.
(more on this workshop in future posts)

I hope you had a Happy Easter and got to spend some time with your family. I will post a photo of the baby boy who was born in Lompoc, CA. The other boy was having plumbing problems and couldn't attend my daughter's Easter egg hunt on Sunday. On Saturday the flight from LAX was problematic.. engine trouble, lots, delayed landing at DFW, lost luggage and didn't get into bed until 2:30 a.m. but it was all worth it. Santa Barbara was so beautiful, the class was friendly, and Kathleen, a sharing and helpful instructor. I'm glad to have been one of her 13.

Eric (the Lompoc baby.. my California child, NS and Dana (my Virginia baby) the Texas boy was working.

Charlie, (he is Dana's) Dana and Eric

BLOG................http://NancyStandlee.blogspot.com

WEBSITE..........http://NancyStandlee.com

WEBSITE..........http://CanvasbyCanvas.com

PAINTED PAPER COLLAGE PAINTINGS ~ TORN PAPER PAINTINGS ~ WATERMEDIA ~
COLLAGE ART ~ MIXED MEDIA TEXTURED ABSTRACT PAINTING ~ TORN PAPER COLLAGE
~ TEXAS DAILY PAINTER ~ NANCY STANDLEE CONTEMPORARY ART ~ ACRYLIC FLORAL

Contact NancyStandlee@sbcglobal.net