CBC Gallery Opening ~ SWS Entry

SWS Entry
"The Nightingale"
15" x 12"

I received notice that "The Nightingale" has been accepted into the Southwestern Watercolor Society 46th annual membership show in September. This was done with watercolor and collage on 300 pound paper and inspired by attending the Gerald Brommer workshop at the Artists Showplace Gallery.
See blog posts on June 09 and the week earlier.

Canvas by Canvas members, Maryann, Nancy, Connie, (Marlene from the Museum) and Cindy at the Old Post Office and Museum Center in Graham, Texas, as we break for the July 4 parade. There is very interesting reading about the history of the area and exhibits if you click on the link. Thanks to all the volunteers who made our opening day very special. Our paintings will hang there until the first part of September so if you're in the area check out our paintings. This is the first time all of them have been hung together. What a treat to see them all in one place and be reminded of the dedication and work that has gone into their production.
We met early for the 2 hour drive and were welcomed to the museum show by a wonderful staff and group of volunteers. We had some time to step outside the door and under the shade of a large tree enjoy the July 4 parade while some of us enjoyed a lesson in water witching. We loved meeting new friends, having them tell us their favorite works and were surprised by a beautiful lunch before our Graham supporters bid us goodbye. Thanks to Red and his wife, Jay and Martha, Danny, Marlene and Tom and to all our visitors - thanks so much for stopping by and introducing yourselves. You have a treasure in Graham with your museum. Thanks for the invitation to show and visit in your town.
It was hot, hot on the way home (news later said that Graham at 103 was a hot spot of the North Texas area that day.) We had a quick stop at the Weatherford Farmers Market and next weekend is their Peach Festival.
You think you really know someone? Well, think again. One of our members is a big fan of yodeling and that was news to us. She casually mentioned she had gotten a "how-to" CD and had been practicing while driving. You know the rest of the story. Put that sucker in the CD player and we'll all practice the exercises and we got a little hysterical and a few curious glances from other car passengers. We came to the agreement if we could get really good at this yodeling thing and billed ourselves as the Yodeling Collaborative Painters of Texas we'd have the world cornered by uniqueness. Maybe at our shows on opening night we could give a quick demo and wear our little black aprons arm in arm skipping around a gallery. This went on for miles. Blame it on the heat.
If this kid learned how from a tape on YouTube, do you think 8 ladies in ther "middle years" might have a chance?

Remember Star Trek
"When going out into the universe, remember; Boldly go where no man has gone before."

Enjoy the slide show below and mouse over for captions.

Arlington, Texas Nancy Standlee Daily Painter Collaborative Collage Contemporary Watercolor

Gerald Brommer Workshop ~ Week One ~ Collage

Collage Figure
7" x 11"
Gerald Brommer has presented 2 weeks of workshops at the Artists' Showplace Gallery. I enjoyed the first week so much, Stained Papers and Collage, when an opportunity to take the second week came, Designing with Watercolor or Acrylics and Collage, I jumped at the chance. The above figure was not one of the assignments but by the end of the week I did a figure when we were on our own.
For the first few days we were working with pure collage with our stained watercolor washi papers and later we began adding more paint. We were cautioned against turning these into paintings but let some of the collage show.
We could add anything that would stick to the support, 300 pound watercolor paper, with acrylic mat medium.
Jerry said, "Don't talk to a collage artist about archival. Who cares if it lasts forever and if it starts to fall apart? Good. It will make it more interesting. Kurt Schwitters (20th century master of collage) used wine labels and newsprint."
We purchased a packet of 20 various washi papers about letter size and one of the samples had fragments of the Bangkok Daily News in it (certainly not archival). How wonderful and freeing is that. He also stated, "Paint to please yourselves and hope that others like it" and "Don't over think this. There are no mistakes with collage - just add another piece of paper until it gets so heavy you can't lift it."
Radial Design
11" x 11"
Radiating from a central core. One of about 12 designs we studied. I supplemented some of the painted washi papers with some acrylic painted pieces from the Anne Bagby workshop and from the Carrie Burns Brown workshop.
Jerry Brommer
Collage artist, story teller (the Hittite story was memorable) author of books, books, books, 35 plus art books and some are used in high schools and colleges, educator, juror and scholar and a very enthusiastic master of watercolor and collage painting methods. I guess it would be correct to say he wrote the book on it. Check back later for future posts on the workshop. There is great hope in collage that when your children put you in the "home" and you're not allowed to have scissors you can still enjoy collage, just tearing up and gluing it down again.

Anne Bagby Workshop ~ Artists' Showplace ~ Texas Art Blog

Approximately 5" square image made from a collage of handmade papers from the Anne Bagby workshop held at Artists' Showplace. This example was placed in my journal. I made the face area from a page of the 1924 The Outline of History by H.G. Wells. I like some of the text to show.
Anne

Project on a 12" square of deli wrap of handmade papers done Saturday, colored and stamped and collaged. Anne said keep it simple and watch your values. This was anything but simple and it was too much the same value so I added lots of line work. Today I covered a 7" x 10" journal with the page. On the inside I'd pasted a Dan Burt drawing from his workshop. This journal will be used for drawing more than journaling. Anne says she takes the paper out to cover the journals but I worked around the rings and ran a line of paint connecting the edges. Not as neat but it's still together from someone who can't reassemble a ballpoint pen.


Art Journal Page 78
A trip to Aggie land for a wedding and seeing my first bluebonnets.

Art Journal Page 79
Still on the move but time to check out Grace Haverty's sketches. Packing, packing again for the Bagby workshop and it is a 3 day from Thursday to Saturday.
Art Journal Page 80
Anne's card, her chop, some instructions and my small work for my journal. See the stamp at the left of the image...it's an Anne Bagby original I won by using the most line - hope she doesn't ask for it back after she reads this post. Some of us Southern girls in watercolor workshops find great comfort sipping a cup of Earl Gray and applying a watercolor or two but mixed media artists are a different breed. They work really fast and do what's called "speed collage". I'm a Southern Texan. I work slow, talk and hear even slower and like to have time to inquire about my neighbor's Mama occasionally. Don't let Anne Bagby's diminutive size mislead you. She's a one woman dynamo, spewing forth tips, orders, suggestions, and ideas in a rapid lively way and hence the notation in my journal of "General" Bagby. I may have exaggerated a little when I wrote in my journal she said "Move it, Nancy" but I sat at the front table and was under her all seeing eye. At times she did remind me I needed to forge ahead.
I was glad I'd ordered her DVD from Creative Catalyst as I was a little more prepared to know what to expect. We cut out stamps and made our papers on Thursday and Friday and worked on our projects on Saturday - when I got to have a cup of tea while working. I've learned new paper and stamp making techniques, met a fascinating new instructor, made some new friends and visited with some old ones at Artists Showplace. They have a great facility for workshops and provide individuals with nice long tables and the owners are helpful and encouraging. Restaurants are close by and there is plenty of parking for unloading art supplies.
Another treat was Anne's show, Prototypes in Paper in the gallery and we could view many of her 12" canvases. The show will hang during March.
Thanks, Anne, for your patience and explanations. On Saturday, we packed away our supplies and cleared off the tables leaving only our handmade paper and our projects then each student had a show and tell time. The hand stamped and painted papers were amazing and beautiful and now for more projects with our wonderful papers.

On Friday night a student of Anne's, Dianne Hicks, stopped by. She has been to France with her and taken other workshops in the states. Her web site is a treat.

I've included a slide show of some of the activities during the workshop:

Mel Stabin Watercolor Workshop ~ Student Paintings, part 2

"Steps of San Miguel:Doll Sale"
15" x 11" watercolor

"San Miguel Street"
15" x 11" Watercolor

Sketch with watercolor in preparation for painting. It's fairly apparent I hadn't opened my Carl Dalio DVD on drawing. I cheated by sketching in pencil first and paper got really abused by so many eraser marks trying to work on my perspective. Jan, one of the Artists' Showplace owners, gave me a quick lunch break course in perspective. After sketching the paper was wet front and back before the washes were applied.


"San Miguel Buildings"
15" x 22" Watercolor

These are 3 of some landscape and figure paintings from the Mel Stabin workshop that I painted. At the end of the post there is a slide show of the rest of the class paintings. The class worked hard in this 5 day workshop and many paintings were finished.

Many of these workshops are filled with mostly women but this time we had a "Colorado Boy" and we taught him the art of saying "Bless Your Heart". It seems in the south you can nearly get away with slander if you end the conversation with bless your heart and Max left us by repeating that phrase. Click Here and Here for other thoughts on the subject. The last link made me smile because I hadn't thought of "I swanee" in a long, long time. After all the bless your hearts be sure to ask "and how is your Mother" and all will be forgotten and maybe forgiven.

Some "Mellisms"
1. The worth of the painting does not depend on how much time you spend on it.
2. Indigo and Aureolin make a good dark rich green.
3. Develop good brushwork. Don't use the tip but press down on the brush and use the flat side (round brushes).
4. Have little echoes of color to create unity.
5. Make simple washes with subtle color changes and max of two washes.
6. Use fewer strokes.
7. Exhaggerate the essence of what you are painting.
8. This one is important and he stressed a lot....Make one shape of close values to fuse edges say a garment to a background.

Slide show with Mel demo using his backpack as his support/easel, and placing students' work in mats for the critique and lots of slides of students' work, part 2. See previous post for part 1 and the class dinner at Amore Italian and some of the best food.

Stephen Quiller Workshop ~ Day 5 ~ Artists' Showplace

This is a close up of a Stephen Quiller painting demo done at the Stephen Quiller Workshop on Friday.

Another close up.

A crooked view of the whole painting. He was always saying, build your values, values will make a painting, and watch your space between the trees (not equal) and paint what you know. On Friday, he showed the class some ways to make an acrylic wash under lay and then paint watercolors on top. He also used some qouache in the trees.
This is my Friday effort and I grabbed a piece of gessoed watercolor paper to use and think I was channeling Bob Burridge.
Some have asked for me to post Stephen's 12 color basic palette and if you'd go to his site Quiller Gallery you will find the list. It is listed with pigment numbers in his new book, WaterMedia Painting.
Canvas by Canvas has become an associate with Artists' Showplace and Friday evening they invited us to a wonderful party and reception - a welcome break after a busy week of painting at the workshop. Enjoy the slide show below. Stephen, we're glad we got to know you and we like your painting style. Paint what you know and you sure know trees and mountains.

Here is a great new site to listen to while you surf: theRADIO.com
I looked for the greatest country song ever written and they've got it - George Jones and "He Stopped Loving Her Today". Check out Willie "Always on My Mind" and my ring tone "Fix You" by Cold Play, Or Elvis Presley "Are You Lonesome Tonight" - Oh, what great songs.

Look what I've found for my Christmas Stocking by Vivienne Tam - a HP Mini 1000.

Floral Acrylic ~ Menopause - The Musical

6" x 8" Acrylic Floral
This is another of the Robert Burridge Workshop warm ups I did while in Corpus Christi. See previous posts in my blog about the workshop. With this painting you get an extra painting as on the backside is a very bad watercolor tree. The beauty of working on paper is the ability to gesso the turkey side and start over with acrylics. I still haven't learned "trees". Bob showed us how to paint "drip" trees and I predict a "drip" tree in my future.

Well, here we are "dressy casual" as one of the Canvas by Canvas members wrote in an email. We stopped our day early and all raced to meet at the Target at Eastchase at 4:45 PM for car pooling and an early dinner before the theater. (Our Barbara was the only one absent but was having a short Shreveport vacation.) We sent out emails to choose the restaurant and this time it was a new one for us - Sushi Axiom in Fort Worth.
No, no, this old country girl didn't go for the sushi but was looking for an enchilada and some refried beans to go with her rice but went with the Shrimp Tempura and green tea below.
We were placed in an adjoining room which was perfect for a group of boisterous women but it was only a prelude to joining lots and lots of women at the Fort Worth Community Arts Center for the play, Menopause the Musical.
MAS, our CBC travel guide, had seen it with a bridge buddy in the past week and said we had to go and now thanks, Maryann, for the recommendation. More laughs as 4 actresses took us through a lyrical celebration of women and the change. It is a stage, a passage into middle age that all women will face and this production is staged with fun parodies of 25 songs from the '60s, '70s, and '80s. Before the show one very brave man brought his companion on stage for an impromptu dance that brought cheers from the audience. One of my favorite songs was the 1964 hit, "My Guy" with the lyrics all about "My Thighs". It's been said that Jeanie Linders wrote the musical "after a bottle of wine and a hot flash." Thanks, Jeanie for a chance to laugh with our fellow sisters about our humanness and our passages and triumphs. If you can't attend, you'll get an idea about the show reading the reviews on their link page.
In the previous post, I mentioned that Canvas by Canvas will be joining Artists' Showplace as an associate. You are invited to a reception "The Associates", Friday, November 14th, 6PM to 9PM. Stop by and say hello and enjoy the paintings and live music. Nineteen individual artists form the ownership of the gallery and it provides an elite environment for local artists to show their work and take workshops from internationally known instructors. That is where I took from Nicholas Simmons and I've signed up for several more in 2009.
Now to pack for one other workshop in 2008, the Steven Quiller next week. Watch for the updates.

More Floral Warm Ups - Artists' Showplace ~ Art Journal Pages

Floral Warm Up Corpus #4

Floral Warm Up Corpus #5
Floral Warm Up Corpus #6

These are 9.5" x 6.5" acrylic on gesso watercolor paper and were completed in the Robert Burridge Workshop in Corpus Christi. See previous posts about the workshop.
I paint with a collaborative group of Texas artists, Canvas by Canvas, and we have become associates with Artists' Showplace Art Gallery. On Tuesday some of us hung our wall space, went to lunch (absolutely) and then trekked to Sam Moon's for some quick shopping. I had to buy a bag that has studs and sequins and hope my friends will still let me hang out with them. We will have a reception at Artists' Showplace November 14 and more info will follow.
NS, CY, BGH, MAS at Artists' Showplace after the hanging.
In Vino Veritas I painted the top and second center row squares, C and H and after looking at my Robert Burridge painting, I think more wine bottles will be in store for me. I love these colors. Stop by Artists' Showplace and see this one in person. You won't be sorry.

Art Journal Pages:

Here I was practicing on my rock painting. Watch for a future post about rocks and cigars. I first learned how to paint rocks in a Lynn McLain workshop several years ago in New Mexico so this was a practice.
Oh, what fun to go to college reunions. I attended Tarleton State, Stephenville, TX, when it was a 2 year college in 1954-1956 and now they are a University and no longer Plowboys but Texans. There are plans for a larger facility for the alumni meetings but for this weekend we had our Golden Reunion dinner under a large tent, rented from Aquila and Priscilla.
The weather corporated beautifully. The Gates Are Always Open is above the door at the nearby Alumni Relations House and trust me, the staff and director, Paul Koonsman, make us all feel at home. The house has recently been renovated and it was built in 1915 by then Tarleton president, James F. Cox at a cost of $2,800. Notes were found written on the walls during the restoration. This fall the enrollment at Tarleton hit 9,642 but when I was there that was not the case but the ratio of boys to girls was extreme and great percentages for having a date. Tarleton was such a perfect place for kids from the surrounding little towns to study and have the privilege of meeting great friends and sharing the Tarleton experience. Dr. Stuart Chilton was the faculty advisor for the newspaper, J-Tac and the purple annual, The Grassburr, and he was instrumental in getting the staff from those publications during 1953-1958 home for a reunion. I was the editor of the Grassburr in 1955-1956 and it was fun riding on the flat bed truck in the parade on Saturday and remembering old, carefree times and hugging a lot of grey haired seniors.

In the middle of all the Tarleton festivities, I had to leave for Corpus for the "Loose and Juicy Floral" Robert Burridge workshop. I usually work in the Canson all media book with watercolor but decided to do a floral in acrylic on page 44 and I like the effect of using different media in my journal. Corpus has some great seafood restaurants and I like to cut and paste when I don't have a lot of time to record where and what I ate.
At Tarleton over the weekend someone asked me how I remembered we had Cheese Whiz and Ginger Ale in the dorm for a party and the reason is I took a photo and then wrote below it in my scrapbook. I don't need a reminder to recall how we couldn't wear pants or jeans on campus and rolling up the pants legs under a long coat to get out of the dorm and the watchful eye of our dorm mother. But after these nostalgic weekends, my wish is that I'd recorded more as memory dulls and that is why we always welcome back old alumni, maybe they'll bring some fresh stories we haven't repeated several times.