"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

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

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~ TEXAS DAILY PAINTER ~ NANCY STANDLEE CONTEMPORARY ART ~ ACRYLIC FLORAL

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Tropical Fish ~ Mudd Girl ~ Sketch Book

10" Square Acrylic on Canvas Tropical Fish Project for Canvas by Canvas I painted with the Canvas by Canvas collaborative group today working on paintings for our Petroleum Club show in October and the Fort Worth Community Art Center Show in September. Soon the squares will be on a sneak peek on our web site...maybe this week. The tropical fish project was designed by Maryann S and Cindy C.
Mudd Girl:
After checking on purses for my age group at the mall, I ended up with a Mudd backpack from J.C. Penney. I asked about the age group it was geared toward..Teens? She said, "Oh, even elementary and Jr. High girls." Now I know I made the right choice as I really prefer backpacks to haul around pens, pencils, journals, and cameras. I sketched the hang tag and checked out their web site. http://mymudworld.com and you can enter for a Greece trip so sign up - I did and you can take a friend..Take me, Take me. Since my friends and I saw the movie, "Traveling Pants 2" last week we've talked a lot about Greece. Now comes the "Share Your Story" idea. If you click on this menu item you'll see lots of very young pretty girls who are moving the world but since Mudd is for girls who like to express themselves I entered our Canvas by Canvas story and how we are moving the world. So now our CBC members are "Mudd girls". Girls of all ages UNITE.
The Mudd bag that started it all:


Pocket Sketching:
Kath Macaulay has a Pocket Sketching website and she writes and teaches about how she uses a small format for fast sketching. Look at her site on the materials tab to learn more about her process. She likes a sketch pad, Strathmore Drawing, 4" x 6" for her work. Naturally I had to run out and buy one to try it out. I collaged the front of mine and on a page I've drawn the Mudd hang tag and used the new Aquaflo brushes that hold water (from Jerry's Artarama).
Nice to have if you are out without a good water supply and but have a few colors in a small watercolor set then you're ready to paint anywhere. The small sketchbook is not like painting on Arches 140 lb. cold press but you can certainly get down your idea.
I ordered some of the brushes for the Canvas by Canvas crew as we will have a paint out at a lake house in October and we like to bring surprise gifts for each other. Since Cindy Y had expressed a desire for one of these for journaling, I decided to order each of them a medium and a large but I can't keep a secret nor am I good at waiting for presents so the group got early surprises at our Sunday painting afternoon.

My Strathmore collaged cover and below the Mudd hang tag design.Now after reading the post, go sign up for a possible free trip to Greece and bring a pocket sketchbook.