Carla O’Connor Workshop, Day 5, October 12, 2007 ~ Lubbock TX ~ Art Blog

Nancy's work in progress with pieces of paper suggestions for background color around the chair and hair. This photo was taken in the overhead mirror. Gouache on 1/2 sheet hot press paper.

Friday is our last day of our Carla O'Connor class, sad that it’s over but our heads are filled with thoughts of lots of new techniques to try after returning home. (Read the previous posts to learn more about the workshop.) I checked out of the Howard Johnson Express before class started early Friday morning. I was so pleased with the first floor room with wireless internet, coffee pot, and refrigerator. I stayed there once before for a workshop and it is very reasonable in price and it is about 3 miles from the workshop. At the workshop, we were directed to a darkened room where Carla showed us slides of her work and work of some contemporary artists who are friends. She felt like we’d benefit more from the slide show after we had tried to do some of the techniques.
We ordered pizza in and enjoyed our last lunch visit. I changed my painting water but I don’t think I ever placed more than a few strokes on a piece of paper as Carla was letting different students who had reached an impasse to place their work under the mirror and she would critique and make suggestions with bits of colored paper or paint. I was more interested in hearing and seeing what suggestions Carla made to other students than painting something on my own. The posted painting today was one she wanted me to be very careful with after she saw the initial sketch. Our charge on Thursday for that exercise was to draw with a large brush and paint very quickly a timed sketch of the model. She liked the red high heels and she didn’t want me to over paint it. The suggestions she made included the pink paper around the top of the painting and I will paint this in later and make her hair black (at present these are paper strips placed under the mat) and I’ll add a red earring. So I’ll try to paint on it sometime later in the week. Hugs all around and goodbyes were given with hopes of painting again with the group sometime and taking another Carla class. She is constantly on the move around the classroom and continually teaching and is very approachable to students. If you ever get the chance to take her workshop, I think you'd love her and the workshop. Bless her heart.. (We said that all week after a discussion about being able to say anything about a person (especially on the negative side), if you'd follow it up with "Bless her heart" - sorta inside joke).
A friend flew up on Friday to make the long drive back to Arlington with me and we decided to make the last tour of the day at 4:00 at the Llano Estacado Winery in Lubbock.
I learned I was not pronouncing it correctly. There is a town in Texas that we call Llano (lah-noh) but the winery is pronounced using the Spanish (yah-naw). It’s the second oldest of more than 100 wineries in the State of Texas, and is the winery most responsible for the current wine industry renaissance. It is the best selling Premium wine in Texas and is used in 1st class of American Airlines and both President Bush's used it for the Governor’s mansion in Austin and in the White House. On Saturday, October 20th the winery will celebrate the 14th annual Grape Day. They have won national and international awards year after year. Their brochure states “Llano Estacado wines stand for what it means to be a Texan: independent, larger than life and always agreeable”.
I drove to Abilene and I was not in the least bit tired as I was still celebrating the weeks’ events and discussing every incident, but after eating dinner, I got in the passenger’s side and tried to stay awake. The Rav 4 looked a little like I was moving and there was so much “stuff” and art supplies everywhere, I waited until Saturday to unload. I've thought about the other students today as I know they are going through the same art withdrawal symptoms and facing the job of unpacking. Oh, where to put all the material I’ve used for the past two weeks that I have pulled from every nook and cranny. It will take days to go through the mail but I’ve given up on getting art supplies organized - maybe I’ll keep them packed and wait for the next workshop and I think I’ve got one coming up on Tuesday. Check back and I’ll post about that one later in the week.

Other blogs where I post:

· http://artistfoodnetwork.blogspot.com/
· http://canvasbycanvas.blogspot.com/
· http://myspace.com/nancystandlee
· TO VIEW MORE PAINTINGS OR PURCHASE: Go to Paypal on http://nancystandlee.blogspot.com/
· Eat Well ~ Paint Your Food ~ Laugh Often

Carla O’Connor Workshop, Day 2, Tuesday, October 9, 2007 ~ Lubbock, TX ~ Art Blog

NANCY'S START TODAY ON 1/2 SHEET WATERCLOR PAPER

CARLA WORKING ON HER DEMO PAINTING

CARLA'S DEMO TONIGHT (will get a better photo Wed. as this was through the overhead mirror and colors are more muted and painting is reversed.)

The Carla O’Connor Workshop is being held at 511 Avenue K (Mac Davis Lane and Ave. K) at The Underwood Center for the Arts. There are multiple studios, visual art galleries, a theatre and a rehearsal hall. First Friday Art Trail includes a monthly evening of arts and entertainment in downtown Lubbock. This art campus was planned to reflect the traditions of Lubbock and to create future traditions. “Art is much less important than life, but what a poor life without it!” –Robert Motherwell

The West Texas Watercolor Society is sponsoring this workshop. This is my 3rd visit to Lubbock to take a workshop with them. They are a talented group and best of all they are super friendly and fun to paint with.

The class today was packed with Carla's activities and instructions for us. And TEXTURE was one of the design principles discussed today. We had an excellent new model from the WTWS group and began on time 9:00 with about 40 poses in quick succession again on the same piece of paper to get us loosened up. She gave us hints on drawing the figure, for example, tie an imaginary plumb line to the ear through the center of the body to get the weight distributed correctly. We did a practice sheet, then on a 1/2 sheet of watercolor a figure with every black type of marking device (pens, crayons, charcoal, inks) we had plus black, white and grey gouache. We could only use one tool until Carla called out "change" then we'd pick up another tool of our choice and begin drawing where we left off all the while creating texture on the page. After lunch, each participant presented a painting or two for a critique. Carla wanted to see what type of work each one of us was currently doing and we all benefitted from hearing her comments. During the composition discussion I got so sleepy I nearly feel out of my chair and the note taking trails off looking like a someone had flat lined on a tv medical show. (I will add that it was not Carla but my nearly 72 year old body about to revolt from the schedule I've made for it for the past 2 months). I keep telling it to hang with me till Thanksgiving and we'll be home free. We painted for about hour to hour and a half and I got started on a piece I'd drawn in the a.m. and that is the piece in the photo. I want to do more drawing on the layers and it was Carla's suggestion to keep the figure white in the center. I liked the piece until after the demo and saw Carla's Time Travelers and I took another look at mine and thought how sad it looked but then you give yourself a little pep talk..this is your first time trying her technique, you had fun, and you learned some new stuff..go for it.

The demo at 7:00 p.m. was as exciting as we'd hoped it would be. She came with her design drawn on a gold gessoed toned hot press watercolor paper and proceeded to show us how she applies the paint. Her painting looked great to us but she said it takes her weeks to complete. It was a copy of one she did for the dvd for Creative Catalyst. She said the biggest hurdle we face is getting enough paint on the paper. We all laughed when she said "I could lick all the paint off some of these paintings (from people not using enough paint) and not get sick". We get the idea. Be generous with the paint.
The meeting room for the WTWS class is surrounded by designer dresses covered with plastic. Upon closer inspection these clothes are from other decades and were purchased from a local high end store in Lubbock. Read about Margaret’s HERE.

From the time Margaret’s opened in 1946 at Boston and 26th until it closed in 1994 at Broadway and Avenue T, this unique landmark was Lubbock’s window into the world of couture fashion and much more.
In the decades before West Texans visited New York, Paris, or Rome , Margaret’s was their portal to clothing available only in major cities. Once the store moved to Broadway and Avenue T, Lubbock had an establishment that could have been plucked from the finest shopping areas in Dallas, Chicago, or Los Angeles.
On the walls are enlarged views of the hand-drawn images of the figures that appeared in the newspaper ads and clothes under plastic ready for a show. Some of the images can be seen in the photos taken this week.
Other interesting places to visit in Lubbock:

Buddy Holly Center
Celebrate the life and achievements of Lubbock’s son, Buddy Hollyand see his guitar, the Stratocaster, and famous glasses. The Center also has the Texas Musician Hall of Fame and the Lubbock Fine Arts Gallery.

Texas Tech
Lubbock is home to Texas Tech University, home to about 28,000 students and a public art program ranked among the nation’s 10 best.

American Wind Power Center

Museum houses more than 120 rare and fully restored windmills located on more than 28 acres in Yellow House Canyon.

I’ve just come from visiting wineries around Mendocino, California and found Texas has wineries located around Lubbock.
Llano Estacado Winery

Texas’ most award-wining winery. Most of the world-class grapes used by the winery are grown within a 100mile radius of Lubbock.

Cap Rock Winery

Pheasant Ridge Winery

La Diosa Cellars located in the Depot Entertainment District

Other blogs where I post:

· http://artistfoodnetwork.blogspot.com/
· http://canvasbycanvas.blogspot.com/
· http://myspace.com/nancystandlee
· TO VIEW MORE PAINTINGS OR PURCHASE: Go to Paypal on http://nancystandlee.blogspot.com/
· Eat Well ~ Paint Your Food ~ Laugh Often