"He Always Wore His Red Cape When He Danced" ~ Acrylic Figurative

"He Always Wore His Red Cape (when he danced)"
Acrylic on Canvas
12" x 12"

This is another in the "Friends and Lovers" series that I've recently added to my updated web site. Click HERE to view the others.

I've recently posted about my workshop with Cheng-Khee Chee and painting some Koi. In 2008 I took a Nicholas Simmons Workshop, see the blog post and the Koi painting I did HERE and Nick had us using liquid acrylics.

I highly recommend you go to Nick's blog and watch his "Bad Watercolor Day for Hitler." Nick are you a Quentin Tarantino wannabe? Shades of "Ingloureous Basterds"!! It makes no difference to me acrylic or watercolor. They are both watermedia and just paint some Koi in either one. Congrats, Nick on the Belgium show. If you are a Facebook fan, here is Nick's profile.

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BLOG.............Nancy Standlee Art Blog

WEB SITE ........Nancy Standlee

WEB SITE ........Canvas By Canvas

Other blogs where I post:

Daily Painters of Texas

Daily Abstract Painters Gallery



TEXAS CONTEMPORARY ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONIST FINE ART DAILY PAINTER
NANCY STANDLEE ARLINGTON, TEXAS ART FOR SALE

Contact: NancyStandlee@sbcglobal.net

Small Acrylic Landscape ~ Tuscany ~ Art Journal Page

"Tuscany Rental"
9" x 12" acrylic on canvas board
$54.00
This is the second small landscape I painted in the Maureen Brouillette class last week (see previous post). It is loosely based on a photo taken while in Tuscany several years ago. This small colorful acrylic landscape was fun to paint and the next class will be March 10 and it will be all about still life.

Art Journal Page 70
I have been wanting to take a workshop with Anne Bagby for several years and now I'm gathering up supplies for a 3 day with her at the Artists' Showplace Gallery in March. Her just released dvd, Collage: Paper, Patterns and Glazing came yesterday and it was and is a visual treat. Now to gather up more supplies. Anne has a great section on her site about her journal pages that I know you'd enjoy seeing. Her pages generated the idea seen below.
On Saturday after good Texas barbecue, I watched "Changeling" just in time for the Oscar announcements. This is a pencil sketch of Angelina, then I am finally ready to part with my Snow White Barbie and I gave it to a grand daughter that had enjoyed her also, and a jewelry party on Sunday.
I've been thinking about an email friend that was about to throw down her brushes and give up watercolor. Then I remembered what Bob Burridge said in a workshop, "We all want to paint better. The only way to paint better is to paint a lot of bad paintings."
Check out some of these sites for some new inspiration:
A good book with some paint along exercises: Expressive Color
Free art lesson videos to watch: Jerry's
About.com Watercolor and Acrylic Painting
Now go paint some bad paintings to become a great painter - maybe even an art maestro and to see one at work check out Nicholas Simmons. I agree with his statement about a painting having a lot of interest that melds and has elements of abstraction and realism.

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.

Mamma Mia! ~ Arte Y Pico Award ~ IHOP ~ Journal

"Mamma Mia!"
7 1/2" x 5 1/2" Acrylic on paper

I had to name this Cloudcroft workshop painting, Mamma Mia! after attending the opening day movie with several Canvas by Canvas members.
Betty, Karen, Cindy
Maryann, Nancy, Cindy C
Yes, we were in the movie when Karen saw a friend to take our photo. I felt decadent after meeting for an early morning breakfast at IHOP and getting into a movie before noon. We were brought back to reality after a trip to Sam's in Texas heat to purchase food for our opening reception tonight at the Upstairs Gallery from 5-8. See previous post. GREAT movie and day.
At the IHOP and I haven't been there in years but I'm going back - good food and good service in Arlington.

Myrna Wacknov has awarded my blog the Arte y Pico award. Arte y Pico is a blog from Uruguay, whose blogger has come up with this award. The rules are to pass the award on to five other artists' blogs that are awesome. The award was created to be given to bloggers who inspire others with their creative energy and their talents. Thank you, Myrna, for giving me the award and you inspire me.

Here are the rules in more detail:

First, the rules:
Pick FIVE blogs that you consider deserve this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also for contributing to the blogging community, no matter what language.

Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone.

Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself.
Award-winner and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of “Arte y Pico” blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award which is here.

My 5 picks:

1. Nicholas Simmons Blog - A great painter, friend and blogger.

2. Suzanne McDermott - She built her own studio and interesting reading.

3. Sharilyn Miller - A very talented jewelry designer and author.

4. Doudy Sketche - Who shares a challenge of tree painting in watercolor.

5. Canvas by Canvas Art Blog - Just a little nepotism on this one. I belong to this collaborative group of artists.

I have been trying to draw/sketch/paint in my journal each day (maybe just highlight one incident) and I will post these entries when I have a 9x12 page full in my Canson All-media book. I found some old journals with this method and I loved reading them so maybe I'll do it for a month and quit again, but I am trying.

Here I was packing for the Robert Burridge workshop in Cloudcroft and will always have to include what I've been eating or cooking!

Nicholas Simmons ~ Wednesday, June 11, 2008 ~ KoI Finished

Koi


Nick's Koi Painting

I made sure I got to class early today so I wouldn’t miss a beat for the morning workshop discussion and slide show that Nick had prepared for a Photoshop demonstration with his digital projector and laptop. It wasn’t about learning Photoshop but about choosing and combining photographs, designing and composition in paintings. It also helps him in choosing the size of the painting as he believes every painting has its perfect size. Nick takes lots of photographs and mentioned possibly taking 1000 shots on a recent New York trip, one of his favorite places for photography. One thing that was encouraging to the class was his declaration that he was not a computer or Photoshop whiz or guru but he has discovered a lot of his techniques by trial and error. Another reason he likes the projector is the ability to compare different compositions without printing out a lot of photo possibilities.

A feeding frenzy after lunch and it had nothing to do with the koi. A box had arrived with copies of Nick’s new DVD produced by Creative Catalyst and cash and checks were flashed and the box emptied fast. We gathered around the overhead mirror for Nick to demo the next steps in painting one of his famous Koi fish and to explain what we were to do next. The class was full and there was a waiting list and resulted with students being in adjoining room. One of the innovative ladies in the second room brought a baby monitor to set up by the demo mirror so they would be alerted for any updates. A high tech fix for a simple problem and I thought it a tip worth mentioning along with some jokes and questions about blackmail. I took a picture of some of Nick’s brushes all lined up ready for the war. He can wield a mean toothbrush along with a 4” house painter’s brush for some of his techniques. I had to ask for teacher’s help with my toothbrush technique as I was getting a fine splatter in all the wrong places and yes, there is a definite way he splatters. He uses the technique to shadow and model the koi and helps integrate into the background.

Nick finished his Koi, moistened it front and back and placed it under a weighted backing board to sit overnight waiting for the lucky new owner to pick up Thursday. I completed my Koi today and it is so interesting to walk around the class and see all these different fish in various painting stages. It really helps in learning the techniques when others are working on the same project.

Nick would not tell us what we’d be painting for Thursday but just said it will be a new painting with a different technique.

Nancy's Koi

Nicholas Simmons Workshop ~ Tuesday, June 10, 2008 ~ Koi Painting

Nicholas Simmons and Da Vinci liquid acrylics

Nick's Koi ~ A Beginning ~ Stop by later for the finished painting

We learned so much today and had so much fun trying out Nicholas Simmons’ “batik” technique of painting a Koi fish. He prefers working large, but to save time he painted a demo with a ½ sheet (15” x 22”) hot press paper. He drew a contour drawing of one Koi with plants with wide leaves in the background, did some splatter with mask and then the magic started with Nick painting with the Da Vinci fluid acrylics and boldly wielding a spray bottle, and mixing the colors on the paper and not on the palette. He welcomed crawl backs and blooms and made slight color changes. We had a great time walking around and viewing the other students’ work and seeing their colors as we all wanted to paint a Koi like Nick.

If you’d like to see the whole process with about 2 hours of instruction his DVD, Innovative Water Media, from Creative Catalyst is now available. I found my copy in the mailbox as I was leaving the house to go to an art opening on Friday and oh, how I wanted to stay home and watch it but felt fortunate I got to see it all the way through before the workshop began Monday. He gives a good discussion of his materials including his brushes and they run the gamut from a toothbrush to a 4” house painter’s brush. One innovative thing about this DVD is that Nick composed and performed his own original music.

I didn’t finish my painting today as I need to work on my Koi and I will post it later. Artist Showplace has an overhead mirror and a separate table for each of us upstairs in a quite area of the gallery with a microwave and refrigerator nearby and a large sink for cleanup. It’s just a great experience and the participants are so fortunate to be able to take a week off and get a chance to study with this 2007 National Watercolor Society top prize winner.

Other blogs where I post:

· http://artistfoodnetwork.blogspot.com

· http://canvasbycanvas.blogspot.com

· http://myspace.com/nancystandlee

· Web site: http://www.nancystandlee.com

· Eat Well ~ Paint Your Food ~ Laugh Often

Nicholas Simmons Workshop ~ Monday, June 9, 2008

Nicholas' Painting Day 1 of the workshop

Traditional watercolor on cold press paper


Nicholas Simmons

The Artist Showplace Class

There were 27 eager workshop students gathered this morning early (9:30 a.m.) at the Artists' Showplace today for our Nicholas Simmons workshop. Fresh Sushi , a print of his prize winning painting greeted us as we unloaded and chose our tables.

This was Nick’s first Texas workshop and he enjoyed putting faces with many of his email friends and making more friends who had traveled great distances to study with this wonder boy of the watercolor world. The morning was spent by lecture and some short demos and he even had some of the students participating. He has an art theory about good art with 3 questions to ask.

1. Do I like it?

2. Could I do that or paint something similar? Yes…that’s why we’re here..we want to paint like Nick. He thinks technique can be learned and most artists are at this stage. Now for the kicker.

3. Would I have thought to do it? Why didn’t I think of it? That’s the interesting question. All great art comes from imagination and creativity. One look at Fresh Sushi hanging on the wall and I’d have to regretfully fail on No. 3.

Nicholas encouraged us to paint large, experiment with nonstandard sizes and shapes and while in his workshop “Do Nick’s thing while here” – in other words follow instructions and when he arrives at your table to check your work, don’t have a finished painting for him to view but wait for his demo and explanation. He encouraged us to embrace the blossom or crawl back and even encouraged them to happen. Let the hair dryer become your best friend to create unpredictable edges.

Today we used cold press paper and traditional watercolor for our paintings after Nick told us several things he hates to see in watercolors and we will use the fluid acrylics on Tuesday. One of these things that drives him crazy is “clunky buildings” so our mission today was to paint a non-clunky building and he mentioned artists that we should study their work for good building examples. Since our time is limited, a simple structure was chosen and we were admonished to do a simple building well.

Here is my simple building. I wish you could join us for Tuesday’s class.

LYLAS 6 ~ "Maggie" ~ Nick's DVD

Lylas 6 "Maggie"
12" x 9" Acrylic on Gallery
Wrapped Canvas
SOLD
This Lylas is named after Canvas by Canvas artist, Margie Whittington.
She has a blog and a web site where she showcases her murals. Probably every CBC member has taken a class from her at the Upstairs Gallery - sometime or the other. Margie posted on her blog her angel attempt Whimsical Angels ah la Nancy.
This one if for you, Margie.
Today I received a very long awaited email from Creative Catalyst stating that the Nicholas Simmons DVD was available for preorder. You can watch a short Flash demo of a painting in progress. I ordered a copy and I am signed up for his workshop at Artists' Showplace, in Dallas, TX., June 9-13, 2008.
Today I found a site by way of Amazon. Don't you love it when they send you an email and say well, you bought this book and we think you'd like this one, Watercolor Sketching, by Brenda Swenson. Well, you know for sure that I did. Brenda Swenson has a great web site and has some great watercolors on her site. She has a short truck demo here. She has painted Pasadena and it has reminded me of another of my favorite Pasadena painters, Joseph Stoddard.
I've tried taking a workshop with him but it was canceled. I have two of his books, Redlands Sketchbook and Pasadena Sketchbook, and love looking at his paintings or sketches. Here is his submission for the Moleskin site and I see that he will have a fall book coming out , publisher Walter Foster, Watercolor Made Easy, Expressive Color.
Another great book for my library of art instruction books and dvds. Now to settle down and take the time to read and study in between painting with my Lylas.

Abstract Acrylic ~ Pasodoble ~ Upstairs Gallery

"Pasodoble"
24" x 24" Acrylic on Canvas, 1 3/8" depth gallery wrap, black edges

This is the second of four abstract paintings I've completed for the Upstairs Gallery Show and delivered them Wednesday. You are invited to their annual opening reception show and sale of art by the students of The Upstairs Gallery, May 10 from 5-8 pm. The show will be up until May 27, 2008. My friend and Canvas by Canvas member, Connie, emailed after seeing this painting and suggested the title as she was watching "Dancing with the Stars" and this painting reminded her of the word, Pasodoble. I don't watch the show but like the word.
I got an email from Creative Catalyst this morning and went to their site to see if the Nicholas Simmons art dvd was available yet. No, but some good news they are placing some of their art instruction dvd's in retail stores.
On their site you will find a wide selection of carefully edited and content rich art instructional video DVD workshops conducted by the nation's finest artist-instructors.
While on the site, I saw a Judy Morris checklist for success that I thought artists would like to review.
Today I will begin packing art suppliesfor the Myrna Wacknov workshop at the Visual Expressions Gallery in Cedar Hill. I'm so glad I can commute and not be trying out all the suitcases in my garage. She got 2008 off to a great start and a great honor - read about it here and see her creative portrait.
I became a fan after reading the October 2007, Watercolor Magic article, "Face Forward" and she included a lesson on Photoshop about Capturing Expression Through Photoshop. You can read about these steps here. I started writing her fan letters and contacted a local gallery that might sponsor a workshop. Myrna started a blog and ran a contest for one of her drawings for getting blog subscribers. I have 2 drawings that I cherish and she has progressed with more subscriptions and she shares freely with her drawing and painting knowledge. I've never gone to art school (but have taken my share of workshops) so I appreciate any technical help with photo manipulation in drawing preparation. Now I see today she's posted something from Sue Archer about drawing being the heart of art. Oh, Myrna, what am I going to do with you. I see you have upgraded to Photoshop Elements 6 and I only have 5 and that probably means PE now includes some cool new tool I can't live without, but I've got the brushes you suggested. One salient point from her blogs I have to repeat from the Feb. 19 post.
"The other thing I noticed in myself was how quickly I want to give up and tell myself this isn't for me because I'm not any good at it. We don't give ourselves very much time to succeed, do we?"
The artists I know are all pretty guilty of that one..just throw in the towel if their work doesn't look like a piece of art that an experienced artist produces that may have produced 500 pieces before - mea culpa - just some ground work in case I produce more turkeys next week. (Don't ever change colors on these posts if you use a black background because you have no idea what the original color was..If you change to white then you can't see it in your edit post.) Makes me want to throw in the towel!!

"Trash Talking" Giclee, Gamut, FAR, and a Dot Com

"Trash Talking" is now available in a giclee 20" x 20"

There are several new announcements with this post.
I have a new website that you are invited to view at Nancy Standlee Art .
Not all of my paintings have been listed yet and a few pages still need some work but the home page and the giclee page are intact.
I've contracted with Gamut Control for my fine art reproductions and you may view my catalog page here. Gamut is also producing some giclees for the collaborative group that I belong to, Canvas by Canvas,
The Art World News magazine will have an ad in the January issue with our photos and a write up. It hasn't hit the newsstands yet but I'll post about that later. Art World news is the best read trade publication in the art and framing industry today. It is a professional journal that shows industry trends and copies can be found at your local gallery or frame shop or by subscription and has a subscription base of 20,000, mailed 12 times a year, and it has been in operation since 1996.
I am in the process of having my work registered (part of the Gamut contract) and preparing my portfolio with the Fine Art Registry. The Fine Art Registry is packed with useful information for artists.

Fine Art Registry™ provides a unique, patented, high technology tagging and registration system for artists, collectors, galleries and museums, to help ensure authenticity and provide accurate provenance for works of art and all valuable collectibles. Fine Art Registry members have their own, online art gallery and artist portfolio.

Yesterday I painted with some CBC friends at the Upstairs Gallery and continued working on a koi entry for the juried show with SWA.
The prospectus can be found online but the deadline is drawing close, January 26. I am using some of the Nicholas Simmons techniques that he discussed on Wet Canvas using liquid acylic watercolors. I am signed up for his workshop with Artist Showcase in June and I'm really excited about this workshop. If you can't find a workshop in your area, Wet Canvas, has a wonderful learning site for demos and if you look under FISH you will see the Nick demo that has inspired my entry.
Watch for the post with the painting later on in the week.

Trash Talking ~ Tagged ~ Teesie's Attic

Trash Talking NFS
20" x 20" Acrylic on canvas
The idea of women together and "trash-talking" is a natural, especially in my special group of friends, Canvas by Canvas. Several of them asked for copies of this painting and at our Christmas party/dinner I'd finally gotten around to having a few 11 x 14 prints made for them and then decided to post the original. I used rubber stamps for the words and highlighted King as "talk is king" when we are in groups.
Myrna Wacknov in her blog post "I've Been Tagged" shares how she was tagged and then she tagged me. I found Myrna by her article Face Forward in the Watercolor Magic, October 07 issue. I loved what she was doing and wrote her a fan letter and I'm the owner of 2 of her drawings. She issues painting and drawing challenges and is a very encouraging and experimental force.
5 Things People Don't Know About Me:
1. I've had several "careers", housewife and mom, divorced wife and mom, Home Economics teacher, Special Ed Teacher, elementary school librarian, batik fabric designer. I took batik workshops at Vassar 2 summers with Morag Benepe and painted silk at Arrowmont. I've demonstrated Krups appliances and Cuisinarts at department stores, delivered vans full of weekly home sale brochures (only thing needed was a large vehicle and a good back) in Virginia to support my batik habit and belonged to a craft cooperative in Yorktown, Va.
2. I desire to be the epitome of organization and I'm working on it but I'm hampered by space limitations, my desire to keep everything I ever touch and I've never seen an art supply I didn't think I had to have. I do have all of my art photos organized for the New Year.
3. This year I was the dark horse in a weight loss campaign with my painting group and won some money for more art supplies and workshops. It is hard to believe that some mean, teasing brothers of my high school friends used to refer to me as "bird legs". I plan to jump back on the program as most of you do after the first of the year.
4. I've been interested in decorating surfaces for many years. As a child, I was whining that I wanted hair on my bald headed doll so my Daddy took the scissors to our collie dog, and with a few deft snips got enough hair to glue on my doll's scalp. I don't remember it being a mess or how it looked. I remember the action and "Old Billie Dog" standing patiently while we borrowed a few strands.
5. I've done my share of adding non-decomposing items to American's landfills. I've always loved sewing, and during the seventies men were wearing polyester leisure suits with bright floral poly shirts. Because of finances and the height factor, my husband was 6'8", I made his 100% polyester leisure suits. I think about those being unearthed in 200 years, still crease free and without any stains. The sewing needles would skip about every 3rd stitch and the pants legs were slopped to the back so they would nearly touch the ground and hard as heck to hem. Truly a fashion statement when the guys had sideburns. I'm glad jeans are back in style.
I'm going to TAG:
1. Nicholas Simmons has a new blog. http://nicholassimmons.blogspot.com
He won the 1st prize in the National Watercolor Society's 87th annual exhibition. He will also be in Dallas for a workshop this year and yes, I have signed up.
2. Joyce Washor has a new blog. http://joycewashorsdailypaintings.blogspot.com
Joyce has a great article in Watercolor, Winter 2008, Still Lifes on a Small Scale, about creating tiny paintings with big impact. I was inspired to try a set up with some onions and strawberries last night - my 5" painting is not so delicate and will probably hit it with gauche or acrylic. I've also ordered her book, "Big Art, Small Canvas".
3. Laura at http://laurelines.typepad.com
Very interesting blog about her travels and her art sketch journals with beautiful drawings.
4. Katherine Tyrrell at http://makingamark.blogspot.com
Katherine is a sharer of information on art. She has a wonderful informative blog that you want to sit down and read every word.
5. Mitchell (Betty) Taylor at http://mitchell-taylor.blogspot.com
I have to show a little nepotism here and keep some of my links within the CBC family. Betty is our efficient web mistress and between that, travels and painting, she is a busy lady. You will read about her Christmas trip soon.
6. Ok, I have to have one more...Edward B. Gordon http://edwardbgordon.blogspot.com He is a daily painter from Berlin.

Teesie's Attic
Located in the Arlington Highlands Mall in Arlington, is having a grand opening of their new store, December 20 and 22, and will have on display some of the paintings of Canvas by Canvas. This is a trendy, upscale store that carries modern brands not available in Arlington before. More to come about this event.