Good Morning Texas, CBC, Watercolor Artist magazine

I belong to a group of collaborative painters, Canvas by Canvas and this is our newest painting of the Cowboy Stadium in Arlington, TX. and we invite you to watch us Monday, January 25 on Good Morning Texas on channel 8. This is the square that I painted:


"Charms and Legends"
12" x 12"
Acrylic on Gallery Wrapped Canvas

I posted this painting on my blog in August and now Watercolor Artist magazine has featured it online. The magazine has a Creativity Workshop article and issues a challenge each month. In the October 2009 magazine, M. E. "Mike" Bailey wrote about the "Play it Again" challenge to paint in a series of related ideas using the same subject. The above was the first painting that inspired me to continue with the couples idea, friends and lovers, series.

I have been notified that I've won first place in the challenge and you can see the paintings and article here online. There were two nice prizes that I will enjoy for months (1.) a six-month subscription to Artistsnetwork.tv online video workshop and (2.)$50.00 worth of North Light Fine Art Books. I will post later about the title choices. Thank you F+ W Media.
You can see more paintings from this series on my web site HERE.

The Watercolor Artist deadline for entry for Deborah Secor's challenge is February 12. Read about working in a new medium or a new format and send in your painting. Deborah works in pastels but has written about her experience painting small works with gouache. Her web site is www.DeborahSecor.com (look for her gouache work) and she has a blog.

Please invite your friends to watch Good Morning Texas live on Monday and see Canvas by Canvas members painting.

Stetson 2 ~ Runner Up ~ Journal Pages ~ CBC

8" x 8" Acrylic on Canvas Stetson Hat for a CBC Project
Sometime this week we will have a painting in our sneak peek area showing our newest flag project designed by Cindy Y and this is the square I painted this afternoon at a special Canvas by Canvas meeting. All 9 of us were in attendance to show support and strength for a few bumps in the road heading our way this week and how wonderful to spend our time painting to lift some burdens. We spent our time laughing, painting, and planning the paintings for Monday and always taking photos. See the slide show at the end of the post and I'll write more about my Mudd backpack later.
Runner up:
I posted some time ago about entering a painting in a contest presented by Watercolor Artist in their Creativity Workshop. Sarah Strickley notified me that the June entries broke all records and that my entry was a runner up. You can read about the contest here.
More Journal Pages from my Canson Montval All Media 9 x 12 journal.
Home from the Burridge workshop, overweight and house a wreck, art supplies in every room, so cook up some pintos, meet my girlfriends for an IHOP breakfast and see a chick flick. Let's ease back into the routine.
Our Canvas by Canvas show at the Upstairs Gallery. I find I glue a lot in my journals then they resemble scrapbooks then come the photos.
OK.. get with the program and start cleaning and straightening before painting. Something is always lost, an emergency and how best to tackle the diet deal and a bloody movie.
I'd rather be painting, dancing, or at the computer. I'm missing my friends and trying to count some carbs...hello, friends, I miss you. My life of cleaning is the pits, fortunately this phase will probably be short and sweet.
Here is the slide show from today - just girl friends hanging out.

Experimental Background for Watercolor Portrait ~ Nick on YouTube

BEFORE

AFTER


15" x 22 Watercolor on 200 lb paper, no medium
About now I imagine you're contemplating when my children will take my driver's license away and no, the garbage bag didn't rip over the kitchen table. Or you could call it "How to Create a Spontaneous Background". Blame it on the June 2008 issue of Watercolor Artist and the Creativity Workshop article by Wendy Hill. (Be sure and look at her example in the link). I have pondered her paintings in the example and had to try it yesterday. Here is my loose interpretation of the written instructions. (Hint: Start drinking tea in individual bags and SAVE before this project.) Gather your texture materials.
1. I drew on my image with a Pitt waterproof pen lightly. Wendy surveys the painting and allows an idea to develop by rotating the paper after the color is applied. You just do what you're comfortable with.
2. Wet the watercolor paper, with random sprays or sponge. Leave some dry areas of paper for the whites.
3. Selectively drip color and splatter freely or selectively.
4. The fun texture part - Add and apply, press into the wet paint, tea bags, coffee filters, leaves, plastic wrap, salt, sponge, Starbucks coffee covers have a great linear design, and experiment and then let us know any great texture material you find. I've been eying the pink Sweet and Low packets this morning but the tea bag is supposed to give a little stain to the paper.
More about the tea bags. This didn't work too well because I think Wendy drinks individual packets of tea and I had big old Texas sized family size and I'd been saving them up on the window sill for weeks (another cause for a friend and family alarm). For one they took forever to dry and second in the next step they were too thick for the paint to penetrate. I did have some good and expensive ginger peach tea in a little silk bag that I cut open (after brewing) and rinsed and I really liked this effect but this is a special occasion tea and I didn't have that many!
(Another aside, Starbucks sent a free Wednesday card for one free Pike Place Roast tall for the month of May and now I'm hooked on the best coffee I've ever tasted and I've saving the heat covers for that great linear design to press into acrylic and watercolor. I bought some of the arabica beans from their newest addition and my brewed cup still wasn't as good as theirs, then proceeded to purchase a new coffee pot and still not as good as their Pike Place cup in the drive thru and May is nearing the end of the month and my get in free card is expiring).
5. The step that didn't work with my big old dried thick tea bags. Add juicy color to the tea bags on the wet areas so the area under the bags stains and colors in interesting ways and will leave a surprising design element. I couldn't get enough juicy paint to come through all of those dried tea leaves (maybe if I'd moistened them first but next time I'll use the smaller size.) But what the heck, this is an experiment, right?
6. The really, really hard part. Let it dry and leave it alone. I kept peeking. Don't do that. The dried area should have some interesting patterns and shapes, maybe some partial lines from a tea bag string or label.
7. Paint as you normally would for your chosen subject. I added some more black line work and it looks like in Wendy's painting examples she does also (a lot really). At this stage in the directions Wendy searched for a potential composition and then drew and I just added darker lines and some outlining.
Now go boil some water and start your tea drinking and paint a creative background before July 3, 2008 and mail it to wcamag@fwpubs.com to enter their challenge.
To see other work by Wendy Hill, click here.
Update on the Nicholas Simmons DVD I blogged about here:
Check out his painting style on YouTube.