Cheerful and Colorful Paintings

Cheerful and Colorful Paintings in Oil, Acrylic, Mixed Media and Collage
nancystandlee@sbcglobal.net

Showing posts with label acrylic florals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label acrylic florals. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

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.

Friday, March 28, 2008

FWCAC Biennial Show 2008 ~ Acrylic Floral Warm-ups ~ Burridge Workshop


Acrylic Floral #2

Acrylic Floral #3

Acrylic Floral #4

5 1/2" x 7 1/2" Acrylic on Paper

These are warm-up exercises I did at the Robert Burridge Workshop. See yesterday's post.
Bob has developed this way of working with warm-ups and cool-downs. He likens his warm-ups to the practice of an athlete with a stretching exercise or a musician playing some scales before the actual performance. As a painter, he's getting ready to paint and this is a loosening up exercise first thing in the morning on a toned canvas or paper. He completes multiple paint sketches of the same subject and each day will choose a different subject and then paints 3 to 6 small paintings. Not all of these will be little gems and some can end up in the turkey pile but this will teach about color, subject matter, and "how to paint". Bob works fast and loose, lets the small paintings dry, goes back and adds the wow! His method is explained in his
"Loosen Up: Workbook and Studio Notes", a 130 page book on pages 71-74.
These are floral warm-ups 2-4 that I have posted today that I completed at the workshop at Dena's and will post 5-8 later.
Saturday is Gallery night in Fort Worth when the art galleries will be open and the party moves from gallery to gallery. I'd like to invite you to begin at the Fort Worth Community Arts Center and see my painting, "Delightfully Timeless" and the work of Canvas by Canvas, The Red Lantern. Gaile Robinson, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, art and design critic, has written a story with a photograph of the artists. This show is open to the North Texas community and no one gets a rejection slip and works are hung as they arrive. Prices are ranging from $15-$5,000 so there is something for all art collectors in the area. All Canvas by Canvas artists are in the panoramic photo except Cindy Y and I. We were both in the Hill Country on separate trips and we missed out. Look for Barbara Hackney, Karen Foster, Maryann Stephens, Cindy Campbell, Margie Whittington, Betty Taylor, and Connie Michael. Read the article and see the photo online. Be sure and click on the 360-degree view link so you can see the photograph. Oh, I see Colleen, Soon, Marie and Jo Ann, also. Do you see a familiar face? You can see "Delightfully Timeless" by the exit doorway, to the right and there is a piece of sculpture pointing to it . If you're a painter, try some of Bob's warm-up techniques and I'll see you Saturday night somewhere on the art gallery walk. More information can be found at the Fort Worth Art Dealers Association.







Thursday, March 27, 2008

Robert Burridge Workshop ~ Dena's Ranch ~ Acrylic Warm-Ups


$30.00 Each
Floral 1 (1 of 8) 5 1/2" x 7 1/2"
Acrylic on Watercolor paper, unframed, includes shipping, tax


1- 4


5 - 8


Nancy at the Robert Burridge Workshop, photo was copied from the ArtsyFartsy Newsletter.
Sign up for Bob and Kate's newsletter by going to the newsletter link, at the top of the page to ArtsyFartsy News Signup, click on link to register, type in your name and email address, and you will receive an opt-in email message and it is very important to answer that email and then add that address to your address book so the next newsletter won't go to your spam folder. Now enjoy one of the best monthly newsletters around.
Bob's Abstract Acrylic Painting and Collage workshop was held February 18-22, 2008 at the Dena Wenmohs Ranch about 20 something miles from Marble Falls, TX.
One of my Canvas by Canvas friends says I look awesome and sooo young in this photo. Well, thank you, Maryann, at 72 I treasure all of those comments. It's easy to be happy and smiling with all your stuff stacked up all around you and under the table and everyone's in a painting frenzy and Bob playing his crazy music (he says it doesn't matter if it's too loud or we don't like it 'cause "It's my sandbox".) At day's end your tired with swollen ankles but it's the best game in town. I absolutely adore being at Dena's as her whole house is art ...everywhere...she's got paintings in progress and her easel is set up in one corner, saddles from the rafters and she's an art collector also...it's just one big painting party from daylight to way past dark thirty.
The small painting that is for sale is an exercise we do to warm-up each day. We used very little reference material and tried to paint like we'd never painted before. Bob admonished us to "Be a mad scientist this week and the secret is "paint lots of paintings", and there's nothing to get, you already have it."
The weather was delightful and only once or twice did we have to step outside in the sun to get our extremities working again. We were surrounded by donkeys and dogs (more about that in the next post, and new painting friends ready to take some risks and paint like they never had before.
Bob said "Paint to feed your soul" and "always take the high road." Watch for the slide show at the end of the post for some photos taken at the workshop. Mouse over for captions.

Other blogs where I post:

http://artistfoodnetwork.blogspot.com

http://canvasbycanvas.blogspot.com

http://myspace.com/nancystandlee

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Eat Well ~ Paint Your Food ~ Laugh Often