"Dana" ~ Paper Collage Portrait ~ Derek Gores Workshop by Texas Daily Painter Nancy Standlee

"Dana"
Paper Collage Portrait on Canvas
24 x 24 in.

Nancy and Derek

Some of the students who took the workshop

I'm back home now from the Derek Gores workshop at Dena Wenmohs Ranch June 1 and 2, 2011 and I'm getting ready to put on the final coat of varnish on my collage portrait of my daughter. On the slide show below you can see the two photos I worked from. On one I did some photo manipulation in order to see the values.
The post was written on Friday morning in the early morning quiet at Dena's house, drinking coffee and thinking about the past few days.
"I'm enjoying the quiet and memories of a busy past two days Derek Gores workshop. This was my third one as I traveled to FL. in December and February to take two day portrait workshops. It is very quiet this morning at the Wenmohs ranch, all except one of the dog's nose keeps bumping the screen wanting to come in and visit. I'm the only one up in the big house and I'm not letting him in just yet. Even the cats have retreated on top of the porch to enjoy their solitude.
Seventeen eager future collage artists gathered in and around Tuesday May 31 for the 2 day workshop where we had a meet and greet at the house. By Wednesday evening, several mentioned I looked exhausted. I was. It is draining to search for the correct paper piece in design and color and then actually attach it wondering if you've put it in the correct place. Derek works fast on the other hand. He picks up a piece of paper and finds a place for it. I tend to search for a particular piece. I came prepared with big jumbo bags of separate colors ready to go and with my canvas already drawn off. It is an easy workshop to pack and travel for, just some Liquitex medium and varnish, a canvas, brush, and a reference. Derek didn't even use a brush but applied the medium with his hands. A hint for finding papers is use one of those old rubber finger tips that you'd find in the top drawer of a secretary's desk.
At the ranch we can get to work early, taking a short walk to the magic barn from the main house or the bunk house, work and then have a fabulous lunch provided by Dena and Jo (and this time some help from a junior assistant.) It is a total art immersion while enjoying meal times and evenings with the students and seeing Dena's personal art gallery on her walls from previous instructors. She has 3 Charles Sovek paintings. My wish is for you to get to experience this ranch workshop and get to know Dena, a very special friend."

On the above painting, I chose to do one for my daughter who has a very special birthday in July. I took words and text that had personal meaning, typed in different fonts on my computer, and printed on a laser printer at Office Depot. She will be finding messages for a long time.
I enjoyed visiting with some old friends and made some new ones. Many traveled long distances to share in this experience, from L.A., El Paso, Houston, south Texas, east Texas and it was certainly worth the trip.
You can mouse over the slide show for captions:

BLOG................http://NancyStandlee.blogspot.com

WEBSITE..........http://NancyStandlee.com

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

PAINTED PAPER COLLAGE PAINTINGS ~ TORN PAPER PAINTINGS ~ WATERMEDIA ~
COLLAGE ART ~ MIXED MEDIA TEXTURED ABSTRACT PAINTING ~ TORN PAPER COLLAGE
~ TEXAS DAILY PAINTER ~ NANCY STANDLEE CONTEMPORARY ART ~ ACRYLIC FLORAL ~ COLLAGE PORTRAIT

Contact NancyStandlee@sbcglobal.net

Torn Paper Collage Portrait by Texas Daily Painter Nancy Standlee

"Yes, Go!"
18 x 18 in. torn paper collage on stretched canvas

My west Texas friend, Suzy "Pal" and I met at the DFW airport and flew to Derek Gores two day collage workshop in February. It was a rush trip and we rushed working on our collages. I took 2 18 x 18 inch canvases, the largest that would fit in my suitcase. I completed "The Happy Rebel" and got the background started on "Yes, Go!" and finally had some time to work on it again Monday and finished it up today. I took the reference photo at the AMA Gala from across the room of a CBC member who was deep in thought during the auction. Maybe I should have named it "Karen says, Yes, Go!".
Remember if you'd like to take from Derek Gores, he will be at the Wenmohs Ranch June 1 and 2. Suzy and I will see you there where we will work on portrait collages.

BLOG................http://NancyStandlee.blogspot.com

WEBSITE..........http://NancyStandlee.com

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

PAINTED PAPER COLLAGE PAINTINGS ~ TORN PAPER PAINTINGS ~ WATERMEDIA ~
COLLAGE ART ~ MIXED MEDIA TEXTURED ABSTRACT PAINTING ~ TORN PAPER COLLAGE
~ TEXAS DAILY PAINTER ~ NANCY STANDLEE CONTEMPORARY ART ~ ACRYLIC FLORAL

Contact NancyStandlee@sbcglobal.net

Derek Gores Collage Portrait Workshop ~ Florida by Texas Artist Nancy Standlee

"Dance Me"
18" Collage Portrait

I'll never look at a magazine page the same way again since returning LATE this morning from the Derek Gores Collage Portrait Workshop, December 11-12, 2010 at the Brevard Art Museum, Renee Foosaner Education Center, Melbourne, FL. The workshop was over at 4:00 PM Sunday and plans were to return the rental car, catch the 6:28p to Atlanta but the plans did not take into account for Atlanta's bad weather and Delta slowing down. Instead of a DFW 11:23p arrival time it was more like leave Atlanta at 1:00 am and not getting into my bed until 3:00 am but it was certainly worth the waiting time to meet 22 new artist friends and study with this famous collage artist. Did I get anything productive done in all these waiting times and hours? No - just purchased more magazines to tear up and to try to quiet my buzzing head filled with torn paper collage images.
The Students:
We had 22 students, 21 ladies and one male, and plus one male observer part time. It probably is a draw for distance traveled between me and the lady from Rhode Island but I bet I win on longest time to get back home. I've never been in this area of FL and I met people from Melbourne, Kissimmee, Titusville, Cocoa Beach - names vaguely familiar but now you can put a face to the names and definitely add some Facebook friends.
The class description:
"In this collage portraiture workshop Derek will teach you to use torn paper to capture a portrait in a fresh new way! You will make one finished portrait of any person you choose. Or if you're inspired to make a collage of something other than a person, that is fine too! Derek will demonstrate, and guide you through the process of drawing, selecting your colors, and building up your collage layer by layer. "
I chose to keep some friends and do my own portrait. I took the photo in my kitchen using the gorilla pod on the kitchen table with a timed feature on the camera.
The Class:
Saturday was spent getting our images down on canvas and discussing composition and scale and positioning that first piece of collage paper. (I brought my piece drawn off so it gave me some walking around and observing time.) We were urged to use the biggest pieces first to glue down and get it covered in 30 minutes - NOT me or anyone else. Derek then warned us not to wait to get those eyes in until 3:30 Sunday. That's one reason my background is nice and layered is putting off working with the features. He had one rule for us "Don't use hair for HAIR." On my portrait if you click on the image to enlarge you can see some diamond jewelry pieces I've used for hair. (I brought some fur images just in case.) I had ripped out some magazine pages and divided them into colors in jumbo plastic bags with appropriate labels, red, black, text, personal items, white, etc. but I'm not for sure I'd need to do that next time or just maybe for the dominant color.
Derek was available to the class, answered our questions and spent a lot of time walking between the tables consulting with each student. In the slide show I didn't get a photo from each artist I'm sorry to say and I don't have the names of the work with the artist.
Derek spoke of having a history of time in art and my piece does have a history, the too white stage, then my neighbor Karen had gotten a beautiful glow with sewing pattern pieces, so I did that, didn't like the effect and added more white pieces while remembering what my collage teacher, Gerald Brommer said.. "You can keep adding collage until you can't pick it up."
Derek described his way of working as random and couldn't give us a definite sequence to follow and advised us to work large, loose and keep adding layers until you get it right and let the painting take you where it wants to go, ending up with a collage painting that is more than you could have imagined on your own.
I remembered a Pablo Picasso quote: "I begin with an idea and then it becomes something else."

Derek Gores Collage Workshop June, 2011 in Texas
If you would like to attend a Derek Gores collage workshop in 2011 check with Dena at the Wenmohs Ranch. I'll see you there as I'm already signed up and thanks Derek for my first portrait collage workshop in FL. He is scheduled for another workshop in FL in February if you can't wait until June. Thanks Florida friends for your hospitality and help with restaurants and hints and now Dena invites you to Texas to take with Derek in June.


BLOG:...............http://NancyStandlee.blogspot.com

WEBSITE:.........http://NancyStandlee.com

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

PAINTED PAPER COLLAGE PAINTINGS ~ TORN PAPER PAINTINGS ~ WATERMEDIA ~
COLLAGE ART ~ MIXED MEDIA TEXTURED ABSTRACT PAINTING ~
~ TEXAS DAILY PAINTER ~ NANCY STANDLEE CONTEMPORARY ART ~

Contact NancyStandlee@sbcglobal.net

Mouse over slides for captions: