Cheerful and Colorful Paintings

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

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Teesie's Attic ~ Toms Shoes ~ Arlington Highlands

Six of Canvas by Canvas's paintings were hung today at Teesie's Attic, 4000 Highlands Blvd, Suite 169, Arlington, TX. 817 465-7200, for their Grand Opening for their "Home for the Holidays" event Thursday, 12/20 and Saturday, 12/22. CBC members will be dropping by on those days to give out cards and talk about our paintings and we invite all of our friends to stop by and say Merry Christmas. Scott Hoying will be there from 6-8 on Thursday. Teesie's is a trendy, upscale boutique in the new Highlands area off Matlock. They carry modern brands not available in Arlington before. Mary said the store was named for an aunt of Marcie and Michele and they used to play dress up in her attic.
Teesie carries the shoe line, TOMS, shoes for tomorrow and the mission is to make life more comfortable and they do this through unique shoe design with a commitment to help those in need. For every pair purchased, TOMS will give a pair to a child without shoes. Blake Mycoskie, founder, will be in the store Saturday 2-5. His sister, Paige, a clothes designer of Aviator Nation will be there as will Jordon Mycoskie.
Jo Dee Foster is another designer that will be there Saturday and I think it was her design of the ring I purchased. I love the ring. See more of her work at Cutting-Up.
Teesie's is located between Borders and Wine Styles.
Our Cheers painting would look great in Wine Styles. We invited them over to see it. After all the work was done, we tried out the new Arlington Highlands Kincaid's Hamburgers. We'll be back.
See the paintings and some interior shots in the slide show below. .. Mouse over for captions.

Other blogs where I post:

http://artistfoodnetwork.blogspot.com

http://canvasbycanvas.blogspot.com

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Eat Well ~ Paint Your Food ~ Laugh Often

Teesie's Attic Slide Show Hanging CBC's Paintings

Sunday, December 16, 2007

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.

Monday, December 10, 2007

Self-Portrait ~ Watercolor ~ Spring Show ~ Find the Best Price ~ Tell Me

NFS
22" x 15" watercolor on 140 lb. paper
The photo was taken at a pool party prior to taking a dip with the CBC friends. I painted it in watercolor and it was purchased by a relative and now hangs in Denver. My friend wanted it also and a repainting was promised for a Christmas '06 gift. Yes, '06 I hate to admit but I just completed it today while painting with the CBC group at the Upstairs Gallery so I guess my friend will get the frame this Christmas and the painting. Yes, I did remove age spots, wrinkles, and glasses.

These are 4 6" square acrylic paintings by members of CBC completed today at the Gallery, Top Left, Barbara, Top Right Karen, Bottom Left, Cindy C, Bottom Right, Maryann. These ladies are getting a head start on our February show, The Neil Sperry All Texas Garden Show, February 29, March 1 and 2 at the Arlington Convention Center. We plan to do a series of mini acrylic paintings depicting items you might find around a garden plus some of our larger canvases found on our web site.
If you like to comparative shop and to find the best price when you shop online, you will love this site. One click can offer help for price comparison and coupon codes. Type in the item desired and Cheap Uncle will help you find the best price and maybe a coupon for free shipping.
I've heard about this fabulous telephone number that can give you driving directions any time, any place and they are free. I have programed it into my cell as I tend be a little directionally deficient. For voice prompted driving directions call (800) 555-8355 Tell Me. The main menu has categories like, Business Search, Ring Tones, Stock Quotes, News Center, Sports, Entertainment, Travel, and Popular Shortcuts. If you're confused about directions, you want Travel and then you have more choices but eventually you will hear Travel Directions and you will be able to give your present location and where you want to go.
Good luck in finding your way and making sure your Christmas gifts stay on schedule.

Other blogs where I post:

http://artistfoodnetwork.blogspot.com

http://canvasbycanvas.blogspot.com

http://myspace.com/nancystandlee

TO PURCHASE PAINTINGS: Go to Paypal on http://nancystandlee.blogspot.com

Eat Well ~ Paint Your Food ~ Laugh Often

Thursday, December 6, 2007

Scrooge Yourself ~ Star Watch Angel ~ Acrylic Painting

$110.00
22 x 10 1/2 " Acrylic on 140 lb. watercolor paper, unframed

This was painted earlier in the year but she looked a little Christmasy to me so I decided to post this angel since most of my week has been filled with doctor appointments after our very busy Holiday Magic weekend. I love to write down people's conversations that I overhear and now with cell phones it is so easy. A cowboy looking older gentlemen sat down with a seat between us in one physician's office yesterday. He looked nice in his cowboy boots and Stetson and he was bored and began calling his friends. I could deduct the conversation from the other end when the cowboy answered "Oh, I'm here in the doctor's waiting room. My appointment is not until 10:30 (it was about 9:45 a.m. my appointment time) BUT I'd rather be two hours early than one minute late." I liked the way he turned a phrase so I grabbed my paper and pencil and wrote it down. I'd rather be two hours early than one minute late. I think that's pretty good advice but it doesn't happen very often on the Doctor's watch. He was called in at 10:15 but I wasn't too much later.
I'd taken my new book by Charles Sovek "The Basics: 36 Ways to Pickup a Brush and Start Painting Pictures" and he stated draw, draw, draw and he suggested a Pilot fine point pen. I drew a few patients but would always get caught looking at someone so I went back to reading. I noticed the muffled voices of people talking and a myriad of cell phone tones and songs playing around the room. Our cell phones and our bottled water have really changed the way we behave. We can't leave home without either one.
On my previous post I mentioned how much fun I've had with the Elf Yourself greeting and you can check out my special Christmas greeting. I love all the emails about the singing reindeer and crazy snowmen being attacked by hairdryers. Now I've found one for the Bah! Humbugs! if you like to play the grouch. You can turn yourself into a crotchety old curmudgeon at this site. I choose to be a happy little elf but be my guest and click HERE if you prefer the humbugs!
On the way to Dallas today for another appointment, I heard Mary Did You Know by Kenny Rogers and Wynonna Judd. I always feel like Christmas is near after hearing that song and it's one of my favorites. Bad news and good news for tomorrow. They forgot to tell me I needed to be fasting for blood work so that portion of the tests will have to be done later and I'll try again tomorrow. Good news in Texas that's it's supposed to be 80 degrees and sunny and I can listen to these stations that are playing continuous Christmas music. I talked with my brother today and we were laughing about it snowing in Midland on Thanksgiving and he said they hadn't so much as had a good frost or a freeze when they had their snow. In Texas the weather is a little like the box of chocolates "You never know what you're going to get". As for me, I'd love spend the winter with 80 degree days and maybe find more time to paint. However, I'm trying to get better organized in my house so I can start the New Year with being able find my stuff. I find that something is always lost around here and I'm forever looking for something. I hope it 's not related to age but just that I have an abundance of art supplies to keep track of with not enough room for proper storage.
May you enjoy this holiday season and find all your lost items.

Saturday, December 1, 2007

Gallery Opening ~ Holiday Magic ~ Elf Yourself

SOLD

"Fear No Evil"
Acrylic on watercolor Paper, attached to a wrapped canvas 3/4" deep

Wishing you a Merry Christmas all month and I have a surprise greeting at the end of the post.

This impressionist acrylic was painted earlier in the year as I've been busy with CBC business at Holiday Magic event this weekend at the Arlington Convention Center. I've made a slide show of some images from our booth setup. Friday was very busy and we had good sales. The members working today reported a slow day.

The Friday workers, Maryann, Karen, and Cindy Y and I made a trip to a Colleyville Gallery, Art Impressions, to see our fine art giclees displayed during a festive 3 day, 4 location event. Other locations are Frameworks Kreartif, Visual Expressions, and Milan Gallery. Gamut Control promised celebrities at each event and we met another artist, David Dayan Fisher, at Art Impressions. He is an actor, artist and writer from LA and has played with Nick Cage in National Treasure and in my favorite tv show, "24" with Keifer Sutherland. He is a regular guest on NCIS (when the writers are not on strike.)

We had a enjoyable meal of Salvadorian Cuisine at Glorias and discussed some ideas for 2008 paintings and you will be seeing new work soon after being voted on and approved by 11 members.

I've found it increasingly difficult to find time to send cards to people I'd love to remember during Christmas. My son sent me an early greeting today and he called me to go check my email so he could hear me laugh when I opened it. So I thought it would be fun to share the site with my readers and you can send a greeting to your friends.

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1133812022

See Slide Show Below:
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

Holiday Magic ~ Gallery ~ Slide Show



Mouse over for CAPTIONS...

Monday, November 26, 2007

Night Before Christmas Coffee Cake ~ Junior League of Arlington ~ Holiday Magic



$50.00
11 x 7 ½ unframed pen and ink and watercolor on 140 hot press Fabriano paper

I painted this small format watercolor today at the
Upstairs Gallery while painting with other members of Canvas by Canvas, the collaborative group I belong to. This weekend (November 30 – December 2, 2007) we will participate in the annual Holiday Magic Gift Market held by the Junior League of Arlington and special 25th-year celebration activities are planned. This group of women is committed to promoting voluntarism and developing the potential of women with educational opportunities. The October/Novermber 2007 issue of Living with Panache, an advertising supplement of the Star-Telegram, did a feature on the Holiday Magic Market and the publication of their first-ever cookbook. It will be sold only at this year’s event. Among the special goodies in the cookbook will be the recipe for this Night Before Christmas Coffee Cake. You mix it up the night before and when you wake Christmas morning, just place the pan in the oven and bake and enjoy with a cup of coffee while gift giving.
To read the rest of the post and see the recipe go to Artist Food Network.
Other blogs where I post:
http://artistfoodnetwork.com
http://canvasbycanvas.blogspot.com
http://marketplace-daily-art.blogspot.com

TO PURCHASE PAINTINGS: Go to Paypal on http://nancystandlee.blogspot.com

Eat Well ~ Paint Your Food ~ Laugh Often

Friday, November 23, 2007

Bungalow Row ~ Watercolor Painting

$125.00
15 x 22 Workshop Painting Watercolor on 140# Arches
This was done in a workshop last year with a large brush with no image to reference. I was disappointed that I hadn't produced a "passable painting" during the time and this was the best effort and I've given up with the instructor's suggestions. I decided to post it after painting in watercolor again. I'm like a fickle lover who loves the one they are with. When I've been taking a watercolor class I'm all about watercolor and so it goes for acrylic or a sketching/journaling class.
If you happen to be in a watercolor mode this week and would like some inspiration, I've discovered Jim Chapman's site, Watercolor Sketch.
He has a video under Art Instruction and I now want to set up my "cowboy" hat and a bottle of wine and try painting it. He has some good writing articles on his Art Columns. Maybe I'll add a wine glass to try my ellipses after Myrna's drawing challenge this week. I just copied my ellipses from Keys to Drawing by Dodson and didn't have or take the time to do a set up. (See Amazon link on the side).
I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I got to spend some time with family and brushed up my rusty cooking skills with dressing, hot rolls, and pecan pies. The Texas weather has been varied with 80's one day and then our first cold front came in with sleet and snow flurries and it will probably hit 70 again before the weekend. I'm put painting on hold while I try to organize some files of painting ideas and paintings done. I just took a photo of the files littering my kitchen table and floor but I don't want to share that sad site until I get it straight. The painting hold won't be long now that watercolor is my new love for the week.

Other blogs where I post:

http://artistfoodnetwork.blogspot.com

http://canvasbycanvas.blogspot.com

http://myspace.com/nancystandlee

TO PURCHASE PAINTINGS: Go to Paypal on http://nancystandlee.blogspot.com

Eat Well ~ Paint Your Food ~ Laugh Often



Saturday, November 17, 2007

Arne Westerman Workshop ~ Day 5 ~ SWS


$125 Workshop Painting
Karen and CY 15 x 22 at Point Bolivar


Graduation Day

7 x 11 Color Sketch

7 x 11 Color Sketch Port Bolivar Girls
The notes were very brief on day 5 of the Arne Westerman Workshop by the Southwestern Watercolor Society and the day ended much too soon. Our graduation ended with Arne giving us our Artistic License and our group was definitely better Friday and on Monday.
In the morning, some developed more thumbnails and color sketches for a larger painting and some worked on paintings already started. I chose to develop 2 new ideas that are shown here. Arne suggested I use the same color of bathing suit on the Port Bolivar Girls and I may change or not. On my large painting of Karen and CY, I showed him the photo and said "I don't do teeth" and presented him a tracing of Karen with shortened face and no teeth. That was not going to be o.k. with him. Arne said "We do teeth"! So this is Nancy's painting with Arne teeth plus other touches and accents along the way.
The group ate lunch together at the Panda Express and continued with photos (some discretely of the customers) and art talk. We returned to class to paint and see a few more slides and get our license, make our goodbyes. This was a very good congenial class.
Some last Arne pointers:
1. Everything can't be interesting. Kill Something to save your painting.
2. Don't leave holes in your painting. (I tend to leave little spaces of white sparkles in the painting and I like them.)
3. Don't make a painting all headlines.
4. Remember to do thumbnails and color sketches before a painting.
Arne is very talented, witty and loves people and if you can take his watercolor workshop, run and sign up now. He's in his early 80's and has gained lots of "people wisdom" and painting knowledge along the way. He possesses great teaching and communication skills. He could "kill" the whistle he has hanging around his neck - his call for attention from too talkative students but then it was also a call, come look at this student's work and watch this.
If you're interested in people painting, watch people, listen to their conversations, take photos, and sketch them when you can.
He will have a gallery show in Rockport Texas soon and I will try and get more information and post the details.
Thanks, Arne, for a delightful, well-spent week. On the way home, I stopped at La Madelines for spinach salad and tomato basil soup to complete a perfect week. Today, Saturday, my art "stuff" is still not put away and I've really taken it easy with a good afternoon nap in my easy chair. Then it's back to reality with a week's mail and plans for a Thanksgiving dinner. But to all of my friends in the class, I loved painting with you and look forward to our next workshop together. Arne, you're welcome in Texas anytime and we'll be your Texas "groupies" working on our next degree.
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

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Arne Westerman Workshop ~ Day 3 and 4 ~ SWS

Thursday’s report of the Arne Westerman SWS workshop – some thoughts and slide show. See the slide show below and mouse over for the names.
From Arne on Wednesday:
1. A “clean palette” is a sign of an empty mind. (You can view his palette in yesterday’s slide show.)
2. A few color mixtures we tried: English Red or Indian Red makes a good fleshy tone. Add a touch of Cerulean for variation and to mute the red. Cerulean Blue and Cad. Red light makes a great gray. Permanent Rose and Cad. Yellow light or New Gamboge makes a good flesh tone. He loves lilac. Burnt Sienna and Ultramarine Blue makes a cool gray. Cad. Red light and Thalo Blue makes a good black. He does not use a tube black but mixes other colors for black. Manganese Blue and Permanent Rose makes a nice mixture or near each other to mix some. Indian Red and Thalo Blue makes a dark. Cad. Red light and any blue will give a brown.
His color choices are made during the color sketch. Leave enough room on the border edges to make some color trials.
3. Always use the largest brush.
4. He showed us how to increase the size of the color sketch by drawing diagonal lines on the sketch and one-half sheet of watercolor paper. One of the slides showed the process. This resulted in pencil drawings on the color sketch and these were small paintings in themselves and I would use tracing paper instead or use a copy machine to blow up the image or digitize the photo.
5. In the afternoon, the class drew and painted from a live model with beautiful red hair. Some of the slides show some paintings and studies done from this model.
6. Wednesday evening, Arne gave the SWS program by showing and discussing his work with a slide presentation with a few jokes thrown in.
Some thoughts from Thursday:
1. We should be better on Friday than we were on Monday. (Let’s hope so.)
2. A painting is a work in progress. We saw more slides on what makes a good painting and we did quick thumbnail sketches of the painting structure such as was the painting made of rectangles, pyramid, etc. He stressed again about not having two things equal but let one dominate and be the center of interest.
3. He talked and showed us how to take the model from the room where we are and put her at home by adding interesting vertical and horizontal elements and accents.
4. When adding some touches to final facial features on an under painting, he might moisten the paper before adding the eyes or other features.
5. In the afternoon, the participants painted on their big project and Arne walked around to each one to assist with any problems. This is a rare teacher that gives the students as much private consultation as he does and with a very good attitude. At the end of the day, there was a group critique using the overhead mirror so we learned from each other’s mistakes and successes. He thinks we’re doing great and I hope you like our slide show. Not all the class members have work included.
6. The assignment for Friday: Bring in another photo and be prepared to start on a new thumbnail and color sketch in preparation for a new painting.
7. I’m already thinking about what all I have to do this weekend and asking myself if I can squeeze in any time to paint more figurative watercolors so I won’t forget some of the wonderful points made this week. Let’s see mail, bills, Thanksgiving cooking – I’ll have to make some time.

http://artistfoodnetwork.blogspot.com

http://canvasbycanvas.blogspot.com

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Eat Well ~ Paint Your Food ~ Laugh Often

Arne Westerman Workshop ~ Slide Show Wed-Thurs ~ SWS

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Arne Westerman Workshop ~ Day 2 ~ SWS

Tuesday at the Arne Westerman Figurative Workshop Slide Show Below

1. Tuesday morning we were treated to slides of various paintings with detailed discussions on what makes a painting work, with emphasis on balance, center of interest, separation of elements, color , shapes, texture, light and movement. It is all about placement and it’s up to the artist to make the best use of the placement of the figure or center of interest, and to look at paintings with a discerning eye about structure and if the painting works or not. One point he made that needs to be repeated “Just because the artist doesn’t like the painting, the collector may want that particular work because of style or subject matter.” After this day, we should all know HOW to make a good painting.

2.We can’t be Norman Rockwell because he died. You paint with your own feelings and emotion and that makes it you. No one can paint like you.

3. Plain is good for backgrounds.

4. He uses masking tape to secure the edges on 140 Hot Press Fabriano paper to give us a demo color sketch study and a painting. He likes Fabriano because it was easy to lift and change a section. For his painting demo, he used a figure ironing a piece of clothing drawn from a model. He liked the model because of she was “zoftig” and no one knew what he was talking about. He asks “Are there no Jews in her?” It seems it’s a good Jewish term for a healthy, plump woman. Some of the participants were more concerned about what the ironing board and iron were?

5. When asked about using fresh paint, his response “You don’t have to worry about anything” and in other words, just paint, get something down. And he kept reminding us, we can do anything we want. The artist is in control and can move and change anything they want.

6. Watch out for mid tones against mid tones as it doesn’t say much.

7. There was much discussion on “killing this figure” and that referred to making one figure less dominant and let one be the center of interest. “Kill one to make one live” was frequently heard during our critique.

It has been good day learning about what makes a good painting. He was very gracious to visit each table while we were working on our color sketch, often sitting down with a brush and showing us what he’d do. He’d asked previously if anyone minded if he paints on any of our work. There was a lot of good natured repartee during this time of color sketches and the following critique. Arne is a treasure, full of information and knows how to fix our mess ups. His book was one of the first painting books I purchased and I can recommend it for its useful information. You can read about it from the Amazon widget on the side of my blog or Arne has the books for sale on his web site. The slide show will be short as we were rushed after the critique to clear the room for a meeting. More slides on Thursday. Wednesday morning we’ll learn how to transfer our thumbnails or color sketch and in the afternoon we’ll have a model to draw and paint from. Wednesday evening Arne will give the program for SWS showing the slides of his work.

Mouse over to see slide captions.

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

(All of the captions where I used Name..Thumbnail...most should have been Name..Color Sketch will change later)

Arne Westerman Workshop ~ Day 2 ~ SWS ~ Slideshow

Monday, November 12, 2007

Arne Westerman Workshop ~ Day 1 ~ SWS

Arne

His famous "L's"
Our five day Southwestern Watercolor Society workshop with instructor Arne Westerman began today. I will post a few highlights minus some of the funny jokes. He began painting after a successful career in advertising at about age 50.
1. He asked us to do things "his way" this week and that included careful planning of our design before painting.
2. We brought our own reference material and took that photo and did a 4 x 5 value and composition thumbnail. Each student's work is critiqued in a group situation so all benefited from the instruction.
3. He used the "L" shapes, cut up mats, to crop and edit these thumbnails and photos still looking for the best design.
4. He was not happy that so many of us brought small 4 x 6 photos to work from.
He loved it when someone had an 8 x 10 to work from. He had large photos to share for any that didn't bring a project to paint on.
5. There is no such thing as equality in a painting. Something has to be dominant and the center of interest.
6. Forget accuracy and go for the artistic statement.
7. Try to be original in thinking and working and do not copy the photograph but make it your own. Move things around. Don't reproduce what you see but use what you need.
8. He promises to show us "how not to worry about our backgrounds".
9. Tuesday we will work on our 7 x 11 color study from our thumbnail.
10. First thing in the morning we'll see his slides and more discussion about what makes a good painting.
We are painting in Irving in a large room at the Jaycee Park, Center for the Arts, one of the BEST places to take a workshop. We have a table to ourselves, kitchen facilities, with large sliding glass doors to the outside where there is a park and a small pond with ducks. The weather was sunny and warm. It was a great day. At many workshops, participants have stayed up late the night before getting ready, nervous about the instructor, and start out wondering if will they get a "good" spot or know anyone, travel long distances and in sometimes horrible, slow moving traffic but despite all of these obstacles you have a great time trying out new techniques and we'll be ready for Arne's instructions on how to complete our color studies for our masterpiece.

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Drawing Challenge ~ Journal Entry ~ Art Blog

6 x 8 Aquabee Sketchbook using black and brown ElegantWriter pens

O.K. I give. I had to stop what I was doing yesterday (packing my art supplies for the Arne Westerman workshop) and try out Myrna's Friday challenge. Now I see she has a "shape" painting posted and I want to do that. I don't have any Tygerag and don't even know what it is. Is it like Yupo? She states she has to let it dry flat so the paint doesn't run all over...sounds a little like Yupo. I want to try more drawings like this using the water pen to dissolve the ink. I did have to come in with some White-out (it was handy) along the mouth area when I developed a distinct whisker look. I kept wanting to paint instead of draw so I need to work on that.

Thursday, November 8, 2007

Ochre Tint Floral ~ Plum Vase ~ Myrna ~ Da Vinci ~ Sovek

9 x 12
Acrylic on Canvas Board

I found this painting that I had started some time ago and thought I'd change a few marks in the foreground and now after several hours it doesn't look anything like the original.


I received my reward from Myrna for sending her 5 blog subscribers – a 5 x 7 drawing beautifully matted to an 11 x 14 size. Thanks, Myrna. I love my drawing.

While looking through some art magazines, I found an October, 2005, Artist Sketchbook with an article, The Key to the City about an artist I really liked – Charles Sovek. I went to his web site, and sadly discovered he had passed away in June. I ordered three of his used books from Amazon and have written his family about the purchase of others on his site. I got a response from Peggy Sovek saying the web site would be running again November 8, 2007. There are lots of his paintings on his site to enjoy.

Myrna posted about a new artist she found, Sarkis Antikajian, and while reading about him and his work, I found that Charles Sovek is a contemporary artist that had inspired him with his small format paintings so guess it’s a small world. I’ll have to write Sarkis and ask if he’s ever taken a workshop with him. That was my intention when I went to Mr. Sovek’s web page is to find out if, when and where about his workshops. I looked at his paintings and then tried to paint a small format painting, Vail Mud Season but I feel I failed miserably. I wanted to ask him a question about acrylics and illustration board. In the article it stated he painted acrylics on illustration board and then the next question I’d have would be about the weight and did he prepare the surface with gesso or begin painting directly. I would recommend you visit Mr. Sovek’s site to view hundreds of paintings and see the dozens of painting lessons there. He made it so convenient to have posted all of his magazine articles on his site and you can download the articles and painting lessons. Thank you, Mr. Sovek. I would have liked to watch you paint and take a workshop from you.

Today I received an email telling me about Da Vinci's Last Supper going online and high tech with a high resolution image of 16-billion-pixels. Start here with the Kim Komando show and go here http://www.haltadefinizione.com/en/

Technorati has posted blogs that are discussing this.

And read more on Wikipedia about Da Vinci.

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


Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Vail Mud Season ~ 9 x 12 Works on Paper Show ~ FWCAC

$100.00
8 x 10 Acrylic on Illustration Board
On an April trip to Breckenridge, Co. with a side trip to Vail found little activity. It seems that April 23 was the first day of mud season when for a few weeks things close down for a face lift with store repair and carpets cleaned. The melting snow and higher rivers signals it's time to put away the skis and convert the inventory to bikes. The streets were easy to navigate and some street maintenance was in progress with a few stray visitors enjoying the cool, cloudy day. Most of the retail stores and restaurants were closed. I took this photo of this sparse scene and painted this popcorn stand without people to depict this time of year.
Vail Mud Season will be entered into the Fort Worth Community Arts Center's 9 x 12 Works on Paper Show and pieces will be due November 15. The work can be any size must it must fit into a 9" x 12" size envelope, unmatted and unframed and be priced at $100. Each artist is limited to 5 entries at $5.00 an entry. I plan to work on 4 more. The Reception and opening is December 8 and the show runs until December 29.

Other blogs where I post:

http://artistfoodnetwork.blogspot.com

http://canvasbycanvas.blogspot.com

http://myspace.com/nancystandlee

TO PURCHASE PAINTINGS: Go to Paypal on http://nancystandlee.blogspot.com

Eat Well ~ Paint Your Food ~ Laugh Often

Friday, November 2, 2007

Yellow Flower, Yellow Vase ~ Acrylic on Canvas ~ Nancy Standlee Art Blogs ~ N

NFS
16" x 20" acrylic, unframed on stretched 5/8" deep canvas, secured at the sides with staples
This was painted last winter during a class with Vern Johnson at the Upstairs Gallery and tonight he is having an opening reception of his Midland works at the Gallery. Vern teaches drawing and painting classes there. I see the Gallery has started a blog.
I found my Vern flower painting and decided to post it as I haven't painted anything new this week. On Monday I painted at the Gallery in gouache and those two paintings need some more attention. My week has been spent getting a little corner of my house organized. I've attended so many workshops the past 6 weeks and had so much fun this house stuff can really be boring. I still like to paint in my kitchen to be near the music and the snacks because the one room upstairs does not have a water supply. Basically I'm moved a bunch of kitchen stuff to the living room and now need to straighten the living room. My children have been warned about the need of a big dumpster when it's time to have the estate sale but in the mean time, my daughter mentioned a "fire hazard". I discourage all visitors and prefer meeting them in the front yard until I get some of this under control. You know what I really want to be doing today? I'm scheduled for an Arne Westerman workshop in a few weeks and I want to sit down with his book and do his color exercises. I've taken from him in Fort Worth several years ago and I think I'm ready to absorb some more from this wonderful painter.

SWS Workshops

Arne Westerman Workshop, November 12 - 16, 9:30-3:30
Jaycee Park, Irving
Demo: Wednesday, November 14, 7 - 9 PM
Fretz Recreation Center, Dallas

Other blogs where I post:

http://artistfoodnetwork.blogspot.com

http://canvasbycanvas.blogspot.com

http://myspace.com/nancystandlee

TO PURCHASE PAINTINGS: Go to Paypal on http://nancystandlee.blogspot.com

Eat Well ~ Paint Your Food ~ Laugh Often


Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Tarleton Homecoming Weekend

The Homecoming Weekend at Tarleton State University, Stephenville, TX., could not have been any better. The weather was perfect at around 70 with little wind, and the sun was shining – all a great setting for old friends and classmates to meet. The schedule was full with a Golden Reunion Reception of classes of the 30’s, 40’s, 50’s and 60’s in the Dining Hall on Friday evening. Later we met at a motel conference room to continue with the visit and Purple book (annual) looking. Saturday was the Parade and special recognition luncheon of the 1957 50th Year Reunion Luncheon with 1956-1958 invited. Some of those interested went to the football game in the afternoon and then approximately 22 met at Jake and Dorothy’s Café, still serving chicken fried steaks like we had in 1954.
We heard exciting news about the future home for Tarleton alumni, located across the women’s residence halls and will include the Alumni House, Campus Corner and meeting hall. The Alumni House was open for us to visit before the parade. It was built in 1915 for one of John Tarleton’s College presidents. Later the nostalgic Campus Corner will be open and have a working soda fountain and jukebox. This complex will be about a $2.0 million program and will serve alumni of today and for generations to come. This addition is a needed place to meet and have a cup of coffee with a stack of Grassburrs (the college annual) to look through. I was editor of the 1956 Grassburr and got to visit with the journalism teacher, now Dr. Chilton. I’m so glad I was a part of recording some of those precious memories. One of my dear friends, Peggy, was recruited to be on the annual staff and meetings were on Monday night, the same night as the dances at the rec hall across the street. She is still complaining about that one. She had some very cute clothes so we designed and had her dress to depict in each month’s season division page in the annual. I wished we’d used more captions and I wish more than ever I’d been a journal keeper at that time – mainly to bring some new stories back to homecoming each year.
Much of homecoming success goes to Paul Koonsman ’67, Alumni Relations Director and this year he had his wife, Karen, and the rest of the family involved.
I owe my Tarleton family membership to my Mother (and Father who paid) who deposited me on their doorstep and said “Major in Home Economics”. I was interested in De Leon and De Leon boys and not future oriented, but I became involved with Tarleton’s 2 year junior college’s colorful traditions and now our family is a first-class university. Classmates return each year as there is a bond that has sealed us together in traditions of Oscar P, Plowboys, drum beating, bonfires, balls, dances on the slab, and Cadet Corp trips and most of all – friendly Texas students (ok, a few were out of state). Enrollment now tops 9,000. One of the guys quipped when a float loaded with girls passed by during the parade “I think there are more girls on the back of that truck than went to school here when I did”. The boy/girl ratio was in favor of the girls, for sure.
We owe a big debt of gratitude to that wealthy rancher who had the foresight to begin a college in rural Erath County. TSU is building a new dining room that should be open in January ’08. The one I ate in was built in 1928 and a lot of romances began there and a lot of “sugar ants” were stomped around the tables as newly dating couples began to meet for lunch or dinner and a “fish” would be told to “Button-up” or yell out their names to the likes of “I don’t know but I’ve been told….”. If you haven’t been to a Tarleton Homecoming in a while or ever, make plans to join us in 2008 and bring some new stories.
See the slide show below to see some of the photos taken during the weekend.
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

Tarleton Homecoming Slide Show

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Orange and Violet Floral ~ Fall Birthday Celebration


SOLD
11 x 15 acrylic floral on watercolor paper
This was painted during a Robert Burridge workshop on the Dena Wenmohs Ranch. I haven't posted it as I was reluctant to put a price on it as I like it.

Canvas by Canvas has a birthday tradition to give each member an 8 x 10 gallery wrapped canvas painted by a member in a rotation schedule and eventually, each member will receive a painting from each member in the group. We have divided up the party into a fall and a spring celebration. The 2007 fall celebration was held Friday 26th at Antiques and Moore in Arlington. We had a delightful lunch in the Rose Garden Tearoom before the gift presentation. Five of us celebrated birthdays in the fall.
It was difficult making a luncheon choice but we all had to try the special tea “a special blend of rose pedals, vanilla and strawberry.” The sampler plate in the slide show was chicken salad, fresh fruit with poppy seed dressing, cheese and green chili quiche, spinach soup, and a pumpkin bread sandwich.

We were loud and boisterous with talk of our previous nights opening at the Petroleum Club and the sales and possible sales and 10 of our 11 members were present for the birthday event.

We decided I needed a microphone embedded in my turquoise necklace so a blogger wouldn’t have to take “blogging notes”.

One of the photos is of Jesse, our server and bringer of the birthday cupcakes we shared. I didn’t get photos of all the gift paintings as I had to leave the party early to start the journey toward Stephenville and Tarleton State University's homecoming weekend.

See the slide show below for photos from our fall birthday celebration. Miss Nancy will be 72 on Monday. Wow!

Birthday Lunch Slide Show ~ Canvas by Canvas

Friday, October 26, 2007

Dancer's Skirt ~ Petroleum Club Show ~ Acrylic ~ Blog

$64.00
8" x 8" Acrylic on canvas panel (Maybe I should title her Dancing Lady)

This was started in the Robert Burridge workshop in Mendocino, drawn and painted from a live model and I've finished it since I retuned home.
Our CBC group felt like dancing ladies last night as we had a spectacular opening at the Petroleum Club in Fort Worth. See the slide show below. We were on the 40th floor, overlooking the city and 17 of our paintings in a beautiful setting. The Petroleum Club of Fort Worth is one of the city's oldest and most distinguished private clubs and it symbolizes how Texans view themselves: Texas bold, Texas proud, Texas unique.
We sold http://www.canvasbycanvas.com/Texas_Cactus.html and http://www.canvasbycanvas.com/R1_Old_Red.html
A few sales really helped put us in the dancing mood.

Brian Plotkin from Gamut Control was there. He is a representative from Gamut who is representing us in reproduction and marketing our art worldwide.
Thanks to all of our friends and patrons who attended. It was a wonderful time. All 11 of us were there but we never were still enough to get a group photo. Maybe next year. Thanks to the Petroleum Club for hosting us.

Petroleum Club ~ Canvas by Canvas Opening

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Lady with Roses ~ New Toy ~ Art Blog ~ Acrylic


5" x 7" Acrylic on canvas panel
This was started on our CBC trip to Port Bolivar in September and it has been revamped several times. I put the finishing touches on it on Monday while painting at the Upstairs Gallery. I thought I needed to put a clothed figure on the blog between some nudes and I have added features to this face.
I ask a lot of questions in workshops and just from friends in general. Several times in workshops I've been approached with "Get Nancy to ask. She will" - if someone is a little shy. Yesterday, I wanted to know how Myrna got the images she used for her 1st place winner and she replied with photos of her new toy, the Gorilla Pod. I got on the telephone and found them at Arlington Camera and
Best Buy. So thanks, Myrna for sharing the technique but the small Gorilla Pod at Best Buy wouldn't hold up my Panasonic digital (I love this camera for it's anti-shake/image stabilization feature and small size to fit in my purse) as it has the tripod attachment at one end instead of in the middle. I purchased a Platinum Plus by Sunpak, the FlexPod Pro, and it's made for a digital SLR which mine is not but my camera is not listing at the moment. (See the Amazon link on the right for a detailed explanation.) I left it on the couch looking like a big spacey bug ready to pounce on me the next time I made my way to the kitchen. Now I can't wait to get cute (no need for scary Halloween photos) this morning and take some photos and later paint a self portrait series like Myrna or maybe just one small one. And prepare for a very important event tonight. Stay tuned.
Now, Myrna, was that a full size sheet of watercolor paper? What size is the portrait you did today?

Waiting for a victim..

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/

Well ~ Paint Your Food ~ Laugh Often

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Figures ~ Acrylic Painting ~ I WON ~

Lady on Orange Stool, Acrylic on Canvas panel 6" x 8" $48.00


Man on Violet Stool, Acrylic on Canvas Panel, 8" x 8" $64.00

These two paintings were painted at the Robert Burridge Workshop in Mendocino, California. See previous posts during October 1 - 5, 2007. They are repeated here with the price and size information included. We drew and painted the undraped figure for 4 days and I took a lot of artistic license with the models.
Hurray! Hooray! Hurrah! I've won a Myrna Wacknov drawing because 5 of the people I've recommended have signed up for her blog. She wants to build a blog base and I took up the gauntlet. It will be fun to see what happens in this little drawing/painting community with encouragements all around. Last weeks challenge was a continuous line drawing (no crossovers, etc.) that will post Friday. That was hard and I know I don't want to be a wire sculptress. I may try to incorporate the drawing into a painting. To subscribe to her Creativity Journal blog, on the right hand side after the "About me" profile is a subscribe blank to type in your email address and she will not share your address. If you sign up, email her(myrnawack@prodigy.net) and tell her Nancy sent you. I'm working on my 2nd Myrna drawing!
The Sketchbook bugaboo.
Thanks to the influence of Myrna and my recent workshops, I'm trying again to carry - no make that draw in - my sketchbooks. I carry them everywhere now. I've put a small Moleskin (3 1/2 x 5 1/2) in my purse, filled one of my Mexican bags to leave in the car, with an Aquabee 6 x 9 with all the other supplies, small palette, water, brushes. (Most of these items can be purchased through Dick Blick and you can click on the icon on the right side of my blog to look for these sketchbooks.) This summer I even purchased a special folding chair and table to carry with me to stop and paint a scene somewhere. I never slowed down long enough to take the chair out much less sketch a scene and most of the time I was scurrying to find some air conditioning. I have a small Borders journal type that I keep by my kitchen chair to cut out pictures and glue in and make a fast little drawing about an ad or an interesting photo...like faces of Barry Corbin or Willie Nelson or girls with flowers in their hair. I have several 9 x 12 Canson all media sketchbooks I take on trips and glue in mementos, draw and paint in. When on travel, before blogging, I'd go back to the "dwelling" and work in my journal...now it's take your laptop and blog. So with all that said, I have a new resolve to try and sketch in my journal more and we'll all meet at Myrna's for sharing and encouragement.
She recommends a book to help us, Experimental Drawing, and you can read about it by clicking on my Amazon link on the right.
Also, a big CONGRATULATIONS to Myrna for her wins with the San Diego Watercolor Society and the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society Annual.
To read about it: http://myrnawacknov.blogspot.com/2007/10/1st-place-award.html

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


3 Figures ~ Acrylic Painting Workshop ~ Snooty Women ~ Blog


Figure #1


Figure #2


Figure #3

EACH $35.00
Reclining Figures on Red Pillow 5 x 7 Acrylic on canvas panel

These are 3 paintings I did in the Robert Burridge workshop in Mendocino, CA. See the post on Nancy Standlee Art Blog .

This was my first class to paint from nude models and I used lots of artistic license to change the models up as I saw fit. I gave them different hair color, changed males to female, etc. We had undraped models for 4 days and we drew and painted from timed poses and no photos were taken of the models so you were forced to get something down on paper or canvas quickly. I took lots of gessoed 140 lb. watercolor paper and some small canvas panels to work on.

I really enjoy painting portraits and figures but don’t consider myself a very good drawer for the photo realistic look but that is not the look I’m after. I want a more abstract, impressionist look and put my own spin on the painting.

When I was in Lubbock for the Carla O’Connor workshop, one of my painting neighbors was Renee Simpson and she paints women with her own spin…Snooty women and I think you’d enjoy a trip to her studio. Here work can be seen at the Newberg Gallery also.

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