Cheerful and Colorful Paintings

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

Saturday, June 30, 2007

Saturday Synchronicity

$100.00 in the FWCAC Show during December.
11” x 7.5”
acrylic on watercolor paper
unframed, no mat
I had not planned to post today but a little Saturday Synchronicity intervened. Today I’ve joined a group of 149 painters, Daily Painters Marketplace, who are interested in sharing their art. Talented groups of artist’s band together to share their love of art and develop a market for sales. If this is a new concept to you, Google “daily painting” and you will be amazed to find 86,000 results. Will our works be found? We hope so and we hope you will subscribe to our daily painting email feed. If life gets in the way, as life is prone to do, I may not post daily but daily is the goal. If I’m not actively posting, be sure I’ll be planning the next post. Today I did have a mysterious lady waiting for the synchronicity. And daily I agree with Georges Braque “With age, art and life become one”.

Friday, June 29, 2007

Golden Days


15” x 11”
unframed, no mat - acrylic on watercolor paper
Golden Days is a rose’s name but I thought about summer’s golden days when beautiful flowers are in bloom. I plan to paint some smaller pieces soon of various subjects. I’ve watched Daily Painters Art – a group of 115 artists who do ‘one-a-day’ paintings. Wow! And these are usually smaller paintings. Yesterday I received an email from another daily painter, Duane Keiser, introducing his 2nd blog. He’s beginning an experiment of painting an oddment, a small 3”x 2” painting, and he will sell it for $125, painted from objects people send him – objects that would fit in the palm of your hand. Immediately I grabbed an old WAMU check box and began looking for small objects to send. I decided on ½ pair of a Monarch butterfly wings, found in the yard and I have saved it for years, an out of fashion covered button – the ones we wore covering up perfectly good buttons but they matched our skirts. Maybe that was just a school teacher thing. Also, I sent a sewing machine bobbin and an old wooden spool of thread that had 15 cents printed on one end and that is old. I found the thimble that was supposed to be included this morning on the kitchen table. The package went out yesterday. I’ll let you know if he chooses any of my items. At one time I collected all things sewing but now it's art, pens, and pencils. I want to do some small paintings – larger than 3” x 2” but smaller than this Golden Days 15” x 11”. Maybe I’ll call them my “Little Jewels”. How does that sound? Maybe use some 6” x 8” canvas panels.

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Exit

10” x 8” acrylic on gessoed watercolor paper, without mat or frame, $100.00 In the FWCAC show.
Figurative themes interest me. Put a figure in your painting and that becomes the center of interest. Ideas for paintings are generated by life, a photo, an image or pulled from your imagination and then allowing yourself to be creative. “Paint something you’ve never seen before” is a Robert Burridge quote. Break some rules. It takes courage to take a pristine piece of expensive watercolor paper and throw a “blob” of acrylic gesso in the center and spread it out – that’s a huge rule breaker. (More on gesso in today’s Burridge newsletter.) There are many rules on how to handle a piece of watercolor paper with traditional methods. But if you break some rules and splash on color, look for interesting shapes and images, scratch into the surface and let the painting evolve sometimes you’ll find some magic. What appeared to me was a figure in flight, an exit. Each person will have their own interpretation. One week ago today, June 21, 2007, I was in Tampa General having numerous Sestamibi scans for a possible surgery. At the end of a very long morning, Dr. James Norman came to the foot of my bed and said “Goodbye. Are we still friends?” I was disappointed that I couldn’t be helped but so glad to be out in the Tampa sunshine looking for a cup of coffee - A celebration, a rethinking, a bump in the road, an Exit.

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Once Upon a Time

10"x 8" acrylic on watercolor paper, no frame or mat, in the FWCAC Show during December.
Once upon a time…Don’t you love stories that begin with these lines? I do. I watched the DVD, “Miss Potter”, last night and read my worn copy of “The Tale of Peter Rabbit” from The Great Big Treasury of Beatrix Potter (with her original illustrations). As an elementary librarian, this best selling book was a favorite to share with children and is still a “jolly” good read. It’s partly cloudy this morning with scattered thunderstorms predicted – a little like Beatrix’s London? So why not title my recent painting “Once Upon a Time” – reminiscent of flowers gathered in the Hill Top garden? As artists we share Miss Potter’s love of watercolor and sketchbook journaling. The painting is an 8” x 10” acrylic on watercolor paper and maybe I should have included a little brass button by the vase. May your day include the delightful supper that Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cotton-tail shared - bread and milk and blackberries.

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Delightfully Timeless

Price: $325
Framed, matted with plexiglass 20" x 26"
Delightfully Timeless is an acrylic floral on watercolor paper that was accepted into the SWA 26th art exhibition juried show April 2-28, 2007. It is matted and framed as it were a watercolor. The image is 14” x 18” and framed 20” x 26”. I like this technique of acrylic over gessoed watercolor paper and learned it from one of those workshops I love to take. Bob Burridge taught a one week workshop at Dena Wenmohs Ranch in 2006. The Ranch is a working Cattle Ranch in the Texas Hill Country increasingly popular as an artists retreat and workshop. If you like to work in acrylic, Bob has a great site and newsletter. I hope to take from him again in October at the Mendocino Art Center. Bob will be in Texas again in February 18-23, 2008 with a 5-day workshop at the Bunkhouse at Wenmohs Ranch, Texas Hill Country. Contact Dena Wenmohs, (830) 825-3465.

Saturday, June 16, 2007

Main Show Room

Size: 18"x24 gallery wrapped canvas
Depth 1 1/2"
Acrylic mixed media on Canvas


I have succumbed to the siren sound of the blogosphere. I’m a Texas artist who will discuss and digress about art and her art life with friends and fellow members of www.Canvasbycanvas.com. We have been on an incredible art journey this past year and my regret is not starting Nancy’s Art Blog at our inception. The painting, Main Street Showroom, has been entered into the Creative Catalyst Summer Art Show. The entry deadline is August 30, 2007 and Ann Baldwin is the juror. The acrylic, mixed media on canvas painting is 18" x 24" on gallery wrapped canvas. The theme is Telling Stories with Art and this is my story about Main Show Room.
Cowboys - Fort Worth – Cowtown - Stockyards - Longhorns ..
All of these words evoke memories of early Cowtown and the old stockyards district is today
a center of daily entertainment and Western-style nightlife.
The Stockyards were developed in the 1880’s and grew to be the largest in the world. Now Exchange Avenue is lined with restored nineteenth-century buildings. Cowboys can be found driving a herd of longhorns through the historic streets each day and we can get a glimpse into our past and heritage. Close by is Billy Bob’s Texas with real bull riding in an indoor arena. It was built in 1910 as an open air cattle barn and now can hold 6000 people for a concert. This north side area of Fort Worth tells a little of the Cowtown story and still has the Wild West atmosphere.
I can hear a “big Texas whoop” from my Canvas by Canvas group.