"Journey" ~ Metals and Mixed Media Abstract ~ Contemporary Daily Paintings by Nancy Standlee

"Journey"
12" x 12" Acrylic Contemporary Abstract
Metallic and Mixed Media Textured on Canvas

I began this in the Tony Saladino workshop on Saturday and I've finished it this week; however, it has the Carol Nelson influence from the previous Denver workshop. I textured the canvas with modeling paste and used various paints with a metallic finish and glazes. I added a touch of gold leaf around the center of interest but it's very difficult to get a good photo of shiny metals. I am really liking working with all of this texture. I'm wondering if anyone else out there likes this abstract look?

Home Depot:
I had a 3:30 cataract eye surgery follow up visit yesterday and then spent the rest of the afternoon in the Home Depot off I-30, Road to 6 Flags. What a bunch of nice folks. Maybe I'm partial because a store south of here employed my grandson! But someone in this store was always showing up to walk me around helping me find "art stuff" that Carol had mentioned or I just thought I might use. When I asked one young man where a trowel was he had to call someone else and I really think it was because of HOW I say trowel instead of WHERE it was. Next question from him was how do you want to use it. In fact that is always the next question from any of the employees and I'd always say "In an art way not in a building supply way. You see I went to Denver for an art workshop with Carol Nelson and I want to try some of the things I learned." By this time of Q and A we'd become friends and nearly shared/exchanged grandchildren, boyfriend, girlfriend photos. I came away with $100 worth of art supplies from the garden shop to the far hinterlands of the store (not really intending to) by walking up and down the aisles and thinking like Carol Nelson??

Canvas by Canvas in the International Artist magazine April/May 2010
Click on the photo to enlarge

Here's the Canvas by Canvas gang in front of the Cowboy Stadium and we're reading the International Artist April/May edition. It has Carol Carter's work on the cover and we are on page 30. Look close. They were having a promo of sending in a photo of artists reading the magazine in front of a local landmark. We were also having a cold blustery day and our hair was all over the place. Note our heart shaped sunglasses. That was my idea but we couldn't find any grown up ones and Maryann and Karen found us some kiddy birthday ones. Thanks Dennis Hevia for taking the photo and click on his name to see his great photography website.

Get your art specialty on the Map:

Robert Burridge alerted friends and artists on Facebook about an opportunity to showcase your art and get your studio "on the map". Go to The Arts Map and add your information and then you can save your favorite pages. Jonathan Talbot is one of the founders. I'm familiar with his collage work and have one of his books. Do it and then let me know so I can see your page.

By the way I found (with a cute young girl's help) and bought the trowel at Home Depot and it is the biggest, sturdiest palette knife in my studio. It was not on Carol's list but I thought it looked intimidating. Can you imagine at your next art workshop walking in and setting up, reaching in and pulling out a 4" trowel and a 4" house brush and asking your neighbors "What time to we start?" Also, I hope I don't embarrass my grandson but I need to go to his store and talk to the manager because I don't want him EVER using that great big saw on the wall to cut anyone MDF board. It's OK for Matt to be nice to little old ladies but "no sawing allowed".

Several have asked how my eye surgery went and both eyes have had the cataract surgery but are still healing and the doctor won't release me for another 3 weeks to have an official eye exam to see if and what kind of glasses I might need. Now I'm wearing a pair of dollar store cheaters when I read. I am seeing better each day and in fact, I'm found SOS written in the dust on my bedroom mirror. I don't know who, what or when wrote that hateful message but now I see it although not seeing well enough to remedy the situation!
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BLOG.............Nancy Standlee Art Blog

WEB SITE ........Nancy Standlee

WEB SITE ........Canvas By Canvas

ARLINGTON TEXAS ~ ARTIST NANCY STANDLEE ~ DAILY PAINTER ~
CONTEMPORARY ~ WATERCOLOR ~ ACRYLIC ~ COLLAGE ~ GOUACHE
ABSTRACT ~ EXPRESSIONIST ~ ART FOR SALE ~ FIGURATIVE ~ MIXED MEDIA

Contact: NancyStandlee@sbcglobal.net

Tony Saladino Workshop ~ From Realism to Abstraction ~ Texas Daily Painter Nancy Standlee

"Landscape Data" 12" x 12" acrylic on canvas

On Saturday Barbara Hackney and I headed to Irving for the Tony Saladino one day workshop, From the Real to the Abstract, in the pouring rain. We loaded up and drove home in snow flurries. Is this Texas in the spring or what? Barbara and I attend his critique sessions and signed up for this workshop to sharpen our abstract painting skills. Tony, from New Orleans, began his painting career doing representative work and has transitioned into more abstract work that stands alone, without need of subject matter, explanation or interpretation. The group of twenty students discussed strong compositional elements, the division of space, color and line and painted on several pieces, took some lunch time and had an end of the day critique. What a great way to spend any Saturday much less one when the weather was blustery and it was more fun being inside. Tony prefers Golden paints, heavy duty, and Golden was so kind to give several great door prizes that were awarded at the end of the workshop. You can sign up for their free newsletter on their site or become one of their 1600 fans now on Facebook. I used the Golden paints for this workshop also as I like to use the medium the instructor is using. Mouse over the photo for captions.

Please visit my web site and comment on my blog:

BLOG.............Nancy Standlee Art Blog

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WEB SITE ........Canvas By Canvas

ARLINGTON TEXAS ~ ARTIST NANCY STANDLEE ~ DAILY PAINTER ~
CONTEMPORARY ~ WATERCOLOR ~ ACRYLIC ~ COLLAGE ~ GOUACHE
ABSTRACT ~ EXPRESSIONIST ~ ART FOR SALE ~ FIGURATIVE ~ MIXED MEDIA

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"Assignment Yellow" ~ Carol Nelson Workshop ~ Denver by Texas Daily Painter Nancy Standlee

"Assignment Yellow"
6 3/4" x 5 1/4" Acrylic Mixed Media on MDF board

For the past several posts I've been discussing Carol Nelson's Metals and Mixed Media Workshop in Arvada, CO March 12 and 13. This last one details our "assignment". It seems we were a little all over the board on Friday so Carol made some assignments to rein us in. She divided the group up into color families, red, yellow, blue and neutral. I found a yellow sticky on my table and followed her example on design by drawing some circles and lines and filling in the spaces with collage choices of rice paper, metals, metal foil, metal leaf, burlap, metallic paper, nails, brads, leather, moss, or fibers. If we became stumped for color, Carol had Nita Leland's "Exploring Color" for reference. Other class pieces can be viewed in the slide show below.

Nancy

I have a cousin living in Denver and I made a quick visit on Thursday evening on arrival for the workshop. My cousin-in-law, Ted Fons, is a potter and gave me this lovely pot to bring home and I lovingly carried it in my purse on the flight home. Click on photos on his home page to see more of his work. Wishes for a great retirement party, M Beth. (For some reason ??? when I tested the link I had to click at the end of the URL and hit enter just an fyi in case you are not taken to his site immediately or you can Google Ted Fons potter to see more of his work.)
This workshop was the first for Carol to teach a two day one but she has taught 3 one day workshops. I think you definitely need 2 days and a 3 day would really be great. She is a confident and professional artist working from realism and abstraction. She finds patterns, rhythms and textures in nature and in the world around her and told us to do the same. I had cataract surgery on my left eye on Monday after the workshop and on the post op visit on Tuesday in the brand new building I was struck by this design on the entry wall and thought of Carol with her lines and circles assignment.

Mouse over photos for captions:

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BLOG.............Nancy Standlee Art Blog

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ARLINGTON TEXAS ~ ARTIST NANCY STANDLEE ~ DAILY PAINTER ~
CONTEMPORARY ~ WATERCOLOR ~ ACRYLIC ~ COLLAGE ~ GOUACHE
ABSTRACT ~ EXPRESSIONIST ~ ART FOR SALE ~ FIGURATIVE ~ MIXED MEDIA

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Carol Nelson Workshop ~ Metals and Mixed Media ~ Texas Daily Painter Nancy Standlee

"A Hole in One"
7" x 3 1/2" Mixed Media on MDF board

I loaded up with Google Maps and my GPS (Sugar Foot) and made it to Denver for the Carol Nelson Workshop on Friday and Saturday. (See the two previous posts on this blog.) She is a very kind and generous instructor and she had to keep reminding me about restraint and simple themes when she was presented with something like the above.

Carol: "Don't incorporate all the techniques you've learned in one piece". (said with a very kind voice.)
Nancy: "OK..Carol." then I'd proceed to do just that in this small piece. I brought my hammer and I was determined to use it and did by putting 3 copper nails at the top and if you use a hammer and nails then you first get to use Carol's drill to drill baby holes to get the nails started. I find it impossible to see a drill on a table without wanting to "drill" something.
We were supposed to dip the nails in the Yes glue before nailing and I forgot this step. I left my nails partially extended so I could add a little more bling and curly-Q's with some copper wire. And I did get a lot of techniques in this one piece with some Tyvek at the top with a HOLE in it (too much heat), some burlap for texture, and Gold Leaf accents. Does anyone have a spare tassel I can hang from the center?

Carol referred to these small studies as bozzettos, an Italian term for a small scale model in preparation for a larger work. See Robert Genn article from The Painter's Keys.
Oh, I love this word "Bozzetto". These are just small studies to get us warmed up and Robert Burridge would refer to them as his "little gems" and they help teach him how to paint and get warmed up for the day of painting. Myrna Wacknov in her Creativity Journey blog has several posts on the bozzetto.

Tomorrow I'll post our assignment piece. Carol thought we might be a little scattered and gave us some specific guidelines to follow. I can do that but I can't help saying.... from a Bobette and a Bozzettoist.

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BLOG.............Nancy Standlee Art Blog

WEB SITE ........Nancy Standlee

WEB SITE ........Canvas By Canvas

ARLINGTON TEXAS ~ ARTIST NANCY STANDLEE ~ DAILY PAINTER ~
CONTEMPORARY ~ WATERCOLOR ~ ACRYLIC ~ COLLAGE ~ GOUACHE
ABSTRACT ~ EXPRESSIONIST ~ ART FOR SALE ~ FIGURATIVE ~ MIXED MEDIA


Contact NancyStandlee@sbcglobal.net

Carol Nelson Workshop ~ Denver, CO. ~ "Butterfly Dreams" by Texas Daily Painter Nancy Standlee

"Butterfly Dreams"
6" x 5 1/2" Tyvek, Venetian Plaster, Acrylic Paints on MDF board

Our Carol Nelson Class at the Arvada Art Guild Workshop

If this is your first visit to this blog, the previous post will give more information about this Carol Nelson workshop. Working and playing with Tyvek paper was the next step while our textured surfaces were drying.
I always like these instructions:
Carol "There is no right or wrong day to do this".
Take a piece of Tyvek paper and paint both sides with acrylic paints with colors you might use in one of the projects. Dry and iron. You may have some Tyvek around your house in the form of old Fedex envelopes. It's also available in 60 foot rolls at the hardware store if you go into production but you might find scraps around a construction site as it's used in construction as a vapor barrier.
Other uses - go to YouTube and just type in the key word Tyvek for more options. You will find lots of videos for making a wallet. Here's a neat wallet for sale but don't iron this one.
We found that when painting it worked better to use thinner applications of fluid acrylics or tubes. Just experiment to find the correct solution. One student made a beautiful piece using some metallic paint and sprinkled with gold flakes while the paint was still wet. My kind of bling. Paint both sides using different colors for more choices and dry before ironing.
If you're finicky about your iron, at this point you can protect the ironing board and iron by placing the painted and dried Tyvek in a parchment paper sandwich. Put the iron on cotton heat and press up and down and not the "iron a shirt" back and forth motion. You'll soon understand how much and how long to apply. If you lift the parchment and your Tyvek has disintegrated then that's way too long. Just a few taps and a look see at first but I really like the effect of a few holes. The Tyvek will make bubble shapes in various sizes and angles and lots of nice crevices.
Here is a big article on Tyvek or just Google for more choices.
In the above piece, I cut out the area that appealed to me and then used Yes glue to attach it to the textured board and used some coordinating acrylic paint and who doesn't like red. The section reminded me of a butterfly wing. The final varnish has not been applied. Check back soon for another post about this fabulous workshop.

Saundra Lane Galloway in her Art for Life Blog has added some posts about the workshop.

Here is another slide show from the workshop. Mouse over for the captions.

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BLOG.............Nancy Standlee Art Blog

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WEB SITE ........Canvas By Canvas

ARLINGTON TEXAS ~ ARTIST NANCY STANDLEE ~ DAILY PAINTER ~
CONTEMPORARY ~ WATERCOLOR ~ ACRYLIC ~ COLLAGE ~ GOUACHE
ABSTRACT ~ EXPRESSIONIST ~ ART FOR SALE ~ FIGURATIVE ~ MIXED MEDIA

Carol Nelson Workshop ~ " Nancy's Codebreaker" by Texas Daily Painter Nancy Standlee

"Nancy's Codebreaker"
8" x 3/12" acrylic, metals, mixed media

Carol Nelson (she's the small one standing on the box at left!!) and Nancy

I don't remember the exact day I discovered Carol Nelson's work on her blog or her website but I liked her abstract mixed media pieces and knew I wanted to learn more. I tried a triptych last September on my own after a few emails to her and lots of reading on her blog. I decided I needed to go to Denver and use my AA Advantage Miles March 12 and 13 for her "Metals and Mixed Media Workshop". I flew up Thursday, rented a compact Kia, stayed in Wheat Ridge at a Ramada within 5 miles of the workshop in Arvada and flew home after the workshop on Saturday. It was well worth it. I will post some photos and a slide show during the next week about the experience.
I call the above piece I did "Nancy's Codebreaker" because it broke the mystery of how Carol works on her abstracts. No. I can't do it like Carol but I have a better idea of the process.

On Friday morning, Carol brought in 4 huge tubs of supplies, an iron and ironing board. She began to pull out lots of plastic bags full of delicious looking sparkly papers and shiny objects. There were about 18 in the class and we each chose 4 small pieces of MDF board and proceeded to gesso the surface and sand any rough edges. Carol admonished us to take one piece to completion instead of being so scattered and not to include all the techniques in one piece. I almost made it on the above piece. I think I left out the Tyvek. (More on this tomorrow.)
After the gesso was dry, the texturing process was next and she had examples of flexible and non flexible materials to use on canvas or on a hard board like mdf board. I chose a piece of needlepoint canvas to press some modeling paste through the holes for the texture in this piece. I added some copper flashing that Carol provided and shiny paper and painted with fluid acrylics. I added gold leaf on top of the textured pieces, found an "N" in one of Carol's boxes and mounted it on a piece of black suede paper with Yes glue. Later the last step will be a varnish to protect the piece. This one will hang in my studio to help remind me of the Arvada Fine Arts Guild and Carol's workshop.
The fluid acrylics and some other supplies nearly got me in trouble. I like to lock my suitcase with a TSA approved lock for a flight. Some of these locks have a tattletale hole that will turn colors if opened. Why bother? Mine was cut off and discarded completely. When I got into my room at the Ramada I realized my lock had been cut off and my suitcase searched with the "Notice of Baggage Inspection" left on top of my "stuff" stating that an inspection occurred and my bag was searched for prohibited items. When this checked bag passed through the baggage check I was probably thought to be "Jihad Nancy" as I had lots of fluid acrylics packed in a large plastic cake taker with masking tape holding on their tops, an extension cord, scissors, two pairs of needle nosed pliers (one large and one small) and a hammer plus various chargers and plug in devices for laptop and Garmin GPS, pedometer (no I didn't walk), cell phone charger and ear bud stuff and very few clothes.
At the end of the slide show will be some discussion of Tyvek paper which I will explain tomorrow.

Here is a slide show of some of the images from the workshop. Mouse over for the caption.

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BLOG.............Nancy Standlee Art Blog

WEB SITE ........Nancy Standlee

WEB SITE ........Canvas By Canvas

ARLINGTON TEXAS ~ ARTIST NANCY STANDLEE ~ DAILY PAINTER ~
CONTEMPORARY ~ WATERCOLOR ~ ACRYLIC ~ COLLAGE ~ GOUACHE
ABSTRACT ~ EXPRESSIONIST ~ ART FOR SALE ~ FIGURATIVE ~ MIXED MEDIA

Landscape #5 ~ Cruise by Texas Daily Painter Nancy Standlee

Landscape #5 (series of 8) Contemporary Acrylic Landscapes Acrylic on paper 5" x 7"

In a previous post, I discussed these small warm ups that were done at the Robert Burridge workshop and I haven't painted since. Since I was invited to join some old college friends, Tarleton State U in Stephenville, TX to go on a Western Caribbean cruise leaving from Galveston for 7 days. It was my first cruise and what fun to be with friends and retell and embellish old stories and make some new memories. Thirteen of us had either gone there or had married someone there and one lady brought her son and he tried to keep us organized. Probably my biggest surprise is how casual the dress is. If you go wear what you have and bring about one or two dressy things. You'll never look as good as the best ones and you'll never look as bad as the worst. The food was fabulous and it was often, really 24 hours of choices, served by ninja waiters who handled a plate every two seconds. Our evening waiters were from Bali and worked 10 months and then would be off 2 months. A regret - I love personal pan pizzas and I never tried one on the ship. There wasn't time. The ship's design and decorations were an artists' dream. Rooms were named for artists, Monet, Renoir and paintings were everywhere. In the slide show below you can see one of the small tables in the theater and the table tops were small paintings and then an element from the background would be used for other decorations.

Pat, Nancy, and Peggy
We became friends our first year as freshmen at Tarleton in 1954. Peggy and I were on the annual staff together and were both in the School of Home Economics. (They don't even call it that anymore.) Pat was always winning some campus beauty contest.
There is something wrong with my shirt legs. They just don't seems to match up to mine.


Mouse over the slides for captions.

Please visit my web site and comment on my blog:

BLOG.............Nancy Standlee Art Blog

WEB SITE ........Nancy Standlee

WEB SITE ........Canvas By Canvas

ARLINGTON TEXAS ~ ARTIST NANCY STANDLEE ~ DAILY PAINTER ~
CONTEMPORARY ~ WATERCOLOR ~ ACRYLIC ~ COLLAGE ~ GOUACHE
ABSTRACT ~ EXPRESSIONIST ~ ART FOR SALE ~ FIGURATIVE