Cheerful and Colorful Paintings

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

Saturday, December 7, 2013

Dreams of the Turtle King Is Now Available as Paperback and Kindle by Denise Bossarte and Nancy Standlee


Early Risers 13082
An illustration from the book, Dreams of the Turtle King

Does this beach walker look totally inappropriate to you temperature wise? I hope it's warmer where you are than it is in Texas where I am. Outside it is 21 degrees about 10:00 AM with predicted light snow on top of ice and sleet. Our Fort Worth/Dallas area is in a holding pattern but good news my power is on and I can write about "our" book being ready on Amazon. Several months ago Denise, from Houston, (we've never met) emailed me about illustrating some Florida beach poetry she had written. As artists, we see a lot of scams and art opportunities on the internet and I was a little dubious at first but after several emails I decided this lady was on the up and up and we've conducted all our business over the internet. 
It has been a pleasure working with Denise and truly we were both a little new to the process about pricing and royalty payments and we have muddled our way through it and are still friends. We hope to meet in February and have a book signing. At present she is ordering me books to give to my family for Christmas and she will autograph them and then mail them to me. How cool is that? A side story about you know the one about the check is in the mail? Well, Wednesday evening I knew the weather forecast was bad so I decided I'd put her check in my mail box wrapped in a piece of waxed paper to protect it. (An old lady thing to do I guess). Now it is still in there but the door to the mailbox is frozen shut, the mailman has disappeared and unless he has an ice pick with him the check won't go out until the spring thaw. My neighbor  called me yesterday and his mail box lid would open because as he said "he'd whacked it with the brass bottom end of his cane". So I used his mailbox for yesterday's mail but I'm afraid to even venture out today so Denise the check is truly in the mail and it may be for awhile. Stay warm friends.
I invite you to check out our book on Amazon and maybe order a paperback or get a Kindle edition for someone for a Christmas surprise. Forget about the cold, cold weather and enjoy some beach poetry while you sit by a nice warm fire.    Dreams of the Turtle King on Amazon

(If you order the book and like it would you please leave a review on Amazon. Our book doesn't have any reviews..sigh... I may have to leave one.)


Dear friends,

We have made it!

Nancy and I are very pleased to announce that our  book "Dreams of the Turtle King" is now available on Amazon.com.

It is available as a paperback for ~$12 a book.
It is also available as a kindle book for $1.99.

These are both full color editions.
 
If you are an Amazon.com Prime member, you may borrow the Kindle version for free, as well.

Right now the Amazon.com machinery has not connected these items together so that you can find both on one page. If you search for the title, you will find both versions and can then select which one you want to purchase.

Thank you so much for your support and happy reading!!


Note:
If you have an older kindle that is in black and white rather than color, you can download either the following programs from Amazon for FREE to read the book on your PC or smartphone.

Friday, November 15, 2013

Art of the Carolinas, Raleigh, Oil Painting Workshop and an Interview with Leslie Saeta, Blog Talk Radio and Dreams of the Turtle King by Texas Contemporary Artist Nancy Standlee

Carolina Landscape 13115
Oil on canvas mounted to board
approximately 11x15

I've just returned from an Art of the Carolinas workshop in Raleigh, NC sponsored by Jerry's Artarama. Because Friday's painting is not finished, I'm skipping to show you Saturday's painting and the workshop was led by Dick Ensing. Workshops were held at the Hilton Hotel and Jerry's Artarama and this one was held at the Store. Between the Hilton Grand Ball Room and Jerry's being filled with art supplies, I had to make suitcase room for a few more purchases. In this workshop Dick provided the image we painted from and that is always appreciated. Watch for later posts and I will discuss the workshops with Sean Dye and Mike Rooney. Classes were 3 hours long from 9-12, 1-4, or 5-8 and a few were all day and you could take as many or as few as you wanted. Close by was a wonderful Thai restaurant that Bob and Kate Burridge had posted about on Facebook and it was so good I think I ate there every day, Shaba Shabu.


But speaking of workshops, I was interviewed by Leslie Saeta  and co-host, Margaret Sheldon, Thursday, November 14, on her weekly talk show, Blog Talk Radio, Artists Helping Artists and I discuss how I get the most out of a workshop. I love taking workshops and took about 14 in 2012 and 7 in 2013. I've stopped counting the total number since 2002. 
 Leslie's Apple Pie...oh, how delicious. She cooked this for us the last night of the September Virginia Beach workshop and the ones who had to leave early you really missed a treat. We had been painting at a fruit stand that day and she purchased honey crisp apples. She also prepared our meals and did her talk show from the beach house. She does marketing seminars and holds classes online and teaches at her Ventura beach house and from her Carriage House studio in Pasadena on palette knife paintings. She gets her energy from apple pie? If so we all need one for backup.
 Leslie instructing our class at the beach.

I have made 24 watercolor illustrations for the book of poetry, Dreams of the Turtle King, written by Denise Bossarte, and available in December on Amazon. Denise informs me the book is moving forward on schedule and I've sent her my bio and a profile image. Here is one of the images you will find in the book. I would read the poem and come up with a visual image for the illustration, send it to Denise for approval or suggestions. 
Boy Digging 13094

I have been sketching and painting food at the Blue Mesa Grill in Arlington for the past several weeks prior to the workshop for possible use in their new menu. (Everything is made from scratch).  I have enjoyed sweet potato chips, red chile salmon, jalapeno relish, sweet corn cake and blue margaritas. The website is awesome with nutritional information and recipes. I went there first to hang out after both eyes had been dilated to sketch and paint my food in my journal until I could see well enough to get home. This has been a very enjoyable job and I think the new menu format will be very unique.
 A cup of painted desert soup, black bean and corn chowder and sweet potato chips.

Original fine art and affordable prints can be found at:
Follow me on Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/NancyStandlee/
                           http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/nancy-standlee.html
Order personalized checks, side tear checks, checkbook covers and address labels with a choice of 20 of my paintings on them.




Dreams of the Turtle King blog http://www.dreamsoftheturtleking.com/


Denise Bossarte
Found Worlds Photography
Dreams of the Turtle King: Poems Inspired by South Florida Beaches by Denise Ippensen Bossarte


Dreams:
Texas Daily Painter, Watercolor, Pen and Ink sketches,  Beach paintings, small paper painting, poetry book, poems, beach poems, flower watercolor, rose watercolor, Janet Rogers, workshop, Dallas, TX,  Artists of Texas, Nancy Standlee Fine Art, Daily Paintworks, Pinterest,  Dreams of the Turtle King,   Denise Bossarte, photography, Amazon, Florida, Found Worlds,CheckAdvantage, Art of the Carolinas, Raleigh, NC

Friday, November 1, 2013

Janet Rogers Watercolor Workshop Dallas TX, October 21-24, 2013 (Portraits) and CheckAdvantage One Week Sale, Dreams of the Turtle King Illustrations, Birthdays and Collage ArtByte by Texas Artist Nancy Standlee



Courtney Private Collection
This is what I decided to work on in the workshop October 21-24 in Dallas and it was a quick and fast choice because I don't choose photos with "teeth" but Janet helped me and it was my first time to paint teeth.  If you will read the last blog post, I was attending the Janet Rogers 4 day watercolor workshop in Dallas on flowers and portraits. This is of a granddaughter and she can hang it in her dorm room. I haven't done watercolor portraits in a long, long time but wanted to brush up on some skills to work in my journal. 

This one is a small quick study of a made up girl.
Warning 13110
9x6.5" 
This was painted on the last day of the workshop, no photo, just experimenting with the face dimensions. On the way to class about a block from where I was staying in a residential section, a policeman pulled me over for going 10 miles over the speed limit. Now my head and heart where already at the workshop and it was a total surprise to see him right before Independence Blvd. Now I have a good, clean record and try my best to keep it that way and I really try and obey the law but sometimes I slip. He returned from running my plates and handed me a piece of paper and said this is a warning. I was clueless. I asked "What do I do with a warning?" The policemen said "You have two choices. Start obeying the law or try not to get caught." lol.. what a nice man for not giving me a ticket because now I can take another workshop with what would be the cost of the ticket and I decided to name this painting from the experience. 

I ordered some high heel checks for me this week and you may want to do the same when you  remember the sale ($3.00 off) on all my products (cows, animals, flowers, angels)  at Check Advantage HERE for this week only:
 Starts Monday Oct 28 and here is the link again
with checks, check covers, address labels (don't click the start shopping link) A really nice feature is "duplicates" if you like to have a little help in remembering where that check was written. When ordering select duplicates and you will always know the date and where that check was written. Free Shipping.

Collage ArtByte:
Remember if you don't have time to take a workshop away from home, Daily Paintworks has ArtBytes to download, some are free and some are very affordable. I have a $10 ArtByte available on Collage. Check out all of them HERE.  And thanks to all who have already purchased my tutorial.  
I sold these two collages this week:
 The Good Life
 Cinderella Cupcake
 The ArtByte has text and photos explaining the process I use with making torn paper and hand painted paper collages and they are fun and easy to do, a little time consuming and a little messy but worth the effort.

Dreams of the Turtle King:
Yesterday I picked up at the P.O. 23 illustrations/paintings that have been scanned for the book of poems written by Denise Bossarte Dreams of the Turtle King. 
All are available for sale for $50 on the Daily Paintworks gallery and all are ready to mail now with a 14x11 mat in a clear bag. 
I mailed off the first one sold, Lead Me, (well, Denise really got the first one of the turtle for the cover image) but first one to the public is headed to California. 
Lead Me SOLD

Watch for the next blog post about the best job ever, sitting at a local restaurant, sketching and painting my food, then sampling it and using the images for spots on a new menu. More to come.
Here's a little sample for you:
I have several palettes but since the Janet workshop I've made one with Janet colors (see her supply list on her workshop page on her website link above)  in an Alvin palette and then added some 1/2 pans and full pans that I've been using at the Blue Mesa. 
I've made  a tip sheet of the names of the colors on a piece of watercolor paper and put it in plastic to tape to the top of the lid so I can remember the color names. This is the Heritage 24 well from Cheap Joe's HERE. I see a 33 well one is also offered and the same size.. hmmm..

This has been a week of birthdays. I was 78 on October 29 and one of my sons, Eric was 48 on October 30 and we celebrated at the Blue Mesa and afterwards I did a margarita painting (watch for details in the next post). We had a big discussion on who had the most Facebook friends lol...he won.






Original fine art and affordable prints can be found at:
Follow me on Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/NancyStandlee/
                           http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/nancy-standlee.html
Order personalized checks, side tear checks, checkbook covers and address labels with a choice of 20 of my paintings on them.




Dreams of the Turtle King blog http://www.dreamsoftheturtleking.com/


Denise Bossarte
Found Worlds Photography
Dreams of the Turtle King: Poems Inspired by South Florida Beaches by Denise Ippensen Bossarte


Dreams:
Texas Daily Painter, Watercolor, Pen and Ink sketches,  Beach paintings, small paper painting, poetry book, poems, beach poems, flower watercolor, rose watercolor, Janet Rogers, workshop, Dallas, TX,  Artists of Texas, Nancy Standlee Fine Art, Daily Paintworks, Pinterest,  Dreams of the Turtle King,   Denise Bossarte, photography, Amazon, Florida, Found Worlds,CheckAdvantage,

Monday, October 28, 2013

Janet Rogers Watercolor Workshop Dallas TX, October 21-24, 2013 and CheckAdvantage One Week Sale, Dreams of the Turtle King Illustrations by Texas Artist Nancy Standlee

 Rose #2 13113 (private Collection)

 Janet Rogers teaching florals
Check out her traveling painting "easel". It's three panels of foam core scored and taped that can be folded flat for traveling. That is a piece of rubberized kitchen shelf liner to drape over it so her board doesn't slip. The boards she likes are from Cheap Joe's Artmate watercolor boards for support. HERE..http://www.cheapjoes.com/artmate-watercolor-board.html  
Here is her supply list for the colors she uses.  And Thank You, Cheap Joe's for all the goodies and letting us try out some of her fabulous watercolors in colors new to us.

 Small Rose #13109
7.5x5.5 watercolor, 140 lb paper

 White Flowers 13111
13x11 Watercolor, 140 lb 
I'm calling these white flowers because no one knew the name. Sad I know and someone thought it started with a "G" but just let these be a generic white flower for now. 

Stock Study or Hollyhocks.. you choose... 13114
12x16 Watercolor on 140 lb paper
These were to be a painting of some purple stock and I do think they make good hollyhocks. 

Before I launch into the workshop, remember the sale ($3.00 off) on all my products at Check Advantage HERE for this week only:
 Starts Monday Oct 28 and here is the link again
with checks, check covers, address labels (don't click the start shopping link) A really nice feature is "duplicates" if you like to have a little help in remembering where that check was written. When ordering select duplicates and you will always know the date and where that check was written.

Watercolor Workshop with Janet Rogers: 
I decided I needed a Janet Rogers refresher course after taking her 3 day in Fort Worth in September 2008 and I loved every minute of the 4 day Dallas workshop (October 21-24) painting "Flowers and Portrait/Figures in Watercolor".  Today I'll post the flowers and save the figures for another day. I'm not painting 1/2 or full sheets in watercolor at present but I'm enjoying using my journal with watercolor and I do enjoy the eight sheets. I've also finished illustrating a book of poems in watercolor, Dreams of the Turtle King.
When the 15 students arrived on Monday, the Artist Showplace was filled with fresh flowers and we each had a table to ourselves  and that always makes a great start to any workshop. We worked on single flowers and flowers in a bouquet for the first two days and the rest on faces and figures. Janet gives great demos and helps each student and each day we have a critique on work done and she's one of those rare instructors who "walk the room" after he demo making sure each one understands and she helps out with questions and more personal demos. She is also a happy, loving artist. 

Remember if you don't have time to take a workshop away from home, Daily Paintworks has ArtBytes to download, some are free and some are very affordable. I have a $10 ArtByte available on Collage. Check out all of them HERE.  And thanks to all who have already purchased my tutorial. 

Check back for the post about the faces/figure portions of the workshop. 

Piles of Shells, available on Daily Paintworks HERE:
an illustration (24 total illustrations) for the book of poems written by Denise Bossarte

Original fine art and affordable prints can be found at:
Follow me on Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/NancyStandlee/
                           http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/nancy-standlee.html
Order personalized checks, side tear checks, checkbook covers and address labels with a choice of 20 of my paintings on them.




Dreams of the Turtle King blog http://www.dreamsoftheturtleking.com/


Denise Bossarte
Found Worlds Photography
Dreams of the Turtle King: Poems Inspired by South Florida Beaches by Denise Ippensen Bossarte


Dreams:
Texas Daily Painter, Watercolor, Pen and Ink sketches,  Beach paintings, small paper painting, poetry book, poems, beach poems, flower watercolor, rose watercolor, Janet Rogers, workshop, Dallas, TX,  Artists of Texas, Nancy Standlee Fine Art, Daily Paintworks, Pinterest,  Dreams of the Turtle King,   Denise Bossarte, photography, Amazon, Florida, Found Worlds,CheckAdvantage,

Friday, October 25, 2013

CheckAdvantage Personalized Checks on Sale, Monday October 28 and Margaret Hoybach Workshop in San Angelo TX and Sold from Dreams of the Turtle King by Texas Artist Nancy Standlee

 Remember it doesn't start till Monday Oct 28 and here is the link again
with checks, check covers, address labels (don't click the start shopping link) A really nice feature is "duplicates" if you like to have a little help in remembering where that check was written. When ordering select duplicates and you will always know the date and where that check was written.



"How old would you be if you didn't know how old you are." Thanks Dale Ver Voort of CheckAdvantage for the quote. This is my birthday week, October 29 and  I will be 78 and my personalized checks will be on special with $3.00 off  any Nancy Standlee product at CheckAdvantage http://new.checkadvantage.com/nancy-standlee-checks starting Monday, October 28. Orders ship within 3 business days. Happy Birthday to all of us with fall birthdays.

Workshop in San Angelo October 15-18:
If you are a reader of this blog or if you've known me very long, you know I love to take workshops and be around other artists, painting and talking art and hanging out. I wanted to take this "Capturing the Moment" with Margaret Hoybach of Charleston, SC because I don't know a lot about plein air journaling, I hadn't been in San Angelo, TX in years and I loved Margaret's book, Colors of France after purchasing it in 2005. The workshop was sponsored by Barbara Barnhart Rallo, Bon Voyage Travels of Lubbock. The schedule was full and varied with a kick off lecture Tuesday evening at the First Financial Bank. Wednesday we set up on the grounds of the Sugg home along the Concho River in downtown San Angelo with a box lunch and how convenient is that. That evening there was an art opening at the Black Swan Gallery. Thursday we met at the parking lot of M.L. Leddy's downtown for painting among the unique shops with lunch at Miss Hattie's and later returned to paint during ArtWalk that evening. Friday we drove to paint along the South Concho River in Christoval with lunch at the Hildago then painting on the grounds of a private country home of one of the students, Treva in Christoval. On one of the trips back to the motel, I managed a quick view of the Waterlily Garden but haven't had time to add any entries yet. 
Here are some of the journal pages from the Stillman and Birns, Beta 9x12 journal I used for this outing.
 Filling in the pages with some quick figures from the book "The Complete Sketch" by Robert S. Oliver. Painting on the grounds of the Sugg home downtown San Angelo and there were so many beautiful scenes we could have painted here for 3 days. On the porch some pumpkins caught my eye.
 Page 4 the roof and behind the home near the river and Mustang Sally and the Leddy boot sign. That was a horse sculpture and he does look like he's with "horse" and I need more help with horses.

 Lunch at Miss Hattie's, and at artwalk one of the students standing to sketch and along the Concho River and Hidalgo's. (yellow stickies = private entry) We were all feeling like Renoir's the Boating Party after Margaret told us about the book and I've since ordered it. She recommended it highly. Luncheon of the Boating Party  
and still some space left for additional writing and notes.

A partial page from Treva's patio.

One story about one of the students during art walk and since this was nearing Halloween, Tom decided he'd dress as Van Gogh with a bandage on his ear. His wife decided she'd dress as a witch and she hung a plastic ear around her neck and he painted along the streets planning to paint "Starry, Starry Cactus" but it turned into something else. Isn't that always the case?
 TOM "Starry Starry Hotel"
 Our "boating party" along the South Concho River painting and listening to the river.
 Margaret sketching near Miss Hatties.
Foreground:  Treva.. how Texan and cute she looked with her boots and cowgirl hat. All kinds of ways to work, on a table, in your lap or on an easel. Take your pick. It's always educational to walk by and see how people manage their equipment and what they have chosen to use.

I still don't have the supplies organized and how to carry them down yet. I'm still all over the board and I'm always switching from the back of my car but two items that are working and they are not too heavy to carry and are easy to set up
The Excelsior Table here
http://www.campingworld.com/shopping/item/excelsior-table/42644

The folding chair from GCI
http://www.campingstation.com/gci-outdoor-xpress-camp-chair-1.html

Dreams of the Turtle King:

Sold: Lead Me and will be mailed to a California art collector in a few days.

Denise Bossart has written a book of poems about Florida beaches and will publish the book in December. I have illustrated 24 of the poems and the watercolors are being scanned now and are available on my Daily Paintworks site. The book will be available in December on Amazon. 


This watercolor painting is available Crowd of Footprints 
and is an illustration for one of the poems.

I drove home from the San Angelo workshop on Saturday, met with a Dallas group representing a restaurant chain about illustrating some menu items on Sunday, then on to the Janet Rogers 4 day watercolor workshop at Artists Showplace in Richardson Monday - Thursday but that is another post. 


Original fine art and affordable prints can be found at:
Follow me on Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/NancyStandlee/
                           http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/nancy-standlee.html
Order personalized checks, side tear checks, checkbook covers and address labels with a choice of 20 of my paintings on them.




Dreams of the Turtle King blog http://www.dreamsoftheturtleking.com/


Denise Bossarte
Found Worlds Photography
Dreams of the Turtle King: Poems Inspired by South Florida Beaches by Denise Ippensen Bossarte


Dreams:
Texas Daily Painter, Watercolor, Pen and Ink sketches,  Beach paintings, small paper painting, poetry book, poems, beach poems, beach girl,  footprints, Artists of Texas, Nancy Standlee Fine Art, Daily Paintworks, Pinterest,  Dreams of the Turtle King,  Margaret Hoybach, Denise Bossarte, photography, Amazon, Florida, Found Worlds,