Mel Stabin Watercolor Workshop ~ Watercolor Figure ~ Art Journal Page

15" x 13" Watercolor figure "San Miguel Market"
I painted this on Monday from one of Mel Stabin's photographs and I consider it a more successful effort than some landscapes later in the week. The project of the day was landscape but I like a figure better than a tree but I watched and listened to Mel and his "tree talk" and I may attempt one yet. I've posted a slide show below of student's work from the Artists' Showplace workshop (in the previous post I have a slide show of Mel's paintings). Remember each one is at a different place in their watercolor journey. We had one student present for her very first workshop and with Mel's guidance she had several real success stories. Apologies to class members that I didn't put your name under your work and this is a partial list and I will include more work in the next post. The paintings in the slide show cover the full 5 days.

Mel has written two books, Watercolor: Simple, Fast and Focused and The Figure in Watercolor: Simple, Fast and Focused. He said he has another book in the works about "dancing brushes" and he knows his way around his Raphael mop brush.

8" x 10 Watercolor on gessoed paper "San Miguel Lady with Calla Lilies"
I didn't use a photograph but just painted a portrait from my head and looked at some photos of calla lilies taken when I was in the San Miguel workshop. His comment "A lively painting painted by a lively person." I enjoy working on the gessoed paper as redo's are easier. When we'd be hesitant about starting on a half sheet and putting down that first mark, he'd give us the sage advice "Screw it. Just do it".

Art Journal Page 68
A small sketch of a workshop painting, fun to find new bags for supplies deeply discounted, a quick hamburger, two of my acrylic entries for PCPC and more about that in a future post, lunch at Potager and a new experience of no checks but you place money in an envelope for what you thought the meal was worth, then a dining experience at Sevy's before the SWS meeting.

Now for some of the student's paintings from the workshop and more to come in a later post.

Mel Stabin Watercolor Workshop ~ Dallas ~ Art Journal Pages

Watercolor 15"x22" Sold
The client had a photo taken on a Cabo beach and asked for a painting. It was fun to paint but I had to ask for help several times. Mel is very helpful and I appreciate his calling out the colors used when he begins a demo.
I painted this in the Mel Stabin workshop during the first week of February at Artist's Showplace. This was painted on Thursday when Mel said it was "our choice" day. On Monday was landscape, Tuesday - landscape with figure, Wednesday - Something ordinary and sketched with a brush, Friday - the figure. This was my 3rd workshop with Mel and his workshops are filled with energy, his poems and quotes plus his fabulous watercolors to encourage us to a new level.
The morning was devoted to a Mel demo on a half sheet of Arches of our day's objective and then around lunch it was time for each of the 25 in the class to get down to business while Mel visited around the room. Most days ended with a great critique for each work.
We could paint from our own references or he provided some great photographs that he'd blown up to a 11x15 size. I remember at the Nicholas Simmons workshop he questioned working from 4 x 6 photos and how I could see the detail and now I understand what he meant. I'm getting some larger photos.
Cheap Joe's has a supply list for Mel if you'd like to see what colors and brushes we used, click HERE. There are no gimmicks, mask or salt for Mel. He says "I trust the brush. It can do amazing things."
In the slide show below I have shown some of his paintings and I will show more of the student work in another post.

Art Journal Page 66

Some art supplies needed for babysitting my grandchildren, some of my back fence fell over, then it's pack and pack for Mel, Dana Gioia kicks off the PCPC 3rd art festival,
and no I did not watch the Super Bowl - still trying to get every thing loaded for the workshop. Dana was chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts under President Bush since Jan 29, 2004.

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Some sketches about the workshop, the value study where Mel corrected my car to make it larger, the bottom two sketches are my paintings.

A slide show feast of some of Mel's paintings from the Mel Stabin Workshop. Mouse over for captions.

Small Watercolor ~ Art Journal Pages

7 1/2" x 5 1/2" Watercolor
On pages 50 and 51, "Taking Risks with Watercolour", by Shirley Trevena, she gives a painting exercise to loosen up just before painting. It's a method I tried here by flowing in color, making marks, dots, squiggles, drag and tap the brush, encouraging blooms, using water soluble pencils on sandpaper, and Stabilo Tone with the black. I exploited and ran with the results by adding a woman figure. The Stabilo Tone set was purchased for some studies from the book. They are a combination of colored pencil, aquarelle color and wax crayon in one and I think their names have changed according to this site.




Art Journal Pages: P. 47
A trip to the Kimbell Art Museum, Halloween with me turning off the lights and hiding in the kitchen, Bills, Babysitting job with art work, always it's "Can we do art?", Canvas by Canvas took down the Petroleum Club exhibit and hung the exhibit at Artists Showplace, then dinner celebration at a Japanese restaurant, Sushi Axiom, for the sold paintings before the play.



Art Journal Page 48
The play we attended was "Menopause, the Musical" and funny, funny. I saved our invitation to the Petroleum Club.

Art Journal Page 49:
Refrigerator clean and Quiller pack, and had a great 5 day workshop with Stephen Quiller so I condensed 5 days into the Quiller colorwheel.

Art Journal Page 50:
So I'm halfway through the Montval All Media Sketchbook. A small Shirley Trevena study, our brave Grace having her tonsils out and Grannie cooking her chicken noodle soup and pumpkin pies (which she didn't eat or like) but she got a new Hannah Montana robe and pj's. She quipped before the surgery after donning the cap, "I look like the lunchroom ladies".
The next few days were spend cooking, cooking, cooking... sweet potato and pecan pies, and biscuits and cornbread for the dressing, and fruit salad with the occasional sorting of paper in boxes in the living room. I found my car title at the bottom of one large stack and refiled it in the Important Paper tub. (So wonderful because I wasn't even looking for it and my goal is to have nothing lost in my house.)
I hope you had a great Thanksgiving and can find where you put the leftovers.

CBC ~ CCP ~ Nick DVD Inspired Art Work

Nancy painted the "H" square in the new painting, Magnify, by Canvas by Canvas
Acrylic on Canvas
Our signature style is nine 10" canvases painted by each of the 9 members and you will see this one soon as a sneak peak on the CBC web site and it is kept very up to date by Betty Taylor (real name Elizabeth Taylor!!) one of the nine. She's our efficient web guru. Each member of the group provides and shares their talents and special gifts and this makes for a stronger organization and more painting experiences. I know if I weren't a part of this group I would not have painted this square ever on my own. For the 10" size painting a member presents an idea and if the majority rule in favor, it gets painted. CBC member, Karen Foster, took this photograph at a local antique shop and what were we thinking? We voted yes. However, anyone can begin a project on their own in a non-standard format without the majority votes. For example, if you've just taken the perfect longhorn photo and you just have to paint it, decide on the size canvas you want and you'll have 8 others to meet with you at the Upstairs Gallery and draw for squares. Not all members can paint together on a given Monday but TUG is a great place to meet when we can and the studio has large tables and an overhead mirror.
This painting will be entered into an art show based on Luke 15 and the parable of the Lost Coin. In my 10" square I got a small piece of this coin to paint and this is the second Monday of painting on this square and I'm finished and I am sooooo glad.
What a drastic change from last week when painting at the Nicholas Simmons workshop painting fast, loose and large and today to get out my smallest brushes and have to be so careful. I protested some today to my Canvas painting friends about the little details but they were not sympathetic but they wanted to hear all about the workshop and some want to take from Nick the next time he comes to Dallas. Nick is a great instructor and once we began painting he was up walking the room, going from table to table observing and answering questions. He was always willing to be interrupted with a "painting emergency". I don't think he had lunch any of the 5 days because someone was always painting through lunch...not me but some did. I always do lunch and that's another perk with the Canvas by Canvas group. We're always "doing lunch" somewhere and talking art. The Artists' Showplace is a great place for a workshop and it had room for him to walk around to each participant and Nick gave a great critique on Friday.

I think I'll just throw down the gauntlet here and mention Creative Catalyst and Nick's DVD. CCP is having an art show with the theme: The Art of Creative Catalyst Inspired Artists and entries close August 7, 2008. No jurors and it's just for fun. You're invited to share your art work and post it in the gallery and I think it would be super cool if Nick's DVD inspired more entries than all the others. How about it? Let's post a Nick DVD inspired painting on the CCP site. I posted in my blog a site that helps with photo resizing so no excuses.

Nicholas Simmons Workshop ~ Friday, June 13, 2008 ~ Small Painting

Nancy's Small Painting, Day 5, Quarter Sheet

Day 5 could have been a real downer if there had not been talk about Nicholas Simmons making a return trip to TX. for another workshop. We began by seeing a demo of the Da Vinci liquid acrylics with washes beginning at the top for the sky with some overlap of colors. Nick says put it down and leave it alone. Easier said than done and I may have to have my hands restrained to follow this rule. We painted several trying to perfect our technique. We added a little splatter, a few people and some birds. They were supposed to be sketchy people but he found some arms on my figures. Later in the afternoon, Nick gave a demo with his favorite well worn brush and painted with gesso and later some trees with branches that wrap around with a razor blade. We should try that at home with some supervision looks like to me!
Nick had a drawing for the painting on Friday and lucky Teta had the winning number.

I would like to share a photo resizing site especially for those times when, for example, you're instructed to send in a picture no wider than 100 px. Well, who knows what that is? Here is the site for you at Photosize and the best part, it's free.
My friend, Betty Taylor, from Canvas by Canvas has shared two great tools with me. One from Microsoft for XP called Power Tools when added to your computer you can right click and resize photos immediately. Scroll down to Image Resizer.
The other (and I haven't used it yet but it sounds promising) lets you upload a photo and create large poster size images at Block Posters. Something you could use taking a Nick workshop.

I will post a few of the beach scenes in the slide show below. In some of the images you will see that is masking tape around the edges. I know it looks a little weird in the photos but Nick likes to use it to get a little more buckling action of the paper and all this time we've been told to stretch that paper flat!! Nick doesn't follow all the watercolor rules as you may have figured out with talk of loving blooms and crawl backs.
Hurry back to Texas, Nick and until then we'll catch you online. Thanks again to Artists' Showplace for hosting this workshop.
Mouse over for captions.

Nicholas Simmons Workshop ~ Thursday, June 12, 2008 ~ Poured Paintings

Nick and Bebe - Poured paintings

Here we are in day four of the Nicholas Simmons Workshop at Artists' Showplace in Dallas, TX. and this is a surprise day as Nick was a little secretive about our paintings for Thursday and Friday, wanting it to be a surprise.

Today I worked on my first poured painting on a canyon type design with successive liquid acrylic colors poured in layers using a full sheet of watercolor paper, which is large to me. The power of the Da Vinci fluid acrylics is apparent with the individual washes remaining transparent and not absorbing the previous layer. This is a little more difficult than the finished painting might appear and there were a lost of gasps and “help me’s” heard around the room during the many layering and drying process.

Here is Nick's finished piece.

The one below is my attempt and I haven't placed a "soaring bird" in it as I decided I'd better find a reference instead of "winging" it. One thing I will try and improve next time is that last dark wash as mine was too opaque but this was a new process to me and we were all working hard not to get an unwanted run across the page (canyon) while manipulating the paper and to leave a few edges showing of each wash we did.

Nancy's painting:

I would encourage my readers to visit and join Wet Canvas if you are not a member. Wet Canvas is a forum for artists to gather and discuss their work. Nicholas Simmons has posted some works in progress that I think you’d enjoy looking at the paintings and reading about the techniques he uses. I’ve printed them off for my "Nick Notebook" and enjoy reading about the process. Artists also post photographs that you may use in a painting.

Wet Canvas is a community of artists that began in 1998 and it has a gold mine of information with 119,000 active users. It is the largest bulletin board on the internet focused on the visual artist. Nick is a contributing member of Wet Canvas and most artist's would enjoy reading the articles he has presented on Wet Canvas.
Faded Glory
Watercolor Batik: Koi
Watercolor Life-Sized: Tarantella

Below is a slide show of some of the photos taken during the workshop. Mouse over for 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

Nancy's Web site

Eat Well ~ Paint Your Food ~ Laugh Often

Nicholas Simmons Workshop ~ Tuesday, June 10, 2008 ~ Koi Painting

Nicholas Simmons and Da Vinci liquid acrylics

Nick's Koi ~ A Beginning ~ Stop by later for the finished painting

We learned so much today and had so much fun trying out Nicholas Simmons’ “batik” technique of painting a Koi fish. He prefers working large, but to save time he painted a demo with a ½ sheet (15” x 22”) hot press paper. He drew a contour drawing of one Koi with plants with wide leaves in the background, did some splatter with mask and then the magic started with Nick painting with the Da Vinci fluid acrylics and boldly wielding a spray bottle, and mixing the colors on the paper and not on the palette. He welcomed crawl backs and blooms and made slight color changes. We had a great time walking around and viewing the other students’ work and seeing their colors as we all wanted to paint a Koi like Nick.

If you’d like to see the whole process with about 2 hours of instruction his DVD, Innovative Water Media, from Creative Catalyst is now available. I found my copy in the mailbox as I was leaving the house to go to an art opening on Friday and oh, how I wanted to stay home and watch it but felt fortunate I got to see it all the way through before the workshop began Monday. He gives a good discussion of his materials including his brushes and they run the gamut from a toothbrush to a 4” house painter’s brush. One innovative thing about this DVD is that Nick composed and performed his own original music.

I didn’t finish my painting today as I need to work on my Koi and I will post it later. Artist Showplace has an overhead mirror and a separate table for each of us upstairs in a quite area of the gallery with a microwave and refrigerator nearby and a large sink for cleanup. It’s just a great experience and the participants are so fortunate to be able to take a week off and get a chance to study with this 2007 National Watercolor Society top prize winner.

Other blogs where I post:

· http://artistfoodnetwork.blogspot.com

· http://canvasbycanvas.blogspot.com

· http://myspace.com/nancystandlee

· Web site: http://www.nancystandlee.com

· Eat Well ~ Paint Your Food ~ Laugh Often

Nicholas Simmons Workshop ~ Monday, June 9, 2008

Nicholas' Painting Day 1 of the workshop

Traditional watercolor on cold press paper


Nicholas Simmons

The Artist Showplace Class

There were 27 eager workshop students gathered this morning early (9:30 a.m.) at the Artists' Showplace today for our Nicholas Simmons workshop. Fresh Sushi , a print of his prize winning painting greeted us as we unloaded and chose our tables.

This was Nick’s first Texas workshop and he enjoyed putting faces with many of his email friends and making more friends who had traveled great distances to study with this wonder boy of the watercolor world. The morning was spent by lecture and some short demos and he even had some of the students participating. He has an art theory about good art with 3 questions to ask.

1. Do I like it?

2. Could I do that or paint something similar? Yes…that’s why we’re here..we want to paint like Nick. He thinks technique can be learned and most artists are at this stage. Now for the kicker.

3. Would I have thought to do it? Why didn’t I think of it? That’s the interesting question. All great art comes from imagination and creativity. One look at Fresh Sushi hanging on the wall and I’d have to regretfully fail on No. 3.

Nicholas encouraged us to paint large, experiment with nonstandard sizes and shapes and while in his workshop “Do Nick’s thing while here” – in other words follow instructions and when he arrives at your table to check your work, don’t have a finished painting for him to view but wait for his demo and explanation. He encouraged us to embrace the blossom or crawl back and even encouraged them to happen. Let the hair dryer become your best friend to create unpredictable edges.

Today we used cold press paper and traditional watercolor for our paintings after Nick told us several things he hates to see in watercolors and we will use the fluid acrylics on Tuesday. One of these things that drives him crazy is “clunky buildings” so our mission today was to paint a non-clunky building and he mentioned artists that we should study their work for good building examples. Since our time is limited, a simple structure was chosen and we were admonished to do a simple building well.

Here is my simple building. I wish you could join us for Tuesday’s class.

Donna Zagotta Workshop Slideshow

I hope you enjoy some of the photos from the Donna Zagotta Workshop held at the Artists' Showplace. Click HERE to read another post about the workshop. Notice to all the painters.. I get dibs on painting Gail's wild shoes. Now I wish I'd taken a photo of everyone in the workshop.

Self Portrait ~ Donna Zagotta Workshop ~ Port Bolivar Vacation ~ Art Blog

Not for Sale
6" x 9" Watercolor and Gouache on Hot Press Watercolor Paper
The photo was taken at the CBC's beach rental on Port Bolivar and the head wrap was to cover Gulf Hair and I was painting Pigasus, a CBC mini painting, while waiting for the group to go restaurant looking. We returned late September 11 and I packed for the Donna ZagottaArtists Showplace Gallery and hosted by the SWS organization. I had found Donna's work online several years ago and knew if she were ever in the area, I wanted to be in her workshop. I was more interested in her figures and her use of gouache. This is the painting I did in the workshop using watercolor and white gouache.
This particular workshop was "Developing Ideas for Creative Paintings" and was held September 12-14.

In this workshop, the emphasis is on finding methods and ideas for turning ordinary subjects into creative and imaginative paintings. Expanding possibilities for spontaneity through design and personal expression will be our focus. Workshop topics include: composition strategies, improvisational painting, developing a personal visual language, and exploring watercolor’s full potential as a transparent and opaque medium. This workshop will invigorate you with equal parts inspiration, information, and direction. All levels are welcome.

This is the statement on SWS's site about Donna:

Donna Zagotta is a nationally recognized artist and teacher. She is a signature member of the American Watercolor Society, National Watercolor Society, Watercolor West and Midwest Watercolor Society. Her work has appeared on the cover of Watercolor Expressions and The Artist’s Magazine, and she was selected for Watercolor Magic’s “Ones to Watch” in 2001. Donna Zagotta’s paintings have evolved from an early emphasis on traditional watercolor techniques and traditionally influenced realism to an unconventional use of the watercolor medium and the exploration of the area that lies between realism and abstraction. She finds inspiration in the works of Edouard Vuillard, Henri Matisse and Richard Diebencorn, masters who were more focused on expressing color and spatial ideas than in rendering the particulars of subject matter.
Thanks, Donna, for a great workshop. We hope you come back to Texas soon and bring us more Michigan truth.

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