Watercolor Self Portrait ~ Nancy

Self Portrait
Watercolor 15" x 11" 300 lb paper, Elegant Writer pen

I painted this Wednesday as a possible slide entry for a juried show. It was drawn off before the Myrna workshop and before I learned that I'd better write down on the back of the paper what I did to the surface. I may or may not have put a 50/50% solution of matte medium and water on it before painting. I know I used the Elegant Writer and it has been on there so long it did not bleed at all. The pose is a Myrna one for sure. See my post about the Gorilla Pod and how I managed the photos. This photo was taken after our Petroleum Club opening in Fort Worth.
Myrna did a great Willie Nelson drawing on her blog post. I'm getting some material together to paint a portrait of him soon - maybe branch out from these self portraits.
Some of the Canvas by Canvas members (Cindy Y, Karen F, Barbara H and I) made a business trip to Dallas today and we came home with 2 commissions for our collaborative painting group. It's great to have a painting project in the works. While in Dallas, we checked out some Dragon Street galleries, especially Artizen, the scene of Jonas Gerard's performance art. I've mentioned this before but you must see him paint on You Tube.It's about 10 minutes of spellbinding painting in action.
We made a must stop at Asels Art Supply for more art supplies, even some charcoal to maybe work from the Alex Powers book, Painting People in Watercolor. The used copies on Amazon start at $40.00 to $100.00 so it's a great one for your painting library so watch for it at garage sales.

Abstract Acrylic ~ Awakening ~ Upstairs Gallery

"Awakening"
24" x 24" Acrylic on Canvas, 1 3/8" depth gallery wrap, black edges

This is one of four abstract paintings I've completed for the Upstairs Gallery Show and will deliver them today. I wasn't planning on painting abstracts anytime soon but a chance encounter changed all that. Yesterday I "awakened" way too early after a painting dream and my mind was racing about how to get down on canvas some of the ideas in my head. Blank canvases had been sitting for months in the entry hall and I started gathering up supplies and clearing off the kitchen table. (I have a painting room upstairs but it's too cluttered, too far from the water, snacks, and cd's). This one is abstract #1.
Several things just came together - meeting Jonas Gerard at Southlake, visiting with Maureen Brouillette Sunday about seeing his performance art at Artizen, and it could have been the buffet dinner the previous evening at the Dallas Museum of Art.

The Farewell Party for Corinne Sunday at the Upstairs Gallery, Maureen front right in yellow:



Monday evening at the DMA was Arts and Letters Live and Texas Bound, stories connected and "bound" to Texas. Four short stories were read by Sally Nystuen Vahle, Ash Smith, Raphael Parry and Judith Ivey. Authors were Bret Anthony Johnston, Tim O'Brien, Sybil Raney, and Steven Salzman. (Tim O'Brien has been hailed as "the best American writer of his generation" by the San Francisco Chronicle." The buffet before the program is always fabulous. Copies of Texas Bound I and II can be purchased here.
The previous evening's food and stories could have played a part in this early morning rising and painting foray but I think it was a convergence of events that just shouted "Do it now..now is the time." And it resulted in an all day affair with some abstract paintings.
Next on the agenda, watch for Canvas by Canvas to sally forth and see what happens when 9 collaborative artists try their hand at an abstract. Stay tuned.

Joe Fettingis Watercolor Workshop ~ Day 3 ~ SWA Signature ~ Jonas Gerard Southlake

Jonas Gerard at the Southlake Art in the Square

All I've wanted to do is finish my horse from the Joe Fettingis workshop and give my Cowgirl painting some finishing touches but on Thursday, Day 3 of the workshop, the SWA juried art show reception was held at the Central Library at 6:00. I had the honor of receiving my signature status which is given when your work has been accepted into 5 juried shows and you can rightfully add SWA after your signature on your paintings. Watch for those signatures signed with NWS and AWS... or TWSA those are the biggies.
Friday was spent unpacking and stumbling around not knowing which "to-do" list to tackle first and decided what's the use and started gathering up my Myrna Wacknov folder for a May workshop. More on that a little later.
Saturday was pickup day for the PCPC show where I had entered the The Fifth Day.
I picked up a CBC member, Maryann, and we headed for the Southlake Town Square to see the Art in the Square show and we're both so glad we did. We saw wonderful large canvases with lots of bold color and met some interesting artists and talked about art and display and the benefits of good weather. I will list some of the artists we visited with and give their web sites a visit.
Jonas Gerard, our first stop, large colorful abstracts, great bio and please watch his video. I want to try painting like this - so free.
Jeremy Hansen, from Nebraska and wow did we love his abstracts
Anne Heinrichs, from Austin, a Mixed Media Collage artist and I want to take one of her workshops tomorrow!!! I've already emailed her and asked when and where.
Nora Larimer, watercolor and tile artist, beautiful fish and koi paintings
Meredith Kuntzsch, a pastel artist
Jerald Peterson, paintings of San Miguel, lived there before moving to OK.
Niki Gulley, Dallas will be at Cottonwood Art Festival next weekend
Michael McKee, pastel and you have to look at his fabulous colors
Dennis Rhoades, pastel artist. Maryann had seen his work at another show and is working on getting a pastel workshop together with me saying, no, no...I don't have room for more supplies and I'm not taking up pastels..we'll see. Dennis was telling Maryann about selling a pastel set of paints he was getting together and how easy it would be..oh, well.
I hope to get to finish my workshop paintings this week and in the slide show below you can view some other artists and their work at the workshop. Joe, we want you to return and give us a four day workshop - the sooner the better. Mouse over for captions.
My friend, Maryann and I attended The 23rd Texas and Neighbors Regional Art Exhibition today in Irving. There were about 400 entries with 77 paintings chosen for the show. All show paintings may be viewed in color at www.irvingart.org.