Janet Rogers Workshop ~ Art Journal Pages

This is the portrait I painted in the Janet Rogers workshop. I think the color could be better but I enjoyed the experience, meeting Janet and some new friends. It was held out in the country, quiet and secluded, with animals nearby. Russell Farm Art Center is in Burleson, located on a Texas Century Farm, and it's an organization of working artists dedicated to fine art, with an emphasis on wood sculpture. (Check Janet and Steve's website to find out about their workshop in Italy in 2009.) I took a SWA workshop with Steve Rogers last October. The painting was from a photo on Port Bolivar and now Port Bolivar has been nearly destroyed by Ike. There are other posts about the workshop.

Art Journal Pages:

I'm still on the "stuff organization", trying to get on friendly terms with my computer, and painted my Joe T's square for a CBC project. Other CBC members there were Betty, Cindy Y and Maryann.The workshop was for 3 days and we did a floral first and then the portrait. I drew off the beach scene but didn't get around to painting it as Janet kept us jumping. We had to laugh at her because she moved so much it was really difficult to get a good photo of her unless we just said "Stop. We need a photo." She was an excellent instructor and walked the room answering questions when it came time for us to paint - always an endearing quality in an instructor.

This is my Janet portrait in my Cason All Media Sketchbook. This week I've gone over my notes and have included some Janet "sayings". Practice your color swatches, why did I do that, I love Bounty paper towels, (which she held onto like a security blanket, under her arm), make puddles, make color changes, don't count flower petals, I believe in swatches, adjust water from the puddle edge, try things, don't be boring, "smoosch" your edges and from US, "Why do you paint with one eye closed?" She reminds us to draw, draw, draw and we love her drawings and especially the drawings and paintings of big, pouty lips.

Here is a slide show of some images taken during the 3 day workshop. Janet knows her medium and can explain it now for practice, and more practice.

Joe Fettingis Watercolor Workshop ~ VerveEarth

This is a work in progress (WIP) I started today in the Joe Fettingis Watercolor Workshop given by SWA. The eyes look a little squirrelly because I just removed the masking fluid showing the white of the paper and no one's eyes are ever that white. This painting will get more attention on Wednesday.
I have posted a slide show of some of the images of Joe's painting in progress and some of his framed pieces he brought from Indiana in his car. I wanted to share his lovely work and he will have to forgive me for the horrible glare on most of the pieces and then I tilted the camera to remove some of the glare. It is a real treasure to find so many original works of art on view by the workshop instructor.
"NOW WATCH THIS. HERE WE GO".
This is Joe's clarion call to us to assemble, get quiet, and begin to work. If you've ever taken one of his workshops I'm sure you know the drill. He is a real task master and told us if we needed to visit do it at lunch because he was there to teach and we were there to learn. And learn we did. Most of the workshops I've taken the instructor usually demonstrates in the morning and the students paint in the afternoon. Joe breaks down the painting process in several small demos during the day and we return to our "studio" to paint what he has just taught and I've found it to be a very effective way of learning. He gives us small things to learn and breaks the learning down into small bits and while we are applying the technique he is walking the room answering questions and giving more instruction. He provided our reference photo material, a dramatic lady with a large black hat and we all worked on it together. By 4:00 today as I walked the room and looked at each person's work, I was very impressed with the results. We should get this project finished Wednesday morning and begin a horse in the afternoon and I've never painted a horse so this will be fun.
Today we concentrated on techniques of paint application, values, moisture, color and composition. Joe's materials are discussed on his web site where he maintains The Smallest Brush/Colors Art Store in the Universe.
The Maimeri colors he uses are listed on the order form.
VerveEarth.com or Verve Earth
I've listed my blog on this very cool new site as bloggers are telling the world's stories as they happen and Verve Earth is meant to be a canvas for their voices. Travel the map/world and see a site that interests you. After you are registered you can add the destination to your favorites. On the left side is a zoom level and more content can be found by zooming in or you can do a search by typing in a city. I've had some trouble with their search button so just press enter on your keyboard. Type in Arlington, Texas and you should find Nancy Standlee Art Blog and the Artist Food Network that belongs to Canvas by Canvas (the collaborative group where I belong).
Enjoy the slide show below. Mouse over for captions.

"Shop Talking" ~ "Treasures" Art Show Award ~ Creative Catalyst

"SHOP TALKING"
20" x 20" Giclee will be available soon
2nd in "Talking Series"
What a pleasant surprise to find in my email this morning the Creative Catalyst Winter Art Show "Treasures" 2007-2008 Winners and see that Juror Janie Gildow has given "Shop Talking" a special merit award for Whimsy. She had these comments:
Shop Talking The composition is strong, but the enchantment is what sets it apart. What a delightful piece!
The work appeared in the blog post in February.
After "Trash Talking" received some friendly reviews I decided on a "Talking" series so now the question will be "what to paint next in the series"? I will have a giclee made from "Shop Talking" soon to have a companion series giclee for "Trash". I have been very pleased having Gamut Control produce my giclees.
Thanks to blogger, Kelly, for posting it on her website in February, Craft Amor.
Works will be delivered this weekend for the SWA show. I'd posted a Koi painting to enter and it was not chosen but Blue Rose, Blue Vase was accepted and this 5th show will earn me my signature status. Yeah!

Joseph Fettingis is the juror and some of the Canvas by Canvas group (including me) will be taking his April workshop. I've ordered some of his "special" brushes and colors and warned him I may have trouble with his "No Talking" rule. I'll try to behave. What could you expect from an artist that has a "Talking" series. Maybe he'll give me some slack? Or place me in the corner? No one loves the workshop environment better than I do... when everywhere you look artists are creating something they have never done before and at lunch you visit and talk art, and if you're away at a workshop, dinner conversation is art.

Koi ~ SWA Entry ~ Giclees ~ FAR

Koi
$675.00
Full sheet 22 x 30 acrylic watercolor on 140 lb. paper
This is one of my entries into the SWA juried show. You can enter 3 pieces and if the judge likes one, you will be in the show. There are times when the judge doesn't like anything sent. We are going digital so your 3 images are in 300 dpi on a cd and I hope there isn't another like me that will have to rush them over tomorrow the last day of entry. On my previous blog post I told about painting koi and will let you know in February if I get in the show.
Today I picked up 4 giclees I've had made from Gamut Control and I'm very pleased with the quality and I will write more about that later. They tag your fine art reproductions and send the images to FAR Fine Art Registry and you have a portfolio on line. The artist adds painting descriptions, profiles and biography. While there type in Nancy or Standlee and you will see my page and what I'm talking about. On the Gamut site my catalog page is the very bottom image.
I hope you have a restful weekend. I think I have a rodent in my attic because of sounds overhead and overheard the last few days and some have been alarmingly loud - weather is predicted to warm a little so I'll feel more like looking into this problem. He sounds big!!

Lady Emma ~ Boat Watercolor Painting ~ Port Bolivar, Texas ~ Art Blog

$150.00 unframed
15 x 22 watercolor painting on 300 lb. paper
(It would fit into a matt and standard frame 22x28)
Lady Emma was painted this past week in the Steve Rogers Workshop given by SWA in Fort Worth. The photo was taken during a trip with some CBC members to the Port Bolivar, Galveston area. Older posts will show some slides from other students and some of Steve's work.
I rented an interesting art movie yesterday and watched it last night.
Carla O’Connor mentioned a foreign film, Camille Claudel, about the sculptor, Rodin, and his passionate obsession with art – and with Camille. It is a historically accurate depiction of one of the most important collaborations in the history of modern art. It was a little hard to find but the Hollywood Video on Cooper St. had a copy, for my local readers. It has captions and runs 2 hours and 39 minutes and came out in 1989. I enjoyed the movie but I didn't enjoy reading the captions because you can't multi-task with your eyes glued to the TV. I belong to a collaborative group of 11 local artists, Canvas by Canvas and we are interested in collaborations.
I find this web site is a good place to research movies and plot summaries at the Internet Movie Database. This is where I always get into trouble and it happens at Amazon all the time with the recommendations…If you like this book, movie, then you might like this one… spend more time and money.
I see they recommend Frida and I loved Frida - the movie, her way of dressing, and the paintings. When I was in Puerto Vallarta for a workshop, I bought a beach wrap/sarong/shawl with her huge picture in the center and I do wear it.
Caution: These are not family movies with small children - adult children OK.
This interesting article about the secrets of Mona Lisa was on my Yahoo home page this morning. I know a lot of artists out there who would never want their paintings inspected that closely to really see how many layers it took to reach the final stage. This is not the case with watercolor. In watercolor you usually have to get it right the first time or start over. If you want to read about taking risks with watercolor and pushing the medium to its limits, check out the book, Taking Risks with Watercolour, on my Amazon link. I recommend it if you're ready to move up to the intermediate level. Every page is filled with exciting, colorful examples of Shirley Trevena's work.
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/
· Eat Well ~ Paint Your Food ~ Laugh Often

Steve Rogers Workshop ~ Day 3, Thursday ~ Nancy Standlee Art Blog

SEE THE SLIDE SHOW AT THE END OF THIS POST:
We had fun painting today in the SWA workshop with Steve Rogers and he was so good to go around the room and check each painter’s progress. He caught heck when our side of the room heard his comment across the room about a person’s work being “superb”… because we hadn’t heard that term of praise on our side of the room. The day ended with a good critique and I took photos of some of the students’ work who wanted to participate.
Disclaimer: The photos are taken through an overhead mirror (not the clearest) causing a reversed image and the images are skewed AND the paintings are in different stages of completion or WIP, works in progress. Most have a white matt around them but I think you’ll get a good idea of what the workshop was about and the students’ produced some good work. I would have never tackled this boat unless Steve had said, “We’re doing boats and reflections.” One of my paintings photo was taken at Port Bolivar, Texas and the other one was in the Noyo Harbor in Fort Bragg, California. On the Noyo Harbor boat, the coats were not that colorful, nor the trees and the painting is not finished.
If anyone has a photo of Trini’s painting please email it to me as I was admiring it so much I failed to get a photo of it. Sorry, Trini. SWA members check out the Artist Food Network Blog below and send us a painting and a recipe in a email to post on the web site. Also SWA if any of you join the Myrna Wacknov blog let me know as I might be eligible for one of her drawings.
Margo, has been a top notch workshop chairman who tends to our needs. She gets our lunches delivered from Pak-A-Pocket and the lunch has a pita pocket sandwich, drink, chips, fruit or cookie, for $5.00 delivered. We just grab a sack and go clear off an area and eat. So very convenient when time is short and you can see your painting waiting for you. Margo presented Steve a SWA tee shirt and I hope he wears it in Delaware next week. Maybe someone up there will blog their paintings from the workshop. Steve, come back to Texas any time.
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/
• Eat Well ~ Paint Your Food ~ Laugh Often

Steve Rogers Workshop ~Student Slide Show Day 3 ~ SWA

Steve Rogers Workshop ~ Tuesday, Day 1 ~ Fort Worth, TX

Disclaimer: Some of the photos were taken through an overhead mirror and the image is reversed and the mirror is cloudy in places and some of the paintings had plastic protectors on them.
I’m still not unpacked from the last 2 or 3 workshops. Well, maybe a little. It’s out of the suitcase and on the kitchen table and couch. Saturday was a blur. I did fit in a needed seafood fix at Fish City Grill. Then on Sunday the family “inlaws and outlaws”, friends, and cohorts had a kickball game in Alvarado. One new friend was welcomed – Davran from Krygstan, a foreign exchange student staying with a family member.
I was smart enough not to play and the sun was wonderful to sit on the sidelines and listen to the banter. I got to see my granddaughter Autumn’s recent college sorority’s mud wrestling photos on her laptop – a definite plus for the day.
The best news is that CBC members did not paint Monday but some of us had to meet for an El Chico lunch to discuss giclees and then home to begin to gather up the supplies for the Steve Rogers workshop. I didn’t begin to finish before our SWA meeting at 7:00 where he gave a demo. It was a great preview of things to come for the next 3 days but after coming home I did stay up until about 2:00 a.m. getting the rest of the supplies together and to get my palette to look like his. It is my goal someday, sometime to read a book, watch TV or go to a movie before a workshop. Instead my days and weeks and nights are filled with last minute details and things to pack. This is not how it should be done. The only excuse is that I’ve recently attended workshops from Donna Zagotta, Robert Burridge, Carla O’Connor and now Steve’s. It’s been the gamut from opaque watercolor to acrylic to transparent watercolor. I’ll get it all sorted out eventually.
I was glad that for Day 1 Steve gave us a demo first thing and then had us to do some color exercises and practice some painting techniques before diving into a painting. He wanted us to work on a full sheet, but chicken me opted for only a half sheet and by days end, I had a very wild colored sky and not quite as wild water. This painting may not be able to be pulled out of the fire and I'm not brave enough to share it yet. We are all working on boats and reflections. I don’t have enough down on paper yet to post the painting so I’m putting on a slide show of photos from last night’s demo and some from the Tuesday’s class.

When Steve began to paint his demo at the Monday night SWA meeting, he put on a red bandana so I decided I needed to wear one today to show support at the workshop with my new Llano Estacado T-shirt from the winery in Lubbock. Workshop participants might enjoy reading more about Steve’s life in this article by Stephen Doherty “Inspiration at Higher Levels” in the American Artists Watercolor Magazine.
Our class goal seems to be to put down color and modify it, bring it to life, and have the color show movement and to make an attractive painting. Steve is a master of color and there was many variables on achieving his look such as how you put the paint down, the tilt of the board, the tilt of the brush and we are all trying our best to mimic his work, not to copy him, but just get the feel of how he works and maybe sometime during the 3 days we will become more comfortable using vivid color in a loose way, and a way that we haven’t tried before. Check back here for Day 2 and progress reports.
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/
· Eat Well ~ Paint Your Food ~ Laugh Often