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.

Stephen Quiller Workshop ~ Day 5 ~ Artists' Showplace

This is a close up of a Stephen Quiller painting demo done at the Stephen Quiller Workshop on Friday.

Another close up.

A crooked view of the whole painting. He was always saying, build your values, values will make a painting, and watch your space between the trees (not equal) and paint what you know. On Friday, he showed the class some ways to make an acrylic wash under lay and then paint watercolors on top. He also used some qouache in the trees.
This is my Friday effort and I grabbed a piece of gessoed watercolor paper to use and think I was channeling Bob Burridge.
Some have asked for me to post Stephen's 12 color basic palette and if you'd go to his site Quiller Gallery you will find the list. It is listed with pigment numbers in his new book, WaterMedia Painting.
Canvas by Canvas has become an associate with Artists' Showplace and Friday evening they invited us to a wonderful party and reception - a welcome break after a busy week of painting at the workshop. Enjoy the slide show below. Stephen, we're glad we got to know you and we like your painting style. Paint what you know and you sure know trees and mountains.

Here is a great new site to listen to while you surf: theRADIO.com
I looked for the greatest country song ever written and they've got it - George Jones and "He Stopped Loving Her Today". Check out Willie "Always on My Mind" and my ring tone "Fix You" by Cold Play, Or Elvis Presley "Are You Lonesome Tonight" - Oh, what great songs.

Look what I've found for my Christmas Stocking by Vivienne Tam - a HP Mini 1000.

Stephen Quiller Workshop ~ Day 3 and 4

This large sheet watercolor was painted by Stephen Quiller for the SWS meeting Wednesday night. There was standing room only to meet him and see his slides of paintings from all over the world but a lot of them were painted in his beloved Colorado. You find out very soon about his love of nature and painting the outdoors. When the snow is on the ground, then it's time for him to pick up his sketch pad and cross country ski. These works were painted flat so the students could view them in the overhead mirror but en plein air he paints vertically.


Above is a closeup of a small watercolor study of Stephen's done yesterday.One of my favorites. There is so much texture and interest with the splattering and negative painting.

Today we got into the use of acrylics and glazing. Above the first small study demo that Stephen did. Then it's our turn and I don't care to share my attempt. It's only a few steps back to your working area from the demo area and he makes it look super easy and you just know you can go back and do likewise. Well, forget that. No one paints landscapes like Stephen and I don't have the desire to paint landscapes but I wanted to study them with him. What a great opportunity with him in the area and I do breathe easier here than in his high mountain Colorado. He has made us all more color conscious and aware of landscapes many possibilities.
He began this lovely poppy study right before lunch by laying in all the orange shapes first and all I could see was candy corn and thinking when can we eat. Luscious acrylic painting. He has his own set of marks and distinctive brushwork and we practice in the air hoping to paint an aspen or poppy that looks even a little like his.
This is a watercolor of mine from yesterday. Four days of class with a late night meeting is beginning to show and I wasn't very happy with today's results.
A friend that follows my blog has asked if I'd post the 12 colors he uses for his travel palette and I will in a later post.
He's written 5 books, has his own line of watercolor and acrylics, color wheels, palettes, paper and instructional dvd's and he is a student of art history, of paints and their properties. The man knows a lot about landscape painting. He states that his 12 color palette can be taken anywhere and any color can be mixed from it and the theory of this placement goes back to the 1830's. A catalogue of his products can be ordered from his web site.

Stephen Quiller Workshop ~ Watercolor-Acrylic Workshop ~ Day 2

This is Stephen's Quiller's afternoon demo and I didn't realize I didn't have a better photo but will take one tomorrow. When we have a short break, there is always a line waiting to take a photo of the progress of the painting and I can do better on this one.
Today we discussed color temperature change, color families, and working with neutrals. He said that 75% of paintings we see will be in neutrals and there is very little pure hue in his paintings. He had 2 morning demos and one in the afternoon. In the afternoon demo he didn't use a photo reference but painted from a black and white sketch he'd drawn from his memory. He thinks he gets too photographic in his painting style if he uses a photo and he likes to paint what he feels. For the landscape and tree painting today, he painted negative shapes which is always beautiful but hard to grasp at times. I will need more practice to work like this.
During one of the demo's today his cell phone rang (his wife bought it for him) and he had an important call and had to take it because he doesn't know how to retrieve his voice mail yet and yes, we gave him a hard time about that.
Wednesday evening we will leave class, get a quick dinner, and head for the SWS meeting where he will provide the program and another demo. He did say it will be something new that he has not covered in class. I will keep you posted on the progam.
Below is a slide show from the last 2 days:

Stephen Quiller Workshop ~ Jaycee Park Center for the Arts

Stephen Quiller is a Colorado boy, full time painter, and he has views to paint outside his studio window in Creede that Texans spend their vacation dollars just to visit. Today was the first day of a 5 day workshop in Irving, Texas sponsored by The Southwestern Watercolor Society. The workshop is being held in a great facility at the Jaycee Park Center for the Arts. To see the books Stephen has written, go to Amazon and search his name. His latest, WaterMedia Painting with Stephen Quiller was released in September and it has so much information it's nearly scary - watermedia, watercolor, gouache, acrylic, casein, supplies, techniques, en plein air, composition and he is a color guru. One thing I really like about the book is he gives the color pigment numbers so if you don't have the exact brand, it is easy to check to see if you might have it under another name or company. I learned about pigment numbers when I took a Hilary Page workshop several years ago in Lubbock. Yes, that's his palette above. I couldn't resist taking a photo.
He gave us ideas on color mixing and handling paint that we can take and use in our own studios. I've felt some of his information was so technical in the books but after I heard his talk about it today with demos and explanations of intensity and value and how to set up your palette, I found it very enlightening. Today he was preparing a foundation for the rest of the week with short demos. He prefers to paint on 300 pound rough paper.


The two paintings above are Stephen's that he used today to show us how to use complements and the colors in these were red orange and phthalo blue. He didn't draw anything on the paper but began with a flat brush, water and the 2 colors. Amazing, isn't it.
Now below, what is even more amazing is my painting trying to do what Stephen did and I didn't even use carbon paper and trace. This was a huge step for me with just a 1 1/2" flat brush. However, this is the only study I did and most of the class did 2 or 3 while I was still figuring out filling my Quiller travel palette.
Our class is full with a waiting list and it is a testament to Stephen's reputation as a fine contemporary painter. The first 3 days will be devoted to watercolor and the last 2 days for acrylics. He says this about acrylics, "Acrylic is the most versatile medium we have today." He feels it's exciting to explore it as watermedia and try out experimental techniques. Sounds great to me.
Painting by Nancy, approximately 11"x15", watercolor landscape