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 ~ Wednesday, Day 2 ~ Fort Worth, Texas ~ Myrna Wacknov

SEE SLIDE SHOW IN SEPARATE POST BELOW.
It definitely feels strange to be out on the Interstate by 8:15 a.m. fighting the traffic and today was not typical Texas weather at all. It was more like Seattle – cool, misty and a little foggy but any day is a good day when you’re on your way to a workshop. This is Day 2 of the Steve Rogers Workshop. Today Steve gave us his spin on color and complements and the demo was on painting reflections in water. He suggested we might want to lightly draw in our reflections and practice on a piece of scrap paper before actually painting on our work. If you'd like to see a list of materials and colors we are using, click HERE.
He told us about “The One-Hour Watercolorist” by Patrick Seslar. Patrick states “Plan your work, work your plan, and KISS (keep it simple)". (Click on my Amazon link to read more about the book.) Steve’s wife, Janet is included in the book and a painting of Steve’s similar to his Monday night demo is on page 90, St. Martin Beach and I had forgotten I had the book, but I did find stickies marking the page to return sometime. Janet has a portrait demo, Cassandra. Yes, I will take my book to get it autographed Thursday.
My painting: ½ sheet 300 lb. watercolor paper, 15x22, shows my wild sky and water. Now after looking at it on the computer I need to bring the horizon line down on the left and make it darker. I don’t think Steve has any competition from this artist.
I went to Joe T. Garcia’s after the workshop – my very favorite place to eat in the entire world with cheese enchiladas with all the trimmings and eaten on the beautiful patio garden. While sitting there I had great views to the left and right and the slides are included and looked over the day's painting notes.
Now to find another boat to paint for Thursday.
I’ve had a few minutes since I returned from Lubbock to check out a wonderful blog, Creativity Journey from Myrna Wacknov. I discovered her work in the October 2007 issue of the Watercolor Magic magazine. The article, Face Forward, shows how she uses color and expression for her poignant portraits. A bonus is the step-by-step guide that shows how to use Photoshop Elements with the portraits. Click HERE for the guide. She issues a drawing challenge each Friday and I've already ordered the drawing book she recommends and it's on the way. She issues a painting challenge at the beginning of each month. We have become “web/email” friends (someone should come up with a name of the online friends you have but have never met face to face) - what about I-Buds - and she posted an apple pie recipe in the Canvas by Canvas groups’ Artist Food Network. Great news for her and her fans is she was selected to be featured in the March 2008 issue on “Fabulous Artists over 60”. There were over 500 entries. Congrats, Myrna, way to go and I will be watching for the magazine.

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 ~ 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