Gallery Opening ~ Holiday Magic ~ Elf Yourself

SOLD

"Fear No Evil"
Acrylic on watercolor Paper, attached to a wrapped canvas 3/4" deep

Wishing you a Merry Christmas all month and I have a surprise greeting at the end of the post.

This impressionist acrylic was painted earlier in the year as I've been busy with CBC business at Holiday Magic event this weekend at the Arlington Convention Center. I've made a slide show of some images from our booth setup. Friday was very busy and we had good sales. The members working today reported a slow day.

The Friday workers, Maryann, Karen, and Cindy Y and I made a trip to a Colleyville Gallery, Art Impressions, to see our fine art giclees displayed during a festive 3 day, 4 location event. Other locations are Frameworks Kreartif, Visual Expressions, and Milan Gallery. Gamut Control promised celebrities at each event and we met another artist, David Dayan Fisher, at Art Impressions. He is an actor, artist and writer from LA and has played with Nick Cage in National Treasure and in my favorite tv show, "24" with Keifer Sutherland. He is a regular guest on NCIS (when the writers are not on strike.)

We had a enjoyable meal of Salvadorian Cuisine at Glorias and discussed some ideas for 2008 paintings and you will be seeing new work soon after being voted on and approved by 11 members.

I've found it increasingly difficult to find time to send cards to people I'd love to remember during Christmas. My son sent me an early greeting today and he called me to go check my email so he could hear me laugh when I opened it. So I thought it would be fun to share the site with my readers and you can send a greeting to your friends.

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1133812022

See Slide Show Below:
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Eat Well ~ Paint Your Food ~ Laugh Often

Holiday Magic ~ Gallery ~ Slide Show

Mouse over for CAPTIONS...

Night Before Christmas Coffee Cake ~ Junior League of Arlington ~ Holiday Magic

$50.00

11 x 7 ½ unframed pen and ink and watercolor on 140 hot press Fabriano paper

I painted this small format watercolor today at the

Upstairs Gallery while painting with other members of Canvas by Canvas, the collaborative group I belong to. This weekend (November 30 – December 2, 2007) we will participate in the annual Holiday Magic Gift Market held by the Junior League of Arlington and special 25th-year celebration activities are planned. This group of women is committed to promoting voluntarism and developing the potential of women with educational opportunities. The October/Novermber 2007 issue of Living with Panache, an advertising supplement of the Star-Telegram, did a feature on the Holiday Magic Market and the publication of their first-ever cookbook. It will be sold only at this year’s event. Among the special goodies in the cookbook will be the recipe for this Night Before Christmas Coffee Cake. You mix it up the night before and when you wake Christmas morning, just place the pan in the oven and bake and enjoy with a cup of coffee while gift giving.

To read the rest of the post and see the recipe go to Artist Food Network.

Other blogs where I post:
http://artistfoodnetwork.com
http://canvasbycanvas.blogspot.com
http://marketplace-daily-art.blogspot.com

TO PURCHASE PAINTINGS: Go to Paypal on http://nancystandlee.blogspot.com

Eat Well ~ Paint Your Food ~ Laugh Often

Bungalow Row ~ Watercolor Painting

$125.00
15 x 22 Workshop Painting Watercolor on 140# Arches
This was done in a workshop last year with a large brush with no image to reference. I was disappointed that I hadn't produced a "passable painting" during the time and this was the best effort and I've given up with the instructor's suggestions. I decided to post it after painting in watercolor again. I'm like a fickle lover who loves the one they are with. When I've been taking a watercolor class I'm all about watercolor and so it goes for acrylic or a sketching/journaling class.
If you happen to be in a watercolor mode this week and would like some inspiration, I've discovered Jim Chapman's site, Watercolor Sketch.
He has a video under Art Instruction and I now want to set up my "cowboy" hat and a bottle of wine and try painting it. He has some good writing articles on his Art Columns. Maybe I'll add a wine glass to try my ellipses after Myrna's drawing challenge this week. I just copied my ellipses from Keys to Drawing by Dodson and didn't have or take the time to do a set up. (See Amazon link on the side).
I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I got to spend some time with family and brushed up my rusty cooking skills with dressing, hot rolls, and pecan pies. The Texas weather has been varied with 80's one day and then our first cold front came in with sleet and snow flurries and it will probably hit 70 again before the weekend. I'm put painting on hold while I try to organize some files of painting ideas and paintings done. I just took a photo of the files littering my kitchen table and floor but I don't want to share that sad site until I get it straight. The painting hold won't be long now that watercolor is my new love for the week.

Other blogs where I post:

http://artistfoodnetwork.blogspot.com

http://canvasbycanvas.blogspot.com

http://myspace.com/nancystandlee

TO PURCHASE PAINTINGS: Go to Paypal on http://nancystandlee.blogspot.com

Eat Well ~ Paint Your Food ~ Laugh Often

Arne Westerman Workshop ~ Day 5 ~ SWS

$125 Workshop Painting
Karen and CY 15 x 22 at Point Bolivar


Graduation Day

7 x 11 Color Sketch

7 x 11 Color Sketch Port Bolivar Girls

The notes were very brief on day 5 of the Arne Westerman Workshop by the Southwestern Watercolor Society and the day ended much too soon. Our graduation ended with Arne giving us our Artistic License and our group was definitely better Friday and on Monday.

In the morning, some developed more thumbnails and color sketches for a larger painting and some worked on paintings already started. I chose to develop 2 new ideas that are shown here. Arne suggested I use the same color of bathing suit on the Port Bolivar Girls and I may change or not. On my large painting of Karen and CY, I showed him the photo and said "I don't do teeth" and presented him a tracing of Karen with shortened face and no teeth. That was not going to be o.k. with him. Arne said "We do teeth"! So this is Nancy's painting with Arne teeth plus other touches and accents along the way.

The group ate lunch together at the Panda Express and continued with photos (some discretely of the customers) and art talk. We returned to class to paint and see a few more slides and get our license, make our goodbyes. This was a very good congenial class.

Some last Arne pointers:

1. Everything can't be interesting. Kill Something to save your painting.

2. Don't leave holes in your painting. (I tend to leave little spaces of white sparkles in the painting and I like them.)

3. Don't make a painting all headlines.

4. Remember to do thumbnails and color sketches before a painting.

Arne is very talented, witty and loves people and if you can take his watercolor workshop, run and sign up now. He's in his early 80's and has gained lots of "people wisdom" and painting knowledge along the way. He possesses great teaching and communication skills. He could "kill" the whistle he has hanging around his neck - his call for attention from too talkative students but then it was also a call, come look at this student's work and watch this.

If you're interested in people painting, watch people, listen to their conversations, take photos, and sketch them when you can.

He will have a gallery show in Rockport Texas soon and I will try and get more information and post the details.

Thanks, Arne, for a delightful, well-spent week. On the way home, I stopped at La Madelines for spinach salad and tomato basil soup to complete a perfect week. Today, Saturday, my art "stuff" is still not put away and I've really taken it easy with a good afternoon nap in my easy chair. Then it's back to reality with a week's mail and plans for a Thanksgiving dinner. But to all of my friends in the class, I loved painting with you and look forward to our next workshop together. Arne, you're welcome in Texas anytime and we'll be your Texas "groupies" working on our next degree.

Other blogs where I post:
http://artistfoodnetwork.blogspot.com
http://canvasbycanvas.blogspot.com
http://myspace.com/nancystandlee
TO PURCHASE PAINTINGS: Go to Paypal on http://nancystandlee.blogspot.com
Eat Well ~ Paint Your Food ~ Laugh Often

Arne Westerman Workshop ~ Day 3 and 4 ~ SWS

Thursday’s report of the Arne Westerman SWS workshop – some thoughts and slide show. See the slide show below and mouse over for the names.
From Arne on Wednesday:
1. A “clean palette” is a sign of an empty mind. (You can view his palette in yesterday’s slide show.)
2. A few color mixtures we tried: English Red or Indian Red makes a good fleshy tone. Add a touch of Cerulean for variation and to mute the red. Cerulean Blue and Cad. Red light makes a great gray. Permanent Rose and Cad. Yellow light or New Gamboge makes a good flesh tone. He loves lilac. Burnt Sienna and Ultramarine Blue makes a cool gray. Cad. Red light and Thalo Blue makes a good black. He does not use a tube black but mixes other colors for black. Manganese Blue and Permanent Rose makes a nice mixture or near each other to mix some. Indian Red and Thalo Blue makes a dark. Cad. Red light and any blue will give a brown.
His color choices are made during the color sketch. Leave enough room on the border edges to make some color trials.
3. Always use the largest brush.
4. He showed us how to increase the size of the color sketch by drawing diagonal lines on the sketch and one-half sheet of watercolor paper. One of the slides showed the process. This resulted in pencil drawings on the color sketch and these were small paintings in themselves and I would use tracing paper instead or use a copy machine to blow up the image or digitize the photo.
5. In the afternoon, the class drew and painted from a live model with beautiful red hair. Some of the slides show some paintings and studies done from this model.
6. Wednesday evening, Arne gave the SWS program by showing and discussing his work with a slide presentation with a few jokes thrown in.
Some thoughts from Thursday:
1. We should be better on Friday than we were on Monday. (Let’s hope so.)
2. A painting is a work in progress. We saw more slides on what makes a good painting and we did quick thumbnail sketches of the painting structure such as was the painting made of rectangles, pyramid, etc. He stressed again about not having two things equal but let one dominate and be the center of interest.
3. He talked and showed us how to take the model from the room where we are and put her at home by adding interesting vertical and horizontal elements and accents.
4. When adding some touches to final facial features on an under painting, he might moisten the paper before adding the eyes or other features.
5. In the afternoon, the participants painted on their big project and Arne walked around to each one to assist with any problems. This is a rare teacher that gives the students as much private consultation as he does and with a very good attitude. At the end of the day, there was a group critique using the overhead mirror so we learned from each other’s mistakes and successes. He thinks we’re doing great and I hope you like our slide show. Not all the class members have work included.
6. The assignment for Friday: Bring in another photo and be prepared to start on a new thumbnail and color sketch in preparation for a new painting.
7. I’m already thinking about what all I have to do this weekend and asking myself if I can squeeze in any time to paint more figurative watercolors so I won’t forget some of the wonderful points made this week. Let’s see mail, bills, Thanksgiving cooking – I’ll have to make some time.

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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

Arne Westerman Workshop ~ Slide Show Wed-Thurs ~ SWS