Family Abstract, Acrylic, Blue Mesa Illustrations and Sketchbook Skool is in Session by Arlington Texas Contemporary Artist Nancy Standlee

 Family Abstract 14017 SOLD

Acrylic Abstract with Figures

2 30x40 gallery wrapped panels for a 40x60"

I have been working with a client in Austin to come up with a perfect painting for her home. She has worked closely with me and began by giving me the titles of several of my paintings she really liked, then she had her own choice of colors and ideas. I am very pleased with "our" painting and it will be mailed Friday and I hope she likes it in person. I have never worked this large but find I have enjoyed the process and plan on another large abstract soon. I added some texture paste to the canvas before painting. I have other work available at Daily Paintworks and an affordable ArtByte on how to do a torn paper collage.

Most of you are aware of how I love to take workshops and classes, paint and journal. Welcome to Sketchbook Skool. I've been enrolled in this first 6 weeks class and it will be repeated July 4 and a new one "Seeing" will begin. Yes, I'm already signed up again. If you'd like to read more about it here is the link, http://www.sketchbookskool.com/ with Danny Gregory and Koosje Koene. Other teachers have been Prashant Miranda and Jane LaFazio and tomorrow will be Roz Stendahl and then Tommy Kane. His new book has just come out, An Excuse to Draw, and I got my copy today but I'm not going to eat chips while I'm reading it. I don't want to take a bite out of the corner.

Here is the latest sketchbook page I've added to my Stillman & Birn, 9x12, Beta journal. I had a little trouble multitasking while eating lunch and downloading camera journal photos and instead of a blue corn chip to munch on, in goes my smart card right into my mouth. I bit down and noticed a decidedly different texture. Fortunately I wiped off the crumbs, didn't swallow it, and it worked fine. This is another reason I like to journal to record your life besides helping you learn to draw.

Here are some other journal pages:

 

Yes my new suitcase does look like it has paint splatters on it. I tied a black and white bandana with diamond design on the handle to help me find it! It's by Travelers Choice.

I got matching shoes..lol.. here they are. I didn't get them here but this was a good photo. They actually came from Benges Shoe Store, Grand Junction CO.

New menu items for the Blue Mesa Grill. I've just finished the Crab and the Craw Fish. Sign up for their newsletter for a special each month.

Recipe of the Month Like Us Find Us Contact Us

May 2014 Nancy May and June we are celebrating our Gulf Seafood Festival with a menu developed by guest chef Sharon Hage. It is one of the four festivals Blue Mesa will offer this year, featuring locally sourced products and great Dallas chefs. The menu includes gulf seafood and combines the southern cooking style found on the gulf coast and Blue Mesa's southwest flavor profile. Gulf crab, oysters, red fish (certified responsibly farmed aquaculture) and crawfish are main ingredients in such dishes as cornmeal crusted oyster tacos with jicama slaw, a crawfish mini-adobe pie and fresh redfish with east Texas green tomato pico. In the over 25 years we have been in business in Dallas, we have never worked with a better chef then Sharon. She shares our vision of simple yet exciting flavor combinations using fresh, high quality ingredients. Working with local farms and their products has always been a key part of the way she cooks. Sharon was chef-owner of York Street restaurant where she cooked our family some of our favorite meals. She is a multiple nominee for the James Beard award and presently a consultant to several restaurant companies, including Blue Mesa. A special Gulf Festival dinner buffet on Wednesday, May 14 will showcase the whole festival menu and much more. It will be a Gulf Coast version of our legendary Sunday Brunch. The buffet is $15 per person and includes a cash bar featuring the tequila of Olmeca Altos in a blueberry peach margarita. More sweet potato chips! Liz & Jim MOTHER'S DAY Join us Mother's Day weekend Sunday, May 11 - all day brunch from 8am to 8pm. All Locations. And - also offering Saturday brunch on May 10 from 10am-3pm. Addison, Dallas and Plano locations only. Limited reservations available. Please call the location you are interested in for more information. For locations and their phone numbers click here. CINCO DE MAYO 99-cents for house rocks and frozen margaritas!* The real deal - 14 ounce margaritas. Need we say more? Monday May 5th - ALL DAY All Locations * please limit two per guest CHILEHEAD REWARD YOU ARE IN FOR A TREAT Our complimentary reward for this month is the crawfish adobe pie with red chile and chipotle cream sauce from the Gulf Festival. Just print this page and bring it in, or show us this email on your phone. Available with the purchase of any entrée, any time through the month of May. Not valid in combination with any other offer. One per Chilehead, please. Expires May 31, 2014. CATERING AND PARTIES RANKED #1 IN RESTAURANT CATERERS Dallas Business Journal's Book of Lists Prom, graduation, recruiting event, rehearsal dinner - book a room at one of the restaurants or let us knock your socks off for a catered event. Check out our awesome new catering menus, see some of our customer testimonials, and order online. Contact a catering expert at one of the restaurants. TEQUILA TUESDAYS OLMECA ALTOS IS THE TEQUILA FOR MAY This is a new tequila for us. Altos speaks to the location of their distillery, an agave estate in the highlands of Jalisco. One of the few distilleries that use an authentic 2-ton 'tahona', a lava rock wheel used to crush the cooked agave. Agave is cooked in traditional brick ovens and distilled in copper pot stills. Try their silver and reposado in a top shelf and in a blueberry peach margarita. Every Tuesday a different Olmeca Altos special is featured for $7. Free Street Taco Bar. Tuesdays, 5-7PM All locations WEEKDAY BREAKFAST EXPRESS BREAKFAST IS NOW SERVED Modeled after our award winning brunch buffet. Chef made-to-order omelets, benedict’s, huevos ranchero, migas, hash and frittatas, fresh made belgian waffles and pancakes, sausage, bacon and sliced ham hash browns and breakfast potatoes, fresh cut fruit, yogurt and oatmeal with toppings bar, bagels and breads with assorted spreads, fresh baked cinnamon rolls, mini muffins and churros. Monday-Friday, 7am-10am $9.95 includes coffee, tea, soft drinks, juices Children 6-10 years - $6.95; children 5 and under are free. PRIVATE MEETING ROOMS AVAILABLE Addison location only 14866 Montfort Drive (972) 934-0165 THE BLUE MESA COMMUNITY GIVING BACK Community Night is an opportunity for your school or not-for-profit group to have a great fundraiser at Blue Mesa. We will donate 20% of the sales to your group. Here's how it works. Contact one of our party managers for more info. Our Tacos for a Cause program donates fifty cents of every Street Taco plate sold to our local charities - Baal Dan, Boys and Girls Club of Arlington, CASA of Collin County, Lena Pope Home, and Operation Kindness. We are especially grateful to all of you who have helped us make a difference in peoples' lives! This program has donated $170,031 to all our charities through March 2014. Join the conversation on Blue Mesa Grill's Facebook fan page.

Texas Daily Painter, Watercolor, Pen and Ink sketches,  Abstract painting, large, canvas,  Artists of Texas, Nancy Standlee Fine Art, Daily Paintworks, Pinterest, Canvas by Canvas, Check Advantage, Etsy, Dreams of the Turtle King, ArtByte, commission, Blue Mesa Illustrations,

Original fine art and affordable prints can be found at:

Website:  http://nancystandlee.com

Purchase Paintings:: http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Artists/nancy-standlee-1131

Recent work: http://nancystandlee.blogspot.com

Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/shop/NancyStandleeArt

Facebook Fan Page http://facebook.com/nancystandleefineart

Follow me on Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/NancyStandlee/

Affordable prints: http://nancystandlee.imagekind.com

                           http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/nancy-standlee.html

Order personalized checks, side tear checks, checkbook covers and address labels with a choice of 20 of my paintings on them.

http://new.checkadvantage.com/nancy-standlee-checks

contact: NancyStandlee@sbcglobal.net

Blue Mesa Craw Fish and Sketchbook Skool Klasses by Arlington, Texas Artist Nancy Standlee

 Blue Mesa Menu Item

Craw Fish

Watercolor, 7.5 x 11 on Fabriano 140 lb watercolor paper

Another image to be used on the May Gulf Seafood Festival menu at Blue Mesa Grill. 

Journal page 9, Stillman and Birns, Beta 9x12 

In the blog post HERE I wrote about a recent workshop experience with David Rankin at Kanuga and this is the journal entry about the experience. I've been taking an online 6 week class, Sketchbook Skool hosted by Danny Gregory and Koosje Koene. It is proving to be educational and fun. It's not too late to sign up as the previous classes can be viewed. This is from one of the lessons from Danny Gregory, week one; however, I took some of his suggestions and added my own spin.  

This is in the Stillman & Birn, 9x12 Beta Journal, Page 10,  "The Story of My Life" Watercolor liquid colors, Daffodil yellow background, blue gouache, and ink outlines and white highlights. The story: I sold a painting this week that I couldn't find to mail and searched many hours for it and finally substituted another painting. Here is what I put in my journal:
"Grrr-r. Why is it? I can find Luma Watercolors from 1980 BUT can't find a painting from 2012. I sold it Wednesday and spent 10 hours searching. House is not that big - SO GOAL: Before my 79th birthday in October "Organize Digs"... P.S. Client chose a substitute painting. Will post her name on my refrigerator if painting is ever found. I can still find my refrigerator". dated 4.10.14 
(I received an email from client this morning and she loves the painting below). 

California Dreaming

acrylic and collage, 14x11

Sold to a Virginia art collector

Texas Daily Painter, Watercolor, Pen and Ink sketches,  journal, Stillman & Birn, Beta, acrylic, women, Blue Mesa Grill, menu, illustrations, Blue Mesa Grill illustrations, craw fish, Artists of Texas, Nancy Standlee Fine Art, Daily Paintworks, Pinterest, Canvas by Canvas, Check Advantage, Etsy, Dreams of the Turtle King, Kanuga watermedia workshops, David Rankin, Kanuga 2014,

Original fine art and affordable prints can be found at:

Website:  http://nancystandlee.com

Purchase Paintings:: http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Artists/nancy-standlee-1131

Recent work: http://nancystandlee.blogspot.com

Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/shop/NancyStandleeArt

Facebook Fan Page http://facebook.com/nancystandleefineart

Follow me on Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/NancyStandlee/

Affordable prints: http://nancystandlee.imagekind.com

                           http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/nancy-standlee.html

Order personalized checks, side tear checks, checkbook covers and address labels with a choice of 20 of my paintings on them.

http://new.checkadvantage.com/nancy-standlee-checks

contact: NancyStandlee@sbcglobal.net

Blue Mesa Update and Crab Watercolor by Texas Artist Nancy Standlee

Blue Mesa Crab 14014  SOLD

7.5x11"

Fabriano 140 lb cold press

If you follow this blog, you know that I have done some illustration work for the Blue Mesa Restaurant chain menus. In May Blue Mesa will have a special event "Gulf Seafood Festival" and the owner asked for a few more pieces to illustrate some specialty items. I don't know a lot about crabs or craw fish and don't think I've ever eaten one, maybe crab cakes one time in Sedona so some research was needed before putting brush to paper. 
One of the first things I found and practiced was how to draw a crab. http://www.dragoart.com/tuts/1365/1/1/how-to-draw-a-crab.htm

Here is the new menu and it's different and fun and with the spirals new items can be added easily.

 Example of one of the pages and these drinks are some of my favorites to paint.

 Now for some family photos that were taken on Sunday night where 18 members of my family and friends gathered at 5:00 for a special meal and celebration of the new menus out on the patio area. I felt so at home there as this is where I'd retreat to do the drawings and paintings for the menu in the fall.  Another reason this was a special family gathering, my older son was celebrating his 56th birthday and it was the first time we've all been together since his devastating house fire the last of January. We enjoyed holding the new great grand baby, Cash and wearing him out by passing him up one side of the table and down the other.

 My beautiful children, Dana, Eric and Brad

 Dana and Nancy

Recently I illustrated in watercolor a book of beach poetry, Dreams of the Turtle King, that is available on Amazon.  

Torn Paper Collage Technique:

I have written an ArtByte about the process of torn paper collage for the Daily Paintworks site is available with more than 50 images. An ArtByte is a small online tutorial that may be free or it's very affordable. Mine will be very affordable. Here is the web address and browse and download some of the free ones by Carol Marine or another favorite artist such as Julie Ford Oliver that will explain some of the tools she uses in an oil painting technique. There are several very good free ArtBytes that are filled with information. When you get to the Daily Paintworks web page, look under tutorials. Here is my online gallery at Daily Paintworks.

Texas Daily Painter, Watercolor, Pen and Ink sketches,  crab illustration, paintings, small paper painting,   Artists of Texas, Nancy Standlee Fine Art, Daily Paintworks, Pinterest,  Dreams of the Turtle King,   Denise Bossarte, photography, Amazon, Florida, Found Worlds, Blue Mesa, gulf seafood festival,

Original fine art and affordable prints can be found at:

Website:  http://nancystandlee.com

Purchase Paintings:: http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Artists/nancy-standlee-1131

Recent work: http://nancystandlee.blogspot.com

Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/shop/NancyStandleeArt

Facebook Fan Page http://facebook.com/nancystandleefineart

Follow me on Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/NancyStandlee/

Affordable prints: http://nancystandlee.imagekind.com

                           http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/nancy-standlee.html

Order personalized checks, side tear checks, checkbook covers and address labels with a choice of 20 of my paintings on them.

http://new.checkadvantage.com/nancy-standlee-checks

contact: NancyStandlee@sbcglobal.net

Dreams of the Turtle King blog http://www.dreamsoftheturtleking.com/

Dreams otTK on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dreams-of-the-Turtle-King/523637907718244

Kanuga Watermedia Workshop 2014 with David Rankin and iPad Paper 53 by Texas Artist Nancy Standlee

Kanuga Heron

Watercolor on 140 lb Rough Arches

12x16, unframed

Available on Daily Paintworks

I returned Friday from my first Kanuga Watermedia Workshop in Hendersonville, NC, near Asheville. I chose to study with David Rankin who taught the iPad app, Paper 53 in the morning and watercolor in the afternoon.

David and Nancy

Lodging choices were the Inn or cabins in the woods nearby. For previous students, many stayed with their reunion groups in the cabins. I loved my room on the 3rd floor on the Inn and it was convenient to the cafeteria when reveille sounded three times a day announcing time for another delicious meal. After class the hospitality room was open and after dinner one of the instructors gave a program on their work. There were 12 students in our class and we met in the bottom floor of Gouch Hall and this is the view when we stepped outside. 

This is a view of the Inn below.

David has a website at DavidRankinWatercolors.com, and a website for his workshops at at DavidRankinWatercolorWorkshops.com, and if you are a Facebook fan he has tutorial watercolor album and he posted a bird a day drawn on the iPad in 2013 and to follow him just LIKE his page. Here is one of the pages, https://www.facebook.com/DavidRankinWatercolors?fref=ts and this one, https://www.facebook.com/pages/David-Rankin-Watercolors/114303268613100  go to the photos and then albums to see his work.

Here is the iPad sketch that the class worked with before we painted the watercolor.  I really enjoyed working and learning on this app.

I haven't painted in watercolor in quite some time with the exception of journal work, the illustrations for Dreams of the Turtle King and the illustrations for the Blue Mesa Grill Menu but now I have signed up for another Kanuga artist, Richard Stephens workshop that will be held in Dallas, at the Artists Showcase Gallery. 

Still love my collage work and I have written an ArtByte about the process of torn paper collage for the Daily Paintworks site with 50 images. An ArtByte is a small online tutorial that may be free or it's very affordable. Mine will be very affordable. Here is the web address and browse and download some of the free ones by Carol Marine or another favorite artist such as Julie Ford Oliver that will explain some of the tools she uses in an oil painting technique. There are several very good free ArtBytes that are filled with information. When you get to the Daily Paintworks web page, look under tutorials. Here is my online gallery at Daily Paintworks.

Texas Daily Painter, Watercolor, Pen and Ink sketches, great blue heron painting, Kanuga Watermedia workshop, David Rankin, Richard Stephens, small paper painting, poetry book, poems, beach poems, collage, ArtByte, Artists of Texas, Nancy Standlee Fine Art, Daily Paintworks, Pinterest,  Dreams of the Turtle King,  Denise Bossarte, photography, Amazon, Florida, Found Worlds, Blue Mesa Grill, Artist Showcase, Richardson, TX. 

Original fine art and affordable prints can be found at:

Website:  http://nancystandlee.com

Purchase Paintings:: http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Artists/nancy-standlee-1131

Recent work: http://nancystandlee.blogspot.com

Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/shop/NancyStandleeArt

Facebook Fan Page http://facebook.com/nancystandleefineart

Follow me on Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/NancyStandlee/

Affordable prints: http://nancystandlee.imagekind.com

                           http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/nancy-standlee.html

Order personalized checks, side tear checks, checkbook covers and address labels with a choice of 20 of my paintings on them.

http://new.checkadvantage.com/nancy-standlee-checks

contact: NancyStandlee@sbcglobal.net

Dreams of the Turtle King blog http://www.dreamsoftheturtleking.com/

Dreams otTK on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dreams-of-the-Turtle-King/523637907718244