A demo by Elizabeth St. Hilaire Nelson

Elizabeth made a visit to Leesburg Art Association for a demo today.

What a thrill to finally meet her. Although I had seen her DVD and watched a movie about her life and work so I felt like I already knew her.

You might remember that she is a "paper painter". She paints her own paper and then tears it into "brushstrokes". The painting is all paper pieces except for the background.

I have my fingers crossed that the club can book her for a workshop next year!

Flower and Garden Show at Epcot

What a beautiful day on Tuesday (March 22) in central Florida. It was 85 and sunny and Greg and I had a delightful time looking at the flowers, attending a workshop, browsing in the butterfly house, eating lunch in Norway, and taking lots of photos!

Here we are on the boat ride between Hollywood Studios and Epcot.

This weekend my artist friend Durinda will be painting (in Italy) at Epcot. I think she'll have dry weather for her en plein air work although I do see 89 for Sunday! Going to be a little hot.

We had a wonderful LONG spell of warm and dry weather here to a fire danger point, actually.

And so my daughter is arriving from Chicago tomorrow evening. And now the rain comes!

Sigh. It could have waited just a few more days!

Gridding

ATCs (Artist Trading Cards) are 2.5 x 3.5" big. As most of you know, it's kind of a fun phenomenon that has come into it's own.

At my senior residential park in central Florida, the art group has found them to be good practice and not take too much of a commitment of time.

We bring them to our monthly meetings to trade. The chair of it, suggests a theme each month.

This month we are making copies in miniature of great masterpieces. As everyone explores the idea, I suggested they try "gridding" which is normally used to "enlarge" things.

Here is my sample. The colors are not very true because I chose to use InkTense watercolor pencils and white acrylic ink and one only has so many choices of colors.

Am hoping to get out into en plein air again this week if I can find a free morning or afternoon. Temps are in the mid 80s here now and so mornings are best.

En Plein Air at the Florida Carriage Museum and Resort

None of us had ever been here before and thanks to friend, Diane, who gave us a head's up about where are the best places on the 400 acres, we found a lovely shady spot.

Sure enough...windy again. Not quite as bad as last Wednesday but it was blowing a little storm into Central Florida which dropped rain later around 7 pm.

But we had splendid sunshine all morning so painted from 9:30 to 12:30 and then had a lovely picnic lunch together. We all worked in wc except for Sherese who worked in pastel.

What a super morning. We chose the koi pond (although none of us painted the fish today), with scenic overview of the pastures below, gentle pond shadows and gates.

After lunch we walked the carriage museum ($10 each) for a unique look at the some really amazing carriages of all sizes and shapes. Most were once horse-drawn. Who knew there were that many?

This was our last hurrah for this season I think. Dawn is RVing off to NC for some sailing regattas and the rest of us have trips and company coming. We all hope to get together again next November!!!

Up north (in WI) Florie Enders has put together our en plein air schedule for the summer. So I'll be joining that gang up there in mid-June.

I have signed up for a John Lovett workshop at Dillmans in early June this summer. Am SO excited.

The Wednesday Painters in the WIND!

Turns out my friend, Donna, ADORES horses and lives on a ranch. Actually, there are a ton of people who love horses in central Florida. From Orlando up through Ocala, you'd think you were in Kentucky! So yesterday morning she invited the en plein air group to paint at her ranch.

The day was scudded with clouds but temps were nice hovering around 75. The problem was WIND. Now this was my first time to paint in that much wind.

Wind certainly challenges the outdoor painter in many ways. Some of them I didn't expect.

First off if you are going to use an umbrella for sun protection...forget it. Find yourself some shade and wear a hat that clamps to your head. No big wide brimmed hat today!!!

Next you have to find a way to secure a lightweight aluminum easel. (Or give up your easel and go with sketching.) What I did was to take my milk jug of water and tie it to the center of the easel, weighing it down. You can see it hanging down behind my palette. This worked slick. The third problem is keeping your canvas or paper or other support ON the easel from blowing off. You can see I used a bulldog clip in the right corner.

It is useful to stay painting small (this is 11 x 14 canvas board). I had thought about painting 16 x 20 and had primed a board with blue (see leaning behind my chair) but it was way too big and would have taken off like a sail.

You can also see my new rolling chair/pack that I got from Jerry's Artarama on sale last week. I like it, but I can see that I still have more planning to do...as I like to have my water close at hand. Luckily Donna had a nice place for me to put it, but I am thinking a small folding stool would be a good addition for times when nothing is available.

The 4th wind problem is how fast acrylics dry in the wind! Whew! Like immediately. Even with constant spraying with water and wetting agent...I had very little mixing time on my palette or on my painting. And I had to keep my brushes IN the water bucket so they couldn't dry out between use. A very challenging day. But I learned a lot!!! Thanks Donna.

That Ole Framing Thing...

Yup...time again. Not MY favorite job. But it's show time in Florida and so time for some "presentation" ideas. The 6 paintings below show a variety of presentations...traditional and less traditional. All are wire-hung on the back.

The largest painting is going into the Leesburg Art Association month long show at the Leesburg Center for the Arts. It is traditionally framed yupo watercolor, double matted and under plexiglass due to it's size (required by this show for larger paintings). It has a dust cover on the back.

The other 5 are going into the Hawthorne Park show on March 13th which is a one-day show. The parrot is a traditional watercolor under class in a metal frame. The Sunflowers at the end is a paper painting (ala Elizabeth Nelson's style) in acrylic, gloss coated so no glass.

The one in the middle on the seat of the sofa (called Flowers and Snow Cones) is a watercolor on canvas. The watercolor is made permanent with an acrylic spray. I use 3 coats of Krylon Varnish. So no glass on that one. Apple Cake...the darker acrylic is traditonally framed for an acrylic. No glass.

Here is a close up of the "Clownin' Around" presentation. I've done it ala Bob Burridge style framing. Although this is a traditional watercolor so I had to put 3 coats of varnish on it before I glued it down to an acrylic painted canvas. You can find Bob's "recipe" for his in his last Artsy Fartsy news (google that) and then it is clear coated with Liquitex Gloss Medium and Varnish...two coats. This might not be accepted in some high end shows. So be sure to check before you do it. AND, it is what I called a "final" framing because you can never take this off and present it another way. This is it.

Art....as Sanctuary

Art Sanctuary

by Nikki Giovanni

I would always choose to be the person running
rather than the mob chasing
I would prefer to be the person laughed at
rather than the teenagers laughing
I always admired the men and women who sat down
for their rights
And held in disdain the men and women who spat
on them
Everyone deserves Sanctuary a place to go where you are
safe
Art offers Sanctuary to everyone willing
to open their hearts as well as their eyes

"Art Sanctuary" by Nikki Giovanni, from Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea. © Harper Perennial, 2002. Reprinted with permission. (buy now)

En Plein Air at Venetian Gardens

WHAT a gorgeous, beautiful, and amazing morning! We were all in shirt sleeves and there was full sun and no wind and it was about 75. I mean...it WAS perfect.

Below you'll see a few shots of me (in black shirt) doing watercolor this time. And a shot of Donna with her sketch book and Dawn painting out overlooking the bridge.

We had a terrible time deciding WHAT to paint as always.

Wonderful day. Nothing better.

Venetian Gardens is Leesburg, FL's public park on Lake Harris.

The painting is a quarter sheet of 140# Arches.

Happy Valentine's Day

You'll recognize this painting from a few posts ago...and you can scroll down to see what it looked like "before" so as to compare. I had so much fun with this watercolor on Yupo! It's often very hard to stop a painting like this. Yupo allows you to fiddle endlessly...which can be both good and bad as you know!

I have tried to slip in "just enough" darks to accent the lights and to thread the darks in and out of the painting as I did the lights. I wanted both mystery and reality in this painting...both abstract quality and realism still allowing the viewer to enter in and make the painting say just enough but not too much.

This is a half sheet of Yupo (13 x 20) and I like the color combinations a lot. I am glad I lost the original reference photo at some point so that I was freed up to do whatever. We should all probably do that more often!

I am now into the framing stage for our Hawthorne Park show coming up in a few weeks and I have to choose a painting for the Leesburg Art Association show too! Hmmmm. Not my favorite thing...framing. You hear me whine about it just before every show!

Gorgeous weather here in central FL now and we are seeing 80s in the forecast for this week for the first time since November! Yippee. The plein air group will meet this Wednesday with much happiness! Hope you all are having a great Valentine's Day!

OH MY GOSH...En Plein Air in 2011

It felt SOOOO good to be outside painting again. After a chilly start to the 2011 season in central Florida...we are now getting some of those yummy days again where you want to be painting outside!

Dawn and Donna and I met at the Lake Eustis Sailing Club yesterday and spent 9:30 to 2 there painting and sketching. Off shore breezes and 70 and sunny. Just lovely.

We were in sweat shirts but in the sun it was almost too warm! Felt great. I always put on my "Cuddle Duds" shirt under my sweat shirts when the mornings start out cool. This is a lightweight cotton underliner shirt that adds just the right thermal layering for en plein air. (You get them at JC Penny).

The first picture shows a little watercolor sketch (30 min) that I did of the club storage houses where they have their sign. Nice shadows.

The second is an acrylic (11 x 14 on canvas board) of the lovely marshy area with the white buoys in the water. I am thinking I need to lighten up the water that comes into the cove area so that it "reads" water a little more.
Last is a little shot of my set up for the acrylic painting. LOVE my white umbrella which I have had for years and years. It sure saved the day yesterday and allowed me to paint pretty much wherever I wanted to and not be worried about glare on the canvas.

We are meeting next week at Venetian Gardens in leesburg around 9 am. Anyone want to join us?

We bring our lunch and some people stay on to paint and some people take off.

A TV appearance for me!

Taking photographs off a TV screen leaves something to be desired, of course. But it is fun to remember the event as it does not happen all that often for me!!!

Here I am (doing my Vanna White imitation) on our closed circuit TV station here at Hawthorne Park in Leesburg, FL. I am at this moment plugging our upcoming all-park art show which will happen March 13.

Below you will see me interviewing artist, Cheryl Jacobs, about her art work (which was hanging on a nearby wall and was photographed as we talked about it.)

And then you will see the "host" of the show in the last photography.

The 3 of us were on for half an hour twice today (a repeated show in the afternoon for those who are not early birds).

It was very fun to do. But I am glad that I don't do it very often!

Now, off for a walk in our gorgeous FL sunshine today with 78 degrees. There are signs of spring here in Florida now! My sympathy to all of you in snow...but I have seen some of the photos and many are beautiful. I'll just look at the photos though, if you don't mind.

Yupo Demo

During the Watercolor on Yupo class yesterday I started this demo. It is just blocked out at this point. It is a half sheet.

I decided on a still life/ interior. I did have a photo for inspiration but shortly after doing the sketch I misplaced the photo...which is probably just as well.

Right now I am just looking at shapes and lights and darks...trying to connect some of the shapes and look at some of the values. Although in Yupo everything is possible. I can get back the whites and go back in with darks at any time. I think it is harder to stop painting in Yupo because of that.

I still have lots of ideas about how to manage and manipulate the paint and push the textures a bit. I want to work on the dresser so it is not stark white but is still a light. I am not too sure about the tangent line of the mirror behind the lamp...I may "fatten" up the lamp a bit. I haven't decided how the ams on the chair will work in yet. There are some books stacked on the dresser (a chance for another shape and a way to connect darks?) So many fun things to think about.

We had a really nice group at the class Monday morning. 8-10 people and lots of good discussion and we watched part of the George James Part II DVD.

Pat shared one she did after the last class and she had traced her drawing onto the yupo using a waxy carbon paper. What happened was the lines resisted the paint. It was an unexpected surprise! I will try to get Pat to send me a good photo of that as it really turned out quite uniquely. I think you could do this with wax paper too.

Happy Ground Hog day tomorrow!

Also I hope all of you are safe on this blizzard day! OH my gosh. Couldn't be happier to be in Florida right now!

Lovin' Yupo All Over Again!

I go away from Yupo for awhile and sort of "forget" it is there. Then something comes up and I am back. What a fascinating thing it is!!!

George James made all the difference for me. His techniques are bright, fun, colorful, upfront applications. Just the way I love to work with watercolor. Click here for a 2 minute video of George.

I am joining my friend, Phyllis, in teaching a refresher Yupo class next Monday here in Florida at my Fine Arts Club. I decided to start off the refresher with some of James' basic techniques illustrated on a sheet of Yupo.

I created some samples to remind us all various things to try: variegated washes, flat and graded washes, cutting out, lifting with spray, lifting with objects, ghosting, value adjustments, and glazes.

And some of the basic tools of the trade.

Kleenex is a must. Good assortment of flat brushes. A foam roller. Watercolor paints and a sprayer.

After that the name of game is "innovate". What have you got that will make a mark, a stamp, or lift off color in an exciting way? Sponges, stencils, screens, stamps, etc.

Yupo comes in various weights and transparent as well. I love heavy weight or transparent myself. You can draw on it using a watercolor pencil which, of course, will disappear.

Valentine ATCs

This year I am trying something a little different and I thought I'd share my idea. Instead of more traditional Valentines for my grandchildren I am sending them an ATC Valentine. You know, Artist Trading Cards!

I am also sending them a letter telling them about ATCs and also sending them a website where they can learn about how to make them and a short video about it. There are lots of website about them, of course, but wiki-how has a nice short and sweet one. Click here.

Short and sweet...you know grandkids! The kids range from 4 to 20. Then the fun part: I am including a blank card and asking them to make one to return to me! My cards are all abstract ones so as not to make them feel they have to paint a picture on them. But the video shows all kinds. I'll let you know how this goes!

Note: I also bought a cool video called Strathmore Artist Trading Cards (by World of Art). I am thoroughly enjoying it!!! It's great to show to a group to get them started with this fun project as it uses all medias in making them!

Janet Roger's workshop Day Two

Well, one thing a workshop with a professional tell you is how much you need to PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!. Wow.

I think portraits and figures are THE most challenging things to paint in any medium...but especially in watercolor.

These two portraits are my work for today and obviously need a lot of work...getting the colors, the expressions, the eyes, and etc. So much to learn.

We asked Janet for a lesson in "features" today and I have put her demo last on the blog today.

Blind Contour Drawing

Since I posted my blind contour drawing yesterday on my blog (scroll down) I have been contacted by Peggy Stermer-Cox who hosts a "blind contour drawing" blog site! Who knew?

How fun is that? The one to the left is the featured drawing right now (by Dan Haase). Click here to take look at this interesting blog!

My first introduction to blind contour drawing as in Betty Edwards now famous book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain.

If you haven't tried it, take a minute. No rules. Just do not look at your hand while drawing and do not lift the pencil or pen from the paper. And you do get better with practice. Start simple. It is sure practice to get you "noticing" details.

Janet Roger's watercolor portrait workshop

I attended day 1 of a 3-day Janet Rogers workshop today and as always came home pretty exhausted.

That is a sign of a good workshop! We started promptly at 9 and didn't leave until 4:30 with only about 1/2 hour for lunch! Yikes.

First comes my pencil sketch that I plan to paint tomorrow. Luckily I did it on drawing paper and so I can re-trace it onto watercolor paper as many times as I want to. This gives me less anxiety. Janet did about an hour of demo on features and drawing first.

The second image is my "blind contour" drawing of the same face. HA! Well...sort of a Picasso version, don't you think? Janet does this to loosen us up and make us look carefully at the photo.

The third image is a partly finished demo Janet did of another photograph. Notice the number of colors in the skin tones!!! Janet's rose violet, raw sienna, several blues, several greens. Amazing!

And the last image is of Janet herself.

What a pleasant teacher she is!

This workshop is being held at the Leesburg, FL Center for the Arts.

Van Gogh?

Here is Barb holding her Vincent Van Gogh doll with the detachable ear! (How fun is THAT!)

Click here for more including Monet and many other artists.

The dolls run $17.95 but there are also puppets for about $6.00. And mugs and tee shirts, etc. A fun website to browse. Where else can you buy Freudian Slippers and Sarah Palin paper dolls?

I am off to a 3-day Janet Roger's watercolor workshop at the Leesburg Center for the Arts. I'll try to blog some of our work and info on Janet . Although she is well known and a great teacher, this is my first time to get into one of her classes. Very exciting!

The Pelicans: Old Friends

The fun of a rainy day is to cuddle up in the studio and finish up some odds and ends that have been previously started.

We are having much-needed rain here in central Florida today. A good steady all-day rain! Music playing and I am enjoying not only painting but watching some of my DVDs that have not even been opened yet.

I just bought Marcia Burtt's Mastering Plein Air Acrylic Painting. I am watching it in small sections...totally enjoying it. Feb/March will be lovely months to get outside and paint.

Also watching Strathmore's Artist Trading Cards DVD. Very fun!

The Pelicans was watercolor on 1/8th sheet of Arches 140# watercolor paper.

Florida birds part Two

Today my friend Claudia (see Claudia in photos) and I painted together in my studio. Nothing like having a friend over to get you in the mood for a painting.

We put on some quiet music.

First we talked about colors, supplies, brushes and paper (just a little) and I recommended Brenda Swenson's little book called Keeping a Watercolor Sketchbook for a good starting off place.

You can still get that paperback at Cheap Joe's for only $8.99 and it's a real bargain.

In this painting there really isn't a lot of color...just some shading on the birds and a lot of fun oranges. Mostly we are working on hard and soft edges.

The rock was done mostly with a sponge and now I'll go back and put in more shading and a bit more detail on the rock. Claudia and I are planning on putting a dark background behind the birds. That should pop them out.

We are working on 1/8 sheet of Arches 140# cold press.