Thursday, June 16, 2011

Sketches from Home







As a follow up to the workshop with Jane LaFazio on Sketching, Watercolor and Journaling, I have been doing a watercolor each day since. Here are the ones I have done so far.

The little wooden bucket is a gift from my dear mother in law. She always filled it with a group of marigolds. This is in her honor.

The heron is drawn from an abstracted wood carving by Bob Walkup, my uncle in law.

The green, white and gray vase was a surprise gift from my husband for my last birthday.

The onions are from my kitchen counter.


Do you sketch daily? What do you do regularly to stretch your art muscles?

Nancy

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Waterworks Visual Arts Center coverage


Check here to see more about my show at Waterworks Visual Arts Center. Anne Scott Clements and her staff and volunteers have done a wonderful job in displaying all the artwork. I am am thrilled with how well the work shows in the Young Peoples' Gallery.

Nancy

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Great Workshop with Jane LaFazio at Random Arts



Had a great workshop with Jane LaFazio and 16 other artists. We had a great time, learned a lot and had a scrumptious birthday cake to celebrate Jane Powell's birthday. Artists came from as far as Colorado and Florida to take the workshop. And I thought my drive from Charlotte was significant!!


Jane teaches this workshop on line and a couple of the participants had taken it on line and you could see what great work they did as a result.


Sketching, Watercolor and Journaling

My first piece was a pear and several little crinkled hot peppers.


Day-lilies were blooming in profusion right outside Random Arts classroom, so lots of us used them for inspiration.


Jane led us gently into sketching so even the most timid in drawing was comfortable with the process. Then we inked our best light pencil lines. She demonstrated how to work with watercolors to create wonderful colors.


My water-coloring does not demonstrate how good an instructor Jane is. Being an artist who works with textiles, I most wan to enhance my skills at closely observing and getting the image recorded. Jane's workshop really helps with this. Learning the somewhat complex art of water-coloring was not my focus. Of course, Jane has simplified the water-coloring, so all of us got good results.

Once we had several pieces completed, Jane led us through designing borders to help finish our pieces to make them look complete.


Jane is a terrific instructor, with great energy and enthusiasm. She has really thought through how to teach intimidating skills in a totally non-intimidating way so each one can get good results. Even with a good size class, Jane was able to give sufficient individual coaching.


It was a great day. If you have a chance to take from this terrific teacher, grab the opportunity. Our class had filled early with a long waiting list. She deserves the accolades.


And Jane Powell, owner of Random Arts is a great hostess for the workshops at her studio.

Nancy