Day Two, Graham Plein Air Watercolor Workshop & Side Trip

DAY  TWO
 PLEIN  AIR  WATERCOLOR  WORKSHOP

Graham, Texas

Bluebonnets and Lake Graham Shoreline

  

Here we are standing in the Bluebonnets

Left to right...

Sandra, Debi, Suzy, Beth, Joann, Rose, Louisa, Margie

The bluebonnets were beautiful along the roadside on the Lake Road.

This is the scene I chose for my first demo of the morning.

The second demo of the morning was a veiw of Bluebonnets

up close and as they recede into the distance.

We had a picnic lunch under a shade tree by the shore of

Lake Graham.  The only thing missing was a hammock

to take an afternoon nap with the cool breeze of the

lake blowing gently.  But, alas, we got back to painting.

My third demo of the day in the afternoon was a scene of a tree branch

reflecting in a pool of water on the lake shore.

There was a painting everywhere you looked on this

glorious day of painting.

Be sure and check on our Third Day of the

workshop.  The weather was cold, windy and rainy

so we painted in the nice warm Post Office Museum in town.

SIDE TRIP

Debi, one of the ladies in the paint group lived

on the other side of the lake and invited us to come

see the water flooding her pasture where the spillway is on

her property.  We also saw her herd of goats.

There was a baby goat just born the night before. 

The little baby goat was so cute and

very wobbly on its little legs.  Mama was very protective.

Ginger, Debi's dog wanted to be in a picture. See photos below.

Such a nice ending to a wonderful day!

This is a flooded pasture.  The spillway is under water

to the right of the road where it goes into the water and

picks up again on the other side.

When dry, this is a pasture area.

Less than a day old baby goat.

Toooo Cute!!!!

A Gathering of Goats at Lake Graham! 

Ginger says Bye, Bye for now,

Come back soon!

One Final note.  Beth, Debi and I ate at the Wildcatter Restaurant Wednesday

evening.  Great food, great scenery looking over the Brazos River valley

and great company. 

Watercolor Plein Air Workshop, Graham, Texas

GRAHAM, TEXAS

April 2010

Red and Linda Foster's Guest House

This cozy cottage is where I stayed

during a 2 1/2 day workshop for the

Graham Art Guild

Linda Foster decorated this

house built in the 1940s just

like it might have been in that time period.

The kitchen had red checked curtains and

red  accents.  Roosters and hens were

in the boarder and the motif of the

kitchen.  The old wooden washboard and

sink had been refurbished as had the

entire house and everything was

sparkling clean.

My stay was very comfortable and quiet.

The only noise came from the birds chirping

in the morning that woke me up.

Day One of the Workshop

Tuesday, April 20,2010

Our painting group met at the Post Office Museum.

We traveled just a few blocks off Main Street to

a pretty bed and breakfast with lots of subject matter

 to paint.  Here are the ladies in our group...

back row, Louisa, Susie, Rose, Sandra

front row, Debbie and Joann

Beth was in charge of the workshop and took very good

care of me during my stay. Monday evening, she provided her

homemade chicken soup for my dinner, delicious!

Tuesday, we all went to a tea room on the square for a salad lunch.

After getting set up with our paints and papers, I did a watercolor demo

of some purple flowers growing by a white picket fence in front of

the house.

Everyone  painted either on

paper or in sketch books their own subject.

I did another demo before we broke for lunch

of an iris.

After lunch we came back to the Victorian House

and painted in the backyard area.

I did this sponge tree and one other demo of a bench

with flowers and picket fence in background.  Sorry, didn't

get a photo of the painting. 

We finished our first day and all went home to

get rested up for Day Two!

This is Red and Linda Foster's House,

 next to the Guest House where I stayed.

A beautiful home with flower gardens full of

purple and yellow iris.

A friend, Cindy and her husband, Danny took me out for dinner to

Sanderson's Restaurant, a well known gathering place

in Graham owned by Joann Sanderson who happens to be

an artist and a member of the Art Guild.

Come back soon to see the bluebonnets we painted on the second day

of our plein air paint out in Graham, Texas.

"TEXAS LONGHORN" by Margie Whittington

See the progression of this painting in reverse order

Photo No. 1, Finished Painting

Photo No. 2, Second Phase of Painting

Photo No. 3, First Phase of Painting

"TEXAS LONGHORN"

24" X 30"

Acrylic on Wrapped Canvas

Finished Painting

See the progression of this painting below.

In this last pase of the painting process, I strengthened

the colors on the steer, paid attention to the details on the

steer's head and patterns on his hide.  Also, refined the

grassy area with some light grasses and darkened the

tree behind the steer.

In the second phase of the longhorn painting (see the first phase below)

I painted the dark grass area and the tree behind the steer.

Then I started painting and developing the steer, the face, horns

and the patterns on the steer's hide.  Ending with the painting above.

In the first phase of this painting, I drew the longhorn steer. After painting

the sky blue, I decided to put some texture in the sky and surrounding the

steer.  Then I painted a thin wash of quinacradome gold over the background.

I developed some of the dark patterns on the steer. The photo preceding this one shows

the second phase of the longhorn painting.

Recent Art Work

"LILLY PADS"

5" x 9"

Watercolor

"A WABBIT"

Watercolor

6" x 6"

"TYKE'S BIKE"

4" X 4"

Acrylic on Canvas

"MAGNOLIA"

A not so recent watercolor

15" x 22"
Watercolor on

Gessoed watercolor Paper

"SIMPLY SUNFLOWER"

A recent watercolor

Watercolor and Coffee

on watercolor paper

5" x 5"

"WIPE OUT"

Watercolor

Glazes of watercolor

Designs lifted out of the glazes, pen and ink added.

in the Zentangle style.

4" x 4"

Come back soon to see what's new or old!

"BARNACLE BILLY"

"BARNACLE BILLY"

Zen-T Turtle

5" x 10"

Pen and Ink Drawing

The designs on this turtle's shell reminded

me of barnacles and shells attached.

A fun doodle while watching TV.

See the paintings from my

Acrylic Class at the Upstairs Gallery in Arlington, Texas

below in the next post.

Come back soon!

All Day Acrylic Class, February 27, 2010

FRIDAY ALL DAY ACRYLIC CLASS

The Upstairs Gallery

Arlington, Texas

February, 27, 2010

The pictures following were all done in the class.

Ellie

Claire

Cathy

Janet

Joan

Sandra

Marilyn

Sally

Patty

Ferda

Even though we work from the same image, each

member of the class paints in their own unique way,

using their own color combinations and styles.

We had a great day painting.

Visit these sites...

http://www.upstairsartgallery.com/

http://www.margiewhittington.com/

http://www.canvasbycanvas.com/

http://www.dailypaintersoftexas.blogspot.com/

http://www.dailypaintersabstract.blogspot.com/

http://www.artistfoodnetwork.blogspot.com/

Come back soon to see what is on the drawing board or easel!!!

"SPIKE"

"SPIKE"

5" X 10"

Pen and Ink Drawing

Zentangle

by

Margie Whittington

Here is my newest Zen-T Doodle.  A Horned Toad named  "SPIKE"

He is a bit ugly but has a lot of good "points"!

Check back soon to see another Zen-T Creature.

Scroll down to see lizards and frogs....

"LEAPIN LIZARD"

"LEAPIN  LIZARD"

5" X 10"

Pen and Ink Drawing

Zentangle

"OLYMPIC JUMPERS"

5" X 10"

Pen and Ink Drawing

Zentangle

These are drawings with lots of designs called "Zentangles".

Soon to join the lizard and frogs will be a

horn toad.

Hope you enjoy these.  I am enjoying doodling them.

Quail Season? Correction, Chukar Partridge!

The Chukar Quail visited again on Wed, the 24th.  We googled

Quails and found pictures of the Chukar Quail.  So we know what kind

of bird but don't know where he came from.  He may be living in the

piles of trees limbs at the curb due to the snow storm a

few weeks ago. 

"QUAIL VISIT"

An unusual looking bird, not the

normal ones that hang around our yard, was

looking for his breakfast in our front yard today.

It is very cold here in Ft. Worth, Texas on this

23rd day of February. There were snow flurries as

he pecked around on the ground.

A red beak, red around the eyes and red

legs and feet with stripes on the side made

him very interesting looking.  My friend said it was a Quail.

I would not have know.  I was just curious

why and where he came from.  Maybe

he'll come back tomorrow.  I'll keep a look out.

There may be a bird painting in the near future.

Crazy Quilts & Zentangles

 "CRAZY QUILTS & ZENTANGLES"

Crazy Quilts and Zentangles are a lot alike.

I have done quilting and I especially like "Crazy Quilts"

because of the different patterns and colors ot the

material used.  Also I use ribbon embroidery in some of the

spaces and tie it all together with embroidery stitches.

"Zentangle" drawings are much the same in that you draw

patterns and designs in the spaces.  I have enjoyed this new (to me) but

old art form.  The round "mandala" designs are another type of

design with pattern in a circular form.  A friend pointed out

 to me that she doodles in her sketch book with the

"Mandalas"  form of doodling.

Eventually I need to get back to painting but am

enjoying this diversion of  doodling and drawing

"ZENTANGLES"

Below is a Crazy Quilt that I stitched several years ago.

Below that is a Zentangle I drew while watching the

Olympics on TV.  I was

"multi-tasking"

Crazy Quilt Box Lid

with Ribbon Embroidery and Embroidery Stitches

Zentangle Ink Drawing

 in a 9 square motif.

Both art forms deal with pattern and design.

"LOTSAFUN"

Here are links to more interesting Zentangle sites

http://www.zentangle.com/

http://blog.suzannemcneill.com/

Kimono Art Revisited

"KIMONO ART REVISITED"

Patty, a student in one of my watercolor classes was

inspired to paint more Kimonos. Not only did she paint

 a beautiful one, she did a "Zentangle" drawing of a

Kimono.  Also a pretty heart zentangle.

Here they are.  Thanks Patty for letting me

share these on my post.

A LITTLE BIT ABSTRACT

DOUG WALTON WORKSHOP

The Upstairs Gallery

Arlington, Texas

Recently I attended a workshop at the Upstairs Gallery in Arlington, Texas

where I teach watercolor classes.  I was a student once again under

a master painter and teacher, Doug Walton.

Douglas M.Walton is an art professor at Louisiana University. He takes

groups of artists to paint  and draw in Bali and San Migel de Alente.

He is an accomplished painter and teacher in several mediums.

His currant artistic endeavor includes fused glass.  He designs

beautiful necklaces, bracelets, rings and ear rings in exquisite colors of glass. 

His workshop at theUpstairs Gallery was very creative.

We painted abstract underpaintings on saturated full sheets

of watercolor paper with acrylic paint.

After the paper dried we chose a subject and started

developing the background and bringing the subject out with details.

It was great fun to be a memeber of the class.  The change gave me

room to grow and freedom to express myself creatively. 

Below are two of the paintings I finished in the class. They are not painted

in my normal style of painting. Let me know what you think.

See the comment below, just click and leave a comment.

"FROM THE SEA"

Acrylic on Watercolor Paper

22" x 30"

"CAROUSEL PONY"

Acrylilc on Watercolor Paper

22" x 30"

http://www.margiewhittington.com/

http://www.dailypaintersoftexas.blogspot.com/

http://www.dailypaintersabstract.blogspot.com/

http://www.artistfoodnetwork.blogspot.com/

http://www.canvasbycanvas.com/

http://www.upstairsartgallery.com/

http://www.thegoodartco.com/

ZENTANGLE

"GIRL IN KIMONO"

4" x 4"
Zentangle on Paper

(Ink Doodle)

by

Margie Whittington

"ZENTANGLE"

A form of drawing and doodling.

An artist friend, Suzanne Mc'Neill, introduced

me to this creative artform.  She has published a 

book entitled, ZENTANGLE Basics.

Design Originals

http://www.d-originals.com/

Hope you have fun ZRNTANGLEing!!!!!