Friday, August 27, 2010

Fun Art Week

This was a fun week for art.  On Monday, Peggy, Donna and Cheryl, three of my watercolor artist friends came over to paint.  The painting below is what I painted.  It is watercolor and gouache on a canvas panel that has been coated with fiber paste, an acrylic medium made by Golden.  I'd never worked on it before and one minute I was enjoying it and the next I was cursing at it.  Most of the colors were liftable but some were not;  I would probably use it again.  I like the texture that it created and it is fun to experiment with different supports.


Ruffles
7" x 5"
Watercolor and Gouache

On Wednesday, I went to see the Pageant of the Masters in Laguna Beach.  If you've never seen it, it's pretty incredible.  It's a theatrical production recreating works of art using real people and once it is shown in the correct lighting, it becomes very 2 dimensional and really does look like a painting.  

Yesterday, some friends and I went to the Irvine Museum, one of my favorite museums.  The Irvine family owns about 2000 paintings and they are shown in the museum in different exhibits.  The exhibits change several times a year and they have traveling exhibitions also.  I believe that most, if not all, of the paintings are done by California artists from the California impressionist period which was from the late 1800's through mid-1900's.  I love impressionism and a lot of these paintings were painted en plein air in the Southern California area so they show the pristine beauty before all of the building took place.  The colors and style are exquisite. 

I finished the week out today by painting with another dear friend.  Margery was my mom's best friend and is the mother of one of my wonderful friends from high school.  Margery and I try to get together to paint every week.  Of course, sometimes we do more talking and eating than actually painting but that may be why it's so much fun.  I have been planning to try doing a 20 minute sketch to submit to the 20 minute challenge for quite a while.  I'm not much of a drawing fan and I tend to be a very slow painter so this was something new for me.  I rose to the challenge and cut some plumeria (again) from Margery's yard and set the timer.  I was going to post it here but can't bring myself to do it because, well.... because it looks like it was done in 20 minutes.  If you would like to see it, please visit the 20 minute challenge blog.



7 comments:

  1. I love this iris and watching you do this was a lot of fun. Your base on the board gives this painting a great deal of texture. Also enjoyed the group painting at your studio.

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  2. This is one very gorgeous iris, Nancy. The colors and the texture are amazing. And now you are making me re-route myself...Off to see that plumeria!

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  3. a little hearbreaker, Nancy! And I didn't know of that musuem, will make a point to visit sometime

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  4. your flower paintings are absolutely fabulous! I am also amazed at how well you use so many different mediums. Painting with friends sounds like wonderful inspiration too, lucky you.

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  5. Thanks Peggy. It was fun getting together to paint.

    Thanks Sherry. You should do the 20 minute challenges.

    Thanks Nick. That museum is a treasure.

    Thanks Robin. Painting with friends is inspiring and so is working with different mediums. I still need to try encaustic.

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  6. Nancy, Your iris turned out beautifully! I am impressed with how you managed it on the surface that was new to you. Thank you for having us over to paint! It was really fun. I am blown away by the diversity of your painting talents. I saw a great pastel artist at a demo this week, and, to be perfectly honest, his paled in comparison to that beauty you have in your studio! I can't wait to see the demonstration on silk from you, too. What is the date on that again?

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  7. Cheryl, thank you so much. I will be doing the silk painting demo at the Tustin Art League on November 10th.

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