On being Thankful...

Angela Shogren honored me with this award! Besides being a watercolorist, she also is a mom, wife, gardener and has lots of fun animals that I would love to have, like potbellied pigs, goats, turkeys and guinea hens! Imagine all the colorful images and watercolor paintings! Whew. Please go and visit her blog, she shares so much....thanks again Angela

I must list 7 things you may not know about me and pass this award onto 7 other blogs.

I thought I'd pass on the 7 deserving blogs first, and then if you want scroll down to the read the 7 things you may find surprising about me.

In no particular order

1. Joyce Faulknor is my "partner" in watercolor, we are complete opposites that work so well together, I hope everyone has a "Joyce" in their lives. I am most grateful for getting to spend my days working alongside her. Go to her blog or website and you'll know why.
2. My cousin Karen Dianne Lee continues building a great community of quilters with her quirky and courageous character.
3. My cousin Andi who does so much I don't know how she fits "life" into a 24 hour day! She is an amazing woman, mother, wife, artist, rancher, business woman, cook, the list goes on and on and all with a great spirit and zest for life.
4. Deb Melmon is an illustrator, designer and working artist that puts such great joy into her illustrations, they are guaranteed to make you smile. Go see for yourself!
5. Jacqueline Gnott a great watercolorist, shares her amazing work almost daily for all of us to view on her blog "Contemporary Realism"
6. Mollie Jones is a watercolorist with a great take on life. She's worked the "circuit" and now concentrates on making art vs making a living at making art. It sure sounds to me like the best place to be. I get to meet Mollie July of next year in Texas and I can hardly wait.
7. Jane Freeman is a watercolor artist that really builds community. She lives out in Minnesota, so she is far from anything she says, so building community is very important for her sanity, go visit her and look at all her beautiful images. I finally met her in Pasadena at the Learning & Product Expo, and she was one of the highlights of that trip for me.
   

7 things you may not know about me....really random ok?

1. I did not go to Art School or get a formal education in Art. I really am self taught, it kept me out of lots of trouble. I did win a scholarship to the Art Academy but wasn't able to fit it into my schedule. I tried Art in college but was too impatient for my instructors.
2. I did go to fashion school to become a fashion designer though! That was a great education, with talented and inspiring instructors and if you've ever watched project runway you kind a get the gist of what school was like but the pressure was 10 times greater. I did work for some talented and not so talented designers, sold my own sweater line, worked for sweater designers and generally had a great time in that profession.
3. From there I started Illustrating and worked for fashion designers and small boutiques and then finally started illustrating for publishers illustrating for high school and college text books, the guts and some covers too! I also worked for a few magazines as a graphic artist and worked up to become Associate Art Director.
   
4. I wanted so desperately as a small child to run away and perform in the circus. I wanted to be with the flying men on the trapeze! I still want sequined white shorts and to fly through the air!
5. I love growing plants and flowers and can spend hours just enjoying the seasons with them, watching the process of life. I am always enthralled and and can easily spend time completely absorbed by their beauty. I think I was a bee or an ant in a previous life.
6. I should be dead as I've survived some pretty amazing accidents, slid down a cliff at an amazing rate of speed, but just rolled when I got to the bottom along with my best friend at the time, and we are both so happy to be here...
7. I am so thankful for all the people in my life, and all the people that have added to my character that are no longer here physically, but are still here with me. And I am so thankful that most of us just really want to be inspired...go get some and be some for someone else....

Thanks for stopping by

Art2Art Behind the scenes

We just finished shooting a 4 part episode this past weekend. We both painted Joyce's Icelandic Poppy image. Here's a picture of us at the start of the weekend while we were still the dynamic duo. I have to give kudos to Joyce, she has painted a lot of my images for this show, it's not that I wasn't up for the challenge, but I do understand better the idea of painting someone else's image. It's so much different than getting excited for what I want to paint.

Below is picture of Matt Chapman our Director and Joyce dancing with anticipation for a great shoot!

I love the shot below, reminds me of Dr Doolittle and the "push me - pull you". Here we are heading in our own directions. We really prepared for this shoot and doubled our productivity, we shot 2 episodes last time. So while in Albuquerque with Joyce, I was able to work on the poppies, while in Pasadena I still worked on the poppies, and when we got home, I got to finally finish.

I love this picture of Joyce, doesn't she look beautiful and with all the talent to boot! Look she has her hand in her bag of tricks.

Giverny Gardens

This commission painting is finished and my wonderful buyer is very happy with it. This is not my usual style, so I had to loosen up quite a bit, and try a lot of softening techniques, but I did have a lot of fun painting it AND it is going to a great home. Besides having a lot of softness there is also a whole lot of brights! This image measures 40 inches wide by 26 inches high.

PASADENA Learning & Product Expo

Here we are at dinner last night. It was a great first day, arriving, unpacking, setting up the workroom, getting familiar with everything. Janie met us and helped us unpack and get settled in the workroom! What a greeting!
We later met with Laurie Humble and all went out to dinner.
Today Joyce and I had our first Art2Art demonstration, and then we really arranged the room for the next workshops and demos.

Back from Albuquerque

Here's a little painting that I was able to work on while Joyce was conducting her workshop for the members of the New Mexico Watercolor Society in Albuquerque. She also judged their Fall Show, and performed a demonstration for the entire membership. I was in another room listening to all the students fall in love with her and her stories and her teaching style and images. The group was a mix of wonderful students, dedicated to their craft and soaked up all that Joyce offered. I worked on this small painting which is a 1/8 of a full sheet, just to get used to the space, lighting, styrofoam bowls to mix paints, and regular room lighting. So this was painted quickly to own the room.

This is a quick study or element of my painting "Passage" and was painted on 1/4 sheet of Arches 300lb cold pressed paper. This is a part of my workshop "The big and small of it" for the Pasadena Learning & Product Expo later this week!

We now have a digital projector, and sound system so we can show Art2Art anywhere, and let all see and hear the show to the best advantage. I just purchased Photoshop Elements for the Mac and am learning that too, so we can really give great presentations for all our demos and workshops.

Thanks for stopping by

Art2Art Teaser just for you!

Art2Art Watercolor show from Matt Chapman on Vimeo.

Filoli Beginner Watercolor Workshop

I just love walking around the Filoli gardens and looking for the treasures that await anyone if they just take the time to look. Here is a butterfly that danced around this little flower, I think it's some sort of Marigold, but look closely, it only has four legs! I thought they all had 6 legs? who knew. If you look a little closer, you may notice one of its legs is not "planted" excuse the pun.

This is where we left off on the second day getting ready to finish Saturday. We worked on 140 and 300 lb Arches Watercolor paper, worked with different exercises learning how to work with round brushes and flat brushes, working with hard edges, and making soft edges, wet on wet and wet on dry and worked it all into a painting of one of Filoli's little pansy's.

Here's our finished images. This was a fun bunch and we all moved quickly and easily into the progression set for this workshop. Everyone left with a winner. The ones that had to leave early will be meeting up with me later so we can work on how to finish what was started.
This last day was a big change from the two days prior. The first two days were HOT and this last day started with a cool morning and a very busy and cloudy sky. We had thunder and lightning the night before. If you've read my blog you know I love weather! Anyway by the afternoon the sun came out.

Here is my little friend that greeted folks as they arrived at Filoli. There are actually a pair of Tom's that hang around the entrance grasses and they are really big! They seem unconcerned that Thanksgiving is just around the corner.

Thanks for visiting...

About Last Week

We met at 10am Sunday to finish setting up and then to start filming. We started filming about 11:30 and finished at 8pm, that's a long time to be "on" but we all worked and laughed hard. Below is our Art 2 Art Director, Matt Chapman and his Best Bud Darren Schmidt checking all the equipment for the shoot! Our gallery was transformed into this film set with all the bells and whistles.

This is a shot Gary took of Darren fixing my mic! I told Darren "I'll give you a half an hour to knock that off!" Both Joyce and Darren thought that was funny! Thank goodness!

I took my job seriously, making sure the energy level stayed high and concentrated.

Below is the whole kit and kaboodle, from left to right:

Gary, Joyce, Matt, Me and Darren.

Notice the T shirts Joyce and I are wearing, there is a story to be shared later....

Joyce, Matt and I are going to be watching all the film this coming Monday to start the editing process, I can hardly wait to see what happened and how it was captured.

Art 2 Art Succulent Part 1 & 2

Joyce's painting is on the left, mine is on the right.
I've done some work since this photo was shot. This is our 4th & 5th episode, and this is the first time we are producing it ourselves.

This image was taken as I strolled around the Arboretum in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. There were all kinds of wonderful succulents placed along the main walkway just inside of the entrance from the 9th street side.

Joyce took this picture of me holding up the original study, which is much smaller and the photo reference. The painted steps for both Joyce's and my interpretation are surrounding me and I am just too happy to have finished on time! whew...

Here's a picture of Joyce so happy to finally get this show on the road. We shot our first episode in November of 2006 and won the West Coast Regional WAVE award for best instructional program!

We closed off our gallery this afternoon and early evening. Closed it off completely from the street with black fabric that blocks out all light, we've set up our table & mirror, and all the lighting, and cameras, and mics and all kinds of equipment are all over the place. The space looks completely different and fresh and it's very exciting. Can't wait to see what develops...

Norris Canyon Watercolor Workshop

Joyce Faulknor conducted a 3 day workshop in the most beautiful setting. The hosts for this memorable workshop opened up their home which is nestled in the Norris Canyon area of Castro Valley California. The workshop took place out back on a flagstone patio under a natural canopy of trees, an apple and mullberry tree. Farther out back is a chicken coop and enclosure, and the neighbors have two goats and three llamas. Joyce invited me to play on the property on the last day of the workshop. Below is a photo of all her students listening and watching as she demonstrates her unique techniques!

Meet Sunny, He is the epitome of the word "cocky" - he struts his stuff and and postures in the most fantastic way - he is so gorgeous - he can hardly stand himself! He manages his harem of mixed hens, and is the proud papa of two chicks that were hatched on day two of the workshop.

The neighbors gave me permission to go on their property and visit with their "pets". As I opened the gate, I looked up the hill, and spied the goats and llamas on the top and thought "Geez, am I gonna have to hike?" AND all the way UP the hill! As soon as the goats herd (oops!) heard the gate close behind me, they came running down the hill towards me. At first I was thrilled, then I was a little bit fearful, but I just stood my ground. After petting them, they got used to me and then started playing, and entertained me. I could have stayed with them all day.

This goat really liked me, seriously - no kidding! She would lean on me. I started taking pictures from the ground focusing up - under the umbrellas which gave them some shade, she layed down in front of me wondering what the heck I was doing. She would actually look down into the camera and then look up at the umbrellas wondering what I was focusing on. She placed her front leg to touch me as she was laying down, just like a dog or a cat! Too much - I am in love all over again, first Sunny and now this special goat.

Then there was Jesse, the most loving little Jack Russell terrier that I've met. He made sure everyone had a little bit of love "Jesse" style. He was just too much, I wanted to take him home with me.

Here's Joyce, working out her technique, showing how to paint the folds of the petals for the white poppies that are in the shade and and in the background. Notice she's also painting vertical!

Then out of the "Blue" Joyce asked me to demonstrate my sky method using two blues, French Ultramarine and Thalo. No pressure, NOT the paper I regularly use, NOT my brushes that I'm used to, NOT MY PAINTING that is pretty much done, and NOT my workshop. But we have this magical relationship where we push each other and really respect each other's approach to watercolor and enjoy our journey and adventure - so why the heck not paint on her painting. I had a ball, give me a little interest and I'm all yours - So very easy. It was so much fun, watching her students grab something totally different from what they were learning and applying for three days. This brought a whole other "energy" to their last day of the workshop.

Just what everyone will be getting at the Asilomar Watercolor Workshop next April! The best from the both of us.

Look at me below with my mouth working as I paint.