Thursday Painters

#2 in our Studio Snooping Series

2009-10-25T19:08:00.001-05:00

This week I will show you Shirley's Art Studio.

I think we learn a lot by seeing others work spaces. Even though we always think our own spaces could be better and wonder how anyone could even want to see it. Something we see could trigger an idea for our own spaces. She was reluctant but she came through.

Here is Shirley's Art studio and what she has to say:

Here are two photos of my studio.

The first shows my taboret, an old printer stand on wheels that my sister bought at a garage sale for $5.00. The corner is the perfect place for the flat files that I have not purchased yet. The small table with paint and light on it is for Ashley. I forgot to mention my Ott-lites. Couldn't paint without them.

The second picture is self explanatory, I think. What I didn't take was the bookcase full of magazines and three ring binders or the closet full of supplies. The floor is carpeted so it is covered with thick painter's drop cloths. Two deep on part of it. Makes a cushy floor and I don't have to worry about ruining anything.

I can't see how this will be helpful to anyone but might make people appreciate that I can turn out anything in this mess.

Thanks Shirley. My space is just as messy, if not more.

I like your shelving in the corner and all the light you have. I need to get all of my computer, scanner and stuff situated like you do.

Shirley has told us that when there is something she is wanting for her studio or painting, she puts it on a wish list and her kids go in together and get her something for her birthday or Christmas that they know she really wants instead of guessing. Good idea. Christmas is just around the corner. We better start making our wish list.

If anyone has any good ideas or cool things you have in your studios or painting corners you would like to share, let us know. We'd love to read your comments.

2009-10-17T06:02:00.000-05:00

If you haven't come out to paint with us because you have hesitations about painting with other people around you may want to reconsider. Its not so much a time to create a master piece every time we come together and paint on Thursdays. Its more a give and take day. We always give our opinions. Like Linney says" Here's my advice, I'm not using it!" And Yes, you may need some thick skin sometimes. We do honestly critique each other if asked, not to pick apart someone's work but because we want to see each other do their very best. We all learn so much from one another. Here's what Vickie had to say and some photos of her work she sent me.

"I would like to thank you and all the other artists for the constant support and encouragement that you give me. That's why I like to go on Thurs. I definitely get more painting done at home, but being around all of you wonderful artists is a great help to me. Plus, I love to see what everyone else is working on. Its fun to see these works of art "evolve" Vickie Voelz.

Watercolor

Pastel

Great Work Vickie!!! You are a quick study and have really made some progress in your work. It looks terrific.

I try to take pictures of all of your work as it is in progress but sometimes you may finish it at home and we never see the finished piece. If you would, send me photos of them and I'll make sure they get on here so everyone can enjoy them.

Don't forget to start getting your artwork ready for our show on Nov 7th. It will be here before you know it. For some of you that have not entered our show before, it must be framed unless it is on gallery wrapped canvas. No saw tooth hangers on the back, it must have wire across the back ready to hang.

God Bless everyone.

2009-10-15T18:00:00.003-05:00

"Where We Work"

This will be our first post of revealing our work spaces to you. This whole series will be to share our ideas for storage, work areas, set ups and any other clever ideas we have come up with. We want as many people to participate. You don't have to be a regular Thursday Painter to send us your comments, ideas or pictures for that matter. We want to hear from you. I will post pictures and comments as I get them in. It may not be every post. I'll change it up every now and then more than likely.

A lot of people think that you have to have a big studio to be a legitimate artist. NOT TRUE! It's nice if you have that. Even if you have the extra room, that may not be the way you work best. Some of us work best being right in the middle of what's going on. Not locked away in a secluded space.

Here is Vickie's photos of her set up.

We are already jealous of your Flat file Vickie. I think this works great. It looks like a nice piece of furniture and yet functions right where you need it.

"As you can see, its all together. Two drawing tables, one easel, two sets of lights. One chair and one stool."

Thanks so much Vickie for letting us into your world. We still need to come out and paint the horses.

Send me your photos of your work area. We'd love to see them. I'll be looking for them. Try to keep it to 5 because that's the limit of photos I can post in one blog.

Until next time.

2009-10-07T12:03:00.002-05:00

This week Shirley set up another still life. We just use a piece of foam core and score it in a couple of places to fold it. Don't cut it all the way through. This works perfectly as a still life back ground or if you want to add some interest, drape a piece of fabric along the back wall. I'm sure there are better set ups to block out some of the light and control it better, but this works good for something portable and light weight.

Here is Shirley's painting of the still life. Sorry its blurry. Shirley I cut you out of this picture intentionally because I didn't want you to hate me forever. Can't quite describe the look that was on your face???

This is Vickie's masterpiece. Here she has sketched it out on watercolor paper and then masked off the areas to keep them white.

I just love this picture. It is going to be wonderful! It better be in our Fall Show. I expect to see it there!

Vickie is practicing on the leaves before she puts them in.

Vickie, if you happen to finish it at home make sure you bring it so I can photograph it and post it.

O.k. Next blog I promise to have some photos of one of our studios. Who will it be???

2009-10-03T11:28:00.000-05:00

We're back. Here's Carol working on another one of her famous girls. Who is it this time? Could this be Linney? Sally with a pony tail? Or maybe this is Carol's daughter? Who knows. One time she told me that I was hanging in her bedroom. Of course I had the most strange confused look on my face because that sounds kinda kinky. Come to find out she was talking about one of her latest paintings that ended up looking like me. I think she starts a painting and then chooses to make it look like one of us.

Liz we keep telling you that this is going to be gorgeous!!! Believe us.

This is a painting she is doing from a picture of her mother when she was but a young thang. She's beautiful. Now we know where Liz gets her looks and long skinny body.

Linney is back from cruising around the UK. Poor thing had to go on a cruise and suffer through it. We should all be so lucky. (Just messin with ya) This is her new creation in the works.

Here is Shirley's rendition of one of the donkeys at the Bunkhouse, Dena Wenmoh's ranch http://denawenmohs.com (your welcome Dena for the link). We love coming to see you to recharge our batteries. Everyone knows Shirley needs it every now and then. She's got a lot on her plate. But she's committed to painting and very rarely misses our Thursday therapy.

Shirley is going to drive herself crazy with this Jamaican drummer dude. But it's looking terrific!

Send me your pictures of your art studios or closets or corners where ever you work. We want pictures of your set up, what works for you so we can all steal ideas from you:-)) I'll probably start putting those in the next blog or the next. Be looking for them.

Later

2009-09-29T10:49:00.004-05:00

Well we didn't fall off the face of the earth. We have been SOOOOOO busy painting away and planning for our up coming 2 Art shows.

Here are a few updates on our work.

Here is one of Vickie's. She's using pastels this time. She has a very nice start to it. Not sure how far she has gotten on it by now but I do remember her mentioning that she was trying to figure out what to do with the foreground in the painting. Any ideas??? Let us hear from you.

Painting on Thursdays helps us with our discipline in our weekly painting but there's more to it than that. Each of us are always picking up pointers and tips on how to do other mediums we are not familiar with. We learn so much! Here Anne is showing Judy some watercolor techniques. By the way, congratulations Anne on your recent sales!

Vickie is going to conquer that horse yet. Ride em cow girl you can do it!

This however is what we all do best. Our weekly visit to Luby's where we update each other on the insane crazy things that are going on in our lives. Here recently, there was a guy that was sitting near us. Someone noticed that he was laughing at our stories we were telling each other and our comments. Another elderly couple got tickled at him laughing at us. The elderly lady came up to us later and told us about them watching us. Her husband is in a wheel chair and that was the first time she has seen him smile in a long time. Sometimes we probably get a little too loud there at Luby's but at least this day we added a little sunshine to a few lives.

O.K. Judy, put down the brush and put away the paint. The fumes are getting to you.

I've got an idea for future blogs. I'm trying to get everyone to send me pictures of their work areas at home. Whether it be a small table in the corner or a big studio. I know I love seeing where people work. I think others would as well. You never know what might spark an idea. I've already got some pictures coming in. I'll share them with you soon.

That's all for today.

ciao ( I'm practicing for one day when I eventually go to Italy to paint my heart out)

2009-08-31T12:39:00.002-05:00

TGSHS (Thank God School Has Started)

Summer went quick but very busy for me at least. We didn't slack off on our painting though.

Shirley is still recovering from her foot surgery. She can actually walk around without her "boot". She has really taken a liking to her plein air painting box. I wonder if she will ever paint big again??? I don't think we'll be able to get her away from it.

This week Liz got to join us. Its nice to see her smiling face again. She's working on a piece that is going to be gorgeous. I'm sure of it. You don't give yourself enough credit Liz.

Linney has now changed her background on this piece. Who knows what she'll do next with it. We're always amazed at what she pulls out of her bag to use on her paintings. I truly think she is the only person I know that owns just about every painting medium known to man. It's wonderful Linney.

Well, here I am trying to do a still life. I'm not happy with it. After I got home I noticed that my easel must not have been level when I was painting it. It's all leaning to the right. I think I'll just paint over it and go at it again.

I'll bring all the stuff to do a still life again soon but I feel a new painting coming on. I've got some ideas swirling in my head. The question is, will life let me do it? We'll see.

Until next time,

God Bless

2009-08-11T10:15:00.002-05:00

First of all, I wanted to express our condolences to Pat Wheeler's Husband and family. She was a great artist, friend and such an important part of KAS. She always out did herself. We're going to miss you Pat.

I think one of the best things about painting on Thursdays is seeing all the different artwork. I can't wait to get there and see what everyone is working on. I also thank God that we are able to come together each week like this to do what we love. We are truly blessed.

Vickie was showing off her beautiful Painting Apron that she made and took a few orders.

Ashley visited us again today. She had to wheel Grandma around and take care of her. What would Shirley do without her?

Well my pigs are finally morphing into cows now. Still got some work to do though.

Don't know if I'll get to paint this Thursday or not. We have to get our oldest son back to College in Florida. So hopefully whoever does come will take some pictures for me if I'm a no show.

Stay Cool!

2009-07-30T17:27:00.006-05:00

There's devotion, then there's devotion. Shirley broke down and had her foot surgery last week but its been a longer recovery than she expected. But that didn't keep her from painting today. Luckily for her we found a wheel chair for us to push her around.

This is a painting I started a couple of weeks ago. It started looking like 3 pigs instead of cows so I worked on it today trying to make it at least the right species. I've got 2 cows down and 1 pig to go now. Maybe I'll get it in shape by next week.

We were trying to get Shirley settled and she was showing us her new painting toys. I finally got started painting then it was lunch, came back and got wrapped up in painting again and then I realized that I forgot to take pictures of everyones work and by that time most everyone had left. I'll have to make up for it next week. Shirley make sure you bring your toys and I'll put them in next weeks posting.

It was good to see Linney again. She's been traveling the world visiting family all summer.

2009-07-27T10:16:00.002-05:00

Well, I missed painting this past Thursday due to a family emergency but here are some photos from the past couple of Thursdays.

We had a new artist painting with us Ashley Griffin. She has a wonderful tutor, Grandma Shirley. I’m sure we will be seeing more of Ashley’s great paintings in the future KAS Shows. Keep up the good work Ashley!

Here are some paintings that Carol Showalter did in the Liz Hill workshop she attended.

I want to see a full house this Thursday!!!!!

See You Then.

2009-07-08T17:05:00.002-05:00

OK, folks. Life has been happening and in there some where we have to make time for our art. Right? (our therapy). Anyway, it is summer and a few of us in the group have been out here and there traveling and doing some workshops. Carol Showalter had some really nice work from the Liz Hill workshop her and a few others just completed. Maybe I could get some pictures of her work to post next time. Hint, hint Carol!

We also have a new Thursday Painter amongst us, her name is Vickie Voelz. Pitty to those of you who were not there on the Thursday that she brought home grown tomatoes for everyone to take home. She will be out tomorrow but the next chance I get, I'll get her picture on here so all of you can get to know her.

One thing I have been excited about is the new Guerilla Painters "Thumb Box" I just got. It's so cute! I love it. I tried it out last week. I went to a park and painted. At first, I tried painting some ducks that were nearby. But that didn't work out. They wouldn't stay still long enough. So a couple of girls came by and laid out their towels to get some sun on the sandy bank. They didn't know it but I was painting them. After a while they were getting too hot in the sun and came over to where I was sitting and just realized that I had painted them. They were tickled pink when they found out. They were so excited that they asked permission to take pictures of it with their cell phones. I said O.K. I know, I know. I should have sold it to them. It wasn't good enough to sell. I was just practicing. Anyway here is the "Thumbox" and the painting.

Everyone in the Thursday Painters group has been going on and on about my brush holder I recently made out of scrap fabric so I decided to put it on the blog. Vickie is in the process of making hers too. I'll get pictures of it soon to show you. Maybe this will give you some ideas.

Shirley and I are going to take this plein air workshop on July 16th & 17th. Plein Air painting is something that we wanted to explore. Who knows, we might even get a group of us to go out painting once a month or so. Anyway, if you are interested, let us know. We would love for some of you to come with us.

That's all for today. Who knows what tomorrow may bring?

Debra

P.S.

I've also just finished a commission. If you would like to take a look at it, go to my blog at www.debralatham.blogspot.com

2009-05-27T19:22:00.005-05:00

Well, life happens, as they say. Here is a catch-up post. (I'll get caught up some day.)

This post, I'm mostly just going to let the pictures speak for themselves.

Guess who showed up one day to paint in two different shoes?

Oh those artists!!! You wonder how we find our way home at night.

I'm sure these are going to turn out to be master pieces.

Good to see you there Kathy. Hope you enjoyed it enough to come back.

I have updates on my current painting on my blog debralatham.blogspot.com

I'm just about done with it then I'll have it on my website.

OK Ya'll, I what to see a full house again on Thursday!

See you there

2009-04-16T16:23:00.003-05:00

Well this week Shirley finished her painting of her recent warrior dude. She' now trying to come up with a name for it. Got any suggestions?

Also, Shirley had some very exciting news this week. Her painting she sent in for a critique to American Artist Magazine was accepted for a critique on their blog. I didn't realize there were so many steps into getting them to do this. You have to be accepted and sign a contract and it takes a really long time. She received a wonderful critique from them too. The only thing they said they would change is a little of the background by the edge of her face.

Go to http://forums.myamericanartist.com/blogs/

to see the full Critique.

Linney has finally recovered from the show and is now working on the Aaby fundraiser. She never stops. Today she showed up with tubes of new oil paint. She couldn't wait to squirt them out onto her palette. It's fun to see her buy or find new art supplies. I don't think I've ever seen anyone get so excited about it. She's gets down right giddy. We love you Linney!

Last week on the way back from Austin I stopped near Brenham, like all the other nuts, to take pictures of the famous bluebonnets. It gets down right dangerous through that area. People will be going 70 mph and slam on their breaks on the highway to stop and plop down their kids in the middle of the bluebonnets and take pictures.

I didn't slam on my breaks but found a spot to pull over and took this. Thought you might enjoy it. I can't wait to get a chance to paint it. You are welcome to paint it as well.

That's all for this week. Hopefully I'll have my painting further along by then and show you the progress. I was going to post a picture of it today until I realized her ear was way too high.

Later,

Debra

2009-04-09T16:47:00.001-05:00

Well, only Shirley and I showed up to paint this week. Sally was the lunch painter this week. Unfortunately she had a date with Microsoft Excel and getting the results to LSAG.

Here is the one Shirley has been working on and is making great progress. It's coming along. She was worried that it was all just too "red" and was trying to bring out the skin tones a little more. I think it's looking good. It just might be another Peoples Choice Award.

Here is the one I've been working on. I wanted to get it in the show last weekend but since I was out of town I just couldn't get it finished in time. As I was describing on my blog DebraLatham.blogspot.com , I laid in a gold color in the area of the details on the dress. Let it dry and then went back and painted over it with the dress color and then scratched out the design. I wasn't sure if it was going to work. I'm somewhat pleased with how it turned out. I still had to go back and enhance the details. I'm done for today. I'm going to let it dry and then go back in and put more details. As Shirley pointed out, I now need to go back and bring up the skin tone a bit. She's right. She's always right(:-p)

Well, next week hopefully we'll have a few more show up and we'll have more to report on. We need to get to painting, the next show will be here before you know it. So get those paint brushes messy and create!

Even if you can't come to paint, come and join us for lunch we always have some crazy stories to tell that happened to us during the week.

See you next week, God willing.

Debra

2009-04-09T16:29:00.008-05:00

Hey everyone! It’s good to be back! I’ve been out of town unexpectedly for a couple of weeks and didn’t get to paint. So this week will be a double whammy posting.

We had our Spring Art Show and Competition and it was very successful.

Thanks to Linney , Shirley & Carol for doing all the hard work to make it successful. It was bigger and better than the last one. We had 30% more entries for our show.

I wanted to say thanks to Steve Parker for being the judge. He did a great job. And Congratulations to Shirley for winning Peoples Choice Award (Again). I think the thursday painting has paid off. Several of us won ribbons and will advance to the Lone Star Art Guild Annual Convention. Can’t wait to go. It will be a lot of fun as it always is, especially since we are not hosting it this year.

I also wanted to say thanks to Midway Companies for letting us use their retail space. We couldn't do it without you.

I love this one of Linney's "Jack the Bodice Ripper"

2009-03-19T20:01:00.001-05:00

Well this week was Spring Break. With only 4 of us there we had a lot of room to spread out.

This is one of Vanita's pieces that she was making for a customer from the St. Lukes show she did a couple of weeks ago. She sold 18 out of 35 pieces. Great Job!!

This week I thought I would talk about getting organized.

Many of you have a hard time getting out the door on Thursdays (myself included) and of course everything that can go wrong does.

Some of us have tried many different things to make it easier.

But here's what works for me.

Shirley and I both, as some of you have seen have these rolling carts we got from www.jerrysartarama.com I have used this for over a year now and I wouldn't go to paint without it. I love it. I've teased her about putting cup holders on her SUV.

This is what Sally uses for her watercolor "stuff"

I think what is most important is that you find something to put EVERYTHING in and easy to get in and out of the car. If you get organized, you'll have a better chance of getting out the door to paint with us on Thursdays.

I try to take it a step further and make sure I've got everything in my cart the night before. So all I have to do is get grab it and stick it in the car. Of course there have been times it slips up on me and I forget to get it all together the night before. Especially when I walked out the door, got to our painting place and realized I left my cart and my paintings sitting at the front door of my house. So I had to turn around and go back and get them. How stupid. Oh well. I know I'm not alone. Huh?

So, find something with wheels on it that will hold all your "stuff" and come paint with us.

Hopefully everyone will be back next week.

Don't forget to turn in your forms for the Art Show & Competition on April 4th if you haven't already. The deadline is March 31st.

By for now!

2009-03-12T17:18:00.006-05:00

Well today we had some cold nasty weather and kept some of us at home. But there were of few of us art nuts that still showed up.

This week I will try to get the rest of us on the blog so you can see our work. It's amazing how we all have our unique styles and do our "Own Thing".

Here is Sheila after the umbrella fiasco. (You had to be there) Sheila vs. the Umbrellllllla!

This is a collage that sheila is working on. Very colorful! Maybe it portrays the fight between her and the umbrella.

Here is ShirleyQuaid starting her next indian. Not sure when she started it but she sure made some progress today. Gosh she's good.

It's me, Debra Latham, having a bad hair day because of the rain. I couldn't sleep and woke up early and sketched this out this morning and blocked it in. Hopefully 'll get to make some progress on it this week before next Thursday.

This is Sally & Ann working away at their watercolor paintings. The one above is the one Sally is working on. I wish I could master watercolor like she has. I'll have to get her to give me some pointers one day.

Ann finished up her barn she was working on and had it matted It's gorgeous! This is the one she's working on now. I love how dramatic her colors are. It's going to be beautiful as well.

This is Jim's latest masterpiece he's working on. We'll have to get the low down on the story of this one next time he comes. He didn't come today. He must have been at IHOP having the waitresses pose for his next painting.

Still need to get a picture of Liz. She was a "Lunch Painter" today. I'm just giving her a hard time. She's been working her booty off planning and organizing and art auction for march 28th for the HereComesBetterDays.org She has pulled this together so fast. I'm sure it will be very successful.

Well, Don't know how many of us will show up next week because of spring break but we'll have an update to let you know.

Check back to see what's up

See Ya!

2009-03-05T17:25:00.013-06:00

We had a full house this week! I unveiled our new blog to everyone today and they were so excited. We took a group picture although we were missing a couple of regulars.

(From left to Right) Linda(Linney) Hamilton, Sally Kullman, Yvette Holzbach, Shirley Quaid (Yes, as we found out today she is a distant relative of Randy & Dennis), Ann Treadwell, Carol Showalter, Linda Dumas, Jim Grygier & myself, Debra Latham.

There are so many of us that I will only be able to feature a few artists and their work each week. I will try to spread it out as evenly as I can to get around to everyone.

I'll start with Carol's little masterpiece. I don't know if she named it yet. I love how loose it is.

Here is the one Linney is working on at the moment. "Mer Girls" I'm not sure if that is the official title or not. But I like it. There is no telling what she will do to it next. But I'm sure it will be fabulous!

Linda's is very close to done. (I think) Put down the brush and back away!!!

I'll feature some of our other artists the next time.

In the mean time, paint away!

In The Begining

2009-03-03T11:12:00.003-06:00

About a year ago, some of my artist friends and I got together and decided that we needed to find a place to paint on a regular basis. We are all members of the Kingwood Art Society, but we needed something more. We all complained about needing to set more time aside each week to paint on a regular basis. So, after about a month of looking we finally found a place that suited us. Our local craft store let us meet there free of charge every Thursday for as long as we wanted. It's to the store's advantage to let us paint there. Half of the time we are wandering around the store buying up paint or supplies. They look forward to us coming I'm sure.

We paint until 11:30 am and then break for lunch (some of us get cranky if we go a minute past). We walk over to Luby's and eat, laugh, and vent. Then we go back and paint for however long we want.

Some of our group shows up a little before lunch and never even picks up a brush. We call them "Lunch Artists".

There are usually around 5-7 of us that come on a weekly basis. Some days we come with every intension of painting but for some reason, our heart is just not into it that day. We all have those days every now and then. But the important thing is, that we came. We make it a habit to set aside every Thursday to paint.

We paint, we critique each other (when asked for), we bounce ideas off of each other, laugh until we cry, or some just come to visit.

We have planned and went on a painting retreat with our group in the Texas Hill Country at the Bunk House. That was terrific. And we plan to have one about every 3-4 months in various places. (I think we are due another one soon!)

I hope to encourage more people to attend our group or start their own. I can't even explain how wonderful it has been this past year to have been blessed to be able to do this. I pray we get to do this for a long time to come.