Don Getz Watercoloring Journaling Tour of the United States of America, Day 1, Dallas TX, "Fair and Square", McKinney, TX by Texas Artist Nancy Standlee

Nancy Standlee Art Blog showcases paintings of acrylic, collage, mixed media, watercolor, plein air and workshop experiences.

I nearly missed this 3 day Dallas stop on the Don Getz watercoloring jouranling tour of the United States but I made two days of the three.  First day we met at the Artists Showplace in Dallas and drove to McKinney to sketch on the square (or Herb Reed gave me a ride along with Don as I’d left Sugar Foot, my GPS, at home.) . If you’d like to read more about Don’s Odyssey read his blog HERE about how this trip came to be and then you might want to read along or better yet, catch up with him along the tour and be a part of this awesome experience.
(I didn’t make Day 2 but check back for day 3)

 My set up in the afternoon session in front of our lunch restaurant, The Pantry. I used a folding camp table, a folding chair, and my painting supplies to sketch the above. My first criteria on places to sketch was to find somewhere in the shade.

 Fair and Square the object of my sketch. The owners came out later and asked for a copy of the sketch. I told them they probably would not want mine but I’ll send a photo and a link to this post to them anyway. My perspective got off and my building got a little squished but it doesn’t bother me in the least. I wasn’t there to make a perfect sketch (which I couldn’t do anyway) but was there to share in this experience and learn something along the way by trying something new to me. I really wanted to be a part of this tour.  I’ve had some 140 # paper sketchbooks for a long time and was so hesitant to use them because I was not good enough. I keep making little notes and sketches in the 90# journals which I love but it was time to take a leap.

My chair, folding table, hat and bag plus I had on a fanny pack which I’m not going to use anymore as it’s like a blanket wrapped around your waist. After seeing Don’s setup I’m completely revamping my bags, etc. 

Now for the person you really want to read about. Here’s a picture of Don with his morning demo of Churchills.   

He’s using a flat travel brush American Journey Golden Fleece Brushes from Cheap Joe’s.

The class getting a better look. See that empty chair at the left..yep, that’s mine I got just as close as I could without actually touching him and yes, those that know me, I did ask if I was getting too close. I’ll show you a close up of his palette of 24 colors in the next blog post.

 Don with our sketchbooks and images at the end of the day and the day was perfect, good weather and good company, painting and learning.

Texas Daily Painter, sketchbook journaling, Don Getz, Watercolor Journaling Tour, McKinney Day 1, Fair and Square, Artists of Texas, Nancy Standlee Fine Art, Daily Paintworks, Contemporary Fine Arts International, Pinterest,  Canvas by Canvas, Artists Showplace, Dallas, TX  Check Advantage,