Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Nancy Franke Workshop



     Attending a Nancy Franke workshop has been on my bucket list for a couple of years now.  I put my name on the cancellation list and fortunately, due to some cancellations, I was notified two weeks before it started that I got in!  It was a two-day Ease and Flow Paint a la Prima workshop in Highlands NC.

Nancy paints with a very limited palette of Titanium White, Cadmium Lemon, Ultramarine Blue and Cadmium Red Medium.  She loves linen canvases or panels and her favorite brush is a #12 long flat Rosemary brush.  I was introduced to Rosemary Brushes three years ago and have several of them so I already had on hand what she suggested we might want to think about using.  After lightly drawing her composition with vine charcoal she uses her egbert brush to form the flowers or foliage on her canvas.  Here is her beautiful floral demo along with a photo of her still-life setup that she did for us the first morning.  I think the canvas size is 30x24.


The first thing she had us do is paint a still-life setup of three pears with ONLY a paper towel dipped in Gamsol and then in our squeezed out paints.  No brushes allowed!  I won't bore you with my pitiful rendition, but try it for yourself!  She gave us 30 minutes to do this and it is interesting what you can come up with.  Then she gave us another timed session of 45 minutes and I painted these white roses with my #12 Rosemary flat on a 14"x11" linen canvas.  It is my favorite piece of the five panels that I painted those two days.


Next we painted some hydrangeas in another timed session of just a little over an hour.  Let's just say I got carried away and my hydrangeas are about twice the size they should be!

The next morning she produced a beautiful demo of a little girl on a 24"x18" canvas.  She spent more than 30 minutes drawing and redrawing this little girl.  She did not like what she drew and wiped it all off and started all over again until she got what she wanted.  She said to figure it out before you commit!


My big takeaways from Nancy are to use BIG brushes i.e size 10 for a 6"x6" canvas, size 12 for larger canvases, negative space on your canvas is your friend and most importantly be free and expressive and have FUN doing it.  

She is a petite little thing but energizes you with her infectious spirit and immense talent.  Her workshops are FUN.  I encourage you to study with her if you get the chance.  Here is a parting shot of Nancy and me at the end of the workshop.  

8 comments:

  1. sounds like a wonderful workshop! I love her work and am so glad to get a small peek into her process. Thanks so much for sharing!

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  2. Thanks so much, Maria! I really enjoyed those two days...but coming home and trying to redo what I did in class has been disappointing but I will keep at it. Practice, practice and practice some more!

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  3. Thank you, Kathy. Love the detailed, informative report. It's hard to believe you painted that beautiful still life in 45 minutes! Maybe we should all shorten our painting time and definately use larger brushes.

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  4. Hi Kathy! Great to see you here with these posts. I really enjoyed reading the process of her workshop and your work. And I see your comment on trying to redo what you did in class. I find that often happens to me after an inspiring workshop! We just keep on practicing! Right? Great job, love your work and your blog post!

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  5. Connie, thank you for your comment. I tend to be wordy but I enjoy sharing so I appreciate your reading and hopefully learning something from it. Yes, I think we all need to use bigger brushes and not fret over every stroke! Another thing she said is to look more, paint less and SQUINT because it forces you to simplify.

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  6. Rosie, thanks so much. Yes, like I said, practice, practice and practice some more. She said practice creates confidence...spending 20 minutes daily on a small 6x6 study will build skill and confidence.

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  7. Thanks for sharing. It sounded so interesting and fun.

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  8. I appreciate your commenting Carol. It really was a fun way to spend two days!

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