Artists Of Texas Contemporary Paintings and Art

Cascade Red Poppies by Nancy Medina 11X14 Oil on Gallery Wrap Canvas Purchase Information Flower Painting Workshops Nancy Medina Web Site Follow Me on Facebook Cascade Red Poppies is the newest daily painting in Flower Mound Studio, as I begin work on a new rose commission and pack supplies to ship for my workshop for the Greater St. Louis Art Association in 2 weeks. We are in the thick of summer here in North Texas, and my brush was warmed up from a new poppy painting finished yesterday, so cadmium red seemed appropo! I've switched from my beloved 3/4 inch flat brush to a 1 inch flat, ever since one of my students gifted me with the larger brush in Kansas City recently. I usually complete an entire painting just with this one large brush, a flat has everything you need, a sharp edge for line work, a tiny precise corner for details, and a broad expanse to cover the real estate quickly. Life is short, so paint with a big brush!

Early to Rise Pink and Red Poppies by Nancy Medina 11X14 Oil on Museum Quality Linen Panel Purchase Information Flower Painting Workshops Nancy Medina Web Site  Follow Me on Facebook Early to Rise Pink and Red Poppies is the newest daily painting in Flower Mound Studio, as I begin work on a large Texas landscape for a beautiful Flower Mound home. These poppies are based on the field of tossing and turning blossoms at Wildseed Farms in Fredericksburg, Texas last week. The wind never rested while I snapped photos as quickly as I could - one must tread carefully when photographing outdoor flowers in Texas, watching especially for fire ants! Happily, I was not attacked by the awful little beasties during this photoshoot. Like a big flower game hunter, I carried home hundreds of new flower photos, much preferred over hundreds of new ant bites...

Sweet Dreams Poppies by Nancy Medina 14X14 Oil on Gallery Wrap Canvas Purchase Information Flower Painting Workshops Nancy Medina Web Site Follow Me on Facebook Sometimes I feel the need to express color brightly, boldly, and so thick you would need a knife and a fork to cut into it! I've been working until midnight every night for weeks preparing for upcoming workshops, my show in Fredericksburg this weekend at The Good Art Company Gallery, and all of the exciting new challenges of my full time job as an artist. How thankful I am to be able to follow my dream. I am in a state of absolute euphoric exhaustion. This is how I want to live my life, and spend my days, rushing headlong toward a dream and a life filled with color. Thank you to everyone who has joined me for the journey. Tomorrow morning, I think we all deserve donuts, what do you think?

Poppy Offshoot by Nancy Medina 6X8 Oil on Linen Panel Purchase Information Flower Painting Workshops Nancy Medina Web Site Follow Me on Facebook Poppy Offshoot is the newest small work in the studio. This is my first full week as a full-time artist, sans the day job as a magazine editor. Early retirement from one job so I can dedicate 7 days a week to doing what I love at the easel was a great decision, at least so far! It's strange having time to breathe and think things through instead of racing from one deadline to the next. I even turned on the television in the middle of the day to catch the news. It was liberating!

Beguiled Again Red Poppies by Nancy Medina 16X12 Oil on Archival Panel Purchase Information Flower Painting Workshops Nancy Medina Web Site Follow Me on Facebook Beguiled Again is the newest painting in Flower Mound Studio, as I continue work on a new large container garden for my annual solo show on beautiful Coronado Island, near San Diego California April 20. I hope to see you there. I've been away from the blog for a few days spending time with my mom. When the hospice care first came to us, they shared a progression of stages we should come to expect. R ead more...

Crescent Moon Red Poppy by Nancy Medina 8X10 Oil on Archival Panel Purchase Information Flower Painting Workshops Nancy Medina Web Site Follow Me on Facebook Crescent Moon Red Poppy is a new small work on the easel, poppies have been calling to me for over a week now so I had to give this little one some easel time. Tonight there is a perfect crescent moon, tilted just like a smile. Just like the smile I've had all day, my first day as a full-time artist. Yesterday I said goodbye to my office, my office chair, my coworkers, the parking lot, all the regular pieces of my day for the past 12 years as an editorial director. It is a bit scary, having total control of your own destiny. So far I can report with confidence, it feels wonderful!    Crescent Moon on the flight deck

Tuscan Poppy  by Nancy Medina 10X10 Oil on Gallery Wrap Canvas Purchase Information Flower Painting Workshops Nancy Medina Web Site The best thing to do after painting poppies all day with my students is to come home and paint poppies! Tuscan Poppy is the newest small work in the studio, as AnnieBee snores on her pillow by the easel. This morning I was so excited about taking two dozen glazed and chocolate donuts to class I could hardly wait to arrive before sampling one or three! Tomorrow we will be painting white tulips and fuschia snapdragons, at least that's what we decided today. In the morning we may be persuaded to paint sunflowers instead - one never knows! I'm always just a bit sad on the last day of a 3-day workshop, but the good news is another workshop is coming up very soon, I sure hope to see you there.  My demo from class today is on my Web site, in case you'd like to take a peek.  Read more about my workshops here!

Unfurled - Red Poppies by Nancy Medina 11X14 Oil on Museum Quality Linen Panel Purchase Information Flower Painting Workshops Nancy Medina Web Site Unfurled, Red Poppies, is the newest set of blossoms in Flower Mound Studio today, while a pile of pugs sleep soundly on a pillow nearby, rattling the windows with their snores. I have no idea how I would get a thing done without them! I'm delighted to be the spotlighted artist for the Daily Paintworks Blog this week. Click here to read the interview and find out how to win the original oil painting, Blue Monday Lilies.

Poppy Ocean by Nancy Medina 16X20 Oil on Panel Purchase Information Flower Painting Workshops Nancy Medina Web Site Poppy Ocean is drying on the easel in Flower Mound Studio, as I've packed up paints and folded paper towels, enough to last me for the three day workshop coming up in the Texas Hill Country. We had a nice downpour today and they're promising cold weather is on its way to Texas! I say let it snow!

Crepe Paper Poppies by Nancy Medina 16X12 Palette Knife/Oil on Panel Purchase Information Flower Painting Workshops Nancy Medina Web Site I was tickled pink today to receive the Dallas Arboretum Adult Education catalog and see my Blue Glass Asters Sunflower painting featured there . I'll be teaching two fall workshops at the Arboretum in the next few months, and I sure hope you can join me there. The Arboretum is a perfect venue for flower painting, not only because of the amazing gardens and waterfalls and paths and trees, but because the staff there is superb. Joy Ijams, the director of the Adult Education program, is the reason I started teaching flower painting. Read more about my Dallas Arboretum Classes Visit my art blog to see some of my favorite pictures from the Arboretum. What better way to spend the day than painting flowers, and then step outside the classroom door and walk among hundreds of acres of blossoms?

Play of Light Poppies by Nancy Medina 8X10 Oil on Panel Purchase Information Flower Painting Workshops Nancy Medina Web Site It's been a perfect weekend in Flower Mound Art Studio, and even more poppies bloomed on the easel this afternoon. I love those times when I can walk into the studio and paint anything I want, I've got tons of canvasses prepped and ready, paints all placed on the palette, brushes clean and ready to go, and AnnieBee standing by to lend a paw. Today, however, she decided to contribute a little music to the scene. Crank it up and take a peek at her video on my art bloggy!

Lipstick Red Poppies 10X10 Oil on Gallery Wrap Canvas Purchase Information Flower Painting Workshops Nancy Medina Web Site My poppy obsession blossoms as work continues on a large Italian landscape commission - one of those wonderful, lovely assignments where the client has faith in me and cheers me on every step of the way! I've been thinking a lot lately about the balance between my day job as a magazine editor and my night job in the studio as an artist, and my weekend job as an art instructor, and how the balance becomes more precarious with time, and I guard my time in the studio jealously.  If I were single, I would be one of those people who forgets to eat and uses dish soap in the shower because buying shower soap is so far down my list of priorities. I would live on bags of potato chips and M&Ms, and would forget to change my jeans into something without paint spatters on those rare occasions when I went out in public. Are you one of those folk...

Hearts Wing Poppies by Nancy Medina 8X10 Oil on Gallery Wrap Canvas Purchase Information Nancy Medina Web Site Hearts Wing Poppies is a new work in Flower Mound Studio, and hopped onto the canvas after an evening spent painting a poppy triptych for a client. I've mixed red paint, orange paint, lipstick pink, copper, and every warm color in that family to give these blossoms a nice variety of hues.

Purple Heart Poppies by Nancy Medina 12X12 Oil on Gallery Wrap Canvas Purchase Information Nancy Medina Web Site