Monday, October 28, 2013

The poem is PILES OF SHELLS...



"Piles of Shells" illustration from Nancy Standlee for my "Dreams of the Turtle King" beach poem book.

The poem is PILES OF SHELLS and the illustration is for a stanza in the poem ...

"The seashells cover the
beach this morning..."

The beach was constantly changing. On this morning walk, I couldn't get over how many shells there were, all the way up to the high tide mark. Some days you could search a long time before finding any shells, but this day they were abundant and in all shapes and sizes and colors.

I used to collect them, bringing them home to line the bookshelves and stored in baggies in drawers. But I soon realized there would always be more and more to find and I should just enjoy them when I took my morning walks. I have to admit a few did make their way with my when we moved out of Florida!

Piles of Shells, an illustration for the book of poems written by Denise Bossarte and illustrated by Nancy Standlee

Piles of Shells, available on Daily Paintworks HERE:
an illustration (24 total illustrations) for the book of poems written by Denise Bossarte
Watch for a December publication date. 

Original fine art and affordable prints can be found at:
Follow me on Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/NancyStandlee/
                           http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/nancy-standlee.html
Order personalized checks, side tear checks, checkbook covers and address labels with a choice of 20 of my paintings on them.




Dreams of the Turtle King blog http://www.dreamsoftheturtleking.com/


Denise Bossarte
Found Worlds Photography
Dreams of the Turtle King: Poems Inspired by South Florida Beaches by Denise Ippensen Bossarte


Dreams:
Texas Daily Painter, Watercolor, Pen and Ink sketches,  Beach paintings, small paper painting, poetry book, poems, beach poems,shell watercolor, watercolor,  Artists of Texas, Nancy Standlee Fine Art, Daily Paintworks, Pinterest,  Dreams of the Turtle King,   Denise Bossarte, photography, Amazon, Florida, Found Worlds,CheckAdvantage,

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Book cover design underway...

I worked with the graphic artist today on the book cover design. 
Time flew by and things are really coming together, just as I pictured it. 

Nancy's illustration of the Turtle King is looking wonderful there on the front!

You will have to wait a bit on the unveiling of the cover to things are closer to a release date, but it will be worth the wait!

Saturday, October 26, 2013

The poem is LEAD ME...

"Lead Me" illustration from Nancy Standlee for my "Dreams of the Turtle King" beach poem book.

The poem is LEAD ME and the illustration is for a stanza in the poem ...

"Footsteps in
the sand lead me
down the beach..."


Being out on the beach early in the morning for sunrise would get me into a contemplative mood pretty quickly. Especially when there were not many people to share the sun, sand, and waves. I might not be the first person to have walked the beach that morning and there would be footprints in the sand but no people in sight who made them. 

As I walked down the beach, it would feel like I was following the path of footprints and it made me wonder where and how far they might lead me. Whose foot prints were these, what were they thinking as the strolled the beach, where were they heading...thoughts to keep me company as I enjoyed the day arising.

The poem is BEACH FISHING...

"Beach Fishing" illustration from Nancy Standlee for my "Dreams of the Turtle King" beach poem book.

The poem is BEACH FISHING and the illustration is for a stanza in the poem ...

"Three brothers fishing
on the beach, the oldest
manning the poles.."

There were often people beach fishing when I would take my morning walks. They would have their equipment and coolers set out just above the water line. They would either have one long pole in hand, or more often, have a series of poles set deep into the sand and be watching for a strike.

Other times I would see them wade into the shallow edge of the water and toss their nets to catch bait fish. These fishermen would not stay on the beach, but would drop their catches into a plastic bucket filled with ocean water and head for their boats for fishing out on the water.

This particular moment captured in the poem was unusual as it was three boys together on the beach, teenage and younger, without adults. From the illustration you get how the work was divided - one boy was doing it all!

Friday, October 25, 2013

Illustrations are back from being scanned....

The illustrations are back from the print shop and I will be sending off a DVD of images and the originals to Nancy.

Next step - working with the graphic artist on the cover and an idea of mine for presenting the illustrations!

Already laying out the poems and "placeholders" for the images in the book template provided by CreateSpace. That will get the page length of the book to work out the cover designs in yet another template. Whew!

Sold Lead Me an illustration from the book of poems, Dreams of the Turtle King by written by Denise Bossarte and illustrated by Nancy Standlee, Beach Fishing is available.

 Lead Me... Sold to a CA art collector

Beach Fishing available on my Daily Paintworks site HERE:

Original fine art and affordable prints can be found at:
Follow me on Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/NancyStandlee/
                           http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/nancy-standlee.html
Order personalized checks, side tear checks, checkbook covers and address labels with a choice of 20 of my paintings on them.


Dreams of the Turtle King blog http://www.dreamsoftheturtleking.com/

Denise Bossarte
Found Worlds Photography
Dreams of the Turtle King: Poems Inspired by South Florida Beaches by Denise Ippensen Bossarte

Dreams:
Texas Daily Painter, Watercolor, Pen and Ink sketches,  Beach paintings, small paper painting, poetry book, poems, beach poems, beach children,  Artists of Texas, Nancy Standlee Fine Art, Daily Paintworks, Pinterest,  Dreams of the Turtle King,   Denise Bossarte, photography, Amazon, Florida, Found Worlds,

Monday, October 21, 2013

Illustrations are off to be scanned...

I dropped off the illustrations Nancy mailed to me with the printer today. They can get the images scanned at the right high resolution and file type to be usable with Amazon. Can't wait to see the final digital versions!

Also sent over information to the graphic artist who will be helping me with the cover. Hopefully she can translate the blah blah blah of the Amazon specifications to something wonderful.

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

The poem is SAND CASTLE...

"Sand Castle" illustration from Nancy Standlee for my "Dreams of the Turtle King" beach poem book.

The poem is SAND CASTLE and the illustration is for a stanza in the poem ...

"I walk by
a sandcastle,
the turrets
rounded by
the wind..."

There were always a variety of sand castles on the beach when I did my morning walks. Some of them were far enough from the high tide line to survive during the night and you could distinguish the turrets and moats in the sunrise.  But often they would be closer to the water and in various stages of disintegration, dissolving back into simply being sand on the beach.

Occasionally, there would be a contest for sand sculptures and then you could find some amazing, large scale items- mermaids and sea turtles and other imaginative things.

Seeing the partly dissolved ones always made me a little sad that they had been abandoned to their fate. But such is the state on the beach - constant change!

Monday, October 14, 2013

Sand Castle an watercolor, pen and ink illustration by Nancy Standlee for the book of poems, Dreams of the Turtle King by Denise Bossarte

Sand Castle 13102
Watercolor and pen and ink
11x10 matted to 14x11 

Denise Bossarte has written 24 wonderful poems about Florida beaches and I have had the privilege of letting the words speak to me and finding an image to illustrate the poem. Don't tell Denise but this is a Galveston seagull I borrowed from a friend who took a vacation at the Texas beach and shared some wonderful seagull photos with me. At this point, I have completed my job as the illustrator and mailed out today to Houston the last 9 images to be scanned. Stay tuned to the blog to read about the scanning, the layout, and the publication of the book and learn along with us as this is all new to Denise and me.  

All of these watercolors will be for sale on my Daily Paintworks site HERE soon. They are now in Houston being professionally scanned and when they are returned, I will mat them in 14x11 mats and place in clear bags before mailing and the new owner can select a standard size frame. 


Original fine art and affordable prints can be found at:
Follow me on Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/NancyStandlee/
                           http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/nancy-standlee.html
Order personalized checks, side tear checks, checkbook covers and address labels with a choice of 20 of my paintings on them.




Dreams of the Turtle King blog http://www.dreamsoftheturtleking.com/


Denise Bossarte
Found Worlds Photography
Dreams of the Turtle King: Poems Inspired by South Florida Beaches by Denise Ippensen Bossarte


Dreams:
Texas Daily Painter, Watercolor, Pen and Ink sketches,  Beach paintings, small paper painting, poetry book, poems, beach poems, seagull, sand castle, watercolor,   Artists of Texas, Nancy Standlee Fine Art, Daily Paintworks, Pinterest,  Dreams of the Turtle King,  Texas, Denise Bossarte, photography, Amazon, Florida, Found Worlds,

The poem is CROWD OF FOOTPRINTS...

"Crowd of Footprints " illustration from Nancy Standlee for my "Dreams of the Turtle King" beach poem book.

The poem is CROWD OF FOOTPRINTS and the illustration is for a stanza in the poem ...
 
"The sand is soft
between my toes
as I walk over
multitudes of
old footprints..."


Another poem to capture the sweet moments of contemplation that can be found on the beach. Some days the sand is fresh, completely smoothed out by the previous tide and unmarked by other human activity.

This morning, there were many footprints and sandal and shoe prints in the sand. Some going one direction, some the other, some wandering along. It seemed poignant to me that all these people had come walking there before me and I saw all of their footprints, being the one to come last. 

The poem is SEA TURTLE NESTS...

"Sea Turtle Nests" illustration from Nancy Standlee for my "Dreams of the Turtle King" beach poem book.

The poem is SEA TURTLE NESTS and the illustration is for a stanza in the poem ...
 
"Sea Turtle nests
punctuate the beach,
marked by short stakes
and small yellow placards..."


The sea turtles come to lay their eggs along these very popular beaches in  south Florida. Some cities post small yard lights/lanterns along the A1A highway to entice the turtles to come to their beaches. The cities along these beaches take the turtle nesting very seriously, with conservation efforts, ordinances to protect the nests, etc. They mark the nests with wooden stakes and yellow tape and placards to warn people that the nests are protected and to KEEP OUT. It also helps keep the bulldozers (another poem!) from running over the nests.

During egg laying season, you can see dozens of nests along the beaches. It is amazing to me that some turtle barely make it past the lowest tide level while some climb to the top edge of the beach near the tree line. I am not sure what determines where they make their nests, but I know from watching videos it takes an amazing effort to get onto shore and build the nest to lay the eggs.

One of my big regrets from my time in Florida was not making the time to go on the "egg hatching" watches that the cities would hold. You could sign up to go with a guide at night to wait for the eggs to hatch. There was never a guarantee that that night would have hatchings, but there were waiting lists for people who wanted to go. Maybe I'll get a chance to see one in the future!

Sunday, October 13, 2013

The poem is ORPHANS...

"Orphans" illustration from Nancy Standlee for my "Dreams of the Turtle King" beach poem book.

The poem is ORPHANS and the illustration is for a stanza in the poem ...
 
"Two sofa cushions
lie askew on the
beach..."


The types of objects that can be found on the beach in the early morning at sunrise are surprising and varied. You find the usual suspects, such as regular trash of cups, water bottles, bags, abandoned or forgotten beach equipment, etc. Then you find some more unusual objects, like deflated balloons or metal signs.

The pair of sofa cushions was one of the most unusual I came across, particularly because of their size. It was hard to believe they had made it to the beach without just sinking under the water. It certainly did beg the question of how they got into the water in the first place, let alone made the trip to the beach to meet me that morning. 

The cities along the beaches hire people to scour the beach on a regular basis for trash to make sure the beach is beautiful and enjoyable for the tourists. They even have bulldozers (another poem!) that come along to clear up the seaweed (another poem!) when it starts to cover the beach too much. Not sure how these sofa cushions were dealt with or if the people pulling them off the beach had the same thoughts as me about the cushions travels.

Crowd of Footprints 13107 a Watercolor Illustration for the Beach Poems, Dreams of the Turtle King, written by Denise Bossarte and Illustrated by Nancy Standlee

Crowd of Footprints 13107
Watercolor 11x10, Bockingford Rough 140 lb. paper
Namiki Falcon pen and Noodler's Lexington Gray Ink

One of the things I love about the beach is looking at all the footprints and how quickly they change and how enjoyable it is to watch children enjoying the water. 

All of these watercolors will be for sale on my Daily Paintworks site HERE soon. They are now in Houston being professionally scanned and when they are returned, I will mat them in 14x11 mats and place in clear bags before mailing and the new owner can select a standard size frame. 


Original fine art and affordable prints can be found at:
Follow me on Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/NancyStandlee/
                           http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/nancy-standlee.html
Order personalized checks, side tear checks, checkbook covers and address labels with a choice of 20 of my paintings on them.




Dreams of the Turtle King blog http://www.dreamsoftheturtleking.com/


Denise Bossarte
Found Worlds Photography
Dreams of the Turtle King: Poems Inspired by South Florida Beaches by Denise Ippensen Bossarte


Dreams:
Texas Daily Painter, Watercolor, Pen and Ink sketches,  Beach paintings, small paper painting, poetry book, poems, beach poems,girl on beach, girl watercolor,   Artists of Texas, Nancy Standlee Fine Art, Daily Paintworks, Pinterest,  Dreams of the Turtle King,  Virginia, Denise Bossarte, photography, Amazon, Florida, Found Worlds,

Saturday, October 12, 2013

Sea Turtle Nests 13092, a Watercolor Illustration with Pen and Ink for the Book of Poems, Dreams of the Turtle King by Denise Bossarte, Illustrations by Nancy Standlee

Sea Turtle Nests 13092
Watercolor 11x10, Bockingford Rough 140 lb. paper
Namiki Falcon pen and Noodler's Lexington Gray Ink

I have done a lot of research for the illustrations for the book of poems, Dreams of the Turtle King, and I found a video of these turtles hatching and making their way to the sea and it was awesome to watch. I would like to observe that in person someday. Today I think I will finish up two illustrations and the project. I do have others that I haven't downloaded and posted but the actual painting is nearly finished. What a learning experience this has been and so glad I said yes.  One thing I've learned from a favorite instructor, Robert Burridge, "The answer is always YES." (If you have to ask, the answer is always yes.. in such as, does this painting need more red, Yes.. do you think I need to stop, Yes..and when people ask you to do a project..say yes and figure the how out later..the answer is always, Yes..)

All of these watercolors will be for sale on my Daily Paintworks site HERE soon. They are now in Houston being professionally scanned and when they are returned, I will mat them in 14x11 mats and place in clear bags before mailing and the new owner can select a standard size frame. 

Yesterday I ordered Vistaprint postcards to give out with the book cover image of the Sea Turtle. I can't wait to get my cards and begin to pass them out. This is the cover image: 

Original fine art and affordable prints can be found at:
Follow me on Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/NancyStandlee/
                           http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/nancy-standlee.html
Order personalized checks, side tear checks, checkbook covers and address labels with a choice of 20 of my paintings on them.




Dreams of the Turtle King blog http://www.dreamsoftheturtleking.com/


Denise Bossarte
Found Worlds Photography
Dreams of the Turtle King: Poems Inspired by South Florida Beaches by Denise Ippensen Bossarte


Dreams:
Texas Daily Painter, Watercolor, Pen and Ink sketches,  Beach paintings, small paper painting, poetry book, poems, beach poems, turtle nests  Artists of Texas, Nancy Standlee Fine Art, Daily Paintworks, Pinterest,  Dreams of the Turtle King,  Virginia, Denise Bossarte, photography, Amazon, Florida, Found Worlds,