Barbara Benda Nagle

My Beginning Drawing and Watercolor : Birds and Wildlife workshop was held September 3-8^th at Dillman’s Resort on the beautiful peninsula of White Sand Lake in Lac du Flambeau, Wisconsin. It was a fabulous week of work, play, and friendship as our group learned the skills that led to confidence in drawing and watercolor painting. Everyone worked hard from from sketch to black and white study to color study. We painted birds, wildlife as well as landscapes, and a floral to remind us of the art concepts that are basic for the success of any painting. The process will continue at home as each person is challenged to devote at least 20 minutes a day to sketching or painting, making it a lifelong habit that serves to nourish the artist within.

Beverly and I thank our students who came to this memorable workshop. We loved the enthusiasm, the sense of humor, and the personal warmth of each student. I am happy to announce that Beverly and I will be back next year for the week of September 14-18^th, 2020 for the Beginning Drawing and Watercolor workshop, created for all levels of learners. Know that it is beneficial to take this course more than once to reinforce the practice and the teaching. We pack in a great deal of information and I often change up my exercises to keep this workshop fresh and stimulating. To sign up for next year’s workshop, go to www. dillmans.com. We hope to see you again!

One week after teaching my June workshop, I took a fabulous 5 day workshop from Iain Stewart, who also was the juror for the Red River Watercolor Society National Watermedia Exhibit. I was fortunate to have my painting, Birds Go Cuckoo, juried into this show. (See photo below with Iain). Iain Stewart did some great demonstrations and was very helpful in helping all of us move to the next level. I stand by my belief that it doesn’t matter how many years you have painted, or taught painting, that you must continue to learn…our brain’s potential will outlive all of us so we must seize the day and keep working, keep learning, keep doing. I do it because it makes me feel fully alive! Yes, it takes effort and work, but results are inevitable. Being a life-long learner is my personal choice and I hope you will make that same decision. With that, I will encourage you to take my last week-long workshop this year at Dillman’s Resort on beautiful White Sand Lake peninsula in Lac du Flambeau, Wisconsin. (The painting below, Off Season, is my watercolor of Dillman’s) This year, I will be teaching  Beginning Drawing and Watercolor: Birds and Wildlife on September 3-7th. You will arrive on Sept.2nd and leave on Sept. 8th with teaching days Tuesday through Saturday (due to Labor Day on Monday). This workshop will include subject matter of birds and wildlife, but will also include landscapes and plant life. Please read more about my workshop at  http://www.dillmans.com/dcaf/2019/barbara-benda-nagle.html  

This workshop is titled with the word, “Beginning”, but I often get people to sign up who are intermediate and advanced painters because they are stuck, unmotivated, or rusty. Whatever reason you have, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that you continue your artistic journey…..I’ll see you at Dillman’s soon!  – Barbara

On June 10-14th, 12 artists took my Beginning Drawing and Watercolor Workshop through Moorhead Community Education. What an amazing group this was! See the photo below to honor their accomplishments! This was a cohesive, hard-working group and they were a blessing to me and my assistant, nephew Nick Moe. The beauty of this group is that many of these students had also taken my Seeing Things Differently sketching courses through Community Education-this is a sketching course I market to people who lack confidence in their artistic ability or have done art in the past, but “life got in the way”, and they became rusty….Fast forward:  soon they  became proficient in drawing and wanted to tackle the next thing: watercolor. There is a smooth transition from sketching to watercolor if you understand light and dark and how it works to make a painting full of visual appeal. I teach several exercises for that concept alone. We took in quite a bit in the 5 day workshop, but we remembered to have a sense of humor and enjoy each other’s accomplishments…We all learn from each other, we all help each other, we all can admit we struggle, and we can all be honest about our “inner critic”, we are in this boat together, ..It doesn’t matter what your ability is..what matters is your desire to improve and that is where God uses me…because I am always depending on Him to help me to be sensitive to my students’ needs. Thank you, Lauri, director of Community Ed, for seeking me out as a teacher for Community Education a few years back. My sketching classes paved the way to a 5 day workshop in drawing and watercolor.  What a great way to start summer! If you are in need of a life-changing workshop, please consider taking my Beginning Drawing and Watercolor Workshop- for all levels of painters. You will get to the next level and that is a wonderful place to be………..Happy painting!