Barbara Benda

Growth and Connection were keys word to sum up the experience of 16 artists, my assistant Beverly Benda, and myself who gathered daily at NDSCS  in Fargo, North Dakota, for the Beginning Drawing and Watercolor Workshop. This amazing and talented group shared their individual personalities and styles as they continued on their own creative journeys in the world of watercolor. Some of the artists were taking the workshop for a second time, which I found to be instrumental in their confidence level and exponential growth throughout the week.  After several hours learning the foundations of drawing, the artists were comfortable in making small pencil sketches to determine focal point, light source, and emphasis. The greyscale paintings came next and then the color studies. We work small to large to develop confidence with the brush and understand the properties of watercolor better. There is always the questions: How much paint? How much water? How fast can I paint? Do I paint wet on wet or wet on dry? I tell my students to give themselves a year to be comfortable with the properties of watercolor and they will answer those questions themselves with daily practice. (Yes, daily practice, even for 10 minutes!). The beauty of this workshop was the value and generosity of each artist who gave freely, shared freely, and worked hard to do many exercises, ask questions, and immerse themselves energetically into the challenge and joy of painting.  All artists who take my workshops are welcome to join my closed Facebook page: Barbara Benda Nagle Drawing and Watercolor Group, so they may share their work after the workshop and receive affirmation and suggestions for improvement from all the other artists who have gone through the same coursework. We will remain connected for a long time. I thank all of these artists for a fabulous week! Now, get out some paint and paper and practice your  pencil sketches, your color mixing, your graded washes…sketch, paint, practice daily and enjoy the journey. Remember it doesn’t matter where you are on the journey; what matters most  is that you are on the journey!- Happy painting! – Barbara

Studio Crawl 2018, October 6-7, was a huge success! Below are two satisfied customers who enjoyed the opportunity to purchase original art directly from me. I spent time demonstrating the process of acrylic mixed media collage and sharing my typical studio time with visitors. Fresh apple desserts were served as refreshments, I gained many new friends through this art weekend. I was impressed with all the visitors from all over North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota who make the Studio Crawl an annual event. Thank you to all who came and contributed to the success of this weekend with your curiosity, questions, and friendly conversation! Thanks to my team of helpers: Paul, Bev, and Nick-my family members who helped me with the organization of this event that hosts hundreds of people. Your work is greatly appreciated!

Mourning Dove Studio

Ian, from Fargo, with Barbara

Luann, from South Dakota, and Barbara

September 24-29th, 2018: The Beginning Drawing and Watercolor workshop, Dillman’s Creative Art Retreat Center at Dillman’s Resort in Lac du Flambeau, Wisconsin was a HUGE success! Beverly (my twin sister, workshop assistant, and wind beneath my wings) and I spent a week there teaching and meeting fabulous people. Our hosts below, Sue and Denny Robertson (the “bookends” in the photo below) are a class act! They run a tight ship and are amazing in their leadership and organization of a beautiful north woods resort featuring many artist workshops throughout the year. I had the great opportunity to work alongside Minnesota artist/Wisconsin native Andy Evansen (second from left) and Colorado artist Frank LaLumia (second from right) as we all taught simultaneously in separate studio spaces on the beautiful peninsula of White Sand Lake.

The best part and the reason I was there was the 9 women I was entrusted to teach and guide. (Unfortunately, 2 others were unable to attend due to circumstances out of their control). The growth from Monday’s drawing lessons to Friday’s final day of composing, choosing focal points, selecting a color scheme was inspiring to me. God has richly blessed me with the joy that comes at the intersection of our lives in the 5 days of getting to know each other, learning, sharing, and exploring with the mediums of pencil and watercolor.

Beverly and I had such a great experience at Dillman’s that we will be back in 2019 and in 2020. I will be teaching on September 2-6th, 2019 and my workshop will be called Beginning Drawing and Watercolor: Birds and Wildlife as it will be taking place at the same time as the Woodson Museum’s Birds in Art Exhibition in Wausau, Wisconsin.  I personally invite you to sign up now to reserve your spot in my workshop as we explore drawing and watercolor with a bird and wildlife focus.  Go to www.dillmans.com for more information!