Registration material will be mailed on Monday, March 5, 2012 to all NFWS members and to those non-members who have expressed an interest in the workshop and have provided their mailing addresses to either Cathy Skerker at 716 836-1190, email cskerker@yahoo.com or Carol Siracuse at 716 867-9044, email csir@roadrunner.com

The workshop fee is $450 for members and $485 for non-members. The first day will be open to auditors for a fee of $60, including lunch for all workshop participants and auditors. It will be held in the theatre at the Kenan Center.

The Workshop

This workshop will concentrate on concepts and techniques for which Simmons is noted: diversity in subject matter; composition; poured watercolor; fluid acrylic used as transparent watercolor; unusual textures such as the instructor’s popular “batik” technique; large scale painting; computer-aided design (computer not required for enrollees); and creative photography for obtaining unconventional reference shots. Focus will be on concepts, composition and design elements.

The first day of the workshop will be held in the theatre at the Kenan Center. Simmons will spend the morning demonstrating a number of his techniques in a unique and fun way that sets the tone for the workshop. The afternoon is devoted to an intense and visually startling tutorial on creativity and Photoshop Elements. Using a laptop computer and digital projector, the artist unlocks secrets to developing deeply personal and original paintings.The session will cover a huge range of topics, theories, controversies, and the artist's inimitable approach to contemporary watermedia. “You'll never think about painting the same way again!”

For the three days of the workshop in the studio classroom, students will paint daily, watch demos, and receive individualized attention. Be prepared for Nicholas’ high energy, unorthodox, and varied approach to watercolor. All levels are welcome in this workshop designed to bring lots of new ideas and techniques to experienced painters, and introduce new painters to the medium.

Nicholas Simmons is sought after as a workshop instructor, lecturer, and judge, known for his fresh, unorthodox, and often irreverent approach.

Quoting a participant in one of his recent workshops -

"All the things a great instructor should be this guy has! Creative, inventive, sense of humor, some irreverence that challenges the status quo, challenges his students, inspires students, awes students with his techniques. I learned a great deal from him and suspect he will be a life-changing influence on me. A really nice guy, I think he is so good because he is aware of and observes how students learn and how they are reacting to him."

We at Niagara Frontier Watercolor Society consider ourselves incredibly lucky to be able to bring Nicholas Simmons to the Niagara Frontier as the visiting artist for this four day workshop. If you are interested, the best way to be kept in the loop about this workshop and all of the other twice yearly workshops and monthly demonstrations, is to regularly visit our website, www.nfws.org. Membership in NFWS, for a mere annual fee of $30, will keep you informed about all of our activities and special events.

Simmons, a member of the North American Watercolor Artists (NAWA – see more below!), represented the USA in the 2nd Biennal Ibero-Americana de la Acuarela in Madrid, Spain, Sept. 14 – 28, 2011. He was the Gold Medal winner at the 2010 Texas Watercolor Society with Nassau #1: Discount Warehouse, a painting which was featured in “Best Watercolors of 2010” by Watercolor Artist magazine, Feb. 2011. He was a judge and exhibitor at the first Shanghai Zhujiajiao International Watercolor Bienal in 2010, the largest watercolor exhibition in the world. He will repeat as judge in 2012.

His work is currently part of the exciting exhibit of the North American Watercolor Artists group (NAWA), Stepping Over the Line, Strathmore Fine Art, North Bethesda, Maryland.

NAWA, known for their forward thinking approach and unexpected points of view, artists Kathleen Alexander, Carol Carter, Mark Mehaffey, Thomas Schaller, Nicholas Simmons and Keiko Tanabe, push boundaries and break through the traditional definitions and restrictions of media and artistic genres. Whether through the unique application of color, the subtle laying of media or the intimate focal point of subject, each artist delivers a forward thinking and unique viewpoint.

Nick is sponsored by Da Vinci Paints, and most recently by Escoda Artist Brushes

In the Winter 2009 edition of Watercolor Magazine, John Parks writes:

“Nicholas Simmons paints in watermedia on a scale that rivals oil painting. The subject matter is a dazzling mix of figures juxtaposed with printed lettering, graffiti, Japanese block prints, neon lights, reflections, and lavish corners of nature. The effect can be disorienting, as though a camera has taken a picture by accident, revealing an image that is both exciting and mysterious. The paint itself swirls, floods, drips, and spatters, driven on by the general excitement of the imagery and giving the work a sense that it was done in a rush in a matter of minutes.”