Susan Carlin Art Journal

An Anniversary and A New Adventure

2012-02-02T23:54:00.000-06:00

Today is an important anniversary for me, and also the day we're launching a new adventure.

Four years ago today, I opened Susan Carlin Art Studio And Gallery after retiring from my 22 years of practice as a chiropractor. That February 2nd, in 2008, marked a thrilling return to making my living as a full-time painter and, for the first time, a gallery owner. A year and a half ago, in September of 2010, I dove in deeper yet and traded up to a much larger gallery and to representing now over 20 other artists. I have a busy schedule of commissions and spend my days in activities related to the making of art and to helping artworks find the perfect people to love them and take them home. You'd think that would be enough to keep me occupied, right?
Well, I'm diving in much deeper yet again.

Today, February 2nd, 2012, my partner and I have purchased a property with three buildings, one built in the 1920s- a grocery store for over 70 years (seen above), and two built at the end of the 1930s- an apartment building with eight garages, and a tiny cottage. All three have been boarded up for ten years, just waiting for two artists with VISION to come along. If you'd like to see and read a little more, please hop over to our blog we've started to chronicle the revival of these special buildings and the creation of an event center which will host art workshops, the making of a guesthouse for the lodging of artists who attend them, and the evolution of an apartment building, from a retro past to a high-tech present: "retrotech" residences.
All three make up Whistle Stop Corner!

Sketches of my new family in Istanbul

2011-11-08T10:22:00.005-06:00

Bedriye, Halide, Hande, Sacide, Nilgun, Neslihan, Aslihan, Nadide

This series started as a quick sketch of Aslihan, Ugur's beautiful 12 year old niece, second from the right on the bottom. Within a day or two it became a series of all the women in the family... except Ugur. Guess I'll need to rectify that soon, right?

I love to sketch. These days, sketching has become simply a cursory prelude to a painting, though. I need to remember how delicious it is to simply sketch.

Robin- the finish of a commissioned portrait.

2011-11-02T12:24:00.001-05:00


Robin, oil 16 x 20

I'm so pleased with this portrait. Robin was a firefighter who lost her life fighting a fire in 2008. She left behind two little girls and loving parents. Her mother commissioned the portrait and was gracious about waiting several months for my schedule to allow me to paint Robin for her.

Robin's smile must be missed every day. Every time I paint a portrait I feel as though I've gotten to know the person I've painted... I spent so many hours looking into her eyes, I felt privileged to have been smiled at like that.

My love to Robin's family.

See the start of this portrait in previous post.

I'm alive and well, and starting a new commission...

2011-10-30T15:40:00.002-05:00

Start of commissioned portrait- Robin.

July was the last time I posted, for heaven's sake. Thank you to those of you who wrote to check on me. Between my daughter, the gallery and commissions and traveling, some things had to wait, and my sweet blog was one of them. I'm so glad you came by!

Yesterday I got to start a new commission- a lovely woman named Robin. I decided to broadcast live as I painted so I could have some company through the process. Several friends popped into the chat room to watch and talk with me- always wonderful. This image above is a work-in-progress image just two and a half hours into the 16 x 20 oil. It's fairly thinly painted so far, as my objective was just to map out my values and work toward her likeness, and get the white of the canvas covered.

If you'd like to watch the broadcast of the beginning of this portrait, it's in two parts:
part 1 (about 45 minutes)
part 2 (about 57 minutes)

I'll try to post the image of the completed portrait when I've finished.

Over these first 14 months we've owned the gallery, Ugur and I offered each of the gallery artists a show- a chance to showcase their work by showing more pieces than we are usually able to show, and we've had a reception to kick off each exhibition. Right after Thanksgiving, it'll be OUR turn. Wait!!! That means we need new work. (She panics.) Between now and the end of Thanksgiving, I actually want to experiment with new subject matter and new painting processes, and right now I only have sketchy ideas for those new paintings. It's kind of exciting, actually. Only part of the excitement is panic. (Ok, a big part.) But I'm actually very interested to see what will happen when I step out some of my patterns of limited thinking. I'll let you know how it goes!

"If I Weren't So Stingy..."

2011-07-26T01:03:00.007-05:00

Glorious Gold

This is how one of Julia Cameron's questions begins in her book THE ARTIST'S WAY. The question is: "If I weren't so stingy with my artist, I would buy her/him..." The reader is supposed to finish the statement.

Boy, that really struck home when I read it the first time many years ago, and each time since.

Reclining Nude

I'm awfully stingy with the child-like personification of my artist self. Although sometimes I take her shopping and buy her new tubes of paint, that's usually prompted by a great sale, not by timely need. I can't tell you how many hours I've spent comparing cool travel easels online, deciding which accessories I could live without and then end up not buying one at all. I still own- and use- the wooden French easel I bought when I was 21. I turned 56 today. A little subtraction will reveal how many years I've traveled with that box. All the hardware desperately needs replacing.

It took me until this year to buy the metal spirits can with the clamp-on lid I've wanted since I started painting in oils. And I only got it because it was in Jerry's Artarama's Deep Discount Super Sale.

Stephen and Ben Wenzel

Just today I dug all the sticky tubes out of the disreputable lunch bag I've been using to hold my paints and organized them in a VERY inexpensive (No, really- $6.98) plastic tackle box from WallyWorld. Well, at least I don't have to scrabble around and dig through the tubes to find the one color that's sure to be on the bottom and be the stickiest of all.

My frugality is a sickness. And it's deeply, deeply ingrained.

In contrast, I see fledgling art students come to their first class or workshop outfitted to the teeth. They've researched and bought the best. The best easels, best brushes (I could eat for three months on what some of those brushes cost), the best paints and a shiny new spirits can with the clamp-on lid. And they've never painted anything yet! I sometimes wonder if they think the expensive supplies will paint the painting FOR them.

Online Workshop Painting

Somewhere between my stingy sickness and the stupendous supply splurge is some kind of healthy approach to equipping our child-like artist selves. We need toys. Okay, it's more like: WE NEED TOYS! I know, I know, a cardboard box could entertain us as children for hours, but eventually we needed crayons and fingerpaints and an Etch-A-Sketch and a computer with image-editing software. We need time to make messes and "waste" paint. We need a palette knife so we can ladle on the gooey goodness of great color. We need canvas and gesso panels and we need them in every size. We need to scrape off the old dried-up paint from our palettes and squirt generous dollops of each color onto our fresh surface well before the time we actually need that color. We need a few decent brushes. We need paint that does not have the word Hue in the name. (Ok, I still have a few of those...) We need to SHOP.

Let's wrestle to the ground and hog-tie our sickening stinginess. This year I'm going to buy a great travel easel..... I am, SO!

Happy Birthday to my child-like and worthy inner artist!

Finding Time To Paint (Write/Sculpt/Create anthing...)

2011-06-08T17:36:00.000-05:00

I was going to paint today. No, really. I was.

The cute couple who are the subjects in my current portrait commission are on my easel right now looking at me as if to say, "Come paint our hands now. And how about clothes, for Heaven's sake?" I've looked back longingly and apologetically in return, but have not painted. I've vacuumed the gallery, taken photographs of two children for a portrait later in my schedule, sold a print, a bracelet and some cards to visitors, discussed the possibility of representation with an inquiring artist, eaten lunch -a bite now and then as I could dash into the kitchen between visitors, and I've composed this newsletter to send out to you. I haven't painted.

I think I know why: I was taught to do my chores first and then play. Like I was taught to eat my spinach and clean my plate before I could have dessert.
Because painting is the funnest thing ever, I think I have to earn it. I have to deserve it- I have to do my chores and eat my spinach first.

But what if you make a living doing what you love? The rules get all tangled up in our heads. Is painting (writing/sculpting/playing music/designing, etc.) now the play or the chore? I can't tell you how many times I've heard, "I wouldn't want to paint for my living, because then it would be work, not play."

It's never worked that way for me. Painting is the funnest thing, whether I'm painting a commissioned portrait or painting something of my own conception. Getting paid to do it is an added layer of joy, not something that transforms the process into drudgery. So, what's the solution, you ask?

I think paintings get done when I schedule them in like they're important, too. Women especially "get" this, I think. We're learning to schedule ourselves into our own days along with the tasks of home and work. It's intention backed up with actually writing it down. Between "Do the laundry" and "Bank," you write "2:00-3:00 Paint."

To REALLY make sure we do it, we can tell a friend what we intend and then plan to call that friend to report in once we've done it. Learning to be accountable to ourselves is easier when we use our natural urge to be accountable to others.

Deadlines are fabulous motivators, too. Painting for a specific competition or for someone's birthday gift or because you agreed on a certain due date with a client... all can light the fire under us to align ourselves with our easels and get started. Waiting for the muse isn't smart. The muse shows up when we've got a smudge of Cadmium red on our right cheek or when we've lost track of time because we're typing fast and our brains are full of the story we're telling.

So... it's time to close up the gallery and I'm packing up the cute couple to take home with me. I've promised them hands and clothes. And I keep my promises.

One-Day Online Portrait Painting Workshop July 2, 2011

2011-06-06T19:54:00.001-05:00

Study with Susan Carlin… from home.

Move your portrait painting skills forward with a

One-Day Online Portrait Painting Workshop

Saturday, July 2, 2011

$60. tuition includes video pre-instruction, day-long workshop, two assessments of your work-in-progress during the workshop, with suggestions for how to proceed, and one assessment-and-suggestion session a week following the workshop. REGISTER NOW!

With registration, and at two weeks prior to the workshop, you will receive:
• a high-resolution image file of the workshop reference,
• a supply list,
• the address and password for the website where you may watch the pre-instruction videos, and where the workshop will be held.
The day of the workshop you will receive:
• instruction in the art of painting a portrait,
• two assessment-and-suggestion critiques of your painting, if desired.
One week following, if you take that time to put finishing touches on your painting, you’ll receive:
• a third assessment-and-suggestion session.
By registering early, you’ll have plenty of time to carefully complete your sketch on your painting surface in preparation for beginning the painting on the day of the workshop.
At 9:30 Saturday morning, July 2nd, I will discuss my process as I start from a white canvas panel and paint the portrait as you follow along and paint from the same reference.
At midday, you may take a digital photograph of your painting and email it to me so that I can put it on screen and discuss what is working well and how you might improve it when you resume painting. At this time you’ll see the paintings of the other artists attending the workshop, and get to know them better through the chat as we discuss each other’s efforts.
We’ll paint again until 4 p.m., completing our paintings. Again, you’ll send me a photo by email for assessment and suggestions. When we’ve completed those, we say, “goodbye and well done!” A week later, July 9 at 10 a.m., we meet up again for another assessment-and-suggestion session for those who’ve painted further on their portraits that week. We celebrate our accomplishments!

What you won’t have to do when you register for this workshop:
• Pack up your art supplies and carry them anywhere. (Savor this one… Ahhhh…)
• Find someone to feed your dog or cat… or spouse.
• Drive to another city.
• Pay for a hotel room.
• Dress up. Or dress at all. (Stay in your jammies… who will care? Ahhhh….)
If you would like your final painting’s image to be posted on my blog (with or without a link to your site), there will be a $10. fee option at the end of the workshop. I’d love to show off your work!
I hope you’ll join us for a fun, heart-racing day of painting your socks off!
REGISTER NOW!

Living An Artist's Life

2011-05-25T09:18:00.015-05:00

I admit it.

I've never been so happy. People notice. Sometimes folks ask me about my life and then squint at me while I answer, like they're seeing through some dense fog, trying to imagine such a thing as doing what you love... and making your living doing it. I’ve watched one or two walk away obviously unconvinced. It just "does not compute" for some.

I didn't always do what I loved, though. I held myself away from this challenge and this pleasure and the artist's life for years and years...

I told myself I’d get back to my art when I retired, when my daughter was grown, when my To-Do list was all crossed off, when I could build a studio first, when I could find a whole, uninterrupted day/week/month to devote to it, when I owned all the right supplies, when I could be guaranteed up front that I would be successful at it, when I knew for sure that I had something unique to offer, when I could stop being afraid of failing, when I could stop being afraid.

All those excuses, all that fear only served to keep me doing the thing I was less passionate about and kept me afraid. This fear starts early. I have spoken to hundreds and hundreds of third-graders as the representative “fine artist” in an arts program of a local school district, and I can count on at least one child per class asking, “What if you make a mistake?”

Oh my. This is the truth of it: almost every other brush stroke is a “mistake.” You lay one down, you assess how closely it came to the value/color/direction/ thickness/sharpness you had in mind. If it varied too far from your intention, you mix more paint and lay another one on top of it. Then you assess that one. Then you repeat that sequence until you have a finished painting.

It’s just paint.

Or is it? When you think of what painting (writing/drawing/sculpting/playing music/etc.) represents to someone who is a ‘derailed’ artist, or an artist who is learning a new medium, or a new artist, or someone who is not sure she CAN BE an artist at all, it’s a whole lot more.

It’s being willing to step outside of the safe, the ordinary, the approved, the sanctioned, the tried-and-true, in order to take risks and be vulnerable and unique and authentic and experimental and audacious , expressing to yourself that time spent making art is valuable… valuable to you and perhaps even to others down the line.

When I started to paint again and then to show my new work to friends and patients, then to strangers, and then to take commissions and then to enter shows and then start a blog and a website to show my work to a wider circle yet, then to open a gallery… the very process of facing my fears, one brush stroke at a time, has made me braver. Every painting has made me a more experienced painter.

I’m now voracious in the never-ending process of adding to my skills and the range of paintings I make. I see potential paintings everywhere and in everyone. There isn’t enough time in the world for me to paint every painting I want to make.

Over this last year and a half I’ve been facing an enormous fear. I’m learning to dance. I’m taking classes, I make mistakes, I make a fool of myself, I apologize to everyone I dance with, but I’m learning. And sometimes I can make it all the way around the dance floor or get through a whole song and feel the magic of turning in step and moving to a beat and cooperating with a dance partner. I still feel fear, but I dance all the way through it. Isn’t that the way of it?

I encourage you to live the artist’s life: Create something for yourself today. Lay a stroke down. Write a sentence. Play a note or two or three. Dance a little. Dance a lot. Feel the fear and then do it anyway. You’re the artist of your life.

Life is good.

New Website Up! Reception: Constance Seiler & Tim Olson Sunday, May 1st

2011-04-25T23:21:00.002-05:00

Howdy! I'm so proud of Nueva Street Gallery's new website. Ugur did an incredible job designing and piecing together all its thousands of parts. I hope you'll take a minute to poke aroud and see the artists' work. I think you'll really understand why we're so happy to be there each day. If you fall in love with an artwork, there's a way to make it your own.

THEN I hope you'll plan to come to our reception for two of the gallery's artists: Constance Seiler who designs and makes beautiful jewelry, and Tim Olson who creates magical mixed media artworks. Artists, art, refreshments and champagne on a spring Sunday afternoon in San Antonio's La Villita by the Riverwalk... Can it get better than that?

I'm busy at my easel with a full list of portrait commissions these days. I've decided to release myself from the rigid schedule of Wednesday evening online painting broadcasts, and go to a looser, as-the-spirit-moves, impromptu approach. If you'd like to be notified when I'm online painting, please subscribe on the Studio page on the new website, or on the Calendar page on my personal website. I hope you'll join us sometime... it's always fun.

See you online and on May Day!

Susan

www.nuevastreetgallery.com

gallery@nuevastreetgallery.com

507 E. Nueva St.

San Antonio, TX 78205

210-229-9810

www.susancarlin.com

susan@susancarlin.com

www.ustream.tv/channel/susancarlin

210-602-8562

Salon International Opening

2011-04-03T14:16:00.014-05:00

When I arrived for the Awards Banquet on Friday evening, I was delighted to find it had been sold that day. Don't you love a big red dot on your title tag?! What a nice way to start the night!

Daniel Greene was the judge of this year's Salon. He gave an inspiring speech during the banquet.

Saturday morning, Mr. Greene offered his critiques to those of us who took advantage of his observations. This is the master's hand commenting on Wide World. Doesn't she look a little apprehensive? Imagine what the artist was feeling!

The reception Saturday evening was just wonderful. Good friends came to help celebrate - Thank you! I also loved celebrating with the other artists - some old friends, some new- and taking in the the beautiful paintings. There isn't any way to absorb them all in one day or two, so I'll being going back several times before the ending of the show on April 22nd- to try to really see each of them. If you can make it to the Greenhouse Gallery before the end of the show, I really recommend it. You can also see the paintings online here.

Wide World is one of the 22 paintings from the show which have sold so far. Cool, right?

Workshop Report: Pictures of Pitchers

2011-03-22T07:32:00.002-05:00

Wow! What a day! We had a great group of artists-from Ohio, Florida, Arkansas, Illinois, Nevada, North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Connecticut, Texas and two from Canada. I'm so proud of each of them and the terrific work they did on Sunday. We're all going to finish our paintings in this next week and meet up online for one more show-and-tell/"assessment and suggestions" session, but I thought you'd like to see how we all did by the end of our workshop day. WooHOOO!

Champagne Reception- Nancy Bandy: Cloud Nine

2011-03-17T18:03:00.002-05:00

Please join us for our reception of Nancy Bandy and her newest pastel landscapes... Or CLOUDSCAPES, if you will. Heavenly.

Thursday, March 24, 5-8 p.m.

See you there!

Online One-Day Painting Workshop and Online Broadcast Schedule Change

2011-03-14T16:45:00.003-05:00

Register for my Online Still Life Workshop by clicking HERE.
Sunday, March 20, 9 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. $50.

Paint along with me as you watch me paint in oil from this still life arrangement. You can ask questions along the way, and twice you'll have the opportunity to email me a photo of your progress so I might offer my assessment and suggestions, and therefore see the other painters' paintings, too.
Before the workshop, I’ll send you a supply list and the high resolution image file of our reference and you’ll have time to complete your drawing before we start painting.

I'll spend some time discussing principles I consider when setting up a still life and we'll paint the whole painting together in the course of the day. You’ll have access to the video recordings of the workshop afterward to review.

You just need good internet access next to your easel and a digital camera to send me your photos.

Where else can you spend time painting with others, learn a lot, have so much fun, not have to carry all your equipment and supplies somewhere, and do it all in your jammies, if you like?! No matter your skill level, I think you’ll learn a little something and have a good time, so I hope you’ll join us. Register.
_______________

A change in my Online Broadcast schedule…

I’ve been painting at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesdays for quite a long time now. Starting tomorrow, I’m going to try out a different schedule: 3-5 p.m. on Tuesdays, broadcasting from the gallery. I hope you’ll come by and chat with me while I paint! http://www.blogger.com/www.ustream.tv/channel/susancarlin
Below is the painting I’m working on now… A landscape, for goshsakes! It’s a cliffhanger…

Hope you’re enjoying this beautiful spring.
-Susan

susan@susancarlin.com

http://www.susancarlin.com/

http://susansartjournal.blogspot.com/

http://www.ustream/channel/susancarlin

210-602-8562 cell

Nueva Street Gallery

210-229-9810 gallery

http://www.nuevastreetgallery.com/

gallery@nuevastreetgallery.com

Champagne Reception: Patty Cooper at Nueva Street Gallery March 3, 5-8 p.m.

2011-02-28T18:14:00.001-06:00

We're celebrating this Thursday, March 3, 5-8 p.m...

Patty Cooper's newest oil and pastel paintings.

The colors, shapes and textures of plants speak straight to the soul.

Come hear what these Talking Flora are saying!

-Susan

susan@susancarlin.com
Cell phone: 210-602-8562
www.susancarlin.com
http://susansartjournal.blogspot.com
www.ustream.tv/channel/susancarlin

Gallery: 210-229-9810
Nueva Street Gallery
507 E. Nueva Street
San Antonio, TX 78205

www.nuevastreetgallery.com
http://nuevastreetgallery.blogspot.com

March 20- Online One-Day Still Life Workshop

2011-02-16T17:54:00.007-06:00

(My painting from last year's online still life workshop.) I'm offering a one-day online still life painting workshop on March 20th, a Sunday about a month from now. The arrangement will be considerably less fussy than last year's reference. I'll spend some time discussing principles I consider when setting up a still life and we'll paint the whole painting together in the course of the day. Twice you'll have the opportunity to email me a photo of your progress so I might offer my assessment and suggestions, and therefore see the other painters' paintings, too. You can ask me questions along the way and have access to the video recordings of the workshop afterward to review. The cost is $50. Where else can you spend time painting with others, learn a lot, have so much fun, not have to carry all your equipment and supplies somewhere, and do it all in your jammies, if you like?!

susan@susancarlin.com Cell phone: 210-602-8562 www.susancarlin.com http://susansartjournal.blogspot.com/ www.ustream.tv/channel/susancarlin

2011 Salon International entry accepted!

2011-02-04T16:25:00.004-06:00

Well, I can breathe again. I'm thrilled to let you

know that Wide World was accepted into this year's Salon International! There are so many amazing artists in this show and the paintings are inspiring- it's an honor to be juried in!
You can go HERE to see which works were accepted. This is the first year the Greenhouse Gallery has created links to the paintings' images. I've been enjoying looking at them all. Daniel Greene is the judge this year for the competition. I think of him as my first portrait painting instructor since it was his book that I poured over and his skill at painting that I aspired to when I began painting at age 20. (Over 35 years ago, my friends.) The show opens April 2nd and runs through April 22 at the Greenhouse Gallery here in San Antonio. I hope you'll make time to go. Then come visit Nueva Street Gallery while you're here! (Our new website is almost ready to launch. I'll post a link as soon as it's up, I promise.)

I was informed Wednesday that I've worked on this portrait of John Pototschnik on and off for two years. That's some sort of a record for dawdling for me. I mean, I can dawdle with the best of them, but two YEARS??! This is the current state of its progress and I hope to show it in its finished state very, very soon.

San Antonio woke up to snow this morning. You read that right. Snow. I had icicles hanging from the edges of my car. No, really. I think it last happened the year before I moved here- 1985. I've seen ice in San Antonio before, but not snow that stuck and stayed. A friend texted at 3:45 a.m.: SNOW! A quick pull on the blinds' cord revealed a beautiful scene outside. Kind of magical, really. Like hearing someone yelling "Northern Lights!" outside the RV in Michigan one night around 2 a.m., and going out to be gobsmacked by undulating curtains of color and an iris of slowly pulsing light directly above.

I wish you magic in your day today. Snow, Northern Lights or 'just' the smile of someone you love.

Wide World- completed and submitted

2011-01-24T11:57:00.005-06:00

On New Year's Eve I posted my start of this painting, and promised to show you when I finished it. The deadline for entry into this year's Salon International was Friday, and I got it submitted in the nick of time. Perhaps it's not smart to mention this. What if it's not accepted? After years of competitions I've seen one of my paintings get Best Of Show in one, and not even get accepted in another, so I understand the capriciousness of it all. Still, I am holding my breath. I'll let you know.

About 10 days ago we had a reception for Carol Marine and her beautiful paintings at Nueva Street Gallery. At one point during the reception we did a short (14 minutes, I think) broadcast of talking with her and some of the guests, showing her paintings and then doing a short tour of the gallery and the other work we have right now.

Please just know that it's not a polished video, just an unedited, fun record of part of the party. You can watch it here if you like.

Today started grey and cold and... a Monday. I wanted to stay curled up under the blankets, honestly. Now it's beautiful and clear and 63 degrees in San Antonio, with many happy travelers and convention-goers coming in and taking home art that makes them even gladder to have visited our fair city.
Always a good lesson: A day can always get more beautiful, a friendship can deepen, you can learn something valuable, you can be a bright spot for a stranger and you can cross some items off your to-do list and feel more accomplished by just showing up sometimes.

Hope you have a magical day!
-Susan

Carol Marine Reception

2011-01-06T13:11:00.002-06:00

When I first became owner of Nueva Street Gallery, I started visualizing someday showing Carol Marine's paintings. Someday has arrived!
Please join us in welcoming Carol at a champagne reception for her and her delicious paintings on Thursday, January 13th, from 5-8 p.m.
Take a break and come spend a day - or several - in San Antonio, enjoying the Riverwalk, La Villita, and Nueva Street Gallery.
We'd love to see you!
Susan

susan@susancarlin.com
Cell phone: 210-602-8562
Gallery: 210-229-9810
Nueva Street Gallery
507 E. Nueva Street
San Antonio, TX 78205

http://www.nuevastreetgallery.com/

http://www.susancarlin.com/
http://susansartjournal.blogspot.com
www.ustream.tv/channel/susancarlin

New painting in progress- Wide World

2010-12-31T14:44:00.003-06:00

Wide World (in progress) 11x14, oil

Detail from Wide World, oil
I'm only a little way into this painting, but I do like the beginning of it. I thought I'd share its rough state with you and promise to show you the finish when I get there. The reference is from photos I took in France this summer in the small town of St. Florent Le Vieil on the Loire river. This girl was in a window overlooking the narrow street I walked back to our bed and breakfast from the Abbey where the International Pastel Festival was being held. I knew when I looked at the photo later that I'd want to paint her, and now that all my Christmas portrait commissions got to their recipients on time, I'm glad to have begun this one for me!

Nueva Street Gallery has been bustling with happy Holiday visitors to La Villita, and today the city is gearing up for 250,000 visitors for the New Year's party, Celebrate San Antonio, which happens right outside the gallery in Hemisfair Park tonight. Should be very exciting with all the music and fireworks!

I wish you much joy and creativity and love in the year ahead.

Thank you for being a part of my world!

Susan

Thankful for artists, art lovers and the artist's life in San Antonio

2010-11-24T02:19:00.001-06:00

Those of you who've received my newsletter over the years are likely wondering what happened?! After coming to expect regular posts of freshly finished paintings and works in progress and news of workshops and art-related travel... suddenly seven weeks with no posting. Well! I'll try to describe my recent transition/transformation and follow with a promise to stay much better in touch.

Rice, 11x14 oil
On September 1st I became the owner of Nueva Street Gallery in La Villita, San Antonio's Historic Arts Village by the Riverwalk. I went from owning a tiny gallery with my own work and the work of three other artists, to a gallery with now 20 artists' work in addition to my own. The thrill of the new space (s-p-a-c-e!) comes with the responsibility to represent some really terrific artists the very best I can. I'm in a voracious learning mode and frankly working my fanny off: picture me in the midst of running the gallery (ringing up sales, packing and shipping, hanging artwork, talking with visitors, cleaning, running errands, receiving new art from the artists, writing checks and paying bills) with a long schedule of portrait commissions whose due dates are fast approaching.... are you seeing a whirlwind with a paintbrush? That's me!
And I'm thankful for all of it.

Kim, 20x16 oil.

I love the gallery and the artists and their amazing work and I LOVE meeting the visitors who wander in during their vacations or on a break from the conference they're attending. You already know I love painting, so all this adds up to a special kind of heaven. A heaven where I'm not getting a lot of sleep just now, but heaven just the same.

My last post announced our opening celebration party October 2nd. We had somewhere between 200 and 300 guests... and I had been worried no one would come! It was a fun night with wonderful music, tasty refreshments, good friends, artists and art.

My online painting broadcasts have been less regular lately, adding a long live model session on a Saturday from the gallery:

Nazir (in progress) 28x22, oil
and subtracting a couple of Wednesday nights. I've completed several commissions and even worked on a couple of paintings "for me." (I'll show you soon...)

Through this whole process, from the "just dreaming out loud" stage this spring, to the reality today, I've had the help of my very close friend, Ugur Kilic.

(Pronunciaton lesson: Oor Kuhlutch. My font won't allow it, but the "g" should have a line over it, making it silent, and the "c" should have a small hook under it, making it a "ch" sound. Her name means Good Luck, or Good Fortune in Turkish. So true.) Ugur helped through packing, moving, inventory making, accounting, errand running, furniture and fixture buying, rearranging everything, creating the artists' bios that hang with each artist's work, greeting and talking with the visitors, helping them complete their purchases, packing and shipping and driving packages to FedEx.... in other words, she's been invaluable and amazing and has worked her fanny off, too. I'm deeply thankful. Ugur is a terrific graphic designer and photographer who shows her fine art photography and mixed media work at Nueva Street Gallery.

For all of the doom and gloom you hear these days about the economy and how tough things are for artists now, we're doing great. Artists are making beautiful things and we're helping to put them into the hands and lives of people who recognize the value and beauty and life-enhancing properties of original art.

I promise to post sooner next time and hope you'll stay in touch, too!

Thankful for your interest and good wishes,

Susan

Party Tonight at Nueva Street Gallery!

2010-10-02T13:52:00.003-05:00

I hope you'll come to the party today... 4-8 p.m. at 507 E. Nueva Street, San Antonio!

This is how the gallery looks today before the party....

Why don't you come on down and help fill the gallery with happy faces tonight? I'm grinning ear to ear right now. So many people have helped this month... and added their energy to this beautiful space. Thank you, my dear friends! Now, let's PARTY!

susan@susancarlin.com

Cell phone: 210-602-8562

www.susancarlin.com

http://susansartjournal.blogspot.com

www.ustream.tv/channel/susancarlin

Gallery: 210-229-9810

Nueva Street Gallery

507 E. Nueva Street

San Antonio, TX 78205

www.nuevastreetgallery.com

http://nuevastreetgallery.blogspot.com

The Gallery is Open....... It's Time to Party!

2010-09-16T18:55:00.012-05:00

Click on announcement above to enlarge... please come to the party!

(Want to see more? Click here to see a Slideshow of the Gallery-23 photos with captions.)

Some cool moments:
-Working on a commissioned portrait in the beautiful north light that fills the room from a bank of five very tall, side-by-side windows. It's a dream fulfilled. I've worked in some very bad light over the years...
Believe me, the difference is amazing.

-Walking through the gallery and giving a live, narrated video tour of the gallery for the great folks who tuned in for my Wednesday online painting session about 8 days ago. (The tour part is just the first 10 minutes or so of the video... the rest is of a figure painting I'm working on.)

-Getting to know some of the artists whose works the gallery represents. I haven't met them all yet, but since I love their work, I expect that they're pretty cool, too.

Thank you to everyone who's sent good wishes and congratulations...
It means more than I can say.

Please, if you're anywhere near San Antonio on Saturday, October 2nd, come help us celebrate the gallery's opening from 4-8 p.m. The music will be wonderful, the refreshments will be yummy and the art will be beautiful. And if you're here, the company will be fabulous!!!

Figure Painting Workshop Aug. 21-22

2010-08-17T13:34:00.004-05:00

Coppini Academy, San Antonio, Texas
Two day workshop- Painting the clothed figure in an interior setting. Open to all skill levels.
It's liberating to paint people when a likeness is not the objective. Painting someone doing something, someone in context with the surroundings... the narrative becomes the intent. In this workshop, artists will become storytellers.

In the real world, artists work from life or from photos or a combination of both. On the first day of the workshop, artists will paint from photographic references (provided by me) - a simple scene of a single figure indoors. Artists will work from the model on the second day- an arrangement involving a woman reading.

I'll address issues involving proportion, composition, increasing accuracy of drawing, representign values more correctly, ways to direc the viewers' eye, as well as addresseing individual artists' questions and concerns. Artists may work in oil or pastel or in any drawing medium. (Artists working in other media may attend if they are in command of their medium and are seeking assistance with the subject matter and above issues.)

Join us for a weekend of painting and storytelling!

Moving To A New Gallery!

2010-08-14T16:12:00.006-05:00

Nueva Street Gallery
507 Nueva Street, San Antonio TX 78205 /
Building 22 in La Villita

Imagine this: Moving from 166 square feet (that's probably smaller than your bedroom, my friends) to 1235 square feet. From two windows on one side, to many tall windows on all four sides, plus a huge skylight in the center. From an eight-foot ceiling to a twelve-foot ceiling. From no plumbing (I've had to lock up to walk to the public restroom) and a "kitchen" that consists of swiveling my chair sideways to a little fridge and microwave, to having your own bathroom and your own kitchen. From no storage to a whole room for storage. From one entrance to three. Are you in a bit of a swoon now? Well, that's just how I feel!

On September 1, 2010, I'm moving from my sweet, tiny, first gallery to a dream gallery- a house built in 1891 which has been Nueva Street Gallery in La Villita, established and owned for 21 years by Richard Conn. Richard is a wonderful artist, now retiring, who has represented some very special artists. I'll now be representing those artists, as well as myself and the three who have been with me at Susan Carlin Art Studio And Gallery. Mr. Conn will be generously assisting in a smooth transition by working with me once a week- for which I'm very grateful.

I've had my first little gallery for over two and a half years now, and I've loved it. This new move will allow me to teach more often and more comfortably, as well as to expand in several other good ways.

Please come visit sometime after September 1... We'll have a party in about a month to celebrate... I'll post a date soon!

-Smiling Susan

Last days of France and return home...

2010-07-22T15:59:00.008-05:00

I'm home from Ireland and France and still absorbing it all- knowing I'm changed from the experience and curious how the change will show itself in my life. I wanted to show you a few images from the last four days in France...

This is the Abbey at St. Florent le Vieil, a town along the Loire river west of Paris, where the International Pastel Festival was hosted so beautifully. Every artist and organizer we met was lovely and made our little group of Texas artists feel very special.

Coming into town, we stopped to take pictures- the one above was among them- and when we returned to the rental car we found Diana Moya, our leader and driver, unable to find reverse on the stick- shift Renault. Each time she released the clutch the car moved a few more inches toward a plunge into the river Loire. I want to you to picture four very well-dressed dainty women pushing a full-sized sedan up a hill with the car in reverse with me (in jeans and tennis shoes) behind the wheel. Never underestimate the power and determination of women artists! I expect to find a video of this event on YouTube someday, posted by some startled passerby.

L-R: Yours truly, Debra Richardson, Sue Wiley, Mary Beth Martin, the Mayor of St. Florent le Vieil, Patrick Martin, Francoise, Libby Peters, Chris, Diana Moya

An article about us in the newspaper in France...

Here are my two paintings at St. Florent (two others are at the other Festival site in Feytiat, France)...

Evening Flight, and Morning Flight.

Posing with the Mayor of St. Florent le Vieil

The street between the Abbey and our hotel on the water. The whole town was just charming.

Back the next day to really look at all the paintings....
Then we (the Texas artists) went to lunch at this terrific crepe restaurant. This was my salmon crepe with white asparagus and a to-die-for sauce and that's, yes, a mojito to the left of my plate and a glass of wine to the right... uh huh... and an assortment of cheeses, some made locally, and crusty bread. We laughed, we talked art, we stuffed ourselves. Mango ice cream was involved.

After this meal, my dear friend and portrait artist, Libby Peters and I took a walk back to the hotel. We sat down in the grass along the path by the Loire river and talked for hours. Funny- we live an hour from each other and had to go to France to get time to talk. My internal art compass got reoriented by talking things over with Libby. I owe her BIG.

One last look at the Abbey...

Ginette works with the Abbey and generously offered to drive me the 40 km to the train station at Angers on Sunday. She spoke no English and I spoke no French but together we sang along to the Beatles' Penny Lane when it played on the radio and hugged each other and grinned when we arrived. People are wonderful everywhere.

Joanna and I had one last night in Paris before our VERY early taxi ride to the airport on Monday. We sat at this sidewalk cafe by the Seine for a long, long time over our dinner

and coffee and talked about what the time away from home had allowed us to see more clearly about our lives: Our lives are good and it's always worth becoming more conscious about what is now habit and what could be fine-tuned to something better and more authentic.

Back home....

This painting was a portrait (commissioned by the man's son) I did just before leaving, so was now dry and ready for varnishing on my return. He picked it up yesterday, was delighted, and has three other portraits in mind, one of which will be of himself from a sitting. I'm really looking forward to that- it promises to be very special.

Thank you for going along with me on my summer adventure! An adventure that requires a passport is always wonderful, but the one I have sitting in front of my easel with a paintbrush loaded with one juicy color after another can be just as transporting and life-affirming and exciting.

Heck, just a conversation with a good friend can change your life.

Here's to our next adventure!

Paris images

2010-07-16T02:51:00.005-05:00

Ok, I finally see what all the fuss has been about. Paris is unbelievable. I got in on Monday and saw the length of Rue du Temple on foot as I carried and pulled my luggage. (I had walked right by my hotel/apartment and kept on looking...) I was happy the whole time. When I reached the Seine, I knew I'd gone too far and headed back. My friend Joanna had flown in from Phoenix that day and had waited for me for hours, bleary and jetlagged, but she seemed happy, too. Especially when I finally showed up!

We went to the Musee D'Orsay on Tuesday. The photo above was taken there. I got to stand in front of Vincent's self portrait inside and just exchange a few personal and artistic ideas with him for a minute or two. We agreed on a few of them. My time in this museum was almost a religious experience for me. Some people take pilgrimages to Lourdes or Mecca. D'Orsay and the Louvre do the trick for me.

We went to the Louvre on Wednesday, Bastille Day. It was cool and rainy and perfect. I saw Winged Victory and Mona.

Mona and I never got eye-to-eye, as they have her locked up behind glass and velvet ropes and so far away... plus way too many other people were angling to lock eyes with her for me to get much of a chance. But did blow her kisses and I think she winked in my direction.

Then we headed for the Eiffel Tower. Can I use any more superlatives to describe my amazement?

We sat on the grassy lawn to await the fireworks. Then I got antsy and walked 4 or 5 miles to Pont Neuf to take pictures for someone who'd asked me to do that. I was closer to our apartment by then, so walked the many blocks there to recharge my camera battery and look up the Metro stop nearest the Eiffel Tower. I've never been so squashed up against humanity as I was that night. The oxygen level on the train was very low, but the excitement of everyone heading for the fireworks was high.

This is what I saw when I finally rejoined Joanna (yelling her name to locate her, as the crowd had gotten incredibly dense). The program started at about 11 p.m. because it took that long for the sky to get dark! They played music from every culture and the fireworks were choreographed to go along with the songs... Wonderful!

Yesterday we went to the Montmartre district and saw where Renoir and Dali and Toulouse-Lautrec and many other such painters hung out. On the way up to Place de Tertre, we marveled at Sacre Couer, above. It's high above the city and I'll bet it's beautiful to look out over the city at night from there.

One of the many, many artists on the square at Place de Tertre in Montmartre.

Today I leave in just a minute for the train station where I'll meet up with some artist friends from Austin take the high speed TGV train to St. Florent le Vieil for the pastel festival. More news to follow...

I've been soaking in art over here and am kind of curious what sort of thing I'll want to paint when I get home.

Thank you so much to those of you who've left comments and sent me emails while I'm traveling. It means a LOT.

Ok... got to head to the Metro station.... talk with you later!

Susan

Ireland Images

2010-07-11T15:42:00.009-05:00

I know, I thought I could post something each day of my time here. I'm leaving Ireland for Paris tomorrow and only posted twice. I love this place SO much. I hope there's some way for me to return often- Believe me, I'll be working on that!

This demo was on the second day. I didn't develop it very far, but it's of my nephew Jake, so I like it even in it's raw unfinished state.

This is on the last day of the workshop. The model was on break... why are these artists still painting? Hmm... I loved all these painters.

I did this little demo on the second day, too, because one of the artists was painting from its reference and it was giving her trouble. I found out why when I gave it a go- very tricky for some reason. She's given me a copy of her reference so I can someday return to this and try to finish it. Now it's a matter of pride!

These are my funny, smart, happy hosts Jan and Janetta. I've had such a good time in their company.

After the workshop, Jan and Janetta and I crossed the country to the west coast, past Galway to the the Connemara region. Oh my.

(That's me on the rise to the right.)
Horses and cows and sheep and rugged shoreline and sandy beaches and beautiful towns and sailboats and wide blue sky and people speaking with the richest accent that goes right to the center of my heart and mind, and cider and seafood chowder and prawns and salmon and potatoes done every way possible and incredible brown bread. In the 8 days I've been here I must've eaten loaves and loaves of brown bread. I've never had anything like it and yet it's on every table- imagine! The conversations I've been privileged to listen to (and be part of) will bounce around in my brain for a long time.

These last two days I've spent with Janetta and her partner John. John is a literary agent, and of course Janetta is an artist, so the house and conversation is filled with books and art. We've walked along one of the two Dun Laoghaire piers today and Janetta and I visited another one of the artists from the workshop in her beautiful home on the sea.

The pictures I'm posting have no real way of showing you what I've seen, but may offer a hint of some kind.

Tomorrow I fly to Paris! Although I'm having trouble letting go of Ireland, I'm looking forward to exploring the little bit of France I'll get to experience in the coming week. With any luck I'll be posting again soon.

First day of workshop

2010-07-06T02:21:00.002-05:00

I'm in heaven. Thirteen enthusiastic Irish artists (plus yours truly) in a gorgeous room overlooking a gorgeous landscape, painting away all day, breaking only to have lunch in another gorgeous room. I wonder if I could work it out to live like this all the time?

Our view from the balcony of the Dun Laoghaire Golf Club.

My demo painting from our first day.

My hosts, Jan Hyland and her husband Colm, and Janetta Mellet.

I'm racing to get this out to you before I run out the door for our second day of painting...
Will report back soon....

I'm in Ireland!

2010-07-05T00:59:00.000-05:00

This is the completed portrait of the Henager Sisters. Their father commissioned the painting and drove down from Austin to pick it up the night before I left. I think he’s as happy with it as I am. Thank you to all who kept me company online as I painted it.

With lots of help I got packed and to the airport on time, only to have an hour and a half delay waiting for the plane. It still left almost an hour to make my connection in Newark for Dublin, so all worked out fine. A miracle happened and I was the only passenger in my row- so I got to tip over and sleep a bit on the overnight flight! I hadn’t slept well at home for a while, so I really needed all I could get. I took a bus to my hosts- Jan Hyland and Janetta Mellet- and had a beautiful lunch in Janetta’s beautiful garden.
Jan took me to her house afterwards where I’ve been the last two days, hosted so graciously by Jan and her husband Colm, and recovering from some wicked strain of jet lag. We’ve walked the Dun Laoghaire (pronounced Dun Leery) pier and we’ve visited the Royal Hiburnian Academy in Dublin and I’ve crashed for emergency naps several times. But it’s now 6:41 on Monday morning, the workshop starts in less than three hours and I feel great. I hope to still broadcast on my regular Wednesday, but much earlier than my usual 7 p.m. Central time. Most likely it will be 11 a.m. or noon, but I’ll post more as I know.

The workshop is being held at a gorgeous place- The Dun Laoghaire Golf Club. Oh my. I can’t wait to show you!

Stay tuned….

Happy Susan

Travels and Progress and Figure Workshop

2010-06-12T08:10:00.004-05:00

Wilson's Arch, oil 11" x 14" $250. unframed, $310. framed.
Two weeks ago my daughter and a friend and I drove to Idaho to visit my parents and my brother- a three day drive each way through spectacular country. I took a lot of photos, mostly through the windows of my car. I painted this from one of those references. A viewer of my broadcast as I began this painting did some quick research and suggested I was painting Wilson’s Arch in Utah. Very possibly. I just know I saw it coming up the road and scrambled pretty quickly to get some fly-by photos. I really like this painting.

Ranchero, oil 10"x8" $150. unframed, $175 framed.
I painted this in the Best Western bathroom (it had the best light!) in Monticello, Utah, on our way back to Texas. The fellow had been sitting at the counter having breakfast in Roswell, NM, near our booth - prompting some stealthy photos over our hash browns and biscuits and gravy. I realized as I set up to paint that I hadn't packed any WHITE! I'd never painted anything without white on my palette. It was an interesting exercise and resulted in a painting I like very much.

This is a small commissioned painting for a man of his mother, using a photo from the early '60s- a photocopy of a damaged, hand-tinted black and white photo. I simplified her complicated jacket and the very complicated background in order to shift the focus to her beautiful, elegant face.

I'm only a short way into this 18" x 24" oil of three sisters, but I thought I'd post a progress image of it so far. It seems like everyone who has kept me company during my broadcast while I painted it has mentioned how many teeth there are to paint in this portrait. I do love their smiles and will follow my own best advice in how to paint those smiles. I will so!

Coming up: I'm offering a two-day "Figure Indoors" Workshop August 21-22 at the Coppini Academy here in San Antonio. $195. includes model and studio fees. Artists may work in either oil or pastel and will work from my photographs the first day and from the model on the second day. If you love painting people and also love the idea of a narrative painting- telling a story- I hope you'll join me. Sometimes it's a pleasure to paint people when the likeness is not imperative! Email me at susan@susancarlin.com and I'll connect you to the folks who handle registration.

I leave in less than three weeks for Ireland where I'm teaching a three-day portrait workshop in Dublin (!!!), then visiting Galway and Connemara with my artist friends there. Then I'm flying to Paris (my first time!!!) for a few days, then taking the train to the International Pastel Festival in St. Florent Le Vieil where I have four paintings exhibited. Pinch me. I promise paintings will follow...

I hope your summer plans include a little adventure, a lot of fun and the chance to create something. Oh, and some time in a hammock. Ahhh.....

Figure Workshop, August 21-22

2010-06-12T08:00:00.003-05:00

Susan Carlin- Figure Workshop
Painting the clothed figure in an interior setting
Open to all skill levels

Saturday, August 21- Sunday, August 22, 9 a.m.- 4:30 p.m., $195 includes venue and model fees.

It's liberating to paint people when a likeness is not necessarily the goal. Painting someone doing something, a person in context with the surroundings- the narrative becomes the intent. In this workshop, artists will become storytellers.

In the real world, artists work from life or from photos, and often a combination of both. In this workshop, artists will paint the first day from photographs provided by the instructor- a simple scene involving a single figure indoors. Artists will work from the model on the second day- an arrangement involving a woman reading.

Carlin will address issues involving proportion, composition, increasing accuracy of drawing, representing values more accurately, ways to direct the viewer's eye, as well as addressing individual artists' questions and concerns. Artists may work in oil or in pastel, or in any drawing medium. (Artists who work in other media are welcome if they are in command of their medium and are seeking assistance with the subject matter and above issues.)

Join us for a weekend of painting and storytelling!

susan@susancarlin.com

Self Portrait, and Sharon Stone- from sitting.

2010-05-05T15:53:00.004-05:00

Ok, I broke every rule on this self portrait. I painted individual teeth, for starters. You don't do that. I admonish students not to do that. I try so hard not to paint so 'tightly' in general, yet this painting is terribly tight. Sigh. Just forgive me and we'll move on, shall we? I will say it was fun to do a self portrait in which I actually look happy -accomplished by the fact that I worked from a photo taken by a photographer friend. Most I've done from looking in a mirror and there has been a serious look on each of those. If you know me, you know that I don't often look serious. The goofy grin is more likely.

This beautiful woman is Sharon Stone. Maybe not the Sharon Stone you know from movies, but it is her name, nonetheless. Last Saturday I was called by the La Villita office, asking me to please be painting that day as the Travel Channel would be in La Villita taping an episode about San Antonio. I accosted Sharon and her husband, Ivan, the moment they walked into my gallery that morning, pleading for her to model for me later in the day. She agreed and, true to her word, she returned to sit for me for 3 and a half hours. The Travel Channel never arrived, having run out of time earlier on their route. Ah well... I enjoyed our conversation so much and she loved her painting. I took a photo of her before she left and worked another couple of hours on it Monday. Below: Ivan, Sharon and Sharon's portrait.

I'll be painting online tonight at 7 p.m. Central time in case you can swing by to say hello... www.ustream.tv/channel/susancarlin
Hope to 'see' you there!
Susan

Chacala Boy, oil, 14x11... finished

2010-04-24T19:26:00.016-05:00

I enjoyed painting this sweet face. If you compare this painting to the one in my previous post, you'll see he looks better nourished.

Below are some of the portraits painted in the workshop... I'm delighted with each one!

Gwen Bell

Juli Koroly

Ruthie Sexton

Janice Crawford

Kay Moore

Annice Anderson

Barbara Pask

Linda Wacaster

Ray Beck

Leslie Newman

Norma Folse

For a while now I'd been casting about for 'direction' in that constant question of what to paint next. Then the other day I bought Robert Henri's book, "The Art Spirit," and on the twelfth page he writes, "An art student must be a master from the beginning; that is, he must be master of such as he has. By being now master of such as he has there is promise that he will be master in the future." I've read other versions of that notion- to paraphrase: completely fill the place you have in your life in the present; take care of the job in front of you/love the people in front of you/clean the house you live in/do all that you do now with your best skills and best effort.... because until you do, you can't possibly be ready for what's next, or what's better.
I was immediately aware of the paintings I have sitting around the studio that have been started, but not finished. Ok, well, some of my broadcast viewers remind me of them regularly, too. I see that I need to finish a few paintings before asking what's next. Expect some finishes in the next few posts!
-Susan

Salon's Jury's Top Sixty... and some starts

2010-04-19T17:29:00.004-05:00

These last few days have been so full that now it's hard to know how to fill you in! I enjoyed all the events associated with Salon International, and it was made more special by getting to experience it all with artist Debra Bryant, who was my guest from Florida and who had a painting in the show, as well. She emailed me a couple of days ago to tell me the news that my painting had been awarded a ribbon as one of the Jury's Top Sixty in the Exhibition. I'm thrilled!

While she was visiting, we did a broadcast together in which we both started self portraits. I've worked on mine a bit since, and though it is FAR from finished, I thought I'd show you how it looks at the moment, but stay tuned for many improvements:

Saturday, April 17th, I held my second online painting workshop and this time the subject was a portrait. Again, I was so proud of all the work done by the participating artists. I'll post the images of their completed portraits on my blog in a few days when they send in their images for 'assessment and suggestions.' My own painting from our common photo reference is not completed, but I'll show you what it looks like now. His face will be a bit plumper in the final version:

Hope you're enjoying a beautiful spring!

Studio makeover, Debra's visit & Gentleman Traveler

2010-04-07T13:13:00.006-05:00

My studio/computer room in its former hideous state:

This room was originally the fourth bedroom in my home, although I've only used it as an office for the 20+ years I've lived here. A few years ago I discovered the advantages of painting with my reference photos on the computer monitor, so I moved in a couple of easels... and the flotsam and jetsam began to accumulate. Until I started broadcasting my painting time, I usually had a movie or TV show going while I painted in order to have 'company' of a sort. Now I get to have a conversation with real people while I paint. Life was good, but oh, was it ever messy!
The same space now:

I don't think the "before" pictures truly show how awful it was in this room, but trust me- you wouldn't have wanted your loved ones to enter without making sure their shots were up to date.
How did this transformation happen? I have a friend who was born organized. You know how Superman had X-ray eyes and could see inside and behind things? Well, she can look at clutter and stacks and jumbles of who-knows-what and see how to put it in order. Me? I look at a cluttered room and just turn in circles until the depth of my despair could fill a Russian novel.

Yesterday she took on my studio and the room didn't stand a chance. It whimpered a little (or was that me?) and gave in to her tidy plans. I keep going to the door and saying, "WOW!"

Tonight I'll get to do my Wednesday night (7:00 p.m. Central time) broadcast in a space with SPACE. Please drop in if you can! On Friday, I'll be broadcasting painting with Debra Bryant , whom I get to host while she's in town for the opening reception of the Salon International exhibition this weekend. I'm not sure exactly when we'll broadcast on Friday, so if you add your email address to my "Get an email when I'll be painting online" form on my blog, you'll get an email with the time. Friday evening Debra and I will attend the Salon's Awards Banquet. Photos to follow!

My painting, Gentleman Traveler, was accepted into the Salon International and its image is now posted on Greenhouse Gallery's website here, and the super enormous image of it is here. Here is the framed view.
Some of you may remember that Daniel Greene critiqued my accepted entry last year, and what a thrill that was for me. Well, this year's judge, Everett Raymond Kinstler, is going to critique Gentleman Traveler. I will do my best to video his critique and post it here afterward. It'll be an honor to have him consider my work for the few minutes he'll focus on it.

Remember that I'm offering an Online Portrait Workshop a week from Saturday- April 17th, 9-4:30, for $50. So if you have good internet access and want to paint a portrait that Saturday, I hope you'll join in the fun! Follow this link to register:
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=4YWRGKKTFG5QU

Come on by tonight at 7 for a chat while I paint... You know I love it.

Susan

Joe, oil, 12" x 12"

2010-03-29T20:48:00.010-05:00

I started this painting during one of my recent broadcasts and finished it over several days at my studio/gallery. It was a fun challenge to work out where the warms and cools were in his skin tones. I took the reference photo of a gracious visitor to the gallery who allowed me to take a few photos in response to my shameless begging. Thank you, Joe!

Tonight I'll be painting online at 7 p.m. Central, universe willing and the creek don't rise. Why don't you swing by around that time? I won't have a long session tonight, but always look forward to 'seeing' everyone and painting. Hope you'll drop in!

Reminder: My second Online Painting Workshop is coming up three Saturdays from now- April 17, 9:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. $50. The subject will be a portrait, the reference for which I'll be sending this week to those who've registered. Send your family to the park for the day and pull up your easel to the computer- Let's paint a portrait together!

To register, follow this link:
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=4YWRGKKTFG5QU

(If you're receiving this by email, the button below won't work, so use the link above.)

For those registering from the blog, use this button:

"See" you tonight!
Susan

Turkish Angora Kitten, 5" x 7" oil

2010-03-22T12:49:00.003-05:00

This is one of those pure joy paintings. It's the eighth in a series of kitty faces I've painted for a fellow who's become a friend in the process. Saturday I was mentioning to a Turkish friend that I needed to look for an image of a new cat's face to paint for Bill, and she suggested a Turkish Angora cat. They were new to me, but I've discovered they are always white with one green eye and one blue eye. I painted it on a slick gesso-coated, not canvas, panel, which left lots of brush marks visible down to the white surface. At first that worried me, but later I decided I liked the look a lot. What do you think?

We're having a clear, beautiful day here in San Antonio. Spring is in full swing around here- the bluebonnets are rioting along the roads and the trees are that intense yellow green of early spring. Red bud trees are thrilling in their various shades of pink to neon fuscia, and the mountain laurel trees are heavy with their clusters of grape-bubble-gum-scented flowers... heady stuff. Hope you look for and enjoy all the beauty around you today!

Notre Dame Future finished...Persian kitten tomorrow...

2010-03-16T13:00:00.004-05:00

I started this painting during my broadcasts, so those of you who join me while I'm painting live will recognize it. I had some days at the gallery to paint, so finished it up here. Quite an epic painting, yes? Notre Dame and the autumn landscape in the background was a great puzzle to figure out and each stone in the foreground needed to have its own character. Very little about this painting felt familiar or easy, so I feel extra proud at the completion of it. The parents of the little boys in the painting went to school and now work at Notre Dame.

Tomorrow I'll be painting a small (8"x10") painting of an adorable Persian kitten named Gilbert.

I hope you'll join me- www.ustream.tv/channel/susancarlin at 7 p.m. Central.

New Online Workshop- This time: A Portrait!

2010-03-08T13:07:00.006-06:00

I'm excited about offering a new online workshop- This time we'll paint a portrait on Saturday, April 17th. I'll be working in oil again this time, as will most of the participating artists, but you may use any medium you're most comfortable working in. In a week or so, I'll send the registered artists the supply list and the image we'll be using as our reference. Before the workshop I'll send the password and workshop online site. Midway through the workshop, each artist can participate in the "assessment and suggestion" session by sending me an image of her/his work-in-progress and receiving my assessment and suggestions. The workshop fee is $50. A DVD of the workshop will be available for $20. to those who took the workshop, and for $45. to others. You can register via PayPal below...

The workshop will start at 9:00 a.m. and will end around 4:30. The underlying technology is quirky and can cause some hiccups, but with good humor we all enjoyed the first workshop in February and are wanting to do it all again with new subject matter! I hope you'll join us!

April 17 Online Portrait Workshop

Upsie Daisy, 14 x 11 oil

2010-02-25T11:31:00.005-06:00

$400. unframed, $450. framed.

I know. It's true- these are the same daisies in the same jar. I sure got my money's worth with those flowers, didn't I? I see that I painted the jar differently in each- high shoulders, low shoulders, taller, shorter. I'm sure glad I've kept my artistic license up to date!

I've always thought of myself as a portrait artist who occasionally attempted other sorts of paintings- as if still life and landscapes 'belonged' to other painters and I was traipsing, even trespassing, on their territory to paint those subjects. I hereby claim all subject matter as "mine." I'm a painter.

I've really enjoyed painting these still lifes lately. Upsie Daisy is one I've painted over the last two Wednesday evenings during my online broadcasts. Gwen Bell is the artist of the small painting of the bowl with two apples. I fell in love with it when I saw it on her blog and was delighted she sold it to me. It hangs on my dining room wall usually, but I pulled it down into this arrangement when I was taking reference photos. I'm pleased she gave me permission to include it in this one of mine.

We're having a beautiful day here in San Antonio. I hope you're enjoying yours!

Online Still Life Painting Workshop Report

2010-02-21T14:10:00.016-06:00

Daisies' Date, oil, 14" x 11" $400 unframed, $450. framed

- My painting from the workshop yesterday. (The painting within the painting is by Barbara Pask. )
Look for the images of the other artists' paintings below....

Nineteen wonderful artists registered for my first online painting workshop and seventeen attended it live yesterday. The other two will take the workshop from the video recordings we created yesterday. I was so impressed with each artist's work and their good nature as we rolled with occasional difficulty using Ustream as our means to connect. Between those delays and my having chosen a reference that was a bit complicated we ran later than we'd planned, but they hung in there, creating beautiful paintings every one.
I plan to offer other online workshops in the future, putting to use all I learned and making changes suggested by the artists in this first one. Portraiture, figures, pastel, more still life... my mind whirls with the possibilities!
If you couldn't attend yesterday's workshop live, but would like to take it by painting along to about 8-9 hours of videos on your own time in your own home, let me know. susan@susancarlin.com $40. (Critiques of your resulting work are not included with this option.)

I'll add images of the other artists' workshop paintings on this post as they are sent to me... check back over the next few days!

Ruthie Sexton

Annice Anderson

Debra Bryant

Barbara Pask

Gwen Bell

Peggy Montano

Pattie Wall

Marilyn Harman

Norma Folse

Michelle Burnett

Leslie Newman

Janice Crawford

Casual Company...and Saturday's workshop

2010-02-16T08:30:00.003-06:00

Casual Company, oil, 10" x 8"
I took many photos of still life arrangements in preparation for this Saturday's online painting workshop I'm offering... then could only pick one for the workshop! The other references seemed to cry, "Not fair!" So this is another painting from those references. Same apple, yes. I painted this during the Olympics' opening ceremonies Friday evening , and yesterday I thought it was dry enough to put in a frame and take with me to the gallery. It sold to a young, beautiful couple from L.A. I'm glad I thought to photograph it before they walked in!

There is still room for perhaps 4 more artists in the workshop this Saturday, February 20. We'll start at 9 a.m. Central, everyone in their own homes next to their computers. We'll paint til noon, everyone following along as I lead the way through the painting. Then they'll email me images (if they like) of their works-in-progress and I'll do an assessment-and-suggestion session online. We'll paint again until 4:00 and have another assessment session. Everything will be recorded so that the artists can revisit any or all of the workshop for a month following. So if someone has to leave early or loses their internet connection, no worries! If you'd like to spend the day with me (and with a great group of artists through the chat room) email me and we'll get you registered. It's $50. for the workshop. susan@susancarlin.com

Still Life Fun and Online Painting Workshop

2010-02-11T08:53:00.006-06:00

Daisies Reign, oil, 11" x 14" $400. unframed, $450 framed

Last night I painted this during my online broadcast... and after. I enjoyed chatting with the other artists, then said goodnight and couldn't seem to stop painting. At midnight I declared it finished. This morning I see a couple of things I'll tweak later today, but I'm really pleased with this one.

Saturday, February 20th, I'm offering my first online painting workshop. We'll paint a still life. I'm really looking forward to it and I hope you'll join us!

When you register, I'll email you the supply list and the reference image we'll be using. With the password I'll send, you'll follow along on as I paint that day and will have two opportunities to send an image of your work-in-progress for my assessment and suggestions. You'll be able to chat with me and ask questions along the way. You will have access to the recorded sessions for a month following the workshop. You won't have to drag all your painting supplies to another town or find a hotel!

The cost for the day is $50.

Feel free to email me with your questions- susan@susancarlin.com

Hope you're staying warm!

Arneson Stroll, 18 x 24 oil, Arneson River Theater, San Antonio

2010-02-06T08:49:00.004-06:00

This is the completed painting of the Arneson River Theater and Rosita's Bridge. It was fun to incorporate the three figures into the landscape.
When you visit San Antonio, walk up the ampitheater steps (shown on the left) to the street level, turn left a few steps past the Little Church of La Villita, then right a few steps to my gallery- Susan Carlin Art Studio And Gallery. You might find me painting, or you might meet my sister, artist Patty Cooper, or my friend, artist Bonnie Mann. La Villita is San Antonio's Historical Arts Village and has many shops and galleries to explore. Come visit!

My painting was accepted in Salon International!

2010-02-02T14:23:00.003-06:00

Please forgive me for posting twice today, but the accepted entries were announced today- a day early. Gentleman Traveler was accepted! To see my name in a list with such amazing artists is an incredible validation. You can bet when I got the email telling that the list had been revealed, my face went hot and my hands shook until I could get to the site and scrolled down the alphabetized names to find my own! I whooped. I hollered. I did my silly happy dance. I have a student in the gallery with me today so she got hugged and bounced up and down.
I just had to tell you!
Happy, happy Susan

Second Anniversary of Gallery!

2010-02-02T12:16:00.003-06:00

Even though the rest of America thinks of February 2nd as Groundhog's Day, for me it's when I opened Susan Carlin Art Studio And Gallery in 2008. These have been the best two years of my life. It was crazy, but when I opened the gallery I still tried to see patients one day a week for a while. I got a grip around April and closed my chiropractic practice for good.
Well-meaning friends and patients expressed a lot of concern and sometimes outright pessimism about my plan to earn my living from painting alone. It's so great to stand here two years later thrilled at how well it's gone. If you need any encouragement to take your dreams seriously, I offer that encouragement now. Just take one step in that direction. Then another. Then another. Who knows? Maybe you'll find yourself in a happy brisk walk with a grin on your face sooner than you thought!

The above is the start of an 18"x24" oil of the Arneson River Theater on San Antonio's Riverwalk. It's about 100 steps from my little gallery. This morning I went to take photos of the trees on either side of this scene to fill in the gaps on the references I've been using. I've put together three photos for the main reference and have removed some people and rearranged the others. I'm thinking of giving the woman in the foreground an ice cream cone. Too cutesy? Hmmm...

A Start and a Finish and more on the Workshop...

2010-01-30T11:37:00.007-06:00

Work in progress: 20" x 24" oil, Notre Dame Future (my title, not the commissioning family's title...) This is a couple of hours into a painting of two cuties on Saint Josephs Lake in South Bend, Indiana. If you'd like to watch the second hour of this painting, it's HERE.

This is my finish of Kathy Holcomb's portrait. She's declared it beautiful and that's cool with me.

Sixteen artists have indicated their interest in my online still life painting workshop February 20th and I'm going to limit the group to 20, so do let me know if you're interested and I'll be sending out details and a PayPal invoice to that group in a couple of days. Email me at susan@susancarlin.com We're going to have a blast!

Painting workshops- Rockwall, TX and ONLINE

2010-01-23T13:00:00.009-06:00

This week I got to hang out with with the coolest artists. Eleven fun, enthusiastic painters in Rockwall, TX were in my two-day painting workshop and they each impressed my socks off.
Below is Kathy Holcomb who, with her husband Richard, let me stay in their pretty guest room and fed me very well, indeed. They also took me with them to see a great performance called Celtic Crossroads. Thank you, Kathy and Richard! As a thank you, I'm painting a portrait of Kathy and have gotten this far for a quick demo during the workshop. I promise it will look like her when I'm done!

Let me know if you'd like me to come to your town and give a painting workshop there!
It only dawned on me that I hadn't taken a group photo until after a few had already left, so these are only seven of the eleven- Donna, Marie, Gleneva, Ginnie, (me scooching down) Kathy, Helen and Shannon. Missing are Linda, Nancy, Trudy and Dianna.

Helen, working in oil.

Nancy, working in pastel.

Shannon's oil painting of her grandson.

My gracious host, Kathy, and her oil painting.

Marie and her self portrait in oil.

Gleneva and me. (My shirt says, "Life is Simple: Eat, Sleep, Paint." Sometimes it works out just that way!)

Donna- a very good painter, and also gave me home-made peach preserves. Mmmm.

It was beautiful the whole time I was there until I drove out of the parking lot. I snapped this before going over the long bridge over Ray Hubbard Lake. By the time I go to the other side, I had to hide under a gas station's roof from hail and simultaneous lightning and thunder crashes. The flashes were hair-raising! Minutes later the sun came out again. Texas weather- never dull!

I'm offering a one-day online painting workshop Saturday, February 20th, so if you want to paint at home, following step-by-step as we paint a simple still life arrangement together, I think it'll be fun, you just might learn a LOT, and it will certainly eliminate the hard part of going to a workshop- schlepping all that stuff! You can be right at home, watching me on the internet, and painting along with me as I explain and show each part of the process. The cost will be low- $50. for the day, which will include two quick assessment/suggestion sessions online (if you wish), plus you'll be able to replay the private, password-access broadcasts as often as you like for a month following. If this sounds good to you, email me susan@susancarlin.com and I'll send you more details closer to time.

Love, Susan

Caroline- pastel portrait

2010-01-15T18:04:00.003-06:00

What a sweet face to paint! This is Caroline, or Carrie Lu, and her portrait is in pastel, 20"x16".

I've taken this photo indoors, at night, with fluorescent lighting, so the background seems more yellow-green than the painting, which is more of a grey-green-blue in reality. I painted much of this portrait online, but finished it up today at home- in my pajamas! San Antonio is getting so much rain today I thought it best to not open the gallery and focus on this painting. Carrie Lu made the day a wonderful one. I only had to get out in the muck late in the day to pick up my new glasses. Rimless trifocals- so stylish.

Now that I've completed this portrait, I'm turning my attention to preparing for a two-day workshop I'm giving in Rockwall, Texas (near Dallas) on Tuesday and Wednesday next week.

Want me to come to your town to give a painting workshop? I'd love it! Gather 8-12 of your artist friends, find a place to set up our easels and let the fun begin! Contact me- susan at susancarlin.com - and we'll figure it out.

Susan

Salon entries in, now back to commissions...

2010-01-13T12:54:00.005-06:00

I submitted these paintings into the 2010 Salon International today -two days before the deadline! It might be wiser not to share that, in case none are accepted, but we're friends, right? I guess I count on you to help me celebrate if either is accepted and encourage me if not. I'm pretty proud of these paintings, whatever happens.

Gentleman Traveler, 14x11 oil

Sisters In The Sand, 16x20 oil

Tonight (Wednesday, January 13, 6 p.m. Central time) I'll be continuing work during my online broadcast on the pastel portrait of Carrie Lu.

I hope you'll come by and chat with me and my fun group of artists and friends while I paint.

Gentleman- nearing completion

2010-01-10T14:14:00.002-06:00

I've been working on this painting the last few days and really enjoying the process. I liked the initial "slap dash" lay-in and I've had a lot of fun fleshing the subject out and refining more, while trying to leave some evidence of the fresh feeling of the underpainting.
I'll be working on the pastel portrait of the little girl again on Wednesday evening if you're able to join me online at 6 p.m. Central time. I may work on it before then, too. If you'd like to get an email whenever I'm painting online, you can add your email address to the top subscription form in the sidebar of my blog.
It's wicked cold here in San Antonio right now so we're getting a taste of what our friends to the North experience more often. I'm sure ready for the return of our usual weather. In the meantime, I'm off to a dance lesson and hope it'll help warm me up...
I hope you're doing whatever keeps you warm and happy, too!

Slap Dash and Wicked Fun

2010-01-05T18:00:00.003-06:00

I painted this yesterday online for fun. Boy, I loved it. It's rough, unpolished, exhuberant and colorful. I want to paint more often like this. Took about an hour and 45 minutes and I had great company all the while. Want to watch? Go here.

I'll get back to the more careful paintings soon, and I will likely fiddle with this one (polish it) just a bit, but I hope to arrange to do more fun fast paintings this year.

Pastel portrait broadcast at 5 p.m. tonight

2009-12-29T13:41:00.003-06:00

All the Christmas commissions have arrived at their destinations and I'm taking a bit of time to work on something for myself. Above is an about-midway-through progress image of what's on the easel now. I'm calling it Corner Chair as a working title, but a friend has suggested Not Schmid in case anyone were to confuse the model for the famous and amazing artist Richard Schmid, who also wears a Greek fisherman's cap. It has many days of painting to go, but perhaps you can get the idea of it from this shot. If it turns out well enough, I hope to enter it into a competition. I've been doing most of the work online, so there are hours and hours of recordings of it getting to this point at www.ustream.tv/channel/susancarlin .

Tonight at 5 p.m. Texas/Central time, I'm breaking from working on Corner Chair to begin a commissioned pastel portrait of a beautiful little girl. Perhaps you'd like to drop in at the above link and watch or log in and chat? It's not polite to brag, but the nicest people come hang out with me. It's a party every time I paint! Hope you'll join me.
Susan

Winding up 2009 and Looking forward to 2010

2009-12-26T10:44:00.003-06:00

I hope you're enjoying the holiday. As you might guess, mine is being full of painting, as well as family and friends and feasting. Heaven!

This is the portrait I did for the portrait exchange on the Different Strokes From Different Strokes blog. The lovely woman is Marilyn King, who also painted my portrait. My colors in this photo seem wonky compared to the original, but close enough, I think. If you'd like to see the broadcast recordings of me painting this portrait, you can go here for Part 1, and here for Part 2.

I raise my portrait prices at the beginning of each year, but always honor the current price if a deposit is placed before the end of the year. If you were thinking you might want a portrait this year, let me know and we'll arrange a deposit to hold this year's prices. susan@susancarlin.com

As the new year approaches and you start to think of your New Year's resolutions, or ways you'd like to tune your life a bit closer to your heart's desires, I send my encouragement to live your dreams. The world will be a better place for you and for all of us if you do, I'm certain!
Love,
Susan

Holiday commissions complete

2009-12-18T13:32:00.005-06:00

I finally completed this 10"x8" oil of Kyra above. The reference photo had been taken by a cell phone of her still in the hospital after being born prematurely.

The portraits below were 10"x8" oil commissions I didn't think I'd have time to do before Christmas, but worked many, many hours online and off this week to complete. If all goes well with the drying and the varnish and the post office, the family will have them in time for the big day.

Each of these young people are so beautiful, I know their parents must be proud.

Now I'll be turning my attention to a couple of paintings I hope to enter into competition. I'll let you know how that's going in my next post.

I wish you the happiest of holidays, full of comfort and joy and love.
Susan

Latest portraits

2009-12-11T15:40:00.004-06:00

I've been busy and loving every minute...

I really enjoyed painting this 12"x12" oil portrait of Ike and Kirby, adorable Jack Russells.

George Davis, 20" x 16" oil. This is the portrait I only had a black and white reference photo to work from. I'm pleased with the outcome.
Next up on my easel are four 8" x 10" oils, portraits of four children, the youngest 17 years old. I'm not sure I'll be able to get them done before Christmas, but I'll give it a good try.
After that, on my portrait schedule, is a 20" x 16" pastel of a beautiful little girl, then a 20" x 24" oil- an epic painting of two boys on the shore of a lake in autumn, Notre Dame is across the lake reflecting in the water, ducks swimming on the surface... quite a project.
Somewhere in there I want to work on a painting or two for myself- to enter into a couple of competitions this next year.
I hope you're enjoying your woolly sweaters and earmuffs and the scent of wood fires in the air. Even here in San Antonio we've begun bundling up. Saturday evening we played tourist and took a boat ride on the Riverwalk. The lights were wonderful and we loved the wry and witty commentary by our guide. The other riders appreciated the big blanket we shared with them. Cuddle up! Share a little spiced cider or eggnog with your favorite people. We're on the eve of new beginnings. Have a warm holiday!
Susan

Precious memories and an exciting future

2009-12-07T08:47:00.004-06:00

I promised to send the finished (tiny) portrait of Nanny, since I'd included an image of it in progress. This is a 5" x 7" oil that is shipping out today in time for Christmas. Doesn't she have a kind, sweet face?

Below is a series of progress images of a 16" x 20" oil that I'm painting from a black and white reference photo. I'm only a couple of hours in on this one, but thought I'd show you what I see as I go along...

Along with an image of this painting finished, I'll send you an image of the two cute Jack Russells I'm finishing up right now. Both are giving me a steady, expectant gaze from the canvas...

I can hardly believe it, but my house is decked out for Christmas already and it's helped to put me in the holiday spirit in a big, big way. It's working to alleviate some of my shock at finding myself the mother of someone having her 28th birthday next Monday. I was 26 when she was born. The years are flying by and I'm SO grateful to be spending these current ones painting and learning to paint ever better.
Whatever it is that makes you feel alive and engaged and excited to get started... that's what I wish for you this Season.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-26T22:13:00.002-06:00

Since I decided to return to being a professional artist, my gratitude list has grown longer and more enthusiastic. I'm living my dream of painting for my living, which is bounty enough, but I enjoy such a wonderful network of people interested in what I paint -some are other artists, some are friends, many are people who've visited my gallery- I'm thankful beyond explanation for the feeling of connection I have now. As a doctor, I often felt isolated, so I appreciate each reply to my newsletters and I dearly love those wonderful people who come chat with me while I'm painting online. Thank you for letting me share what I paint with you.

Angela and Aurora, oil, 24" x 18"

This is the start of a tiny oil portrait- 7" x 5"- that I got to do yesterday during my Wednesday broadcast, with the family who commissioned the painting in the chat room, talking about the impact the subject had on their lives. I really enjoyed the session. I'll be sure to send an image of the finished portrait when it's completed.

La Villita, where my gallery is located, is having its holiday open house on Saturday, November 28th. I'll be in the Gallery and hope you'll come by to visit and have some refreshments. The annual lighting of the Riverwalk is Friday, November 27th. It's magical to see the Riverwalk all glittery with lights for the holiday season!

If you're near San Antonio December 3rd, you're invited to attend the San Antonio Art League and Museum Gala, 6-10 p.m. FREE to attend. There will be live music and appetizers and hors d'oeuvres and lots of great paintings!
I'm one of 144 artists who donated a 12" x 12" painting (mine is a cowboy's profile) to the silent auction.
San Antonio Downtown Market Square Hotel
(formerly The Radisson next to UT Downtown)

As you can imagine, I'm busy painting portraits that will be gifts for Christmas, all of them honoring and celebrating someone special. Oh, I love my work!

I hope your Thanksgiving was filled with family, friends and much love.

Big smiles and and a tender moment

2009-11-12T19:36:00.004-06:00

Angela and Kristy, oil, 11x14 Smiling cousins. It's still on my easel and still wet, but it's close to finished so I thought I'd show you. I painted much of it online yesterday... hours and hours online. Thank you to the sweet folks who kept me company.

These are the artists in my Marble Falls portrait workshop last week. Enthusiastic and hard working, they also kept me laughing and wishing I lived closer to Marble Falls. Thanks, Ya'll!

Midnight Wedding Aboard Ship, 14x11, oil

The way the man in this portrait looked at the painting when he came to the studio to pick it up was equal to getting Best of Show at a prestigious competition. Better. It was a difficult painting to do and from a frankly terrible reference. I struggled and maybe even cursed a few times. Pretty sure I did. But the client's happiness with it made it all worthwhile.

For the remainder of the days before Christmas, I will be glued to my easel working on the several commissions I've promised to be done by then. Except when I'm at dance lessons. I'm a little dangerous on the dance floor yet, but it's so much fun! Old dog. New trick.

Go have some fun today!

Himalayan Kitty and progress on Angela

2009-11-02T10:59:00.002-06:00

Maxxy, oil, 14 x 11
This was a fun commission. The client who commissioned it tuned in to watch the finishing touches during my broadcast yesterday and sent this email today:
Morning, Susan thank you so much for yesterday…. I smiled the whole time that I was watching you paint Max…. He’s is perfect, I could be happier ….. I am so glad that I found you!!
Words like those mean the world to me. I love my work.

I worked another few hours on this commission yesterday, also. So much yet to do, so much to change... Portraits are like intricate puzzles where you have to craft each piece yourself. It's challenging and exasperating... and thrilling when you finally get all the pieces to fit. (The background is undetermined yet, so I've covered the white of the canvas with blue and green just as a placeholder.)

Double Vision and Progress

2009-10-29T10:47:00.002-05:00

Yesterday these two handsome people walked in and it took me five whole seconds to figure out how I knew them - I'd painted them last year! Here they're standing with the giclee print I had made of their portrait. The larger original was commissioned by Fairmont State University in West Virginia where Dr. Daniel Bradley had been president. He is now president of Indiana State University. Cheri Bradley was the first president's wife to be painted in the official portrait for that university. The Bradleys are a team and preferred that way of being portrayed. Cool, yes?

I painted online last night and made a little progress on the portrait of Angela and Aurora. In case you wonder, I love every part of the process of painting a portrait. Each piece of the puzzle that I get right is a little thrill. And last night I had the additional thrill of getting to talk with those who came to watch the broadcast, and with a friend who was in the studio with me.
I'm completely spoiled now.

Workshops and starting a commission

2009-10-27T19:35:00.005-05:00

Howdy!
Last week was chock full: One four-week Painting Workshop had its last session on Monday, the Langley dedication was on Wednesday, and I had a two-day Portrait Workshop on Friday and Saturday. I'm glad not all weeks are so busy, but I did love every minute!
I completely forgot to get a photo of the ten wonderful artists who impressed me greatly with their brave work in the four-week workshop, but let me tell you- Peggy M, Marilyn, Glenda, Dolly, Lorelei and Rhoni drove down from Marble Falls, worked their tushies off and drove that long drive back each Monday. Peggy M, Ruby, Pam, Mary and Gaye didn't have so far to drive, but worked just as hard. I was honored to have each of them in the workshop.

I did manage to get a photo (above) of the Portrait Workshop artists: L-R: Pam, Shelley, Motoe, Nancy, Janet (me) and Sherrie- in New Braunfels, TX. The young blonde woman in the middle is my niece Stella who modeled on the second day. I came away with such respect for how hard these artists worked and for their passion to learn.

This was my demo for the painting workshop- Attempting to show thinking and painting in three main values as a way to begin each painting.

Yesterday, Monday, in a huge rainstorm, three artists still showed up for their first session of a four week workshop. They each pushed themselves past their comfort zones and we were all shocked when it was time to go. I love my work.

There's still room in the two day Portrait Workshop in Marble Falls (just west of Austin) November 3-4, in case you're ready to move your portrait skills forward and have a ton of fun at the same time- contact me for more info.

Angela and Aurora, 24"x18"

Today I began this portrait commission online. I had good company while I painted. It has a long way to go, but I already love the happy feeling it has.

Whatever it is you love to do, I hope you got a good healthy dose of it this week!

Susan

Langley Elementary School Dedication

2009-10-22T15:43:00.006-05:00

Well, it was marvelous. Last night was the dedication of the new school that was named after Ralph Langley, the subject of the mural painting I finished recently. As I walked in the main entrance of the school, the mural hung facing me above the corridor directly opposite. In other words, you can't miss it! The original oil painting is two feet by 4 feet, and was presented at a luncheon yesterday to the law firm founded by Mr. Langley.

It was borrowed back briefly for the dedication last night, and brought on stage by two adorable children. I was invited up to be introduced as the artist responsible for the mural at the entrance to the school. Very nice.

The whole program was quite moving. It was a loving memorial to Mr Langley who died six years ago but who has left a lasting legacy here in San Antonio.
His daughter, Janis, was the spokesperson for her family at the luncheon and at the dedication, and is responsible for commissioning me to do the painting. I wrote her a thank you this morning and this was part of her reply:

I can't tell you how thrilled we are with your work, at every level. The design was way beyond what I expected (I don't know what I expected, really) but the notion of the print was true brilliance.

I hope and bet you will get further work from this- comments were made by NISD that this sets a new level for these "murals," so wouldn't that be great?

Thanks so much for being part of this effort, going above and beyond just doing a painting!

With deep appreciation,

Janis

Those are the kind of words that can keep an artist painting, don't you agree?

I had to document this... me dressed in something other than rumpled, paint-spattered clothes! My fabulous artist friend Laura Jeanne Pitts made the gorgeous jacket I'm wearing. I felt like a million bucks last night.
Now it's time to continue work on my lengthening schedule of commissioned portraits and also try to tuck in a competition painting or two along the way. Thank you to everyone who wished me well and kept me company as I painted the Ralph Langley mural painting!

Langley mural painting finished and other news.

2009-10-07T17:31:00.002-05:00

If you check in on my blog or watch my broadcasts, you know that I've been working on this 24" x 48" painting for weeks. Today I finally signed it and got it to the photographer. Ralph Langley's name will be added to the image along the bottom and it will be enlarged to 48" x 96" , framed and hung at the new elementary school that has been named after Mr. Langley. The dedication ceremony and unveiling will be on October 21st. The original painting (without the digitally added name) will be hung at Langley & Banack, the law firm that he founded. I was honored to have been commissioned to make this painting, showing many of the elements of his life and parts of San Antonio that were improved because of his work.

Tonight, during my regular Wednesday evening broadcast at 6 p.m. Central, I'm starting a new, small painting of a very new child- a girl, two weeks old. Perhaps you'll come by? www.ustream.tv/channel/susancarlin

I've decided to connect my blog posts to my newsletter again, so you'll be getting more frequent emails with my newest work, news of my workshops, and, well, news! I look forward to being in better touch.

Happily,

Susan

Another demo portrait finish- Marilyn

2009-09-24T12:34:00.005-05:00

After working on the mural online last night, I had the urge to keep painting so I worked on this one of Marilyn. Boy, my drawing was off! This feels better.

I know I mention it frequently, but I feel so lucky to have the company of the artists who show up during my broadcasts. It's such a mutually supportive, congenial group. Then you add Marilyn Harman and Mark Bridges and we laugh the whole time. Thank you all!
You can watch the recording here. (I forgot to put my mic back on at first, so hang in there, the sound gets better once I'm reminded to put it back on.

Finish of Ron Watkins demo painting

2009-09-23T10:38:00.003-05:00

Late last night I realized I was still in the mood to paint, so I started a broadcast (I didn't record it, sorry) and finished this demo painting up. It's one I started at the New Braunfels Art League last Tuesday. There's some shine on the photo in the hair and on his cheek, but you get the idea... I enjoyed using this color combination- purple, blue and orange-- zing!

Coppini demo- Marilyn's portrait start

2009-09-21T12:33:00.002-05:00

Marilyn Moore is a wonderful artist who works mainly in watercolor, but paints beautifully in oil, too. She's also a generous friend who modeled for me at the demo that I did at the Coppini Academy yesterday. I worked on it about an hour, but spent so much time talking, I didn't get very far. It's a start, but it's going to require some serious reworking. I took some photos of her so I can finish later. I'll post an image of the completed painting when I get back to it. Thanks, Marilyn!

We made the paper!

2009-09-18T17:03:00.005-05:00

Grampy and Kaiden, oil 11x14, commissioned 2008
Yesterday, an article about La Villita, including a nice mention of my gallery was in our local paper, the San Antonio Express News. The writer mentioned the other artists in the gallery- Bonnie Mann, Marilyn Moore and Patty Cooper, and me, and included a photo of one of my paintings (above) and my website and email address in the sidebar. Cool, yes? Check it out!

Marble Falls Drawing Demonstration

2009-09-17T21:31:00.002-05:00

My friend Gaye Sekula drove up to Marble Falls with me today for the drawing demo I did for the wonderful Highland Arts Guild. So, of course, she was drafted to be the model for a quick sketch I did at the very end. Thanks, Gaye!

I projected the image of a cowboy in black and white from my computer and showed how to find and compare reference points on the subject in order to be sure of the accuracy of a drawing, and how to use guide lines and grid overlays to check one's work.

I was asked smart questions and really enjoyed talking with the members of the Guild. After the demo they had a tasty lunch for us and time to chat. While I was there, the idea of a workshop in November was brought up, and it was quickly filled to capacity. I'm looking forward to more time with these fun artists!

Demo start and Mural painting start

2009-09-16T09:41:00.003-05:00

Last night I demo'd for the wonderful artists at New Braunfels Art League and Ron Watkins volunteered to be my model. Ron is an excellent portrait painter, both in oil and pastel, and sat sweetly still throughout my flailing about while painting and answering questions. I didn't get very far along on his portrait, but I did take a couple of photos and will try to finish it up before the end of the year.

The mural painting got underway during an online broadcast Monday evening. I'm going to continue working on it this evening during another broadcast, in case you want to join the fun gang of artists and well-wishers who keep me and each other company. Tonight at 6 p.m.

Um, I'm experimenting with speeding the drying time of an oil painting by putting it in the oven. I had it at about 150 degrees. The house got a little fumey so I've turned it off and have left it in there. Am I nuts? Has anyone else done this? I know Kathryn Stats has said she has put her paintings in a hot car to speed the drying. Last night I mixed some fancy painting medium I bought from the Windbergs into my white paint before the demo- it's supposed to speed drying. I've been so impatient lately with how long white takes to dry. Anybody have advice for me?

Self portrait

2009-09-14T12:22:00.003-05:00

Last night my sister and I were watching a video sent to me by Lindsay in Australia- Forger's Masterclass- in which a convicted art forger shows three artists how to create paintings in the manner of one of the masters. We watched the episode about Van Gogh where the artists were asked to do self portraits using mirrors, then I proposed that we try painting ourselves that way, too. Patty was able to stay and paint for two hours, but I couldn't stop, so I painted about 4 and a half hours last night and another hour or so this morning. I can't claim it has any resemblance to one of Vincent's, but I really liked using the broken strokes of color. It felt a bit like doing a pastel painting. In order to get going without too much delay, I accepted the lighting in my computer room as it was. It was a challenge, for sure.

Stella and Ziggy - progress

2009-09-10T22:31:00.002-05:00

Couldn't help myself....

I took this photo at night under fluorescent lights, so it's just a bit skewed toward blue, but it's close enough. Loved looking at these two faces today.

Stella and Ziggy - a start

2009-09-10T12:24:00.004-05:00

Stella and Ziggy, oil on 12"x12" canvas panel

Again I offered up three reference possibilites to the viewers of the broadcast who were there as I started, and they chose one of my niece Stella and their dog Ziggy, over a still life of flowers and fruit and a landscape of one of San Antonio's missions- Mission Espada.

My objective while I painted was to get an accurate drawing (with thinned burnt umber), then cover the white of the canvas with as close to the correct values and reasonably close to the colors of my reference. It took about two and a half hours to get this far. I like the simply-painted, poster-like shapes and can envision a version of this painting that wouldn't stray too far from this look. But I want to play in the paint a bit more and try using much thicker, barely mixed paint.

My three paintings-in-progress: the red boat, Stella and Ziggy, and John Pototschnik- may have to wait until I've gotten a good handle on the mural I'm beginning today. Actually, I'll be painting a 24" x 48" canvas, the image of which will be photographically enlarged and installed as a mural at a new elementary school that bears the name of the subject of the mural- Ralph Langley. I so enjoy (and truthfully, depend on) the company of those who attend my broadcasts, that I'll invite folks to drop in on my progress with the mural painting over the next month. If you want an email letting you know when I'm painting online, add your email address to my group at the top of the sidebar on this page. See you there!

Riverwalk Casa Rio -Sold

2009-09-09T14:11:00.003-05:00

Riverwalk Casa Rio, 14 x 11, oil on panel
I may have just noodled this painting to a faretheewell since I can't see a single other thing I could do to it. It's growing on me, though. I ride the express bus to and from downtown where the gallery is, I may have mentioned. One of my 'bus friends' is Juana, who has worked at Casa Rio for many years. I always show her what I've painted recently by showing the images on my camera. When she saw the original version, she asked where she was in the painting. So I took a photo of her from the back and tucked her in the scene. Good idea, Juana!
I'm going to try to paint tonight online... come by www.ustream.tv/channel/susancarlin at 6 Central time if you can.

Therapeutic Riverwalk painting

2009-09-04T18:57:00.002-05:00

Riverwalk Vision, 14x11 oil
I wasn't having a very good day. To recount it might be to give additional weight to it, so I'll just say I was in the need of happiness. I usually tell people to only paint when they are happy so they won't anchor anything but joy to the experience of painting. Even so, I risked it today and painted to GET happy. It worked for the very most part. 'Playing in the colors' as my sister calls it, really helped me focus on line and shape and color and removed my focus from the other experiences. I didn't have time to fuss much, so I might go back and rework some things later, but for now, I'm grateful for my therapeutic painting time this afternoon.

Start on landscape with red boat...

2009-09-03T12:12:00.004-05:00

My friend Janet emailed on Tuesday asking if she could ever come watch me paint. Could she ever! I emailed right back, asking if that night would be too soon. So I had a special treat during my broadcast - my voice wasn't the only one in the room! I soon realized that I could use an assistant. I kept handing her things and asking for help with this or that... She was very accommodating. Thanks, Janet.
I figured I'd let her help me figure out what to paint that night, too, so when she arrived I had several photographs ready for her to choose among. This scene with the beached red boat was her choice. It's 16" x 12", oil on stretched canvas. Not sure when I'll be able to get back to it, since I'm starting in on the large painting-t0-be-mural project now, but I like that it's blocked in pretty well as a start. I'll enjoy working on it again down the line. Thanks to all who came to chat during the broadcast!

Earthen Jug, 9"x12" oil

2009-09-01T10:57:00.003-05:00

Marcie sent an email just before I started my broadcast, suggesting another still life. So I went back through my photos and found some I took a year and a half ago at the LBJ Ranch west of Johnson City here in Texas. This kitchen was staffed by park volunteers who dressed in pioneer costume and were making gingerbread. It smelled great, the women were friendly and they let me take all the photos I wanted.

It's a pretty complicated still life for only a 9x12 canvas, but it was hard to see how to edit it. I painted maybe 4 hours last night. I got up in the middle of the night to study it. This morning I've worked on it another hour or so. I'm pretty sure it's done now. Thanks, Marcie! And thanks again to everyone who came to chat and be such good company for me and for each other! I'm probably going to paint again tonight... I'll send an email out to the painting group if/when I do.

When dry and varnished, this painting will be available for $200.

Four Demos and Three Workshops...Oh My!

2009-08-29T00:59:00.007-05:00

For February 20, 2010 Online Still Life Painting Workshop info, please email me at susan@susancarlin.com

You may not know this about me, but I love to give painting demonstrations. It’s a chance to be around others who are enthusiastic about painting… plus I get to talk, answer questions, and paint at the same time. Heaven. September 2009 is going to be especially happy for me, since I’ve been asked to demo at four different art groups! You’re welcome at any or all of them- there’s no charge and you might just find a new group to join.

September 2, Wednesday at 7:30 p.m., Randolph Art League, 100 Northview Dr, Universal City, TX 78148, (210) 659-7048 (I’ll focus on seeing and representing values more accurately)
September 15, Tuesday at 7 p.m., New Braunfels Art League, 239 W San Antonio St, New Braunfels, TX 78130, (830) 629-8022 (I’ll be painting an oil portrait head study)
September 17, Thursday at 9:30 a.m., Highland Arts Guild, 318 Main St., Marble Falls, TX 78654, (830) 693-7324 (I’ll be focusing on drawing skills)
September 20, Sunday at 2 p.m., Coppini Fine Arts Academy, 115 Melrose Place, San Antonio, TX 78212, 210-824-8502 (I’ll be painting an oil portrait head study)

AND….I’ve arranged to give three workshops this fall. Why don’t you join me? Move your painting skills forward, get a new perspective, and have some fun at the same time!
Two four-week workshops in San Antonio at the Coppini Academy - Monday afternoons for either oil or pastel artists working on the subject matter of your choice. See details below.
One two-day portrait workshop in New Braunfels, just 15 minutes north of San Antonio at the New Braunfels Art League Gallery- October 23-24, for artists who work in either oil or pastel. See details below.

2 Painting Workshops at the Coppini Fine Arts Academy:

First workshop:
Mondays, September 28-October 19, 2009. 1:30-4:30 p.m.
Second workshop:
Mondays, October 26- November 16, 2009. 1:30-4:30 p.m.

Artists may work in either oil or pastel, work on still life, landscape or portraiture, and will receive individual instruction.
Focus-
Week 1. Subject and composition.
Week 2. Improving drawing skills.
Week 3. Seeing and representing values more accurately.
Week 4. Color and technique.
Still life arrangements and photographs will be available for subject matter, or artists may work from their own references.
$100. each workshop. Check or PayPal. Supply list will be sent on registration.

Send your check to:
Susan Carlin
12818 Independence Ave.
San Antonio, TX 78233

Or contact Susan at susan@susancarlin.com to ask for a PayPal invoice sent to your email address.

Two-Day Portrait Workshop at New Braunfels Art League Gallery:

Friday and Saturday, October 23-24, 9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Artists may work in either oil or pastel, and will receive individual instruction.
Day one and the morning of Day two, you’ll paint portraits from photographs I provide, and you’ll paint from the model on the afternoon of Day two.

$175. includes model fee
Send your deposit of $50. (or complete fee) by check made out to “NBAL” to:
Mary Johnson
720 Meadow Arbor
Universal City, TX 78148

The balance is due by September 23rd.

Supply list will be sent on registration.

http://www.susancarlin.com/
susan@susancarlin.com
http://susansartjournal.blogspot.com/
www.ustream.tv/channel/susancarlin (Wednesdays at 6 p.m.)

Little Green Apples, oil, 9x12, Sold

2009-08-26T22:08:00.009-05:00

Well, I hope this is a trend. This is the second broadcast in a row where the painting was spoken for before I was finished painting it. Thank you, Marilyn! I had put up four reference ideas to get a vote from the viewers who arrived first to the broadcast as to which painting to do. I had two figures and two still life arrangements. This is the one that got the most votes. I enjoyed painting it, and as always, the company was like a warm hug from a good friend. You guys are the best.

Two nights ago I finally hung all the little paintings I've been collecting from some of my bloggy artist friends. For symmetry, I added in a few of my own. My most recent purchase was the sweet beach painting by Josh Kadtke in the upper left corner. A close-up of that one is at the end of this post. I'll try to identify the artists of each....

Below- Left to right- Josh Kadtke, Carol Marine, Myra Knapp, Carol Marine, me, Gwen Bell.

Below- Left to right- Sarah Sedwick, me, Kathryn Law, Karin Jurick, Pattie Wall, me.

Below- Top to Bottom: me, Barbara Muir, Sarah Sedwick.

Below: Josh Kadtke, "Out Of The Office"

It's wonderful having your paintings where I can enjoy them every day! I still haven't framed an incredible nude by Sharon Wright since it's an odd size, but as soon as I do, I'll post that one as well.

Casa Rio- Riverwalk, 16"x16" oil, Sold

2009-08-22T22:50:00.003-05:00

I started this painting last year and only today put it back up on the easel.
I worked hard not to treat every figure like a portrait, and keep a rather impressionist feel. I missed that mark to some degree, but I'm pleased with the result anyway.
This restaurant is a block from my gallery and is the iconic restaurant of San Antonio. Every painter is compelled to paint these umbrellas. I've done it myself three or four times. I may do it again several more. I've fed many a duck from my table along the rail....

Patty Napping, 9"x12" oil on ABS panel

2009-08-22T08:42:00.003-05:00

I painted this last night during an impromptu broadcast (and recording) and tried out this sample panel of ABS. It's a plastic with an ivory-like surface. Very smooth, but not slick. I liked it a lot.
Most of this painting is faithful to the reference photo, but I changed the brown and tan patterned pillows to red, took the soda can off the table and replaced it with a wine glass (which I'm blaming on Diana Marshall who suggested it).
I really like this painting. I might fiddle with it more later, but this is how it looks right now.
The recording is here.

Charvin competition entry- learning a lesson over and over

2009-08-21T11:33:00.007-05:00

A couple of weeks ago I rushed around and sent off a CD with a quickly photographed image of one of my paintings to the Charvin painting competition. I did it so fast that I didn't take the time to make sure the photo's colors were right.
I got an email yesterday telling me I got an honorable mention in the competition, so I went to see the web page showing the winners, and had a whole mixture of responses- happy to have a painting included, and sorry to see that the colors were so garish. That's completely my own fault, and a lesson learned... again. You'd think I'd know better by now. Doing things in a rush (and not feeling completely good about it before putting one's work out into the world) can often come back to bite you. Apparently I've done this publicly enough that Josh Kadtke wrote this in an email to me today:

"Right now I'm pulling a "Susan" by waiting till the last minute to start something for a deadline. I started last night at 10 and painted till 5am and then got up at 8 and started at it again!"

Yep. Sounds like me. And I'm about to do it again, too. The rush-to-a-deadline painting marathon. But, really, what's more motivating than a deadline?

Irish Gate, oil 8" x 10" Sold

2009-08-20T09:23:00.004-05:00

Several rascals dared me to paint a landscape last night on the broadcast, so this small oil resulted. It's romantic , isn't it? I took the reference photos for this on my first evening in Ireland, walking in Ballycastle looking for internet access. Didn't find a place to connect, but took photo after photo of charming sights like this one.
Thank you, sweet friends, again for heckling me, I mean encouraging me to paint this.

Hope- nearing completion

2009-08-18T20:06:00.002-05:00

Hope, oil, 20"x16"
I got to work on this most of the day today, much of that time during an impromptu broadcast where I was kept good company. Thanks, Ya'll. Days just don't get better than this one.
I'm not done- I need to look at it a while - but I like where this is going.

A bit of progress on woman with tattoo on her arm...

2009-08-17T00:08:00.002-05:00

After finishing up on the other portrait, I was still in the mood to paint, so Barb Pask suggested resuming work on this one. I think quite a lot of progress was made. Still haven't worked on the tattoo itself, but I think her face is much more three-dimensional now. I see so much more to do... but there were a few successful strokes tonight! Thank you to the wonderful people who chatted with me as I painted- I'm grateful.

Broadcasts then and now...

2009-08-16T18:08:00.002-05:00

Beach Diggers, 11x14 oil
I started this painting on Wednesday during the broadcast and all the orange I used was bothering me, so I worked on it for several hours today and like the colors better now.
If you feel like hanging out with me this evening online, I'm going to work on the Sister and Brother painting for a while. Who knows? I may actually finish it up tonight!

Progress on Briana and Max ...and more...

2009-08-10T14:30:00.004-05:00

Briana and Max, 18"x24" oil on stretched canvas
I've been working on this of the brother and sister online, but not recording every session since it has involved many, many hours. Still a few more to go, actually, but I think it's come a long way and I'm beginning to see a completion in its future!
Millie and the Sunflowers, 14"x11" oil on canvas panel
I made a few revisions to this painting and have truly called it finished now. No, really. This one pleases me a great deal.

Some of you may remember a painting I did of Auggie. I just got this photo of Auggie posing with his portrait. It's too cute not to share!

Sister Act- Introducing Patty Cooper!

2009-08-08T10:39:00.005-05:00

Patty Cooper- Almost Rain, 10" x 8" oil
I'm so proud that my sister Patty has turned her attention to her painting again, and that she's showing her work in my gallery as well as on her own blog! I hope you'll go visit and leave a comment. When you strike out on a new path, it's nice to have a little appreciative company!

Different topic entirely:

A warning note- There's a scam going around targeting artists who have websites, and I thought I'd add my "heads up" here.
I got this email today and replied with a "You should be ashamed of yourself!"
It's very flattering to have someone want four paintings, so I understand how artists have fallen prey to this scam....
Good day to you.
I am so excited that I came across of your work on internet search.I am interested in purchasing these creative artworks from you....
Shell Pink Shadows, Desert Dancers, Betty's Pond II and Golden Road
Let me know their various prices, and how much discounts are you going to give? I will be happy to have these selected artworks hanging in our home in South Africa. As well, I want you to take out the shipping cost. I have been in touch with a shipping firm that will be shipping other house decoratives.
We are traveling from our Dallas home to our new apartment as soon as possible. On paying for the artworks I will be glad to pay you with a Money Order or Cashier's check in US funds that can be easily cashed at your local bank. Please let me know on how to proceed for the payment of the creative artworks.
I will await your advise on how to proceed. Have a wonderful day.
Take care,
Laura Martins

Spent the morning tweaking and signing

2009-07-31T13:12:00.009-05:00

Millie and the Sunflowers 11"x14" oil.
I extended some sunflower petals and reworked Millie's face and gave her white paws.

Beach Babies 16"x20" oil
I repainted the upper back of the girl in the turquoise swimsuit.

Christina and her Cello 10"x8" oil.
I adjusted a few things on Christina's face.

Painting at Limepark 10"x8" oil.
Several finishing touches... red flowers, red pot, adjusted the painter's shirt, put a few dashes of light on the pavement...

Girls Beach Day 10"x8"
I changed a lot in this one. Made the skirts blow to the right, raised the woman's arm, changed her neckline, added a beach towel... It feels slightly more casual and connected now, I think.

All this makes me want to go look through some of my false starts and see if there's something I could do to save them now.

Palette knife kitty- starring Millie

2009-07-30T08:24:00.002-05:00

After several technical glitches and delays, I finally got to paint online last night with some awfully patient friends to chat with. I'd changed my mind about working on the current commission, as it would mean carrying a wet painting on the bus to the gallery- something I've done, but would rather avoid. So I was going through my reference folder with the viewers and showed them a photo of my cat, Millie. Sue Bailey, a pastel painter friend from Austin, suggested that I paint Millie with a palette knife- that's how this painting came to be. In the photo, Millie's feet and tail can't be seen, so I made them up. This morning I realize Millie has white feet. I'm actually thinking about changing them, but will need to wait until the paint has set up a bit more. I did make up a white-tipped tail as a compositional device to direct the viewer's eye back into the painting. There was no black used in this painting. It's all a mixture of red, blue and green. Since I painted on a grey-toned canvas panel, I couldn't just scratch down to white to make the whiskers, so had to use the palette knife. Much harder!

When I paint with a knife, it always leaves me wanting to do more. It's an exercise in letting go, that's for sure!

Finish of Mother Daughter Beach Day

2009-07-29T15:02:00.003-05:00

20"x16" oil on stretched canvas
Again, I'm not happy with the colors of this photo, but will go ahead and post it anyway and try to get a better photo later. The subject is sweet, isn't it?
More accurate color.
I'll be painting online tonight, but a bit later than usual.... 7 p.m. instead of 6 p.m. Central time. Why don't you come by for a chat? www.ustream.tv/channel/susancarlin

Birthday inspiration

2009-07-26T18:54:00.003-05:00

To celebrate my birthday, my sister Patty and I went to visit my favorite art museum today- The McNay. It's a beautiful Spanish style mansion that was originally the home of the woman whose impressive art collection remains in the museum. Many impressionist works are a part of the permanent collection, and now a huge contemporary wing has been added. These are a couple of photos of the interior courtyard. I had my white balance setting set wrong, so they're a bit blue, but maybe you can see how beautiful it is.

The McNay has my most favorite Monet waterlily painting, several good Gauguins, a gorgeous Pissaro, oh... wonderful things. The contemporary wing had an extensive exhibit of Edward Gorey's work. I got a bit of a crick in my neck (that's fancy Chiropractor terminology) tipping my head back so I could see his tiny, exquisite pen and ink work through the lower third of my tri-focals. Aging is not for sissies, my friends.
On our way out, we bought chunky bracelets in the museum gift shop. We plan to swap them back and forth every few weeks. Mine says Believe In Yourself. Patty's says Explore. Dream. Discover. Hey, it doesn't hurt to be reminded, right?
Now Patty's come over and is starting a new landscape painting at the easel next to mine. I'm going to continue working on the mother-and-daughter-at-the-beach painting I started on Wednesday. This is a good day. If you're going to get older anyway, why not look at beautiful things, try to make a few of your own, and seek out good company along the way?
Let me hear you say Amen.

A new start

2009-07-23T23:11:00.002-05:00

I had some time and the excitement carried over from yesterday, so spent two and a half hours online today getting this far with a new 16x20 painting. Someone said during the broadcast that it had the look of a watercolor. I sort of agree. I made my objective just getting the canvas covered with as close to the right values as I could, not worrying too much about the correct colors as yet. I see that the only part of the canvas not covered is her shoes. The woman in the reference photos - also ones I took in Ireland- was wearing orange Crocs. I'm still thinking about that. the little girl was carrying a blue bucket which I painted as blue at first, but it didn't have much presence against the mother's skirt, so I've wiped it off and think I'll try red instead.
I'm not sure when I'll be able to get back to this painting, but I like the start. Again, thanks to all of you who came by to chat as I was painting!

Beach Buddies

2009-07-22T20:33:00.004-05:00

16"x20" oil on stretched canvas

I painted this this afternoon.... and was so excited the entire time. This is what I've been imagining- big brush, thick un-blended paint laid on simply and deliberately. I can't wait to do the next one! I did set it aside and worked on the commission of the sister and brother playing Monopoly during my broadcast tonight. I don't think I shut up the entire two hours. We had a great conversation covering several topics. I do so love hanging out with 'the gang' who comes to chat with me while I work. Thank you to all of you who joined me!

Thank you, too, for all the comments on my "no pictures, just words" post about my memories of the moon landing. I've come to rely on the kindness of this blogging community we've created. You're an essential part of what makes my life as an artist so good. I'm grateful. I hope to offer you as much goodness in return.

40 years ago

2009-07-20T23:50:00.001-05:00

(This has nothing to do with art, but has everything to do with this artist.)

I was turning 14 that July when they walked on the moon. Our family was in Ghana, West Africa, as missionaries for the years that I was 12-15. I'd been 500 miles away from my parents for the first of two years to go to school in the capitol of the country- Accra- while they and the younger two kids lived way out in the bush to the north. We were having a rare vacation together on the coast during a school break at a house that one of the other mission denominations maintained as a rest house for their missionaries. The place was near the water and we'd been on the beach most of that day. It was now evening and Dad was glued to Voice Of America, the radio station, as the moon landing was occurring. My brothers and sister and I tired of listening after a while and went outside to look at the moon.

The man who was the caretaker for the house was outside, too, and we proudly and excitedly told him about the moon landing. He looked at us and then at the moon and back at us, perhaps trying to decide if we were lying. He tried to argue with us that the moon was too small for anyone to stand on it and seemed to have no knowledge that it was even spherical or solid. After a while I think he realized we were telling the truth and I watched him try to fit this new information into his former understanding. As we talked, we walked with him to his own home a few yards away. It was an open, three-sided concrete box, perhaps 12 feet square. His wife was sitting on the floor with one of his two small children on her lap. They had been cooking over an open fire in the center. Flat straw mats were against the wall for beds and all of their possessions could have fit in the trunk of a car.

The man had been hired to clean and take care of the rest house- three bedrooms, a kitchen, flush toilets, living room furniture, quite often empty, I'm sure- while he was given a concrete box to live in with his family. Of course, he was referred to as the "houseboy" in spite of being over 30 years old.

We'd been in Ghana for two years at that point and I certainly hadn't been oblivious to the contrasts between our lives and the lives of the people we were supposedly there to help. But the stark inequities had weighed on me and that night I went from proud and excited to embarrassed and angry and certain that America was spending its money wrongly and focusing on all the wrong stuff. I was tired of seeing that we treated the Africans differently than we treated other Americans.

When you're 13 and 14, you feel things DEEPLY. At least I did. I'm aware that a lot of who I am now is rooted in what I was feeling then. There.
I've since tempered my certainty that America had no business going to space with a wider understanding that space exploration can't wait until all inequalities on earth are erased.

But every time I hear about the Apollo missions, I remember the mixed up way I felt that night as I looked up into the African sky with a man who struggled with the idea of a moon large enough to stand on.

At 14 with little Charlie hanging on for dear life. (This is the only photo of me from that time I could find.)

First painting from Ireland references

2009-07-18T20:23:00.006-05:00

Well, I've taken this photo here at home after dark, so the blues seem to be intensified. But I wanted to post this anyway. I painted this today for me... can you imagine? I loved it.
Below it are three previous stages of the painting.

10" x 8" oil on Raymar panel.

Progress on Max and Briana

2009-07-18T11:30:00.003-05:00

The lighting is so different between the studio/gallery and at home, that I spent much of yesterday correcting skin tones. Many more hours to go, but I'm liking the "so far."

Kitty for Bill, 5 x 7 oil on panel, Sold

2009-07-14T23:20:00.006-05:00

It's wonderful when I get a commission to paint someone's cat or dog. What could be better than looking into these eyes for part of an afternoon?

I also painted a small landscape today and suffered all the way through. Only tonight did I find out why. I thought I'd bought one of Ampersand's cradled gessobords, but it turns out it was a claybord. The paint almost dried on contact. It felt almost like painting with acrylics. I'm going to try a second pass at it sometime by "oiling in" first and see what happens. Has anyone out there used a claybord and could offer words of advice?

Bichon Frise "Max" 16 x 12 oil canvas, Sold

2009-07-10T15:45:00.003-05:00

Lookee what I got to paint today. Awwww....
This was tons of fun.

Start of 18 x 24 commission of two young people

2009-07-09T08:18:00.003-05:00

After a frustrating start trying to get the broadcast going last night, I had good company as I waded further into this painting. I'd painted for about three and a half hours on it the night before, and spent most of my time on Max's face last night. Top to bottom, his face on the painting is about 4 inches tall.

I'll try to bring Briana's portrait up to that same mid-level of development next time.
Thanks, Everyone, for hanging out last night!