happy holidays!

I love this time of year and all the goodness that it brings out in people. Amidst your hustling and bustling, remember to thank and hug the people in your life who enrich you and celebrate life with you, the ones you love and the ones you try to love despite the messiness of being human (or maybe because of it).

Thank you, dear readers, for checking out my blog and making me feel welcome in the online art community. I look forward to sharing a creative and inspiring New Year with you.

Wishing you and your families a very happy holiday season!

blessings,

Susan

new group of artists...

There's a wonderful new group of artists who have come together through Etsy's WMASS (western Massachusetts) Street Team to share ideas, to market, build community and work together called Artisans of Western Mass. I have joined the team and am looking forward to participating in events in the near future. If you have a moment, please check us out.

http://artisansofwmass.com/artisans.html

holiday show ideas...

Last week my car was totalled when someone ran a stop sign and t-boned me, the furnace stopped working (after-hours on Friday night) and all week I had been dreading the surgery that I had this week (which really was a piece of cake, the dreading it was the hard part) and now it's Friday and the dust has settled. I am thrilled to be getting back to painting and art-related business again. So, while last week didn't result in much artmaking, it was pretty good for perculating ideas for the two holiday shows I'm doing in December.

I already have a good collection of watercolors and mixed media paintings to offer, and I'm working to finish up a few smaller pieces as well. I also have some really lovely art cards made from original paintings, but I want to add some more small items to tempt the buyer who isn't shopping for paintings this holiday season (weird I know, but there are a few folks out there in this category - and you know who you are) but who still enjoy original art.

I took out my pile of "banned" paintings that have beautiful parts, but don't really work as a whole. I usually save them to use in collages and mixed media paintings. I have decided to use some beautiful snipets to make holiday ornaments, covers for journals and bookmarks. I will add paint, ink and other bits to them, maybe even add a poem to the bookmarks, and see where the spirit takes me on this project. I'll post a photo of the finished project later. If you are looking for a few small items to add to your own booth this holiday season, maybe you have some paintings that can be recycled, too. Do you have any ideas to share?

loving November...

Despite the trees dropping their leaves, having to wear multiple layers of clothing to keep warm, and the shrinking hours of daylight, I really like November. November can be a pretty gray month here in the Berkshires, but on a day like today with the sun shining and leaves swirling about, it's pretty fantastic. I'm more tuned into hearth and home thinking about holidays, family and friends and long walks in the woods. Plus it's a time to really focus on gratitude with Thanksgiving around the corner. It's a good time to compile or revise one's list of things to be grateful for. I am blessed and want to bring an attitude of gratitude to my days in a more focused way. It's easy to get caught up in life's problems and concerns. I've certainly done my share of that lately, but focusing on gratitude will only make life more joy-filled!

I'm adding to my long list of things I'm grateful for the recent shipment I've just received of new paints and watercolor paper. I just love opening a new tube of paint! Today I'm working on some winter landscapes to be hung at the Inn at Stockbridge, but it's definitely a day to make time for a walk among the dancing leaves this afternoon.

What are you grateful for?

It seems I've come to a little fork in the road. It's not one of those huge life decisions; I'm just trying to determine the next step I want to take artistically. Don't we all have these moments? And over and over again, just when we think we've settled on a path, something sparks inside us that asks us to throw the cards up in the air to see where they land this time. Or at least that's what it's feeling like for me right now. I love painting my mixed media pieces while at the same time I've sold many more watercolor paintings, so maybe I should create a larger body of watercolor work. Add to that the fact that it's getting close to the holidays and I know I could make some cash if I make more cards, holiday related items, and little things like bookmarks from original paintings. So, it's all swirling around in my head... Philosophically it seems sound to just keep painting what I love painting without any detours, but pragmatically it would be nice to make some cash right about now. Is this just a matter of balance or do you feel more driven to keep painting what you love painting? What are your thoughts? Do you struggle with this as well? Blessings on the journey!

I've spoken of illuminating moments in one's life as a real inspirational, motivational force to do something better, in this case it's art and loving - but not necessarily in that order. For me it was a pre-admittance test for a minor surgical procedure that got my attention. Something didn't turn out quite the way it should have on one of the tests and it gave me a moment's pause, OK maybe alarm would be more accurate. But after some reflection, it really is a pause. We have those moments of pause all the time. Usually we are too rushed, busy or distracted to pay much attention. Today it's different though, I'm feeling more loving and grateful for what I've been blessed with than anything else - for those people in my life I love, for the new day's dawn, for all that's left to explore. That transfers to making art, too. I feel a spaciousness, an openness, a no-rules kind of painting day coming on. It really is the journey that counts most, the moment by moment living and loving. Happy Friday!

first hint of autumn...

While there's only a hint of autumn in the air, it's here. The temperature has taken a nose dive, which isn't all that remarkable given the cool, wet summer we've had. However, the golden greens are beginning to replace the lush, deep greens of summer and the first New England patches of reds and oranges can be seen pretty much anywhere you look. Sure maybe it's just a tad here and there....but every day there's a little bit more.

I'm partial to this time of year and September is one of my favorite months. I look forward to the crispness of the season. I love the scent from our apple tree as apples drop to the appreciation of the rabbits, squirrels, woodchucks and deer. I feel better about the rascals eating the fallen apples than all the flowers they consumed this summer. My garden has patches of stems without petals...nice!

Autumn brings great inspiration to painting in the Berkshires. In the following weeks there will be glorious patches of colors mingling with pines. This is my first of several autumn landscapes this year. I will be painting some abstractions to express the beauty of the season here in Berkshire County as well.

love of experimenting...

It's been a super busy summer and I was craving some down time to experiment and create without a goal, but wasn't finding the time to do so. All summer I've been working on pieces promised to different venues and a couple of commissions. I'm not complaining mind you, but I really wanted a little bit of "play time" to recharge. My husband gave me the perfect birthday present of a mixed media workshop with one of my favorite teachers, http://pathogan.com/. Well I had a blast, met some wonderful people and created solidly for two straight days with no goal in site. What a wonderful breather it was. I started a number of workshop projects, none of which I've finished, but the pure fun of the weekend will stay with me for a long time to come. This is a piece I've been working on. I'm not sure it will end up anywhere but in my studio pile o' stuff, but the freedom it represents is pure bliss.

thought for the day....

“The more I think about it,

the more I realize

there is nothing more artistic

than to love others.”

– Vincent Van Gogh

gratitude...

I started painting almost three years ago and since then I have conversed with some very talented and generous artists who have shared their wisdom, trials and insight with me. It's within this giving community that art flourishes, friendships form, and creativity spirals. I am full of gratitude to those who have shared with me. It is in this spirit that I try to pass on to others anything I've gleaned that might be of some help or inspiration.

There are some people I'll thank in person (and you know who you are), but I'd also like to thank an online community I joined a few months ago called Visual Artists Street Team (VAST) - an Etsy group. There are so many wonderful artists and generous souls in this group. Many VAST artists share their thoughts, offer support and inspire one to keep things in perspective. The actual technical and creative information shared among VASTies is significant. This has also put me in touch with some wonderful artists' blogs which are inspirational, educational, and entertaining - sometimes all in one blog. Especially as an emerging artist, always full of questions and ponderings, I am sincerely grateful to belong to this group of spirited and talented artists! Thank you all!

taking time to smell the flowers...

In celebrating spring and moving into summer now, I've taken some time to really look and smell the flowers and what I've found is that I'm even more drawn to them this year. The way the wind softly blows through them (or rips through them as it sometimes does here in the Berkshires) I'm enjoying the movement of flowers. It's something I hadn't really paid attention to before. Maybe it has something to do with how much more time I'm devoting to gardening this year. In addition to my flower beds, we've added a vegetable garden this year with raised beds. At any rate, drawing and painting flowers and vegetables has become interesting to me when I think of them as living things, rather than still life material. I love the opportunity to really study them. I'm concentrating on developing my skills to bring this sense of movement and aliveness to my painting.

simplicity...

I'm working on supplying a local inn with paintings; they are interested in simplicity and expressions of the every day in a new way. That in turn is bringing me back to a simpler time in my own art making. Lately I've been focused on mixed media pieces with a lot going on and bright colors. However, creating the simpler paintings like this one, had a calming effect on me in the last week. While I don't think I'll linger here too long, it's been a nice week of painting. It's interesting how subject matter, color and design effect us while we are creating art. The emotions stirred up during the creative process end up reflected back into the artwork. It's all a cycle I guess and one of the beautiful things about making art. I learn more about myself through my paintings every day. Here's to experimenting!

Yesterday I hung my first solo show of 17 paintings in Pittsfield. Thank you to my family and friends for all the support and encouragement along the way. Also a big thanks to Ali and Annie for helping me create a beautiful layout in your gallery space. Already today my head is swimming with ideas for my next art project. Loving the journey!

always the questions...

Where does inspiration come from? How does sun light up a shape, draw attention to a tiny speck, bring energy and brillance to a scene? Where does a strong line need to set off something that moves us? What color does that emotion evoke? But beyond all that is how the source is speaking to us....what inner place is being coaxed forward? What piece of me goes into this painting? What can I inspire in others? I love how closely life, love and art are dancing in my life right now. What inspires You? Other news.... my husand surprised me with the opportunity to hear the Dali Lama speak next month. I can't tell you how excited I am about THAT. Talk about spirituality and art intermingling... what great opportunities lie ahead to explore this more fully.

the journey

The link between love and art seems quite clear to me....love of life, people, places and adventures - all the experiences of a lifetime provide such rich material from which to craft art. I'll share the journey with you and hope to hear about your journeys as well. I have enjoyed creating and designing all my life, but it's only been in the past few years as I've turned my attention to drawing and painting that my passion for making art has taken me in a totally new direction. Whatever ignites that kind of a passion in a person must be all good, right? Illuminations....illuminating.... art is life life is art