Still life. Really???

Grandma's Tea Set

Original oil painting  20x16"

by Susan Roux

From a teaching point of view, I've been wanting to introduce my students to still life painting for a while now. It requires close attention to values and defined light and shadow patterns. Much like the challenge of doing a figure without the proportions being as important, so long as the overall composition still works.

I wasn't sure how to go about this. Each class meets once a week and it can take a good month to finish a painting. How could I possibly set up a still life that would last that long without being moved? Not to mention any flowers. The other problem I faced was everyone's vantage point would be different. A set-up could be very pleasing from one persons perspective, but very unattractive from another's.

One day the solution came to me.

A photo shoot. Yes, it was that simple.

I'm predominantly a studio painter. I work from images most of the time. Why having images of a still life didn't occur to me is baffling. I did still life work over a decade ago. It fascinated me and made me focus differently than painting landscapes. I enjoyed the challenge a few times a year. Each time, I'd prepare a set-up on my bay window to paint from at the same time of day. It was my time to explore painting from life and I loved the light and colors I'd see.

It came as an unusual thought to paint one from a photograph, but it seemed the perfect solution. So one day I called a student in to help me. Bring along some things that would work in a still life, I said. Much to my surprise, he arrived with a car full of unusual and interesting things. We set up a table in the hallway, the darkest place in the house. A single light source could be brought in. We worked for hours that day, setting up various things on different cloths. Click, click, click went the camera. Artifacts were strewed all over the house by the time we finished.

Those photos sat in my file for at least a month. Last week a class wanted to begin a still life. It hit me that I was perhaps not the best teacher for this, not having done one in so long myself. We began. A loose background and the objects drawn in with paint was the extent of our progress.

I found myself wanting to continue after class, but since I paint along with my students, I couldn't. The next best thing was to do another one on my own. I figured it would really help me direct the class though the process if I did. So here it is. Grandma's Tea Set.

I surprised myself. I don't know if it was the emotion around the memory of my Grandmother or the fact that artists were in and out of my house to paint that day, but something extraordinary seemed to happen.

You work for years trying to establish your own style and define yourself uniquely as an artist. It's odd when you suddenly choose a completely different subject and it falls into place so naturally. The fascination for creating still life feels awakened in me. Where has this desire been hiding all these years?

The artist journey is too complicated to describe in a few phrases. Even to the artist himself, it is full of surprises.

You can expect to see a few more still life paintings show up here. I can't promise they will all turn out like this, but time will tell.



Behind the easel, the adventure continues...

Special photos

Waves

Original oil painting 16x20"

by Susan Roux

Are you like me?

I take so many photos. More than I will ever paint. More than I could ever paint in my lifetime. Among them are those special ones that jump out and grab your eye and you know for certain that you will paint them, but you never do...

I'm not sure why. Maybe there's a pressing deadline or a feared-fleeting desire to capture a momentary whim. Your special photos are so striking that you could be stimulated to paint them at any time. There's no need to jump into them instantly.

But time goes by. Perhaps even years and those grabbing photos never become a painting...

I love this whole blogging thing. I keep pushing other artists to try it. There's an art exhibit at your fingertips whenever you want! Its my selling point, aside from the grand camaraderie, of course... Well this morning my cup of coffee was shared with your lovely art show. (thank you, by the way...) Much to my surprise, I found my special photos had come to life on your canvases!

How cool is that?

Well maybe they weren't my exact photos, but so similar and so well painted! You might just have inspired me to finally tackle my own. Carol Schiff's Ocean Sunrise and Tatiana Myers' Poppies were my found inspirations. It was such a treat to stumble upon you today. Two of my special photos in one day! It must be a sign that the day will be good and possibly filled with unexpected surprises... Hope yours will be too.

Posted is the painting from last night's class. Its very close to done. My students will return next week to tweak theirs and though last night, I thought I was finished, I can see a few changes to make. A few unopened buds would love to break the halfway plane of the canvas and carry rose color towards the bottom left.

Interesting how we see it differently after we've taken a photo. (yet another perk to blogging...)

Keep your posts coming, everybody. Your inspiration to all of us is greatly appreciated! (did I mention that I love how you're all here???)

Comments or no comments, thanks for stopping by... Be like LuLu today and go dance in front of your easel!

Booklets

Do you ever have brochures or booklets just jump out at you?

There they are. Staring you in the face. You can feel them tugging at you. Take me. Take me. Your arm leaps forward. You hesitate. It retracts. Your eye stays glued to the booklet. "Why would you be taking it?" you ask yourself. "These are for tourist." Unable to turn away, you finally pick it up.

Have you had this happen to you? I have. Several times actually.

What happens next is the real story. You spend a few moments wondering why you even grabbed this information and almost convince yourself it wasn't there for you at all. And then it happens... It sends you in a completely different direction altogether.

Your mind wanders and begins to imagine possibilities. New possibilities. Your excited just thinking about them. The first time this happened I was in the grocery store and at the checkout I spotted a Cape Cod art gallery guide. This may not strike you as funny, but I'm in Maine and Cape Cod is not exactly close by. There was just one gallery guide tucked among the TV guides. Looking back now, I'm convinced it arrived here by accident. An accident with my name on it. This happened in 2001 and by 2002, after much research and many art packets later, I got into the Blue Heron Gallery. If I hadn't picked up that booklet, would I be there? Most likely not.

Don't avoid taking chances that can spin you around. Surprises await. New beginnings await. Most times its just a matter of taking that initial step. Picking up that booklet...

So Wednesday while waiting for my son to arrive at the airport, I stumbled across a whole stand of booklets. Yes, they are there for tourist. Well a few jumped out at me and I must say I didn't hesitate as long as I had years ago in the grocery store. One was of Blue Hill, Maine. I've never been and knew nothing about it. I may have heard the name, but one town or another, if you don't know it can mean nothing.

I quickly learned its the jutting chunk of land just south of Acadia where the popular picturesque Bar Harbor sits. Its a wonderful area, so why wouldn't the area south be as pretty? I don't suppose it wouldn't. Photos of lupines run through out the booklet. Next thing I know, I'm all over the internet looking for lodging during lupine season...

Wouldn't it be splendid to go paint the lovely purple spikes with the ocean in the background? Whole houses are for rent by the week for the price of a few nights in an inn. (Ha ha, just like in Ireland!) My first thought of going for a few nights quickly turned into wanting to go paint for the week! My second thought is do I want to invite other artists to come join me? You can get houses with various number of bedrooms...

Well I'm not sure how this will play out at the moment. But I can tell you I wouldn't even be considering this if I hadn't first picked up that booklet. Now I'm tingling with excitement at the thought of going on a painting holiday.

I hope you keep yourself open to new possibilities. Half the fun is never knowing what's waiting around the corner. Just as color can give you surprises on the canvas, a slight change in direction can place surprises in your life. Go surprise yourself!

Mishmash

I got excused from jury duty!

The good Lord takes such good care of me. It makes me smile warmly. I took advantage of my good fortune and blocked in a new painting. I'm placing a performer, colored with stage lights, in an outdoor scene. The challenge, other than capturing his resemblance, will be to work the colors into a pleasing yet believable ensemble.

As I blocked it in, how to execute this came easily. I'll work the foreground in bright punched colors, to become a unit with him, and tone down the remainder of the scene. Funny how with just a sketch I couldn't see this simple solution. Yet, as soon as I began adding paint, it flowed so naturally...

I love that about art. You don't always need to see the big picture. An idea for beginning is best and let it lead you somewhere. Surprises are fun. Surprises are exciting. Surprises make you feel alive! Its the bliss of creating.

So far I haven't shown much of my work in progress. If I begin to, you'll get a clearer picture of the chaotic way I work! On other artist's posts, you can follow a painting from start to finish. Mine will be a mishmash. In the beginning it can take me a week or more to return to the same painting.

There will be so much variety it may make your head spin...

Its much like the mind of a creative person. So full of ideas they want to explode out in every direction! Fortunately, when I get passed the "washes" stage, I love to work wet into wet and can complete them individually with full focus.

It can get a bit scary for me at this point. Especially if many reach their final stages at the same time. So much time has already been invested in them. At first, I'm completely free and fearless. In the end, a much slower concentrating state takes over. Though exciting to see a work come to completion, it can become stressful.

I'm trying to find a balance. I need works going in every stage. That way, I'm not confined to only the "completing stage" on all canvases at once. The first time I tried this process, its what happened to me. I try to avoid it now. Begin new works all the time. Its my solution. If it gets too intense finishing, I can ease up with something else in the early stages. Go drip some color for awhile.

Don't you find it interesting that everyone's process is different?

As different as our completed works. No right. No wrong. The creative process can take any shape. It usually comes as a surprise when I announce this to my beginner students. At first we work so controlled. I break it down in easy-to-follow steps. Then in time I tell them anything is correct. Its what feels right for you individually. They forget that on opening day, I told them, "There are as many different ways to paint as there are artists. I'm only showing you one way, not "the" way."

I'll take full advantage of not being confined to the courtroom today and go create!

Hope your day offers you some surprised freed time too...