Thank you, Annette

What interesting conversations today. A little train of email exchanges:

Annette wrote: OK, I am back on Dieb.......I was looking at the books I have and I started noticing that all his compositions or most of them are divided up horizontally into 3 or 4 areas primarily.......ask Harry about that......do you think we each have a composition we keep working in various ways...?????

I answered: I definitely think many artists have repeating themes and elements in their art. Harry and deKooning both have this particular brushstroke they repeat over and over. It reminds me of someone with an accent. Or a remarkable nose.

Harry: I certainly do, probably only because my intent is contemplation and symmetry stops movement and invites quietness. It also formalizes the informal.

Annette: ahhhh.....that tickles my art bones..................now if only I could figure out MY composition, brushstroke, big nose, etc......I need to get all my work together and look.....another good reason for an art sale!!!

Later tonight Annette generously listened and reflected on the paintings I am working on. The BANG BANG BANG ones. She helped me look at the difference between the two very different styles. Helped me see the elements in each one that I might combine into one style. The painted print patterns or biomorphic patterns of naturally settling and drying water mixtures. Bright paintbox colors or earth tones and natural crumbled dirt. Silhouettes or not. One is too much in your face, the other is not enough information. Somehow I just never thought of this before like she helped me see it. What a great gift understanding is. Thank you, Annette.

Good night everybody.
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Who Stole my Story?

Somebody stole my comment button! Alas, I ambusy getting ready for Family Camp. [WOOOOHOOOOOOOOO!] I will fix the Comment button when I return to real life on Tuesday Sep 2. Until then if you have a comment, make it sweet and email it to me. I'll post it somehow, dearies!
xo!

Playing in the Mud with Annie

Work In Progress
Time On Mars
18 x 18 x 2"
mixed media on wood box

What an awesome today today! Played in the white mud with Annie all afternoon. we scooped and blopped and blobbed, rubbed and buffed and stuck things in it.

I recently subscribed to a feed from the explorer on Mars. They have a widget you can get that tells you the time on Mars. While I was making this painting, I kept thinking about time on Mars and all that phrase might imply directly or tangentially. Like, if I were in a different place, would time be different? I know that if I were at a desk 9 to 5 time would probably go very slowly as opposed to the breeze of an afternoon playing in the mud with Annie.

If I were on Mars I would probably resort to marking each day with a thumb print on the wall like prisoners in solitary confinement where they don't know the time of day. I really don't know what this has to do with anything.

Yesterday I was running errands and as I came out of the Post Office looked around me and felt very alive. I felt like the world and my life lie ahead of me and anything is possible. I felt like just standing for a minute and watching the day happen. Then I focused on what my eyes were looking at and realized there was a kind of run down metal building across the street, a bit of trash floated across the pavement, and the sun was beating down hot. For me to feel alive and notice it, in this particular setting is a very amazing thing because all my life I have been sensitive to my surroundings and ones like this usually make me grab tensely inward trying to protect myself from possible harm or just unpleasantness.

I think this happened because of something I am achieving with my Alexander Teacher, Karen DeHart. We had a very good session yesterday. We talked about my art and my art business as we worked on letting go of tension. She helped me realize I have been concentrating and focusing on wanting to sell my art, rather than expressing it as a wish, letting it go, and waiting to see what happens. Believing it will come rather than grabbing for it to come. Afterward I felt as if a larger space was created around me and I felt free to live in it. I think that space has been there all the time, I am just now allowing myself to live and thrive in it. I think so many things I do are self-limiting. Amazing how responsible for myself I really am, yet how much I have to let go of trying to control everything around me.

So Time on Mars....

Better than Youth and New Metal?

Finally something to show, still a Work In Progress:
PO's Paris Trip
12 x 12 x 2
mixed media on canvas on board

And a Good morning to my dear friends and fans! Did you have good coffee this morning? I am trying Starbuck's Gazebo Blend. Good but not quite as good as last month's Hawaiian Kona or something like that. Now can't find it anywhere. Flowery tropical blues on the bag. darn. It was sublime.

Also been searching for a special marinade for the chicken at our church Family Camp which is coming up this weekend. Mr. Yoshida's Marinade and Cooking Sauce. Our chef Larry insists on it and I am on the Fam Camp gro-shopping committee.[One of my favorite committees I must say!] Finally tracked some down at Sam's Club in Mentor Ohio. Called them and they don't and won't ship it to us for any price. Anyone live near Mentor [north east of Cleveland, OH?] Wanna' earn some painting points?

Next topic: my dear friend Ron Hart the Photographer. Ron & his wife Debbie have been dear friends for years. Ron has always been around with his camera faithfully capturing special moments for lots of us all this time. But I think Ron has come into his own. He just put his site and blog up and WIOW! I felt like I was taking a trip to some beautiful new place when I went there. The ironic thing is, my favorite photos were of peeling paint and rusting doors. A reminder to me that nature eventually takes over, even man made steel. And that dying and change can be more beautiful than youth and new metal. Since he put the site up a couple days ago I have been to his site several times just to take a deep breath and remember Who is in charge here. I think the boathouse with the blue doors is my fav. What yummy texture and colors. What man begins, if he sits quietly and waits, nature will finish! And Ron will probably be there to document the miracle. Those are my thoughts about that anyway!
http://photobyhart.com and http://photobyhart.blogspot.com

I am going to make chikin salad for lunch. Annie is coming over to play in the white mud this afternoon. WOOHOO!
xo

FEEDBURNER ROX!

Oh I forgot to tell you about the typing typing typing part...
I am switching to a new site feeder. I think this one is more user friendly.
Notice the new FEEDBURNER subscription box there on the left.

If you are still using the FEEDBLITZ subscriber, please switch over to FEEDBURNER by simply filling out the wee form.

Also please let me know how FEEDBURNER works for you. Feedback from YOO helps me know if you are getting all my lovely blog notices!

xo
Miss TypeBang

White Rock

More banging. Then typing. More coffee. ThenPAINTING! Ahhhh, painting! Well, texture paint anyway.

What a transition time. The canvas boards and backing stretchers take some time to build because they will have to support more weight than the previous oil paintings. This is a clue as to things to come.
Maybe you can get more clues from these photos. I thought it only fair to give my dear loyal bloggees a look at what might be causing all that banging and squishing.

Talking to Annette yesterday about all sorts of things. Going back in time. I've done art in the past about going back in time. It helped to heal. But what is the use of continually reviewing the past if it does not give you wisdom for the present?

I have always been fascinated with my Grandmother's stories of her life in Texas. A lot of her stories took place around White Rock in Dallas. I am not sure of the facts exactly but I think that she struggled hard before White Rock and once she got there she felt she had reached a successful plateau. She continued to climb the rest of her life, as any good Capricorn does, but White Rock always remained a milestone.

Several years ago I began using Behr's Texture Paint from Home Depot. It has the combined best qualities of plaster of paris, acrylic paint, and watercolor. Though I have glooped it, glopped it, smeared it, buffed it, mixed it with paint, sanded it, dissolved it , dryed it, sculpted it, restructured it, and used it for faux finishing, I don't think I will ever exhaust its possibilities.

I used it along with other ingredients and techniques to create the Tuscany Water Stone Walls for my dear friends in Ludlow Falls several years ago. And I have used it on all my paintings since about the 1990's.

Looking back it seems my journey beginning in May this year up to the present was a sort of recapping, or relearning painting. I feel like I filled in some gaps to my painting education. I had to see if after filling those gaps I would still be drawn to the white rock. And what do you think the answer is? BANG BANG BANG!

Haha! the only thing I don't like about the white rock paintings is the BANG BANG BANG part, the building of the supporting canvas structure. Electrical saws, drills, and metal things don't make me cozy. I have to take a lot of breaks and drink tea in between the banging. And take lots of cat naps with Doo and Mr. B.

As you can see in the photos I am finally getting to mess with the texture paint and soon you will get to see some actual painting here.

Miss Paint Avatar

More Office work. Google AdWords. zzz. Google Analytics. I miss paint. Checking out Webshots for images. Going to Night Sky to discuss art. Man their coffee is great! Back to office. cheese sandwich. I miss paint. Proof Grant for Harry.

Oh hey read this part of his grant:

Over the last few months I have become increasingly fascinated with how the human brain can process and organize incomplete bits of information into whole forms. This holistic tendency is evident throughout art history, particularly when viewing archaeological remains from past civilizations, broken classical sculptures, and even in the destroyed images from the Iconoclastic Controversy. Experimenting with the exact amount of visual information necessary to convey a mental presence is what concerns me. and will be the focus of this research project. My interest lies in finding the distinction between traditional illustration (recording, mimicking, copying visual information) and in communicating an actual “felt” presence. It’s an interest that investigates gestalt effects that relate the form-forming capabilities of our senses.

That's a lot of werds for a painter, huh?
Going to talk to Annie and Lori Middleton about our 100 paintings for 100 sale on Sept. 20.

Mystery Appears Wise?

BANG BANG BANG... clunk... tink... plop... squirggle... step step step step step step step step step step step... walk walk walk walk walk walk... click double click... type type type... WHOA! Who are these sleepy peeps on the doorstep of my Blog this morning?!
Why I do believe it's my loyal Bloggees! Good morning, dearies! Have some homemade breakfast tamales and Mexican cocoa coffee. Little cream and sugar with that?

You know I am not so mysterious as all that! I just read a very good book by Carson McCullers called "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter". In the end [don't read the rest of this paragraph if you don't want me to spoil the end] you realize that Mr. Singer is not so mysterious afterall. All the other main characters in the story think he has the clue to their happiness in some way just because he never speaks. But the secret is he just never talks so you never know that he is just a searching person like everyone else. There is a Proverb somewhere that talks about appearing wise when you say little.

So once again I learn this lesson... quit talking so much and peeps will think I have something to say?!!! Sheesh!


xo

@Etsy

BANG BANG BANG!

BANG BANG BANG!
"What's that noise?"
"It's in the basement of the turquoise hobbit house. It's been going on for days! Do you think she's ok?
"Yeah, I see her bustling in & out of the house now & then with cans of paint and bags from the hardware store."
"And groceries of course."
"Yes, and cat food."
Bang, bang, bang!
"There it goes again."
"What's she up to?"
"I dunno, she hasn't been writing much in her blog."
"Well I'll just wait here until she does. Nothin' else fun goin' on around here."
"YUP!"

Presence of Absence

I have a question for my dear Bloggees, "Without looking it up, what does the word 'avatar' mean to you?" I hope you will post a comment because I am really curious the different words and references that may pop into your mind at first. Don't worry, this isn't a test. You won't be demoted to sub-par-bloggee status, or anything! Haha. Just wanting to throw some words and ideas onto the table from different perspectives.

All summer I have been working on semi-disappearing Mr Black, as you are probably aware. He hides, or he slips almost totally off the page, barely leaving the edge of his huge black bottom or tail to remind you he is present. Maybe there is a dark shadow and it is possible that is just a shadow from a leaf, or maybe it is Mr. B. Sometimes there is only evidence that he or Doodle were just there. You can tell by the spilt salt shaker, or the scattered peas.

This summer when Harry was here for three whole months, you could definitely say he was present. But now that he is gone the power of his presence remains. In this way Harry is very much like Mr. Black to me. Whether he is here or not, his presence is always alongside whatever I am doing.

Whenever I give Harry a pile of old cotton tshirts and nightgowns he acts the way I would if he gave me flowers, or chocolate. Usually he uses them for painting rags, which he just devours. Seems the raggier they are the happier he is. So right before he left I gave him the oldest raggiest nightgown I could find. We were both really sad our summer together was over and I couldn't think of a good farewell present. I felt so sad that I had to make some sort of joke so I decided a nice raggy rag would be funny, but I should not have been surprised when he got REALLY excited and said, "I can't wait to get back to GA!"

"What?!" I was not expecting that. Then he added, "...so I can glue this to the canvas. It will be perfect for this idea I am working on."

So OK I feel all special. I guess the wives of artists have to get used to this kind of thing. Haha.

This summer Harry and Annette and I talked several times about gestalt and about stopping short of spelling everything out for the viewer. I wish I could remember Harry's definition of "iconoclastic" - you look it up if you want. Apparently the religious guys were opposed to some artists guys painting images of Christ and Mother Mary, so the artist guys gave in and just painted a figure covered in cloth, but it backfired on the religious guys cause the cloth just gave the figures more power of presence than ever. [OK so I never claimed to have a degree in teaching]

So are you seeing yet how all this relates?

And have you also noticed the absence of my paintings here? Haha don't worry, they are shrouded for the moment, to be revealed in full glory soon.....

Go buy some artsy Cards for Keeps and save some trees.....
xo

Doing Dumb Thingz

Man that was dumb. No not the cardz... staying up til 2:30 am. Today I finished loading the card set variations on Etsy. Still got no painting done. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

The Little Printz Have Arrived!

Gonna try something here. And, no, that is NOT a typo in the title. Yes, I've been cramming all day & it's almost 2AM but that is NOT a typo! Anyway as I was saying...

I read a great article on Etsy Storque about keys to success with your Etsy Storefront. A good way to get the word out about your art is to make small giclee cards of your artwork and sell in the same price range as quality greeting cards.

I enjoy sending pretty cards to special people on special days but I hate the idea of beautiful things getting thrown away. ARGGGG! Oh and don't get me started on the wasted lives of trees! I was thinking about what would make me want to keep a birthday card and I realized that if the card was ART, I would frame it and keep it and have something to treasure forever.

So begins "Cards for Keeps" or perhaps "Art Works!" or maybe "The Little Art Printz". [See I told you that was not a typo!]

A few of my paintings printed on archival photo paper & mounted on acid free greeting cards. Empty inside so you may write your own personal note. Description of painting on back. A plug for me and a small piece of my art for you and/or your giftee!

• Actual image of painting is approx 3.5 x 3.5"
• Each 5.5 x 5.5" card comes with one nice white 6 x 6" envelope.
• Choose your designs from any of my paintings on my website www.suzanneally.com
• One to five cards of different designs $5.00 each plus $1.50 shipping as follows:

• one card + shipping = 6.50
• two diff cards + shipping = 11.50
• three diff cards + shipping = 16.50
• four diff cards + shipping = 21.50
• five diff cards + shipping = 26.50

• Best Deal: 5 CARDS of same design[ $15.00 plus $1.50 shipping = ]$16.50

Email me s@suzanneally.com for all multiple card orders and I will make up your order and post for you at Etsy in the "Reserved" section of my shop.

PS. Believe it or not I have been researching this project for quite awhile. I found that depending on which chart your post officer is looking at when you ask them, you may have to pay a bit extra to mail these simply because they are square. The lowest quote I got for mailing one card in a 6x6" envelope was 20 cents extra or 62 cents. The highest quote was $1.34. So when I add a larger envelope in order to ship one card&envelope to you, that is why I charge $1.50. I also found I can get as many as five cards with envelopes into a $1.50 mailing. [woohoo]

Available @ my Etsy Store .

QUIZ FOR THE DAY

QUIZ FOR THE DAY:

What has canaries, ferns, black cats, & black eyed peas AND is cheaper than one of my teeniniest paintings?

Ha! You really think I am going to tell you the answer now? You have to guess and by the time everyone has guessed, maybe it will be ready for its unveiling! Oh I know you can't wait... hopefully tomorrow!
xo
Suzanneally.com

Doin' the Hokey Pokey...

The Hokey Pokey... what if that IS what it's all about?

This is my quote for today. I happened to meet one of my favorite neighbors at the grocery store this afternoon and he is to thank for this quote. Actually I think his band mate, Linda made it up and printed it on band t-shirts! So today my plug is for my neighbor Smilin' Bill and his band Rum River Blend. WooHoo - go see em & have a rompin' good evening with the family! http://www.rumriverblend.com/

I like Bill because he always seems to be totally unstressed about life which is why I guess they call him "Smilin' Bill." Here in their photo he is the bass player on the right.

Smilin' & I had a little art talk standing there in the apple aisle about how painting is for the eyes and music is for the ears and both can be for the brain, however when I think of the hokey pokey, I think maybe it is time to turn off the brain and just enjoy life! Thank you Smilin' Bill for the inspiration!
PS. Annette emailed me a quote from the artist Squeak Carnwath, "good ideas are not made, they are stolen, " so goes the hokey pokey quote, eh? hehe.

Takes an Artist to Get Away with Rubbing Someone Out!

Still working on my secret new paintings so here is an installation shot from Night Sky! If you click on it you get a much bigger view and you can see where I rubbed out some poor guy who was eating his dinner right in the middle of the shot. [How dare people eat in the presence of my art!!!!]

In the meantime, I feel like we just had the art talk equivalent of The Last Supper with Annette tonight. Harry leaves Sunday and it felt like we were trying to cram in everything we might need for the months ahead without him. In short: waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

We talked about Diebenkorn of course but also Donald Baechler - wow look HIM up and don't call me weird, will ya'?! I'm sayin'!!! But my fav thing Harry said tonight to Annette was when she said something like she could not draw as well as Leonardo daVinci and Harry said well DaVinci could draw like DaVinci the best of anyone but only Annette Cargill can draw like Annette Cargill better than anyone else. The clue is to find out what Annette Cargill draws [or paints] like. And Miss Suzy. I'll let you know when that happens, ok?

Go Shop @ Etsy@

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO LEO ME!

3 in-progress paintings stand in the corner neglected as I continue the business end of my summer venture. Don't you feel sorry for me?

Oh well anyway, I have some interesting data for you. I found that Google Analytics will track what countries my visitors are from. Since beginning my blog in May I have:

• Over a thousand visits from 18 countries including 32 states. That is almost as many states as Dishwasher Pete washed dishes in! Look out Pete, here I come!
• So the winning state was Ohio with 18 cities.
• Winning city [WOOHOO!] Troy with 315 visits!
• Avg time on site was 6.5 minutes!

WIOW what a nice birthday present for a Leo... to know that peeps like me!
Thanks everybody and don't forget Christmas is around the corner so keep coming back!
You really don't want to see me do my pouting Leo thing.
Shop @ Etsy
Shop @ Night Sky

Too Busy Selling Paintings to PAINT??!!!

How exciting! My next painting project will be Taste of Troy on September 20! Annette, Meggan and I are planning our "100 Paintings for less than $100" booth. A generous interior designer, Lori Klipstine, has agreed to let us use her store as our booth for the day. WIOW!! How cool is that?! Mark your calendars now! You don't want to miss this:

September 20 - Taste of Troy
100 $100 Paintings
@ Lori Middleton Interiors
9 am - 4 pm
East corner Troy Downtown Square
121 Public Square #10

See the actual street view at GoogleMaps. On Google it is listed as Lori Klipstine Interiors. Click on the underlined text that says "Street View." You have to wait a second for the street views to load, then you can rotate for a 360 view. Kind of amazing that our sweet little town is now so thoroughly Googlized. You can see details of houses, people walking, kind of weird, I guess, but I am less spooked than amazed at this sort of thing. I searched for my own addie and yep! there was my wee cottage and even my car parked in the street. I zoomed in but could not see the cats in the window even though they probably were there. But wait, I digress. Oh so what else is new?!

Go shopping @ Night Sky
or Etsy
or http://suzanneally.com
or email s@suzanneally.com!
PS. Last night Harry & Some friends & I went to Night Sky for coffee & see the paintings. One friend was saying he preferred realism to abstract and Harry asked him if he liked music. "Do you like only music with words?"
Answer,"Oh I like music with or without words."
Harry, "Consider that realistic paintings are like music with words, while abstract paintings are like music without words."
Suzy's addendum: Consider musical notes are to your ears, what shapes and colors are to your eyes.

Bizzy E-Beez Coupon$ !

Good Morning my devoted Bloggees!

I hope you are all having a nice sunny summer! Now that the Night Sky show is all set up, I am working like a pollen-laden bee propagating painting publicity!

All alliteration aside I'd like to ask for your help spreading the word about my paintings. I am asking that you would write an email to all your friends and relatives, excluding only the ones who might really be mad if you bothered them, and tell them about my site and why you suggest it to them. And yes you get something in return! If you email them and ...

1. Ask their permission to enter them in my Sitefeed Notification Emails,
2. Then you simply email me [s@suzanneally.com] the names & emails of the ones who reply "YES",
3. I will sign them up & give both YOU
4. AND THEM a coupon for $10. off any painting on my site for EACH sign up!

WIOW how can you resist that offer?

And ALSO because I am such a sweet bee, I am giving each one of you who is already subscribed a coupon for $10. off any painting just for being such faithful Bloggees! You will find it in your Inbox sometime today! This offer will probably last thru the end of August so hurry!

In the meantime I am buzzing off to work on three simultanous paintings and then a cat nap.

xoxox & bzzzzzzzzzzzz!
suzy

PS. You may combine coupons up to 75% of the retail value off the paintings!!!!! WIOW!!!
And all coupon purchases must be via phone or email: s@suzanneally.com
Choose from paintings here: http://suzanneally.com

PPS. Wow what a stir this sale is causing! WooHoo! Hurry before they're all gone! [no pressure or anything]

Mister Black has the Blues

Mister Black, Ferns, And Comma Fish REPAINTED!
16 x 16"
oil on wood

Continuing to change a few paintings... here is the revised Mister Black, Ferns And Comma Fish.

I won't do a big page showing the diffs like I did yesterday but now that the images are higher res you should be able to click on them and get a much larger image to pop up on a new page.


Comments welcome.
Do you like the new Mister Black with the Blues?

Shop @ Etsy!

Doing a Retake...

I am so jazzed! There have been all these discussions going on for some time and I have felt at a loss to express them in words, much less on our little blog here.

Since hanging the show at Night Sky, I have been redoing some of the paintings I have left here at home. It was hard to taking a chance at ruining them, but I am so glad I did.

Harry gives his input but I have to understand why before I make a move. And sometimes I decide not to follow. I think this is very important to remember where lies the center locus of control and creation.

Anyway Annette was over yesterday and dropped off some luscious Richard Diebenkorn books. Scumbling, surfaces, textures, history, colors, oh colors, overlapping colors... oh what joy! As I was loading photos of the B-Eyes & Red Chair, I realized two things:

1. When I was in NJ I noticed I had had my settings too low on my camera since May, so much of the textures and paint have been lost! This is the first painting with the higher settings and WOW..

Click on the images here to enlarge and look for yourself!

2. Looking at the detail shots, things that Annette, Harry and I have been talking about came together in a POUPH of epiphany! I felt like I was going back in time to my art student days when I did non-objective abstracts. These detail shots have a lot of the same qualities of the paintings I did back then. WOW SUPREME! It's all about layers and history and scumbling and surfaces and textures and colors, oh colors!

It's about edges and boundaries, too but we can talk about that later. If I go into that I will be here all day and never get to the painting I want to start!

Have a good Saturday and wish me luck... and joy, always joy!
Go shopping @ Etsy or...
NIGHT SKY just N. of Troy Downtown Square!
More Art Fun: Go See Old/New Painting Comparison Here