A New Batch has Hatched!!!

BOO! Happy Hallowiow!
Ron Hart introduced me to Simple Viewer and WIOW! it is great. I made a page of my latest paintings HERE!
Go check em out. I'm going to singers' practice. See you later, tater!
xo
suzy

Another successful Texture Workshop!

This morning I had a Texture Workshop for 5 fantastic ladies from the Country Workshop Artists. I always seem to learn something from my "students"! And I love the energy that happened as they took delight in smooshing the texture around and the surprises that happened.

I'll be doing another workshop in November for them and a second workshop also in November for anyone else interested. Email or call to get on the list. There are only five people per workshop.

I think I finished one today and a second one is close. Will post soon.
xo

Guerrilla Garage Art

Guerrilla Garage Art / Children's Art Gallery!

These are photos of the garage Smilin' Bill's grand- daughters painted. Man I love this! The scale is so grand and their brush strokes so free and full of heartfelt pure spirit! They haven't yet been taught to worry about the shoulds; kids just paint from their heart!

Lots of people have been telling me about these little pink notices they have been getting from our city telling them to paint their garage. When Smilin' got his little pink notice he painted it white [the garage, not the notice] and then asked his granddaughters to decorate it. He gave them a few cans of "$5. Whoops Paint" from Lowes, a few $1.00 paint brushes, a step ladder, and they did the rest. I think they have started a movement. I HOPE they have started a movement!!!

My son is a Guerrilla Urban Farmer. He plants seeds in vacant lots in areas that he walks by. What a way to proactively affect your daily environment. His walk to work is also his time to check on his planting projects. Not to mention he just improved the neighborhood!

Anyway, as a long-time lover of children's art I can't tell you how jazzed I am about Smilin's Guerrilla Garage Art Idea. You can never seem to find enough canvas for kids to paint, to really stretch their arms and paint from their guts. What better synergistic plan than to give them your pink-slipped garage?

I am tempted to start an official Guerilla Garage Art Blog. Help people in town who have gotten pink-slipped to connect with kids looking for a place to paint. Maybe people who have partly-used paint would donate to the movement. Maybe whole neighborhoods could have the backs of their garages Guerrilla Arted and a Drive thru Guerrilla Garage Alley Gallery Movement would take over Troy!

Hmmm... the old ticker is cranking away on this one. Click the Post Title where it says Guerrilla Garage Art and you will be able to comment. Let's see what happens next..........

Last Night'sTexture Workshop

Had my first Texture Workshop last night. I hope my peeps enjoyed it as much as I did. In photos are left to right, Jordan, & Alex, & Luke & Dana. They gave me some very good feedback to make the next one even better. The next workshop is Saturday morning.

I tried to keep a balance between showing them the new technique and then giving them the freedom to create their own paintings. We were all sort of amazed when we were done how each person's painting turned out so different. This texture stuff has endless possibilities. I can't wait to see all the different art created from these workshops. Hopefully everyone will post their new discoveries and ideas!

More of the Amazing Smilin' Bill!

This has nothing to do with painting. Or maybe it does but I will leave it to you to tell me. Smilin' Bill gave me more cookies today, only this time he used Raisinettes instead of chocolate chips. Ohmygoodness!
PS. Hurt my shoulder moving things around in my kitchen after the fridge broke. Had to rest up for a few days & finished up two delightful books... Marley and Me and A Girl Named Zippy. Highly recommend, especially for the dreary winter months when you need a light-hearted pick-up.

Same Olde Story in Periwinkles

The Same Old Story in Periwinkles
24 x 24 x 1.5
mixed media on wood panel

Enjoy. Talk later. Going to church now.
xo

It's the Same Old Story

It's the Same Old Story in Light Greens
22 x 22 x 1.5"
mixed media on wood panel
[click to see enlarged image]

My grandmother was the picture-taker in our family. We made fun of her incessantly. Surely there is not one of us that does not now feel guilty as we enjoy the plethora of family films she left behind. Nanny used to always spend so much time documenting our lives that we joked that she missed out living her own. When life dishes out goodie upon goodie, I am so busy living the goodies, I can't get time to blog about it. Thus you have as close to an excuse for not hearing from me as I hope I ever give you.

Harry went back to Ga after a blissful artful week. I did manage to film him a couple times with some of his juicy art talk before he demanded I turn off that stoopid camera. [pout] Yes, I will post the little gems in a bit.

Annette, Harry & I had a couple of super juicers. Just stellar material. I think Annette got jazzed and I know I did. I feel like I shed several pounds of shoulds during the process. Harry gave me his coveted "That's a good one, dear," on one of my paintings right before he left. Then after I coated it with glaze, the bright pink pastel chalk marks jumped too much up through the other layers of colors and ruined it. waaaaaaaaaa. I finished the above painting just this morning and like it even better than the "That's a good one, dear." Don't know what Harry would say but am learning to value what I SAY.

Never ceases to amaze me how hard it is to cut thru my own crap to what I really like. What I really want to paint. The biggest enemies are the thoughts, "Suzy, you have to make it interesting, What you have is not enough, Put on more to make people notice." The hardest thing is to just paint what I want to paint and not fear rejection.

There are some background meanings to the titles but maybe I will blog about those later. Just enjoy this one for now.

xo

The Cats Came Back or No Canaries on Stick

I am so very totally jazzed. Two things came together. maybe more than two things. I don't know. I just love this painting. Because.... I got the realish cats and the abstract texture together. I am waiting to see if it is done. Oh guess what I am calling it... "The Cats Came Back or No Canaries on Stick". Haha poor canaries. But isn't it fun? I know, I know, cool artists aren't supposed to act giddy. Well tough.
xo
me
PS. Don't forget to click image to enlarge & see all the scrumptious upclose goodness! Woohoo! I could eat this painting!

Knox St. in Highland Park, Dallas

My brother and I went trooping around our old stomping grounds while in Dallas. We had lunch at the Highland Park Pharmacy on Knox St. Grilled cheese sandwiches and cherry coke. The Pharmacy is about the only thing I can recognize on Knox St. anymore.

My grandmother founded, owned & operated the Highland Park Weave Shoppe on Knox Street and when I was a little redheaded girl she would take my hand and we would walk down the street to have lunch at the Pharmacy or at the Highland Park Cafeteria.

Funny how things come full circle. I was just on the phone to Helen of the Craighead-Green Gallery in Dallas. We are in mid-arrangements for Harry's paintings to be exhibited there. I was talking to her about one of Harry's paintings, Figure with Flowers #2. I told her the story about the nightgown in that painting - remember the blog post about the raggy nightgown that I had given Harry when he went back to GA in August?

Well a bit more to that story is that my grandmother also sold antique linens from her Weave Shoppe and she kept me supplied with linen nightgowns from her stash. Helen remembered the Highland Park Weave Shoppe. It was quite a landmark for years & probably larger now as a part of the old Knox St. Memories. Anyway if all works out well, how cool that the nightgown may travel via Harry's painting back to its Dallas roots.

As if this is not excitement enough, the Craighead-Green Gallery is also interested in Mikhail's paintings. I agreed to be Mik's liaison, too, so I need to get to work. Don't worry, I am painting, too, well... maybe tomorrow. It has to happen or I'll burst - I accumulated much emotional material in Dallas that MUST get into the paint!

xo til later
suzy