Monday, May 23, 2011

Spare time


Stonington Ledge
Original oil painting 14x18"
by Susan Roux

Getting back to normal.

At least I hope so. My life has been flying at a faster pace than usual and I'm very happy to return to my simple routine. Isn't that funny about routines? They can become so mundane and make you fell stuck in a rut, but lose if for too long and you're quite happy to return to it. This week my only commitments are the classes I teach. I wonder if I can get to the end of the week without creating new ones for myself...

It's usually a challenge.

I don't know about you, but I can't seem to keep my idle time idle for very long. As soon as there is spare time, I begin to fill it up. The same is true of my desk. My students know it is a piled mess. An organized mess though. I can usually find what I want in seconds. What my students don't know is if I take a day to clean it, I no sooner begin to fill it up again. Not just with random papers. Oh no. I start searching the internet finding things to apply to or getting ideas and of course I don't want to forget all this information I'm compiling, so it goes on paper. Lots and lots of paper. Then books and notebooks and folders followed by post-it notes and tiny pieces of different colored notepad paper to keep my thousands of thoughts in order. In the end, there isn't any order to be seen. Clutter covering my entire desk.

So as much as I would love to have a clean desk, I almost fear cleaning it. Fear of giving myself more projects!

For this week, I'll retreat to my easel. I've missed spreading paint around. How long has it been since I've painted one of my dreamy beach girls? Too long, I say.

Stonington Ledge is one of nine paintings I recently delivered at Blue Hill Bay Gallery (not to be confused with the Blue Heron Gallery), located in lovely Blue Hill, Maine. I stopped in to visit Peter, the owner, last June during my weeklong get-a-way to Deer Isle in quest of painting lupines. He agreed to represent me starting this year. You remember, right? Stonington is a lovely fishing village located on the tip of Deer Isle. Painting works for Peter was a real joy. The scenery up there is calming and beautiful. Much like the people who inhabit the area. The pace reminded me of Ireland. It's so fulfilling to know such places exist and when we really wish to slow down, we can retreat to these little gems to participate and be rejuvenated in their ways.

Another interesting fact about this painting is I did it with some beginner students. It was their 3rd painting. Yes, you read that correctly. Third painting. I won't tell you we did it in a snap, but without any pencil drawing, I let them through this complex painting, step by step. Their results were astounding! I had second year students watching this painting develop and feeling they were still not ready for such a composition. But seriously, I could have led them through it as well...

12 comments:

  1. Lovely painting Susan. Love the sunlight on the house. Will you be in the Art Walk this Friday?

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  2. Hey, one mans rut is another mans well worn path!

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  3. I find the same gentleness in your buildings that you have in the ladies on the beach. Hope you do well in the gallery!

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  4. Wonderful and how cool for your students! Nothing like pushing them outside those comfort zones!

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  5. I think there is a gentleness in you that comes through in all your paintings, Susan. This is so beautiful...gives me the same imaginative thoughts, though in the northern climes rather than the southern, that "To Kill a Mockingbird" did as to its setting. I picture an older woman who has lovingly tended her flower garden for many years...sigh...

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  6. Another wonderful post from a wonderful artist. Thank you again.

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  7. This has such a beautiful and timeless presence to it-

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  8. Hi Susan!... A wonderfully warm... colourful piece! Though tranquil and serene in mood... there exists a nice contrasting tension created by your use of a strong diagonal composition Very nice effect!

    Thank "You" too...for directing Diane to my blog site and for your very kind and encouraging remarks about the current post!

    Good Painting!
    Warmest regards,
    Bruce

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  9. Belle luminosité et ravissante maison, que de jolies fleurs tout est ensoleillé! superbe.
    Bon week-end cath

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  10. Beautifully done! I love the gorgeous colors of light and shadow on the house - this painting just glows!

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  11. Love your work Susan. Hope your day goes well and are full of painting.

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