Make my day!

Garden Girl

Original oil painting  28x22"

by Susan Roux

It was Saturday evening. Charlie called disguising his voice and asking me to guess who he was. It sounded nothing like him or like anyone else I knew, so I didn't offer a guess. I think he was disappointed I wouldn't even try. 

Whenever anyone does that, I'm always afraid to offend them if I guess the wrong person. 

Charlie is the owner of The Wright Gallery. You know, the one in Cape Porpoise, Maine. He lives upstairs from the gallery. It's a wonderful 3-story old building with an ocean view. He called to tell me that typically at 5:00 he closes his doors and is eager to scoot upstairs and be done with work for the day. But today, he said, my sister is meeting me for diner at 7:00, so I decided what the heck, I'll just leave the front door open until she arrives.

Lucky for me, because someone walked in and purchased Garden Girl! 

I don't usually post my sales, but I did like this little story. The next morning I awoke to an email from the buyer. Oh how I wish they would all contact me after a purchase. It was so refreshing to hear someone's opinion of my work. It's been years since I've done festivals and that wonderful interaction with the buyers is what I miss the most. 

These are the words I read. I was stunned by it on display. It offers to us serenity, warm springs, and bright futures... I feel like I found a gem!

If you're reading Eric, thank you for that. You made my day! I'm so happy she's found a home where she'll really be appreciated. 

I painted Garden Girl the first year I went on artists retreat at the mansion in Freeport. We go during February school vacation. I'm sure you  remember me talking about it before. It's where we host Champagne Thursday... I knew that would jar your memory.

I'm mentioning it because this year we aren't certain we'll return. The cost is high if all the rooms aren't rented out and so far we don't have occupants for a few of them. I know if I don't book it, come February vacation I'll be booting myself for not being there. It's such a productive week filled with laughter, great food and conversation, plus lots of wonderful creative energy. So if any of you would be interested in renting with us, please step forward. 

As always, thanks again for stopping by and leaving your wonderful comments. I do love hearing from you. You all make my day!

A Good Exhaustion

Moving to the Rhythm 

(panel 2)

Original oil painting  28x22"

by Susan Roux

You know those moments when you do exactly what you want to do, enjoy doing it and then feel completely drained afterwards? (no... I'm not talking about that!) Well this is how I would describe our weeklong artists retreat. Completely heavenly for lots of reasons only to return home to realize how exhausted you really are.

Prior to leaving, it's common to think of it as a vacation. A whole week with other artists. Nothing to do but paint and talk about art, eat great food, enjoy wine and champagne and sit in front of a crackling fire. What more could an artist want? It does sound like a perfect vacation.

But as it turns out, marathon painting is very draining.

Long hours in front of the easel, focused. I painted for hours at a time. The beautiful mansion we were in seemed to slip away. All that remained was my canvas, palette and reference. I was lost in colors, values and folds. Music played (yes it was Luka Bloom) and all the world faded away as time passed quickly, immersed in my work.

Stimulation was high. Each time I stopped, even for a moment, I looked out the window that illuminated my canvas. The white sunlit deck railing against the beautiful blue ocean reminded me of photos of Greece. I watched the tide come in and out of the cove. Reflections were amazing and countless birds danced and sang. The ocean was their stage and the show went on indefinitely. Each time I stopped painting, it almost caught me by surprise. How could this ever changing beautiful scene disappear when I worked?

But it did.

Interesting art conversations about every aspect of our craft, from first acknowledging you were an artist to marketing, gave a glimpse into each of our creative souls. Details of our journey, our hopes and our dreams. Our frustrations. It was all discussed. Encouraging words lifted spirits.

We continued to paint.

Champagne Thursday was well attended and such a delightful evening. The setting sun created an idyllic light for the art filled mansion. Thank you to everyone who came. The euphoria of the evening fueled us to continue painting for the remaining days.

Now I've returned to reality. All the household chores and stresses of life leap back upon me. The retreat was just that. A retreat from life. I'm exhausted, both mind and body, from the intensity of my focus. But I'm not complaining. It's definitely a Good Exhaustion.

Champagne Thursday info:

Monarda 

(detail of a work in progress)

by Susan Roux

As many of you already know, I'm getting prepared to leave for a week on an Artists Retreat. It'll be a mad week of marathon painting. We don't take phone calls. Laptops remain turned off in our bedrooms. Basically we leave all typical daily interruptions behind. The order of the day, every day, is to paint. After awhile with such intense focus, one becomes elevated to a form of a trance. It's like reaching that wonderful painting zone and remaining there full-time.

Oh, it's a wonderful feeling and I can't wait to get there.

Champagne Thursday is our only deviation, but oh what a night it is!

The roster of invites continues to grow. We may have gone a bit overboard this year, but who cares, it's just one night. I've been amazed at the confirmed list of guests. We have some wonderful prominent art figures planning to attend. If you're anywhere in the area, please don't hesitate to come join in the excitement!  A bottle of champagne and a nibbler is your only entrance fee. It's an instant party filled with stimulating art conversation among a multitude of fresh-off-the-easel art. Come tour this amazing mansion we spend the week in. You won't be disappointed you came!

CHAMPAGNE THURSDAY

February 23rd at 5:00 p.m. 

Last house on Shore Drive

Freeport, Maine

Entrance fee: Champagne and a nibbler

See you in just over a week!

The above painting is a close-up detail in an unfinished painting titled 

Monarda.

Maine Mutt Mansion, again?

Autumn Farm

Original oil painting  20x16"

by Susan Roux

Things have really been brewing here...

You can't expect to see me sitting idle for too long. My mind never stops. As soon as one thing ends, a new project begins. I'm not just talking about a painting on my easel. It's true of everything in my life. I can't ever seem to keep things running on an even slow tempo. It seems every time there's a lull, I get cranking on something else to stir things up.

In a few weeks several artists will be gathering at an oceanside mansion for a retreat. I organized it last year and it was so popular and fun, we've decided to return again. I can see this could easily become a yearly event.

We're five artists this year, with a possibility of a few daily visitors setting up their easels. We arrive with all our baggage and quickly set up our paint stations. The mansion is huge with lots of great windows bringing in ample light for everyone. We'll be painting from early in the morning, hardly sitting with our cups of coffee, until dark. The creative energy locked in winter walls will grow as the week progresses. Conversations revolve around art. Books are brought it. Our minds are opened to new ideas, new ways of looking at things. Stimulation is high. I remember having trouble sitting for a tea break in the afternoon.

I wasn't the only one with this problem. We worked to nearly exhaustion. The double jacuzzi was perfect to rejuvenate ourselves. I was surprised how locked up my muscles became. I didn't realize how much I clenched my knees as I concentrated to paint. It wasn't until I backed away from my work and found myself almost unable to move. I've dreamt about that jacuzzi many times over the past year...

It really was difficult to take a break. Our minds became so cued in to painting, that sitting for a few minutes away from our work seemed impossible. My tea kept getting cold. No sooner had I left my easel to sit quietly in the next room holding my hot cup, it would beckoned me back. Sandy laughed at me, telling me to go take a break! But in all honesty, she had the same problem.

The mansion is in Maine. This year we're very pleased and excited to have two artists join us from Scottsdale, AZ. You may already know Amy Whitehouse and her daily blog. She, along with an artist friend, will be flying in to experience our wonderful artists retreat. I'm looking forward to meeting them and discussing art together.

Evenings are spent sipping wine in front of the large fireplace. Our favorite evening is Champagne Thursday. It's when we invite lots of people to come visit. I'd like to open the invitation to all of you. It begins at 5:00 p.m. on February 23. We're the last house on Shore Dr. in Freeport Maine. Bring champagne and a nibbler. It was a great social evening last year and hopefully will be even better this year! Come and experience the creative energy that builds within the mansion walls. It's unbelievable.

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I don't often post my paintings from my classes. It isn't a demo actually, because I paint right along with my students, explaining things as we go along. My Thursday afternoon class just finished this fall scene. I love to paint wet into wet, but the restrictions of painting within class time and stopping until the following week, create quite a challenge for me. Class did really well with this, keeping the bright back trees receded and the large maple forward. The red roof needed to also be neutralized so the red branch dipping in front of it would read correctly. Great job students!

I have a new beginners class starting February 2, from 6-8 p.m. at EL High School, Auburn. If your interested or no someone who is, please call Adult Ed at 207-333-6661 to enroll. I'd like to thank all my wonderful students who work very hard at achieving great things.

You will come to Champagne Thursday, right?

I'm back

Bird Watching

Original oil painting 28x22"

by Susan Roux

I've been living in Freeport, Maine for nearly two weeks now and haven't walked into LLBean. Some people would find that utterly sinful. It wasn't about shopping. It was about art. My artists retreat turned out to be even better than imagined. So good infact, that some of us chose to extend our time. I apologize to all my students for canceling classes, but if you'd seen this place, you'd understand.

Six artists in a mansion on the ocean in the heart of winter, wind howling outdoors, makes it easy to stay cooped up indoors. From sunup to sundown, there was always at least one person with a brush in hand. Everyone's process, different. Everyone questioning and talking about art. Strewn about were various art books. Excerpts were read aloud and discussions blossomed. Some of your blogs were shared as you waltzed into our conversations. Ruminating the Profundities had us all rolling in laughter, with excerpts recited by heart at random times during the day. Laughter filled the house. Creative energy bubbled and vibrated within its walls.

The fireplace was lit. Wine was poured. Art videos were watched. Gourmet food was prepared. The jacuzzi was churning. Artists began to experiment out of their comfort zone. Suggestions were made. Confidence grew. Camaraderie settled in.

Then it happened. Champagne Thursday...

I want to thank everyone who came. What a night! Artists entered with their spouses and immediately felt the energy in the house. We had been productive and there was an extensive art show to view. How amazing it was to share our experience within the same walls where it all took place. Don even called that night and felt the explosive energy over the phone lines. He wished he was here... We wished you were here too, Don.

The best way to describe it was checking out of reality. Each day was eat breath and sleep art. Nothing else to worry about, think about, stress about. Everyone who participated wants to do it again next year. I highly recommend this to any of you out there. Houses in high tourist areas rent for cheap in the off season. It's a great way to have a serious work vacation. Jennifer said it was the best vacation she ever had! How cool is that?

The beginning

Through the Grass

Original oil painting 18x24"

by Susan Roux

I almost didn't post this painting. I just completed it with my class and it looks so different from the series I'm working on in my private time, that I hesitated to show it.

It's interesting when your work evolves and you're a teacher, because what you're teaching still resembles your older stuff. I think of my galleries and wonder, what they will do with these varying looks? I'm not sure they can even hang together...

But there is a story behind this work.

Class started this painting before Christmas. It's been a long road, between cancellations for snow days and holidays. It was also a good challenge for both students and myself to direct them through this complicated scene. Fields of wild grasses are one of my favorite subjects. How I love to let my paintbrush dip in colors and scribble the canvas. Most of it is spontaneous and therefore hard to describe to a student. The other difficulty was having several figures. Those figures are where my little story lies.

My studio is downstairs. It's too small to teach in, so I hold my classes in the dining room. Every week after classes, I'd remove the plastic from my table, replace the tablecloth and assemble the chairs around it. As time passed and the number of classes increased (I'm teaching 5 a week now) my dining room became a second studio. It's a rare occasion when I pull out the wall-matching tablecloth and replace the chairs. As one class rolls into another and I try to paint on my own, the partially painted canvasses collect. I often place them against the hallway wall where the staircase is. Some of them make it all the way down to the real studio, but lately most of them line the hall. It's sort of like a floor-level gallery.

One day as my husband came up the stairs, the figures in the above painting were directly in his sight. I hadn't painted figures in my work in awhile at the time and he complimented me on them. He seemed so delighted that when Don Hatfield called that week, I mentioned having put figures in my work. I asked if he wanted me to send him an image? Totally expecting him to give me an enthusiastic yes, I was quite surprised by his response.

Rather than ask to see the figures, he began to talk to me about the danger of painting figures in a scene. He spoke of how they too often jump out at you and in actuality they should be part of the scene. I remembered how he taught us to let our strokes move from the background into our portraits and reverse. My mind started to wonder (like it doesn't already do enough of that on it's own...) and inspiration emerged.

I pulled out a fresh canvas and a photo of a girl. I had one thing in mind. Make the figure be part of the background. Frolicking is what I created and this is how my latest series started... The big difference was not drawing my figure. When I do, I want to stay within the lines. This time I began with paint, not a pencil.

So it's for this reason that I've posted this painting. Sometimes it's nice to know where and why something new began.

This brings us back to Champagne Thursday... which will be held next week, February 24 at 5:oo pm. The address is 94 Shore Drive, Freeport, Maine. Please come. Admission is champagne and an appetizer. I'll be away painting all next week. Sure hope this sinus thing moves on before Saturday!

Champagne Thursday

Frolicking

Original oil painting 20x16"

by Susan Roux

So the five artists renting the house in February got together for lunch. It was introduction day. Aside from being artistically stimulating an interesting concept came up.

Champagne Thursday.

Are any of you familiar with it? It's from the movie Failure to Launch with Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew McConaughey. My girlfriend and I adopted it since the movie came out years ago. We get together on certain Thursdays to chat, drink champagne and just cut loose for a few hours. If it's summer, we sit outside on the garden bench. Winter has us curled in front of the fire... Maybe a little tablecloth on a side table with a few hors d'oeuvres, an ice bucket to keep it chilled and laughter, lots and lots of laughter. The great thing about Champagne Thursday is it doesn't need to be planned ahead of time. It doesn't even need to be on a Thursday!

So a simple phrase like, Is it Champagne Thursday this Sunday? Is always followed by an emphatic and enthusiastic YES!

As time went on, random guests were invited to join us on our very random "Thursdays".

I'm not sure why this came up during our introduction lunch, but suffice it to say it did. And as all Champagne Thursdays go, once it's brought up, it must go on...

So here it is. The decision was made to have one on Thursday, February 24 at the rental house. Artists are invited, including you. All that's required is that you bring champagne or wine and an appetizer. Champagne Thursday will officially start at 5:00 pm. So if you're around and want to come join the fun, you'll also get to see what we've been up to during our retreat (hint, lots and lots of art...), stop on by. The house is located in Freeport Maine. As soon as I get the address, I'll pass it along.

No overnights. A lot of you seemed very interested in this week-long art retreat. Wouldn't it be fun if a bunch of you rented another house in Freeport (rents are cheap this time of year...) the same week, and we all got together for champagne and art talks? If any of you are really interested, the week is February 19-26. School vacation. You can comment that you'd like to rent and all hook up through my blog. I can even help you find a nice house if you want. Imagine the possibilities...

Artists connecting with other artists. It's what it's all about. Are you interested?

Frolicking is my latest painting. Too bad I didn't paint a still life with champagne bottles, it would have been so appropriate for this post!

Maine Mutt Mansion

Lazy Afternoon

Original oil painting 18x24"

by Susan Roux

Why would 5 artists chose to lock themselves up in a strange house in the middle of winter for a week?

I know it sounds a bit crazy, but coming from me, you're really not surprised. Right?

It's official. All the money is in and the week is paid for. In less than a month we'll be hard at work on our Artist's Retreat! Yay! People often wonder what we do in Maine all winter long. Usually we come up with wild ideas to keep ourselves entertained. It gives us something to look forward to. Yes there are winter sports, but as the years go by, I find myself doing less and less of that. My cross-country skis are blocked in a corner, collecting dust...

Our plan is simple. Bring paint supplies, wine and lots of canvas. We want to work without the interruptions of day to day life. (Enough W's in that sentence?) The group is pretty diverse. Our subject matter, level of ability, mediums and painting process span a wide range. One thing that connects us is laughter. ...well of course art. I think it will be a stimulating, productive week.

So here it is. Our home away from home. Look at all the windows to bring light to our easels!

Did you happen to notice it's on the ocean? It's tucked in a cove in Freeport. There's a famous osprey nest at the state park and it's in our view directly across the water.

The bedrooms look spacious with glorious windows and balconies everywhere.

Of course we may need to shovel them off before we can step out on them... Maybe if the weather is mild (yeah right!) we'll bring our easels out and paint in plein air. Or perhaps plein cold!

At night we'll curl up in front of the wall size fireplace sipping red wine and charging our batteries for the next days round of painting. Not such a crazy idea after all, don't you think?

How do you get through the long winter months?