Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Without class


In the Lupines
Original oil painting 14x18"
by Susan Roux

I'm preparing a body of work to be exhibited next summer. I know it sounds far off to be beginning so soon, but the inspiration is alive and current. I feel its the perfect time to dive right in.

The morning I left for Deer Isle, I received an email from my artist friend Sandy. She suggested I go visit Peter at Blue Hill Bay Gallery, located directly in the picturesque town of Blue Hill, Maine. She is represented there and thought Peter might be interested in my art.

Talk about a last minute rush to pack a few finished paintings, grab frames, hardware and tools. No time left to put anything together. We were just about to leave. Running out the door, I remembered to print out a resume only to find it wasn't updated for 2010... Change some dates, pop in resume paper and hit print. In ten minutes, I managed to somewhat prepare for a gallery visit. Phew!

I was hoping to finish some magnificent work on location to totally impress him, but that didn't turn out to be the case. All my works were unfinished and the lupines were fading daily. By Thursday afternoon, I decided to give Peter a call.

This is never the way to approach a gallery, yet here I was doing it...

I like to project an image of class. Unfortunately Peter never saw it. His gallery was closing for the day in two hours and I was thirty minutes away. Throw some unfinished paintings in the car, hair all a mess and still in my painting clothes from a morning at work, yet I was off to Blue Hill.

I can't emphasize enough how it helps to know someone currently in a gallery. I did not enter the gallery with my best work. Luckily he could see through the plein air struggle and saw something he liked. Something that held promise. He delighted that I was so interested in the lupines. To my great surprise, he's taking me on.

We decided it would be best to plan for next year rather than try to rush a body of work instantly. And so here it is. My inspiration to paint lupines and the rocky coast of the Blue Hill Peninsula including Deer Isle and perhaps Acadia is front and foremost at the moment. Posted, In the Lupines, is my first finished painting for next years exhibit.

In the Lupines/detail

Yesterday, after my early morning lupine painting session with fog, I returned to my studio to finish the painting I'd started on the island, in the lupine patch. (They're purple. How can I resist?)

Hope you're immersing yourself in what nature has to offer. Its so beautiful...

(Happy Anniversary Honey!)

9 comments:

  1. Susan, What a beautiful painting! You are an inspiration.

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  2. Great story!
    And told with class...
    :-)

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  3. Ma chère Susan, toujours très occupée et tant mieux, c'est pour la bonne cause... Sans cela tu déprimerais!!! Tes lupins sont magnifiques tu as réussi à les immortaliser... et puis le mauve te va si bien! Bisous

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  4. WOW... You have some wonderful friends with great connections.
    Congratulations... Fabulous opportunity... and well knocked so to speak!!

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  5. Beautiful purples in this painting. You are quite the industrious painter. I wish I could paint more quickly myself.

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  6. Susan, what a great post! I could relate to it all, right down to the "bad hair and painting clothes". Years ago (before I painted) I very much admired anyone who felt comfortable walking around that way. What nerve they had! lol --and now here you and I are doing it..walking around with paint on our clothes. It's a dream come true--lol!
    Of course he took you on, your work is fresh and alive, full of color and passion. Congratulations! Keep wearing the painting clothes. It's good luck!

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  7. Susan, what a beautiful place to spend time painting! Your Lupines are handled with just the right amount of detail. The essence of the place is coming through and I look forward to seeing the completed painting (it looks pretty finished now) and more to come.

    Congratulations on the new gallery and exhibit!

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  8. Wonderful story, inspiring things can occur when we truly follow our dream!

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