This new morning

June Blossoms

Original oil painting  24x18"

by Susan Roux

I've been juggling painting time with outdoor gardening time. You know what that's like, right? It seems every year I establish a new flower-bed or revamp an old one. This year is no exception.

Maine has had plenty of rain recently. Just as the weather warmed nicely to do the outside work, it also  gave way to too many soggy dreary days. Bring on the sun and the perennial gardens come to life! It doesn't matter that I'm knee-deep in framing and trying to deliver to my galleries; when the sun finally shows it's lovely face, I need to go dig in the dirt!

I was suppose to deliver to The Wright Gallery today but I changed it to tomorrow. Rain is predicted then, once again. Usually I try not to deliver in the rain, but I need to take full advantage of the sunny days. I tackled a rather large project outside and once you begin to lift plants, it's kind of necessary to place them in soil again soon.

I love the seasons and the feeling you get as a new one announces itself. Spring, summer, fall. They're all such nice ones to revisit. Winter and mud season are never my favorites, but necessary to experience the wonderful charge that comes with spring! It feels like a new morning...

Which brings me to the title of this post and the title of Luka Bloom's new CD. Have you downloaded it to your library of tunes yet? For those of you who aren't acquainted with his music, let me tell you a little secret. Luka should market himself to artists. Listening to one or two songs won't do it, but play a long session of his music while painting and it's like magic! I've tried it on lots and lots of artists. Everyone has the same reaction, that it's perfect to paint to, except Kevin. But I blame his ancient player and bad speaker system. You see he likes to listen to the sixties and seventies stuff and his system is from the same era...

You can't expect to hear today's songs on yesterday's equipment. It's like trying to watch an HD movie on a fifties black and white TV! Doesn't work.

So because of that, I don't count Kevin's experience as a real negative. Plus he always tries to give me a hard time anyway...

Back to Luka. His words are always uplifting. His melodies are soothing and they're conducive to swaying. Both making your body and paintbrush sway. He also falls into short bouts of chanting which put you into a wonderful trance. You know what I mean, that great Painting Zone... Don't you just love getting there?

I've become so accustomed to painting solely to his music, that now instantly upon hearing it I want to slip off into that zone. It's has such a relaxing quality. It calms the spirit and allows you to focus and fall deep into your art. If you get the opportunity to see him in person, do yourself a favor and go. His show is worth the small fee it will cost  you. Plus Luka's pretty funny!

This New Morning!    

It could be your new art friend. 

I wanted to thank everyone who voted for me. It seems I've surpassed the required 77 votes needed to get to Time Square! I just love new experiences!


Note: June Blossoms is a scene from Monhegan Island. You can see part of the Island Inn in the distance, enveloped in costal fog. It will soon be delivered to Blue Hill Bay Gallery. Peter will be happy to help you if you'd like to purchase it.

Charlie Sheen

Long-Stem Brushes

on sale 50 cents a piece...

How do you bring tons of hits to your blog in one day?

I have a little story to share with you. I know this is out of my ordinary, but out of the ordinary is who I am anyway. So if you'll oblige me...

Sparks the Rescue is a band, signed by Fearless Records, which my stepson Toby McAllister is a member of. This fall/winter the band was busy writing and recording a new CD scheduled for released in May. All the songs are mastered and ready.

A few days ago Fearless Records called the guys and asked if they could write a song about Charlie Sheen. Being based in California, I'm sure the "Sheen" incident is much more popular there than say... Maine, where I am. Luckily being in the midst of getting a CD out, the band could access new music that was already recorded, but not yet heard.

I find this very funny and interesting.

STR, as the band is known, called their recording studio and asked for a karaoke track of one of their songs. Writing lyrics comes easy for them. In no time they had rewritten lyrics to go with one of their new CD songs. Alex Roy, the singer, recorded those new vocals at his home, emailed the track to the recording studio, where it was then added to the karaoke track.

Are you following this?

Fast track... California calls STR, who then calls the recording studio for music. STR records a new vocal track at home on a computer and emails it back to the recording studio who then puts it all together and emails it way out to California. California then takes it and creates a video to go along with the words STR wrote and recorded. All this was done within a few days.

Yes I said a few days!

Now the song with video is out on the internet. Less than twenty four hours after release it had received 10,000 hits.

Wow, so that's how it's done! Now how do I take that information and put it to use on my own blog??? Talk about instant exposure.

The best part about all this is STR music will be heard everywhere and by the time their CD is released, people will already know this tune. Those who'll put the Charlie Sheen song on their ipods, listening to it repeatedly, will be used to the beat and most likely enjoy the original version on the CD.

I hope you were able to follow this story. It all happened so quickly without anyone leaving their home! Technology is crazy.

Here's the video... It Feels Good To Be Charlie Sheen - Sparks The Rescue It'll give you a laugh!

(Yeah seriously, brushes for 50 cents a piece. I now own enough to open a small store...)