Call to Artists

I know I've been away from Blogger for a long time, but with good reason... As some of you may remember, I opened an art gallery in Portland, ME in 2014. This endeavor is going very well and I'm finally finding a bit of time to resume blogging. I want to say, I'm thrilled to be back!

I'd love to tell you all about the gallery and the exciting things we are doing, but there is a special opportunity that I want to share with you right away.

We are hosting our first Juried Exhibition! 

The deadline for submission is coming right up on September 9.

 I wanted to inform you before it was too late. 

It's very simple. I want to help as many people as possible, especially artists. Artists like you! 

Call to Artists

Passionate Color

I don't want to get into all the details here, so a simple click on the above link will put you in the right place for that! 

Here are a few basics:

• Deadline for submission is Sept 9
• Juried process is done by images only, no need to ship art at this time
• Size restriction: 12x16" or smaller
• Paintings in some form of realistic interpretation
• Cost is $25 for 3 images

I really hope you'll consider applying. Roux & Cyr International Fine Art Gallery is hoping to make this a yearly event. With your help and the success of this juried exhibition, we can make it happen.

Best of luck and I look forward to hanging your lovely paintings in my gallery!

The Teaching Component

Papaver

Original oil painting  14x11"

by Susan Roux

As the last of our snow melted this week, I found myself painting reminders of my garden from last summer. This lovely poppy was a new addition and I'm wondering if it survived the winter. I was so attracted to the delicateness of it's petals. They're thin and floppy much like fine transparent rice paper. It was fun trying to capture that quality with paint. I wonder if the name papaver has to do with paper? It seemed the appropriate title for this showy, dainty blossom.

As you well know, I'm in the process of opening an international fine art gallery. It's been consuming most of my time and the prime reason why my posts here are so far apart. Don't worry though, I'm still painting.

I'm so happy to announce that the gallery will have a teaching room. My classes will move from my home studio to Portland. I'm really excited about that component. Not only will it give me the opportunity to continue inspiring lots of people to paint, it offers a space to conduct workshops. My plan is to have some of my represented artists travel here to Maine and teach directly in the gallery. How fun and a wonderful opportunity for you!

Until everything is set in stone I don't want to formally announce our intended workshops just yet, but keep your calendars open for late summer, early fall. If you're curious to know right away who's tentatively coming and when, you can contact me personally. As soon as everything is definite, I'll let you know.

One of the great things about teaching at the gallery is all the wonderful art that will serve as examples of the concepts being taught. Often at home, I pull out my own work to help explain things. Now there will be a whole range of works from many different amazing artists to refer to. I think it will elevate the teaching component and offer such inspiring stimulation for all the students. It will do everyone good to be experiencing diverse works of quality art, including myself. When the bar is set high, people tend to strive for higher achievements. It will be an honor to teach in such surroundings.

Please stay tuned for future announcements of upcoming workshops. There'll be lots of exciting news in the near future!


Keep painting everyone. It's wonderful for the soul...

The painting

Artists Union Exhibition Center

Saint Petersburg, Russia

Some stories are so unusual, they scream to be told.

One of my galleries has not updated their website in a number of years. They'd lost their graphics guy and one thing let to another, with the owner uninterested in the internet, well... it never got done. The website stayed frozen in time. Frozen since 2007.

I'm not judging here. My own website has been frozen in time as well and I can update it myself. No need for a graphics guy. I'm just giving you this information because it's important to the story.

Nothing on the site revealed that it hadn't been updated and recently a client contacted the gallery inquiring about a particular painting. The gallery owner couldn't give him an answer. He must have been embarrassed because the site has since been updated. Yeah! I received an email from the gallery asking if the painting was still available.

At first I didn't even know which painting it was. You understand how that is, right? I recognized the title, but I painted it in 2006. I've done a few paintings since then. Embracing the Sea. What painting was that? Then an image came to mind. Yes, I knew for certain that painting had never sold and was still available. I immediately went looking for it in the haphazard stash of canvases that continue to grow in a corner of my cellar.

It wasn't there.

Think, think. Where can it be? My mind quickly traveled to other various venues where art is hanging. No. Not at any of those places.

Then it hit me. Please continue to read on. My continuity switches here, but it's all for the story...

In 2008, I exhibited 22 paintings in Saint Petersburg, Russia. That in itself is a long story, but not the one I'm telling you today. I was invited there by the Russian artist, Stas Borodin. He was having an enormous exhibition of 200 paintings and asked that I share this experience by exhibiting in the next room. Suffice to say it was very exciting and an experience I will never forget.

It was the first time I flew across the Atlantic. I had been writing to Martine-Alison in France for several years and the thought of being so close and not swinging by to say hi seemed sinful. After all, all the flights to Russia seemed to stop in Paris. How could I touch down there and not leave the airport? Impossible.

So on our way home from Russia, I went to meet her for the first time. It was really cool to have just exhibited, because not only did we get to see each other, we also got to see each other's art in person. I can still see us on the floor looking at all of it. I decided to leave four behind as she promised to exhibit them along side her own.

I can tell you're connecting the story now...

Yes, Embracing the Sea was in France. No wonder I couldn't find it in my cellar.

We needed it shipped. If you're following Martine-Alison's blog, you already know she was away for several weeks. The painting sat. The potential buyer had a deadline. A big celebration was to take place and he wanted the art for the occasion. Anxiety set in. The gallery owner called. Where is the painting? The client will be here tomorrow!

The painting is sitting in customs.

I suggested he tell the client why the painting was in France. I guess this story of the traveling painting intrigued him, because without ever actually seeing it, he bought it! Yeah again! Most likely he won't have it in time for his special event, but he does have an interesting story to tell his guests. I'm currently preparing a package including these photos to send to him.

Now aren't you glad you read the whole story?

Note: Embracing the Sea is the blue and white painting behind the ponytail in the bottom photo. Did you notice Golden Marsh, from my last post, also went to Russia?

Vernissage

Vernissage. Its a pity we don't have them.

The Russian artist, Stas Borodin, told me about the vernissage. Being of French decent, I knew it had something to do with varnishing, but I didn't quite understand the full implication of the word until he enlightened me. For those of us in the States, it isn't a celebrated process and many of us are unfamiliar with it.

Oil paintings should dry for a year or more before varnishing. Stas spoke of a wonderful exhibition around the process of preserving your paintings. When an artists had a "varnissage" the works were hung on display and a typical "opening" was held. People came to look at the art.

Lots and lots of people came.

That night after the crowds left, all the paintings were taken down, pulled from their frames and varnished. The following night the people returned to view the same paintings under their brand new coat of shiny varnish! The colors transformed. The depth and richness increased in every painting. The people gathered to discuss how magnificent the improvement was on the works. Paintings they fell in love with the night before were now even more spectacular! It was a wonderful celebration of works, as they come to their final point of completion.

Even the artists haven't seen the full scope of their accomplishment, until this moment. Varnish enhancing the pigments.

I hurried around the other day, preparing my paintings for the gallery. In a crazy procession, I parade my paintings to the backyard where I spray them with retouch varnish. Its very common for me to wait until framing time to spray them, so there were many to do. In and out of the house, back and forth to the backyard, spray and return. The process is like a marathon.

Afterwards, with all the works back in the house, I was stopped by the change in my art. How different they all looked! It reminded me of the varnissage that Stas spoke about, but no one was here to experience it but me...

In other cultures, artists are revered. Art is taught and the people understand and appreciate it. Here its the first program along with music to be cut from schools when the budget is tight. Our openings are often a collection of family and friends. Getting people to come is challenging enough. Everyone is so busy. Can you imagine them returning the following night??? It would never happen here.

It is a pity.

So next time you're varnishing your art, all by yourself, stop for a moment and enjoy the transformation it takes as you bring it to its final point of completion. Perhaps you'll remember the celebrations people had over this event. Maybe next time I can stop viewing it as a chore and can appreciate its significance.

Enjoy painting as well as spraying!

Posted: Inspiration 16x12" Original oil painting (older work) by Susan Roux

Nora in Naples

Nora Kasten and Susan Roux

Hello, I'm back from Florida! I hope you all had a good week. I'm relaxed, refreshed and ready to paint! Thank you all for the warm wishes for a great vacation. It certainly was.

Nora Kasten was so kind as to invite my family and I to her home. How wonderful it was to visit with a fellow blogger! Posted is a photo of us in her studio. Her work in progress is up on her easel behind us. I'm certain I'm not alone in admiring her lovely, romantic oil paintings. I can't tell you how excited I was to have the opportunity to view them in person. I must tell you, Nora is as lovely as the work that pours out of her.

Her home is a dream gallery! I never expected to arrive at such a splendid place filled with dozens and dozens of her amazing paintings. Room after room she took me to see them all. It was a slow tour as I absolutely had to stop to admire each and every one of them! They are magnificent on the internet, but as you well know, a photo of a painting never does the actual work justice. In life, these jewels sent shivers up my spine. Her use of saturated color coupled with her dreamy brushstroke is energizing and captivating. I couldn't take my eyes off of them!

She treated us to a lovely lunch where I sipped red wine and our "get acquainted" conversation never left art. I've written to you before of my travels and how I meet with artists. I urge you to try it for yourself. It will become the highlight of your holiday! Art connects us. Its a bond that can instantly make you feel like family. You all experience it here through blogs, but it doesn't stop when you meet in person. It escalates!

If you'd like to read about some of my various experiences meeting artists, click these different entries. Don't give up, where I met and painted with artists Mat Grogan and Dave Hayes, John Morris and Owen Rohu.

You may think that you'd be lost for conversation meeting with a stranger, but believe me, in every instance time just flies and conversations flow easily and freely. As Nora and I talked endlessly, she played a DVD of Richard Schmid with the volume off. In one direction I viewed him creating a masterpiece and in every other direction my eye was fed and stimulated by all her exhibited art. Her kind, welcoming and bubbly nature made us feel instantly at home.

The four hours we spent together whizzed by. I didn't want to leave. Nora, I hope I didn't overstay my welcome. You and your husband were a delight. Thank you for making us feel so welcomed.

I must tell you, Nora has painted countless self portraits. They are all wonderful and full of light. One of my favorite paintings hung as a focal point, in a place of grandeur. It is a painting she did of her husband some years back. I absolutely loved what she captured with paint. Men sitting in their suits don't usually hold much appeal for me. But his kindness and her affection for him shown with great visibility through the paint she applied. Nora, I don't know if you've ever posted this masterpiece of yours, but I hope you find it appropriate to share at some point. Its a wonderful work that can be appreciated even if you're not the wife...

Thank you Nora. I hope our journey forward blossoms further than blogging. I truly enjoyed our conversation and hope to continue it.

(Photograph by Michael McAllister)

Art revelation

We must talk.

After recent, long discussions with two of my gallery owners, an interesting subject has come up. Its the subject of improvement. The discussions have been about a conflict. An artist improving their skill versus not changing their art to keep a buying clientele.

I find this very disturbing!

Personally my drive has always been to improve upon myself. Upon my art. I think its true for many of you as well. Its a natural thing. An athlete strives to do their best and pushes for more. A musician, a doctor, a scientist, an engineer, every career I can think of, a person benefits from improving their skills. Why is this not true for an artist? How do we come to a place where it is no longer appreciated? Why? Why? Why...

In December one gallery owner talked about a very popular artist in the gallery. This artist painted ladies or children at the beach in a very bright and luminous way. She punched her reds and her yellows glowed. Edges were soft and dreamy, movement was captured and colors were very high-key. Her art was eye catching and her sales were high.

This past summer she arrived with changed art. Still ladies and children at the beach, but minus the huge areas of glow that, to me were sometimes overdone. When he asked why the change, she replied, "I'm evolving. I'm refining my art. I'm becoming a better artist."

Her sales dropped tremendously.

The gallery owner explained to me, in long detail over the phone, how the buying public bought her art because of the unusual glow. He said it was as though there was a light placed behind the canvas. Now her art was dark and even he too didn't like it as much.

Later I went to the gallery. I saw this artist's work. I loved it. In my opinion it had improved tremendously. The glowing was there. I thought the artist had brought new works in to please the owner. These were not dark at all. They were wonderful!

I asked the owner. He said they were the changed art that wasn't selling...

Just yesterday, my conversation turned to this same subject with another gallery owner. He too confirmed it as a fact.

In a struggling economy, where sales are difficult, what does an artist do with this revelation?

I know there's benefit to improving one's art. But does there come a point when it isn't appreciated anymore? Is everyone incapable of seeing improvement, except another artist? Are we the only ones who can appreciate when something was masterfully created?

I'm in shock. I feel confused and crushed. I need to hear your thoughts on this. Please comment.

Posted is a Susan Roux work in progress...

Day to dusk

Original oil painting

20x30"

by Susan Roux

I did this painting a long time ago.

So long in fact, that I can't even find a record of it's title. It was probably called Wooded Cove or something similar. Even the quality of the photograph suffers from lack of detail and range of colors. I remember some rich yellows in the distant trees. I'm posting it anyway because of the funny story behind it.

As I recall, I had completed several paintings and was preparing them for my gallery. The ritual of signing them, spraying them, photographing them and finally framing them was my chore that day. (not that its a terrible chore, it just isn't painting...) This process required several trips in and out of the house. Since I spray in the backyard and only carry two canvases at a time, I was getting a bit of exercise.

Shifting art from one place to another. Busily...

I would carry them from the spraying spot, back around to the front of the house, to where they would be photographed. I placed them along the front of the garage to dry. Again parading into the house to get more...

Shuffling art around is the closest thing to a marathon that I will ever get.

On one of these trips I spotted this painting, from a bit of a distance, at the garage. It stopped me in my tracks. You see I had placed it upside-down in my haste. Oddly it became another painting all together! It went from a sunny daytime scene to a moody dusk one. It was quite funny how it could be flipped and still hold its own. I wish the image was better so you could see how wonderfully it did this.

I showed my gallery owner. She laughed and thought it was magnificent! She even wanted me to sign it in both directions and run two wires behind it so it could be flipped at anytime.

The painting sold very quickly. As soon as someone approached it, she quickly took the opportunity to flip it for them. It made the sale.

Subject matters?

Come on in. You're just in time!

Tea is brewing and my special artsy cups are laid out. Its my own special recipe doctoring Lipton with fresh cranberries, oranges, cilantro and a bit of brown sugar. When these flavors meld the taste will surprise you. (Its a good surprise...) Mike is just pulling the muffins out of the oven and swirling on the glaze. The smell of sweetened cinnamon fills the room.

Have a seat and lets talk about art.

What will it be? Composition? Color? Process? Or maybe subject matter? Oh, I like that one. Let's talk about subject matter. It's often overlooked as a good art topic to discuss. How's your tea? Would you like a bit more sugar? Lemon maybe?

How do we choose what we paint?

A common answer is usually what we're passionate about, what stimulates us. Typically, something moves as and we want to express our feelings about it. Maybe we have something to say or a story to tell. Perhaps we saw another's work and decided to try something different. There's a lot of reasons that come to mind around the concept of passion, but is it always the reason?

The power of suggestion. That trap can get me tangled. Why is it that we sometimes choose to veer away from our passion to paint what someone else wants? A gallery owner can make the simplest comment and suddenly those thoughts interfere with our own creative spirit. Naturally you'd like to please them, representation is important.

It isn't always your bread and butter (or as in today, your muffin and butter...), it can be anyone saying they prefer art that is like... Is it natural to examine our own mind each and every time? I know artists are hard on themselves. We are the worst. But still, why is it so hard to stick to our own passion?

Crazy things pop into mind like sales. No one will be interested in this... I fall into that one. Do you? I get tantalized by quiet little places in nature. You know, those sunlit grasses growing around the tree trunk. I could just zoom right in! Sometimes I do. But sales are easier when I paint a whole scene as opposed to a spot in the scene. It affects me. It affects what I choose to paint. I'm not proud to admit it, but its true.

I had this discussion with John Morris in Ireland. Subject matter. The importance of subject matter. He said he thought it was the most important for sales, followed by talent and then framing. What might a buyer be interested in looking at for a long period of time? He made some interesting points. One vegetable. It has a very limited place in the world... No matter how well you paint it or how passionate you are about it, it remains one vegetable.

Recently one of my representing gallery owner's said he can't believe he's saying it, but with the current economy, if a recognizable, local landmark or jut of land were placed beyond my children at the beach, it would be sold.

How do we ignore a comment like that?

I'm trying to stick to my guns. Currently nothing recognizable is beyond my children at the beach. They're all zoomed in. But who knows, in time I may get tempted to try a few, for experimental sake. What are your thoughts on this? Do you always paint what your passionate about? I mean, honestly...

Coffee and Curves 16x20" Original oil painting by Susan Roux