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?

Art talk

I flew down to the Cape this past weekend. Well not literally, but almost with the way traffic flows. It took four hours to our hotel on Cape Cod and another half hour or so to the Blue Heron Gallery. Its end of the season and time to pick up any unsold art. Sadly there were a lot to pick up. Sales continue to be a struggle, not only for me, but for all the artists in the gallery.

I traveled with my friend Sandy. Conversation through two days of driving was stimulating to say the least. I don't know what it is with Sandy and me, but get us together and we discuss art, our goals and desires deeper than with anyone else I know.

I think it has to do with the questions she poses.

Sandy lives an hour away and is an elementary school art teacher. (Those lucky kids. She really teaches them a great foundation!) Consequently we don't get to see each other frequently. Conversation always starts with, What have you been painting lately? ...but goes much further. Short term goals. Long term goals. How have they changed since we last talked about them? Why have they changed? Desires to travel to different places to paint. Workshops. Workshops you need to travel to. Sandy would love to take one in Scottsdale, AZ. She tried to talk me into joining her, but my desires lie somewhere else.

We both expressed a feeling of being on the brink of something very good and wishing we had time to just paint without the typical responsibilities of life. For myself, its as though a deeper understanding of what I'm trying to do with paint is circling in my head. I feel if I had the time to devote to it, I'd create something at a higher level than my usual. It all makes sense in my brain. I just need to make my paintbrush do it! I talked about wishing I was on an art retreat. Nothing to block my mind, just there to paint. Somehow I'm sure something would break through and emerge from within.

We wished we were painting.

All this talk about our desires, yet stuck in the car...

Wouldn't it be great if at the end of our drive we would be on a painting retreat? Our suppressed desire to paint would burst out on canvas! Why don't we rent a house during February school vacation and do just that? Paint without interruption. We wouldn't even have to go far. Stay in Maine and paint indoors. Just be out of our homes so laundry, cleaning and errands are far from our minds. Paint. Paint all day and keep each other stimulated with conversation. What a great idea!

After returning home, I scoured the internet in search of the perfect "home" to do this at. I think I found it. It has four bedrooms, so we need to get two other artists on board. I don't think that'll be hard to do.

The house in question is on the ocean with lots of windows for good light. There's plenty of room to set up easels everywhere. The plan is to bring drop cloths and paint our brains out! Well its not really our brains we want to pour out, more out hearts, but you get the idea...

Karen Choquet laughed when I invited her to join us. "You're always up to something, aren't you?"

Oh, for certain!

(Posted are a few of the tiny 4x4" paintings I did for the November art show.)