Scattered

Awakening

Original oil painting  16x20"

by Susan Roux

I've been absent from my blog for so long, it almost feels foreign to me now. I'll have to try to reacquaint myself. For those of you who are loyal followers, I do apologize for not stopping by to say hi once in a while.

I may not have been blogging, but don't worry, I have been busy painting. Painting and experimenting. My subjects have been all over the place. Unlike working in a series, I'm bouncing from on thing to another without any apparent relationship to the previous. I can't explain why. Perhaps I'm searching for something internally and I don't even know what it is! Boy that has a whole level of whacky written all over it.

Scattered.

It's been me. My thoughts, my art, my journey. It's as though the new year held so many possibilities with an enormous amount of time to achieve it that I've become giddy with freedom and lost in terms of a specific goal. I try to put the logic of it all aside, get the analytical me to stop analyzing everything and just go paint. But honestly I can't seem to stop the analyzing part. Must we always know the "why"? Shouldn't it be possible to just "do"? Good luck trying to tell my brain that.

I was looking at some wonderful old art on the internet that just captured my heart. It was so beautiful in light and use of color. You could dream away in it. It just took my breath away...

Of course the analyzing me couldn't just enjoy that experience. It began to analyze why it was so breathtaking. Color associations came into view. There was simplicity in it. It seemed easily understood. I asked myself why I wasn't painting like that? I have the knowledge to understand everything that makes these works so amazing. Why aren't I just implementing all this into my own work? This is when I became scattered.

Perhaps it's much like a block. The awareness of a concept, without complete clarity on how to execute it. The odd thing is, I don't feel blocked at all. I feel something is awakening in me. I don't even know what it is to put it into words. But certainly something is gnawing at me from inside. As I write about my journey, trying to explain it to you, it seems clear that my answer lies in going back to view old beautiful art. What made it so powerful yet dreamy all at the same time? It's how I'd like my art to be. Grab you and put you into a dream.

Wow, I've never been so resolute with a definition of what I'm working towards. Is this what artist's statements are made of?

Here are some of my scattered paintings:

Orange on White

Original oil painting  20x16"

Orange on White, detail

Victorian Porch

Original oil painting  18x24"

Oceanside Rose Cottage

Original oil painting  18x24"

Sun Dappled Garden

Original oil painting  20x16"

Just as the sun is firing up, percolating, getting ready to explode out in my top painting, Awakening, I feel something is bubbling inside me just waiting to burst out. I can't wait to see what it will be...

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Art direction?

Floral Emotion

Original Oil Painting  12x30" gallery wrap canvas

by Susan Roux

Where is your art going this year? Will it be taking a different direction? Will you try new techniques or work on perfecting your current ones?

With all the talk of New Year's resolutions and dreams for the year, I have trouble not focusing on my art when answering. January of last year marked the birth of my girls at the beach with simplified backgrounds. It seems as though I've been working on them much longer. When I began, I wanted to play with pale shadows that still read like shadow. I've tried to hold that as part of my focus, but also delving into developing fundamentals.

I'm certain you recall me using words like painstakingly. Trying to improve our painting habits is never an easy plight. We become comfortable doing certain things and it's easy to continue to repeat them. Forcing your brain to think differently, apply the paint differently and try to have a result that doesn't look like you spent too much time "thinking" in the first place can be a very painstaking act. I speak to you from experience. 

Personally I'm drawn to great paintings that offer a balance of creativity, meaning that pure emotional spontaneity, with perfectly executed fundamentals. When these two dance on canvas poetically it's difficult to look away. I'm drawn to surprises. That creative use of color, unexpected in its location, yet working beautifully to unify the composition. A harmony that leaves something to the imagination and elevates the viewer to drift and dream. 

As you can see I set my goals high and I still have a long way to go to achieve them.

Working on fundamentals engages the brain. Spontaneity and gut reactions go out the door. Focusing for a full year on these has helped me develop, but a fear of being unable to shut my brain down grew. What if I can't access that creative side again? What if I want to analyze every stroke all the time? I'm striving for a balance of the two. How will this be possible?

The holidays presented me with very little time to paint. I'm certain you can relate to that or at lease to the growing desire to just pick up a brush when time doesn't allow it. The feeling became so great that one day I just exploded on canvas! I didn't want to think. I didn't want to follow any rules. I just wanted to paint!

And so I did. 

The painting posted is pure emotion pouring on canvas. Oh how it felt good! I look at it now and want to return to it to define some element more. Pick a cluster of flowers, maybe just one flower, and give it a bit more attention. I know it doesn't resemble my other work. That's ok. I could go back and define it, but I want to keep it as is. It'll be good to hang in the studio as a reminder that my creative side is not dead and can still be accessed. Now I can relax and continue in my development of fundamentals. 

Something inside still drives me. My work feels cut out for the new year. My direction is clear. Develop the fundamentals further and begin to allow the creative side to dance with it. Somewhere between my girls at the beach and this emotional outburst lies the place I'm headed. 

So I ask again. Where are you headed with regards to your art this year?

The tree

I have a love for trees. I'm not sure why, but it stems way back to childhood. They're the subject in many of my paintings (of course not my beach ones...) and now I live among them nestled in my house in the woods. Trees make me feel good and safe. Its a deep comfort, like I'm very close to God. It is no wonder that when a friend sent us to this particular tree, I was in awe!

This tree is estimated to be 500 years old.

How amazing! Its outlived generation upon generation. When you think of a very long life at 100 years old, the thought of 500 is huge. Yet here in this place, this exact spot, this tree has grown for all this time...

Oh, the things it must have seen! It makes me wonder. It must have experienced it all. The good, the bad, the horrible and hopefully beneath its protection, love. I like to imagine two lovers picnicking under its canopy on a warm summer day. I'd like it to be me there on the red checkered blanket pulling a bottle of warm red wine out of a basket to sip with Mike. Laughing and giggling, our cares would fade away to only this particular moment in time. My thoughts carry me as if in a dream...

This tree lives in Ireland. Its located on the magnificent grounds of Birr Castle. After leaving, I realized I never even touched the tree. Why was that? The more I thought about it, I realized how overwhelmed I was beneath its branches and my feeling of being close to God was increased in multiples. My body tingled as I felt in the presence of something ancient. I'm not the only one to be humbled by it. The grass is mowed in a circle beneath the entire canopy. It gives it a feeling of majesty. As soon as you step into that circle you begin to feel different.

The tree has suffered greatly,

yet survived.

I've included this one to give you scale.

Even up close, something so special glows in this tree. I was surprised at how little foliage it needed to survive. Here in Maine, I'm used to maples and oaks with their huge dense canopies. This ancient beauty, sorry to say I have no idea what type of tree it is, was see-through. It reminded me of the Irish people themselves. Not flamboyant. Simple in their desires and only taking from the land what is necessary to survive. With this thought, don't the maples and oaks remind you of Americans? Always needing abundance and characteristically showy...

We could learn from the trees.

(Photographs by Michael McAllister)

2010

The blank canvas. The big white blank canvas stands before us. Endless possibilities. Hope is in our hearts. Hope for change. Hope for improvement.

What will you do?

Its your canvas. You're in charge. You're the definer of much that will be painted on it. What color will you start with? Will you be timid and begin with a soft pastel or will you be bold and make yourself known with vibrant red? Its your life and I hope your living it. We only get one.

Forget the typical, I'll lose weight. I'll exercise more. Yes of course they're good and healthy, but think bigger. Dream. Really dream! Then set yourself on a path towards it. You don't have to be afraid of doing it alone. We can march on together. Your giant internet support group awaits you!

Have you taken steps to meet a stranger yet? Its a great place to start. Everyone has so much to share. Meet someone new and your mind will suddenly be exposed to new possibilities. Share your ideas and in conversation, a different point of view will add to it, encourage it, inspire it. Suddenly you'll feel the power to try, the power to act on it, emerge and grow. You can make things happen. You can reach out. You can be proud of who you are. You can stand tall and march on with enthusiasm! Dare to imagine and then go do it!

Grab that paintbrush. You know, the biggest one you have and go dip it in red!