Stas Borodin

Susan Roux

Painting at Great Falls, Auburn Maine

I've been absent from Blogworld for awhile, but with good reason.

A very unexpected visitor came to stay with me last week. The Russian artist I mentioned recently in my post about the traveling painting, Stas Borodin, phoned me out of the blue announcing he was in Providence, RI and had some free time to come to Maine. It's been three years since I've seen or heard from him. How odd that at the moment I mention him, he contacts me.

Stas has never stayed with me before, though I've painted with him many times. This was a new experience for all of us. Being with Stas means one thing. Every day, no matter the weather, you go out to paint all day long. If you recall my last post, I was telling you how exhausted I've been. I wasn't in the best condition for the start of a Stas visit. I have to say, keeping up with Stas nearly killed me. My typical day of sitting at the computer blogging with morning coffee and standing in front of my easel in a warm house with Luka Bloom serenading me was a far cry from Stas's normal day. That said, my time with him was very precious and though tiring, I wouldn't give it up for anything.

Stas is a master.

I've been talking to you lately of the importance of fundamentals and how they're no longer taught in today's schools and universities. To really learn them, one must do so from the masters of today. If they don't pass down this knowledge, it will be lost forever within a few decades. That sad thought ripples up my spine. So no matter how tired I was, when a master offered to come paint with me, there was no hesitation to say yes!

If you've been reading any blogs from other Mainers, you already know the weather has been windy, rainy and cold. What was predicted to be a warm sunny week, turned quite differently when a large storm stalled out in the Atlantic, turning and churning the clouds overhead. I only froze on day one. Afterwards wearing my modern day long-john's became daily attire.

Stas is a wonderful person. Don't let the things the government taught us about Russians years ago scare you. If you've had the pleasure to know any, you already know how nice and gentle they really are. Stas is no exception. His kind soul pours out on canvas. His paintings are timeless, brilliantly orchestrated with layers of colors that vibrate the eye and shine with similar luminosity of the inside of a shell. His strokes are broad and rigid, like mosaic tiles scattered atop the canvas. His compositions are unusual. Not the typical lead in with pointers to direct the eye. His paintings grab you with something, some object, and once in, your eye dances a happy vibrating dance bouncing around pleasurably throughout flecks of color. His work is impressionistic. The light it emulates is captivating and entrancing. His work is not always understood at first glance, but get into a roomful of his art and you find yourself touched with a flood of emotion. A rainbow of pastels and grays surround you and with such softness speak the emotions of a well traveled man.

Stas is a unique artist in today's world. It's never about money. It's always about painting. He travels for months at a time with minimal baggage. His art supplies and a few clothes. From country to country, staying with friends he's made along the way, he hops around the world with magnificent stories and a smile on his face. He'll sell a painting right off the easel to a passerby. A few dollars in his pocket help him hop the next bus out of town. He arrives without notice and leaves like the wind blowing pass.

It feels like a quick dream. There is no contact. His cell phone is a Russian number. He doesn't have a laptop. You pinch yourself wondering if it was even real. But photos and a few paintings left behind are proof that he was really here.

He left for NYC where his paintings from Providence and Maine are being exhibited as I write. I got a sneak peek at the entire body of work. It's magnificent. I can't even tell you the venue. Communication is choppy and sometimes difficult. All I can tell you is it's a former synagogue turned art center on Manhattan. Also on view there is an exhibit of the famous Russian artist, Ilya Repin. If you can decipher this code and are nearby, do yourself a favor and go visit.

Momentum

Swirling Glow

Original oil painting 28x22"

by Susan Roux

Did I learn anything for my last post? Only that using a celebrities name for the title, adding a video and posting it all over facebook didn't yield me any more hits than usual. Actually it yielded less comments than usual... Interesting.

Over time I've noticed that when a person's name is used in the title, I'll receive hits on that post if someone googles them. Sometimes it's over a year later and the post can get very active. It seems more effective when the person isn't well known and there isn't as much written about them over the internet.

With regards to the Sheen post, what I would like is to tap into how to create a growing interest around what I'm doing, without it being bad stuff... I'm not sure if it's even possible. We live in a society that preys on the misfortune of others. Why is that?

I prefer to separate myself from all that. Yes I did post about Charlie Sheen, but it was to inform you about how quickly someone's idea can materialize into something concrete. It wasn't to slam Charlie down. I feel far removed from all the celebrity gossip. Tucked away in the woods of Maine, I prefer to slip into my own little world. My imagination can keep me quite entertained and with a large entourage of family and friends, I live a very nice life here. I don't need others misfortunes to keep me ticking.

Slipping away into my own little world...

It seems to be what my latest series is about. Swirling Glow is the tenth. I like to place them near each other and though half are away at an exhibit, I can still group the others here. It's hit me that since their backgrounds are all ambiguous, they represent the world I make for myself. Maybe not make exactly, but it's where my mind likes to escape to. My own solitary little world.

Don't most artists? We love to really get into our paintings, transforming ourselves, pouring out our soul, or creative energy onto canvas. When all goes well, we find ourselves in a trance. Interruptions can cause us to explode verbally. Slipping away into our creations is what we thrive for. Returning to reality is often resisted.

And so it is with me lately. Perhaps more than ever. I think this latest series taps from deep within. For once, I love what I'm creating. I'm hoping the buying public, if they still exist, will love it too. I was overwhelmed with a phone call the other day from a gentleman who purchased 3 of my girls, exhibited at Nosh. Wow! Could this be a glimpse at the reaction people will have to them? It's the first time they're out in public. What a nice compliment. Thank you sir. Periodically these boosts are necessary to keep our momentum going. Lately my momentum is going strong.

How about you? How is your momentum going these days?

Sun versus shade

From the Shade

Original oil painting 14x18"

by Susan Roux

My weeks been crazy. I've been running around everyday and it won't stop until after the weekend. I suppose you all get weeks like this too. I find myself wishing I had three days of solitude to just paint...

Thank goodness for my classes, at least they force me to stop and pick up a brush!

I finished From the Shade with my afternoon class yesterday. I chose this scene so we could focus on shade versus sunny passages within a painting. We took a very different approach than usual. I had them block in the shady foreground area, in monotone, to remind them that everything they developed in this section needed to be in shade. Any color they placed within this area, if it looked sunny, needed to be changed. The class stayed focused on this idea. I find if you simplify things enough, everyone can easily understand what you're trying to get them to achieve.

It proved to be an extremely successful approach. Everyone's paintings leaped with sun and shade.

I decided to try this approach with a few of my other classes. I thought you might like to see the odd beginnings. With the painting posted, we began working on the light area, because it was further back. In the following two, the background is deep and in shade. I'm finding it challenging keeping the students from painting too much light. The photos we're working from have beautiful sunlit flowers in the foreground. They want to paint the light, but as you can see, I'm holding them back.

Its been a great way to have them recognize the difference between foreground, middle ground and background. This painting has yellow flowers against a fence post. In the photo the middle ground was sunlit as much as the foreground. I worked with them to keep it toned down so our final subject will appear to leap forward. Getting them to paint the feeling of sunlit foliage while keeping it subdued and void of detail was a bit unsettling for them. By the end of class this week, they had finally managed to capture this look and they left happy. I've been pushing them pretty hard lately. This class has been painting only a year and the results I get from them are pretty amazing.

My Wednesday night ladies were very happy with the new photo I chose for them. A sunlit garden makes this entry so inviting. Unfortunately I didn't let them paint any of the fun stuff. Keeping them in the darks to capture the house in shadow was difficult. It felt like we were painting a Halloween painting, the haunted house...

Keeping everyone's values in check has been tough. I think after these paintings are done, they'll understand how it all worked and it'll be easier to keep them in the dull deeps next time. Frustration was a visible emotion, but by class end, they had captured the deepness I was proposing. Another group left happy. Its not always easy to do. Especially when you push them out of their comfort zone.

I've been preparing a list of which paintings my students will exhibit in December. I want to know how long they were painting when they did the piece they chose. Its been astounding to us all when I get told 4 months or 6 months or even it was my second painting. It makes me step back in surprise at the achievements they've accomplished. I'm so proud of my students. I'm going to be thrilled to show them off in December!

Painter's block?

Early Lobster Boats

Original oil painting 12x16"

by Susan Roux

While blogging today, I came upon an artist claiming to have painter's block. I think we can all relate to that. But it got me thinking...

What is painter's block?

I know its when we can't seem to paint. Or, when we do, the results are nothing like we'd like. It can be so crippling. So derailing. That horrible feeling of... I can't paint!..falls upon you. You start to wonder why you ever thought you could, because obviously you cannot.

What causes this? Of course we don't all of a sudden forget how to paint. Do you think its something we put on ourselves? Unknowingly?

How?

Why?

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. Also, how do you get out of your block?

Beauty Inside and Out

Original oil painting 16x20"

by Susan Roux

Just a quick update: I heard from Gallery 5 yesterday. Not only did Magical Garden make it into the Plein Air exhibit, all four of my entries made it in! The gallery isn't that big, so this came as a huge surprise. Posted are two of the other paintings selected along with In the Lupines. Opening reception is October 15, 5-7 followed by dinner at Fishbones, maybe???

The island

There was magic on Deer Isle.

I thought I was going to Blue Hill to paint the lupines for a week. Blue Hill is both a peninsula and a town on the peninsula. The lovely home I rented was off the tip of the peninsula, on Deer Isle. Little did I know, once on the island, you don't leave...

There's no need to. No desire to.

The quiet charming beauty grows stronger on you as the days go by. By midweek, we were all contemplating buying a house here. The island had a magic pull and it caught us, full force. The people. The ways of the island. The magnificent flowers. The amazing coastline. The incredible light.

Yet another artists' paradise...

A slowed down pace was the heartbeat of the island. Karen, Chris and I set our easels up in the lupines. Literally.

It was on Ken's property. We never asked permission to be there, though there was a phone number posted on a tiny sign. The lupines had cast a spell on us and we simply couldn't resist jumping right in.

It wasn't long before a red truck pulled up. Was it Ken? The three of us were giggling as the man parked. Would he kick us out? What would he say? We were after-all, in his yard.

It was Denis. He said Ken would arrive soon. No, not a problem that we're there. Just the opposite, in fact. It was seen as a great compliment to have artists on your property! Lucky us. They even took a series of photographs. The three nutty ladies... painting in their lupines.

We returned to the lovely spot on the cove for several days. Over and over, several times a day, Denis stopped by to chat. Didn't he need to be at work? The daily pace here on the island was reminiscent of that of Ireland. People, free and happy to stop and talk with you. Like they had nothing else to do that day... How I'd love to figure out how to live that way! It really makes me wonder why we spend so much time rushing around. Could it really be unnecessary? These people seemed to think so.

Smiles beamed from the local's faces. There was a great sense of excitement in the air that folks had come to visit them and their precious island. They were genuinely happy to greet their tourists. Wow. That doesn't happen everywhere...

We were very productive during our stay. I have many paintings started and will be working to complete them soon. Karen Choquet has her first exhibit, a solo exhibit at that, scheduled to hang on Thursday. She too will be putting finishing touches on her new works soon!

Its been a great week...

Thanks for stopping by. You're visit is much appreciated.

Special photos

Waves

Original oil painting 16x20"

by Susan Roux

Are you like me?

I take so many photos. More than I will ever paint. More than I could ever paint in my lifetime. Among them are those special ones that jump out and grab your eye and you know for certain that you will paint them, but you never do...

I'm not sure why. Maybe there's a pressing deadline or a feared-fleeting desire to capture a momentary whim. Your special photos are so striking that you could be stimulated to paint them at any time. There's no need to jump into them instantly.

But time goes by. Perhaps even years and those grabbing photos never become a painting...

I love this whole blogging thing. I keep pushing other artists to try it. There's an art exhibit at your fingertips whenever you want! Its my selling point, aside from the grand camaraderie, of course... Well this morning my cup of coffee was shared with your lovely art show. (thank you, by the way...) Much to my surprise, I found my special photos had come to life on your canvases!

How cool is that?

Well maybe they weren't my exact photos, but so similar and so well painted! You might just have inspired me to finally tackle my own. Carol Schiff's Ocean Sunrise and Tatiana Myers' Poppies were my found inspirations. It was such a treat to stumble upon you today. Two of my special photos in one day! It must be a sign that the day will be good and possibly filled with unexpected surprises... Hope yours will be too.

Posted is the painting from last night's class. Its very close to done. My students will return next week to tweak theirs and though last night, I thought I was finished, I can see a few changes to make. A few unopened buds would love to break the halfway plane of the canvas and carry rose color towards the bottom left.

Interesting how we see it differently after we've taken a photo. (yet another perk to blogging...)

Keep your posts coming, everybody. Your inspiration to all of us is greatly appreciated! (did I mention that I love how you're all here???)

Comments or no comments, thanks for stopping by... Be like LuLu today and go dance in front of your easel!