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?

Heart vs Fundamentals

Lupines at Dusk

Original oil painting 10x20"

by Susan Roux

Creating art can be a nagging series of conflicts. There exists a fine line between painting from the heart and adhering to the fundamentals. How much of one is too much? Painting from the heart is freeing and spontaneous. Letting go. The brush dips in color and impulse and the canvas dictate what color is next. You feel your creativity bubbling out of you and great joy is experienced in the process. If that's all you do, where do you end up?

Is there such a thing as having too much fun painting?

The fundamentals, those pesky rules, pull it all together. The values define shapes. Design and composition lead the eye. Sun and shadow patterns contribute to the illusion of reality. A wise man told me an artist is allowed only a small portion of fun to be visible per painting. Oh shucks, really?

Here is me painting from the heart. I was captivated by the lupines on Monhegan. I loved the way they danced in the sky. I photographed a lot of them, but the feeling of observing them could not be replicated in an image. I wanted to portray them at dusk. Those wonderful lupine shades were transformed during golden hour. How rich and warm the cool blue's, pink's and purple's became. I concentrated on capturing that. My photo references were poor suggestions, so imagination took over.

Once I finally captured the light I was after, I felt the painting was complete. Funny how if you toss in one crazy element you're unstable with, everything you're grounded on slips from memory. A well advised critique put it all back into perspective for me. Too much heart and not enough fundamentals. Form became sacrificed au lieu de couleur.

I returned to the painting, freed from focusing only on color and began to establish form. Somewhere between heart and fundamentals one can strike a balance that satisfies. Satisfies the viewer, satisfies the artist. After all, if the passage is not defined well enough, the viewer misses the message...

Time

Tassels

Original oil painting 28x22"

by Susan Roux

Where does the time go? I feel as though it's whizzing by!

I think I'm trying to do too much. I'm running on exhaustion lately and still have plenty of things I'd like to get to. Energy. Lack of energy and a tired body slow me down. I heard this could (would) happen with age... Don't you just hate it when they're right?

Thoughts usually ricochet in my head like the silver ball in a pinball machine. Creative thoughts, imaginative thoughts, even organizational thoughts. So many thoughts and ideas, it's often hard to sleep because they don't turn off. Today I sit before you with a blank mind. It seems so strange. I know it's because it wants to shut down and sleep, but not today. There is still too much to do.

Here is my latest girl. Charlie at The Wright Gallery sold Sundress after having her for a week. This is for him. I'll be delivering it early next week, hopefully. It's like my husband says. Charlie can't sell them if I don't paint them.

Words of wisdom.

Warm soil

The sun shines and the green carpet is laid outside my front door. The lawn is nearing its first "mow" of the season. How lush and inviting it is.

Creativity surges through my veins. It bubbles and excites. The yellow daffodils radiate tall above the dense patches of blue snow glories. Large tulip buttons rise and await their turn for center stage. Such beauty. The colors of the garden intermingle like the colors of a painting. Spring is calling. Its calling me out. I want to go play in the dirt...

Its a great time to rearrange perennials. As they pop out of the ground, memories of last summer's garden flood my mind. The blossoms. The colors. The spectacular dance of changes, as new flowers bloom and others fade. The garden can change color totally in the process. As I watch each new plant emerge from the warm soil, I remember its unique presence and gift to the garden.

Some plants have grown taller than expected and block delicate others. Beautiful, hidden plants should be moved. The excitement of rearranging urges me forward. Its the creativity of the process. Like sculpting an unseen item. The imagination is what leads. Imagining height, color and blooming time. Rearranging is the creation. The outcome is the show. The show of scented color that will continue to come until autumn's frost. But now, frost is far from my mind. Warm sun takes over.

I have many flower gardens. They are all around my home in unusual ameba-shapes that inspire asymmetry. Like wondering, exciting sprawls rising out of the green carpet. They seduce me...

I succumb.

Some plants will be switched to different beds. The shuffle begins. One large spring effort gives way to a summer season of pause and enjoyment, viewed from the pleasure of my garden bench. Sitting there in the afternoon sun, filling my lungs with sweet perfume, makes me thankful for all I've been given in this world. In nature I feel closest to God. What wonderful creations He has made! And he shares it all...

Its good we're sharing our gifts, our talents and our support. It makes God smile down on us. And that's always a good thing...