A Start and a Finish and more on the Workshop...

Work in progress: 20" x 24" oil, Notre Dame Future (my title, not the commissioning family's title...) This is a couple of hours into a painting of two cuties on Saint Josephs Lake in South Bend, Indiana. If you'd like to watch the second hour of this painting, it's HERE.

This is my finish of Kathy Holcomb's portrait. She's declared it beautiful and that's cool with me.

Sixteen artists have indicated their interest in my online still life painting workshop February 20th and I'm going to limit the group to 20, so do let me know if you're interested and I'll be sending out details and a PayPal invoice to that group in a couple of days. Email me at susan@susancarlin.com We're going to have a blast!

Painting workshops- Rockwall, TX and ONLINE

This week I got to hang out with with the coolest artists. Eleven fun, enthusiastic painters in Rockwall, TX were in my two-day painting workshop and they each impressed my socks off.
Below is Kathy Holcomb who, with her husband Richard, let me stay in their pretty guest room and fed me very well, indeed. They also took me with them to see a great performance called Celtic Crossroads. Thank you, Kathy and Richard! As a thank you, I'm painting a portrait of Kathy and have gotten this far for a quick demo during the workshop. I promise it will look like her when I'm done!

Let me know if you'd like me to come to your town and give a painting workshop there!
It only dawned on me that I hadn't taken a group photo until after a few had already left, so these are only seven of the eleven- Donna, Marie, Gleneva, Ginnie, (me scooching down) Kathy, Helen and Shannon. Missing are Linda, Nancy, Trudy and Dianna.

Helen, working in oil.

Nancy, working in pastel.

Shannon's oil painting of her grandson.

My gracious host, Kathy, and her oil painting.

Marie and her self portrait in oil.

Gleneva and me. (My shirt says, "Life is Simple: Eat, Sleep, Paint." Sometimes it works out just that way!)

Donna- a very good painter, and also gave me home-made peach preserves. Mmmm.

It was beautiful the whole time I was there until I drove out of the parking lot. I snapped this before going over the long bridge over Ray Hubbard Lake. By the time I go to the other side, I had to hide under a gas station's roof from hail and simultaneous lightning and thunder crashes. The flashes were hair-raising! Minutes later the sun came out again. Texas weather- never dull!

I'm offering a one-day online painting workshop Saturday, February 20th, so if you want to paint at home, following step-by-step as we paint a simple still life arrangement together, I think it'll be fun, you just might learn a LOT, and it will certainly eliminate the hard part of going to a workshop- schlepping all that stuff! You can be right at home, watching me on the internet, and painting along with me as I explain and show each part of the process. The cost will be low- $50. for the day, which will include two quick assessment/suggestion sessions online (if you wish), plus you'll be able to replay the private, password-access broadcasts as often as you like for a month following. If this sounds good to you, email me susan@susancarlin.com and I'll send you more details closer to time.

Love, Susan

Caroline- pastel portrait

What a sweet face to paint! This is Caroline, or Carrie Lu, and her portrait is in pastel, 20"x16".

I've taken this photo indoors, at night, with fluorescent lighting, so the background seems more yellow-green than the painting, which is more of a grey-green-blue in reality. I painted much of this portrait online, but finished it up today at home- in my pajamas! San Antonio is getting so much rain today I thought it best to not open the gallery and focus on this painting. Carrie Lu made the day a wonderful one. I only had to get out in the muck late in the day to pick up my new glasses. Rimless trifocals- so stylish.

Now that I've completed this portrait, I'm turning my attention to preparing for a two-day workshop I'm giving in Rockwall, Texas (near Dallas) on Tuesday and Wednesday next week.

Want me to come to your town to give a painting workshop? I'd love it! Gather 8-12 of your artist friends, find a place to set up our easels and let the fun begin! Contact me- susan at susancarlin.com - and we'll figure it out.

Susan

Salon entries in, now back to commissions...

I submitted these paintings into the 2010 Salon International today -two days before the deadline! It might be wiser not to share that, in case none are accepted, but we're friends, right? I guess I count on you to help me celebrate if either is accepted and encourage me if not. I'm pretty proud of these paintings, whatever happens.

Gentleman Traveler, 14x11 oil

Sisters In The Sand, 16x20 oil

Tonight (Wednesday, January 13, 6 p.m. Central time) I'll be continuing work during my online broadcast on the pastel portrait of Carrie Lu.

I hope you'll come by and chat with me and my fun group of artists and friends while I paint.

Gentleman- nearing completion

I've been working on this painting the last few days and really enjoying the process. I liked the initial "slap dash" lay-in and I've had a lot of fun fleshing the subject out and refining more, while trying to leave some evidence of the fresh feeling of the underpainting.
I'll be working on the pastel portrait of the little girl again on Wednesday evening if you're able to join me online at 6 p.m. Central time. I may work on it before then, too. If you'd like to get an email whenever I'm painting online, you can add your email address to the top subscription form in the sidebar of my blog.
It's wicked cold here in San Antonio right now so we're getting a taste of what our friends to the North experience more often. I'm sure ready for the return of our usual weather. In the meantime, I'm off to a dance lesson and hope it'll help warm me up...
I hope you're doing whatever keeps you warm and happy, too!

Slap Dash and Wicked Fun

I painted this yesterday online for fun. Boy, I loved it. It's rough, unpolished, exhuberant and colorful. I want to paint more often like this. Took about an hour and 45 minutes and I had great company all the while. Want to watch? Go here.

I'll get back to the more careful paintings soon, and I will likely fiddle with this one (polish it) just a bit, but I hope to arrange to do more fun fast paintings this year.