A finish and a start

8x10 oil on canvas panel, a commission due for Christmas. This is a portrait I started a week ago Tuesday online, with several members of her family (and the little girl herself) watching. No pressure there! I'd only gotten to paint for two hours that day and wasn't able to get back to it until today. I spent several hours at the gallery working on it today and like it quite a lot now. I used a dry brush technique that felt very much like the way I sometimes use pastels.

This is a start I made on an 8x10 oil on canvas panel, a commission due for Christmas. The photo reference was taken with a flash, but after my initial worry about its quality, I think the portrait is going to work out just fine. I'll post progress images as I go.

It's a sign of how kind my artist friends are that no one's called me on the fact that posting my goals update is WAY over due. Let's just say that for now I'm just going to focus on getting my Christmas commissions completed. The revamped website will have to wait.

La Villita has a big holiday event on the weekend following Thanksgiving and I'll participate in the "open house" atmosphere on Friday and Saturday by holiday decorating and having refreshments for the revellers. The lighting of the Riverwalk on Friday is a huge event each year and many thousands attend. Here's what the official Riverwalk website says about it:

At 7:00 p.m. on the Friday following Thanksgiving, the switch is thrown and approximately 122,000 twinkling lights form a magical canopy over San Antonio's River Walk. The lighting ceremony is the official kickoff to the Paseo del Rio Holiday Festivities. The spectacular one-hour parade features decorated, illuminated floats with celebrities, bands and lavishly-costumed participants. The theme for this year’s parade is a Theatrical Christmas.

Thanksgiving is just a week away, can you believe it??? I guess I'd better start decorating and figuring out what to feed the visitors to the gallery!

Painting from online session Tuesday

11 x 14 oil on stretched canvas painted with palette knife

A lot went wrong on the way to broadcasting this week's painting, but we all prevailed and this painting was begun. I have more to go on this one, but thought you might want to see the "so far." www.ustream.tv/channel/susancarlin to see most of the painting of this portrait.

Two finishes

12x16 oil on stretched canvas


8x10 oil on canvas panel

Usually I'm giddy with joy at being here at the gallery and painting. Today's been hard. The changes in my life at home had me explaining "allergies" when visitors came in to find me sniffling. This afternoon a fellow came in saying he was on a scavenger hunt and needed to find someone to "paint his picture". (Meaning, 'free'.) Huh? I said I'd like to help but I was under lots of deadlines to get portraits done by Christmas. He persisted. He wheedled. I kept declining. He insisted. I finally said, quietly, "I said no." He turned on me then , leaving the gallery, half-shouting, "I'm telling everyone about you!" Huh?
Then an artist from another gallery came in and started critiquing the portrait I was working on. I didn't agree with her suggestion, but was polite and kept doing what I was doing. Then a visitor walked in and she asked, "Can I tell you another thing you should do?" I said, "No." Not taking no, she said, "It'd be a quick fix..." At that point, I told her not to do that in front of my customers and that I'd talk to her later, but "bah-bye now." It's wise that she left at that point.
Two people in a row who felt they could force me to do something I didn't want to do? What is it, my hair? Do curls indicate malleablity? My 60's African dashiki shirt? My initial politeness?
Who knows.
But then, soon afterward, two artists from the gallery next door came in and made me laugh and shared art stories and left me reassured that the world hadn't gone completely rude or hostile. Shortly following, someone bought one of my paintings to give as a gift. Nice.

Life is good. I've got lots of work, a home, family. A promising president elect. And most days aren't so hard.

Join me as I paint online today at 6 CST

I'll be starting a new commission of an 8 x 10 oil portrait of an adorable little girl later today. I hope you'll come by and keep me company and enjoy the company of the other artists who drop by. www.ustream.tv/channel/susancarlin 6 p.m. CST

A finish, some progress and keeping on....

12x16 oil on stretched canvas
Both of these paintings have a lot of shine from the wet paint, but I think you'll be able to tell enough anyway. I believe I'm finished with the one above and pretty far along on the one below.

8x10 oil on Raymar canvas panel

My apologies to you sweet people who regularly check on me. I know I've been somewhat remote this last month or so. My parents just moved to San Antonio and I've been spending time with them and trying to keep up with my commissions and the bookkeeping that goes along with having the gallery. My daughter has started at a new dayhab and figuring out the transportation has been challenging. I've also been to lots of art receptions and am happy to report that I've won 6 awards in the last few weeks. Thrilling stuff, I know you know. Nothing says, "Keep going" like ribbons and checks!

In amongst all that thrill, though, my relationship unraveled and has ended. It didn't feel right to just not mention it here. Whether you know it or not, you folks are a huge part of my support system. Of course, I hope that it feels mutual to you. I'm sorry I haven't been more present on your own blogs lately, making comments and cheering you on. My life has been wacko, as you now know. In the future I hope to live up to the due dates on my portrait (and one landscape) commissions and find a way to have sanity and balance in all the facets of my life. Has anyone figured out the key to this? Care to share?

I'm old enough to have come to rely on this one fact: Every sadness, every disappointment, every loss, every devastation.... comes with a gift. Something good comes as a result. Every time. No exceptions. So I'm keeping an eye out for the gift. For now, I'm just staying watchful.

Nov 4 online painting - Yellow Lab

Today I started this 11 x 14 oil from this photo reference, and I continued work on it tonight on www.ustream.tv/channel/susancarlin this evening. It was fun hanging out with the usual suspects and a couple of surprise visitors. But I completely forgot to push "Start Recording" so there's no record of the session. Ah well. I'll try to remember next time. Thanks, Ya'll!

Painting & reference from Sunday's online session

Baby In Leaves, 8"x10" oil on canvas panel.

Barbara Pask has me pegged. I did paint another hour and a half on this painting beyond the two hour session of the online show. I couldn't help it. No, really.

I have a great frame picked out for this one. Very wide gold leaf. Can't wait for this to dry and be varnished so I can see it in its new clothes. If you want to see the first two hours of this painting, you can go here: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/susancarlin

I'm going to switch my day to paint online from Sunday afternoons to Tuesday evenings. I want a full day to spend with my family and this change will allow that. If you want a "heads up" when I'll be painting, you can add your email address to the top box in my sidebar. It's always fun to chat with the other artists who drop in. Please join us!

We're headed up to the Kimball Art Museum in Fort Worth next Saturday in case you can join us there to see the Impressionist exhibit on loan from the Art Institute of Chicago. Let me know you'll be there and we'll figure out how to meet up!

Two fun paintings... just for me this time!

Golden Eyes
7" x 5" (17.8cm x 12.7cm)
Oil on Canvas Panel
$80 with FREE shipping and handling in the US
E-mail me for International shipping rates or other inquiries.

I set aside the commissions for today and painted two small paintings for fun. Actually, the one of the cow is from the reference Karin Jurick posted this week on Different Strokes From Different Folks. She posts a new reference photo every Wednesday which she uses to paint from, and invited other artists to submit their own version by the next Wednesday, then posts all of the submitted paintings. It's so interesting to see all the different "takes" on a theme. I tried to use every color on my palette.

Cafe Latte'
8" x 10" (20.4cm x 25.4cm)
Oil on Canvas Panel
$120 with FREE shipping and handling in the US
E-mail me for International shipping rates or other inquiries.

Painting & reference from Sunday's online session

sold
I enjoyed painting this one, especially because I had fun company online as I painted. It's oil on 9"x12" on RtisTx board- the first time I've used it and I liked it a lot. I took this photo at night in fluorescent light, so all the blues are more saturated than in the painting, but I thought I'd post it anyway. I did fiddle with a couple of details this evening before photographing it. I couldn't help it!

You can watch the two one-hour recordings of it being painted at www.ustream.tv/channel/susancarlin anytime.

I'm painting online Sunday at 1 Central

Howdy!
I’ve been looking forward all week to painting for you. Carol Marine has graciously given me permission to use as my reference a photograph she took of one of the artists in her workshop. (I’ll post the reference on my blog just before the show.) I hope you can come hang out with me and the cool folks who wander in.
www.ustream.tv/channel/susancarlin 1 p.m. Central time.

Start of portrait from burned photo

I've painted maybe 5 hours on this 11x14 oil so far. The reference photo had been burned so I'm piecing it together from other photos of them from the 40's, when the ref. photo was taken. I see lots of issues to work out yet, but thought I'd post what I have done so far. It's so good to get back to painting after days of working on my taxes. I hope I've learned the "don't take an extension" lesson for good this time.

Let's Go See The Impressionists in Fort Worth!

Let's go see the paintings at the Kimball Art Museum in Fort Worth on November 1 and November 2! The Chicago Art Institute has loaned 92 Impressionist paintings to the Kimball and that will be the last weekend of the exhibit. I'm delivering two paintings to a show in Fort Worth that weekend and thought it would be wonderful to meet up with any of you who'd like to ooh and ahh at the beautiful paintings with us. It'd be so fun to get to know some of you better.

The Kimball opens at 10 a.m on Saturday and closes at 5. We're driving up from San Antonio Saturday morning and will get to the Kimball between 11 and noon. I have to deliver the paintings before 6, but we could all get together for dinner that evening and whatever might come next! We will likely go back to the Museum on Sunday, too. It's open noon to 5 on Sunday.
I've booked a room at the Springhill Suites at 3250 Lovell Avenue, Fort Worth (817-878-2554) which is less than two miles from the museum at 3333 Camp Bowie Boulevard, Fort Worth.

Who's in?

-Excited Susan

210-226-3992 Gallery
susan@susancarlin.com

My apologies! A solution?

Bill Brauker emailed yesterday to say that folks were waiting for me at Ustream.tv for my usual time to paint. Yikes! I sent out an email yesterday to my art newsletter list saying I'd be working on my taxes instead, but I see now that not everyone got the email.

So I'm creating a list specifically for the painting show. Try this: Go to http://groups.google.com/group/susan-is-painting and join the group. I'll get a little subscription box up in my sidebar soon. Or send your email address to susan@susancarlin.com asking to be in the group and I'll add you.

Please forgive me.... my taxes will be done by Wednesday (that IS the deadline, right?) so I'll be back to painting this Sunday. I've got a great reference to paint from- the profile of an artist painting. I can't wait!

See you Sunday?

Last Sunday's Painting... x 5!

I worked on this a bit more Wednesday evening and like it much better now.

Summer Sand
11" x 14" (28.0cm x 35.6cm)
Oil on Canvas Panel

These three artist friends also painted from the same photograph reference- each of their paintings turned out beautifully!

Karen Hargett, 5x7 pastel on velour


Barbara Pask 6x6 oil

Jane Pappe, oil, 8x10

Diana Marshall -not sure what size- oil.

Couple finished

This has been quite the adventure to complete. Will tell you more about it soon.

Reference and painting from Sunday's online session

Ok, today was fun and odd at the same time. Had a rude heckler-type fellow show up and I hadn't bothered to learn how to use the moderation tools in order to kick him out, so he managed to change the mood a bit, darnitall. Thank heavens for the likes of Barbara Pask, Karen Hargett, Micki, Jane, Pat Schultz and several others who kept the conversation positive. Thank you, sweet artists all!

This painting was done between 1 and 2:45 p.m. I see LOTS I'll want to change, but this is where I left off at 2:45. I'm not sure how I forgot to complete the bluish shadows to the viewer's right of the figure. Lots of details are possible yet, and I see some sharp edges that I'll want to soften. I do like the feeling of this little painting, though, so it'll be worth continuing, I think.

Some of the viewers wanted to paint from this reference, too, so I encouraged them to do that and send them to me so I can post them by next Sunday. Karen Hargett has already sent hers (!!!) and it's a beautiful 5x7 pastel I look forward to posting.

Palette knife cat mystery...help me solve it?

Life Is Just A Bowl Of Kitties
14" x 11" (35.6cm x 28.0cm)
Oil on Stretched Canvas
$150 plus $10 shipping and handling in the US
E-mail me for International shipping rates or other inquiries.

I gave myself a break from commissioned paintings yesterday and painted this 11x14 oil with a palette knife. I really enjoyed the afternoon. The reference photo is from the blog of a woman painter and I promised her I'd send her a photo of it when/if I ever used it for a reference. Maybe I bookmarked her blog on my gallery computer, but I've gone through every bookmark and feed subscription I have here at home and am not finding her. If anyone has seen the photo of this cat on another blog, will you let me know? Thanks!

I'll be painting online Sunday at 1 p.m. Central

I'm back from my travels and have decided to paint online after all tomorrow (Sunday, October 5) afternoon at one. I'd love it if you tuned in and said Hi. I usually paint for two hours. www.ustream.tv/channel/susancarlin . You might want to register on ustream so you can log in and I'll know who you are when you add to the chat, but you're welcome to just watch and listen, too.

Two of my paintings have gotten "First Place in Oil" ribbons this week. "This Land Is My Land" won at the Coppini Academy's October Member's Fall Show, and "Peruvian Beauty" won at the River Art Show, both in San Antonio. What a thrill!

Hope to "see" you Sunday at one!

-Susan

New approach to her eyes

I took a new direction with this subject's eyes yesterday and lowered her upper lip, as well.

I'm off to Idaho today and will drive back over the next three days. Bonnie will have the gallery today, Marilyn tomorrow, and my sister Patty will be painting there Thursday and Friday. It looks as though I'll be back for Saturday and will be able to paint online Sunday after all, though with my folks newly here, I may choose to wait until next week after all. I'll send out an email to the folks on my newsletter and on Twitter if I paint this Sunday. Can't wait to 'see' you all again!

Even more progress on couple

Today, more hours of refining and of putting the design on the woman's scarf. I think I may have resolved the eye issue, but will look at it fresh on Monday.
Tomorrow I get to do the "Paint Around" at the Austin Pastel Society- it should be fun and exciting. I'll try to take photos of the five finished paintings to share.

Yet more progress on couple

Another 5-6 hours on this painting today. I think it's taking shape finally. Still need the detail on the woman's scarf and I want to come back fresh tomorrow and consider her eyes again.

I had such fun talking with people today and yesterday. It's a little cooler here in San Antonio and folks seem in such a good mood as they're walking from gallery to shop to gallery in La Villita. I feel so privileged to be a portrait artist in San Antonio.

Progress on couple

I worked three hours on this painting yesterday but I'm not sure what I did will be very detectible from your vantage point. I'm posting the progress anyway, since I'm moving forward. I'll be working on this painting much of today, as well, so maybe there'll be more to show tonight.

Tuesday and Wednesday I was in Seguin, TX giving a portrait workshop to a fun group of artists, mostly members of the Seguin Oakwood Art League who worked in oil, acrylic and watercolor. Another member of SOAL was the model all of Wednesday. I did take a video of the demo Wednesday morning, but haven't had time yet to look at it. If it has any merit, I'll post it after editing.

Sunday I get to participate in a "Paint Around" at the Austin Pastel Society as one of five artists who will all paint on each other's paintings. We'll start a painting for ten minutes on our own easel, then move to the easel to the right for ten minutes and so forth until the last ten minutes of the hour we'll complete our original painting that the others have each worked on. I'm eager to see how they all come out. There will be portraits, still life and landscapes among the five.

Next Tuesday I fly to Idaho and will have an adventure driving with my parents back to Texas over the next 3 days or so. I'm looking forward to the time with them.

Sunday's Paintings- Gingham Girl, and Patty again.

Gingham Girl
8" x 10" (20.4cm x 25.4cm)
Oil on Canvas Panel
$100 plus $4.95 shipping and handling in the US
E-mail me for International shipping rates or other inquiries.

This was a fun painting to work on today. I painted this little girl in the second hour of the program, after working further on the one of my sister from last week (below). Of course, now that I've posted the photo of the revised painting, I see an errant brushstroke at the edge of her nose. Ain't that the way? I'll fix that now. I do feel better about the value distribution after another hour on it today.

Thank you, again, to those wonderful artist friends who hung out with me online while I painted. You're the best!

Painting Online at Sunday Sept. 21, 1 p.m. (Central)

I've been looking at that painting I did of Patty last week and wishing I could have another go at it. So for at least part of the Sunday session I'm going to do just that. I may start another afterward if there's any interest. I hope you'll come by! http://www.ustream.tv/channel/susancarlin

Possible reference

Sunday's Painting... my sister Patty

Patty came for coffee this morning and I hadn't chosen a reference for today's online painting, so I asked her to pose for some photos. I really enjoyed painting this today. Thank you to you wonderful folks who hung out with me for those two hours!

A little less than halfway...

The tiniest details, the smallest brushstroke changes everything at this point. So many more to do. Can you see the change in her smile? And still there's much more to do... soften, deepen, lighten. Will keep you posted.

Pastel of girl and her horse

I painted this today.. pastel, 11"x14" on Kitty Wallis Belgian Linen. Because I photographed it this evening in fluorescent light, the color is wonky. I still need to finish the hands and other details.
I painted it on ustream.tv, but the recordings didn't record properly. There's a 30 minute piece that will play, though. www.ustream.tv/channel/susancarlin

Goals Revisited

Here it is the 10th of the month and I've managed to procrastinate ten days the accounting of my goals. Deep breath.... here goes-

Last month I set five goals for my art for the remainder of August, and three for September.

1. Give Blog workshop August 23rd. Continue exploring ways to present it online. (I'm making headway!)
2. Decide on one painting to do for portfolio to represent higher end of fee schedule. Begin that painting.
3. Look into opportunities for 2 competitions in the remaining part of this year.
4. Finish two current commissions.
5. Paint three small paintings each week and post on eBay or perhaps offer on blog and newsletter.

How I did:

1. The blog workshop went well. I did hit a wall trying to help an out-of-state artist participate, leaving us both frustrated. I was trying a method which would let people participate live...but from their homes. That method requires more experience with a computer than a novice would have. I don't want to spend my time being a computer techie, troubleshooting connections and the setting up of applications, so this turned out to not be a good avenue for me. IF I pursue this project, I'd need to set up an online class that folks can take at their leisure and would not require simultaneous participation with me personally. Whew. As much as I see a need for this, I'm not sure I want to spend the time developing it. This goal is tabled for now.
2. The commissioned portrait I'm painting now fits this description nicely and is begun. I've also discovered that a competition I very much want to enter- Salon International at the Greenhouse Gallery- is being judged by my first portrait painter idol- Daniel Greene. The deadline for the entry is early January. I have an idea for a painting and now need to find the model. Finishing that painting before the end of the year would add another painting to my portfolio that fits the bill in this category. I break out in sweats thinking about this one. Of course, that could be hot flashes.
3. I went overboard on this one. I have two paintings in the national show at Hill Country Arts Foundation, opening Sept 13, and have entered three paintings in the national show -San Antonio Visual Artists' first- here in San Antonio, opening on the 18th. Haven't heard about if any has been accepted yet, though. I also will enter paintings in Coppini Academy's members exhibition and in River Art Group's members show, both the first weekend of October. The big Kahuna, though, is Salon International, but that counts for next year.
4. Check. I finished both of those commissions. One gets mailed at the end of the month, one will go out the end of this week.
5. I'm red-faced about this one, and it's not due to hot flashes. The only small paintings I've done since setting that goal have been the ones I've done for the Sunday painting show on Ustream.tv. That's one a week, not three. And I've not put any of those on eBay and only one has a PayPal button on my blog. I may have to table this goal, too.... for now. Doing those paintings would help further my plans to free myself from needing a particular location to be successful as a painter, so it's worth revisiting soon.
   

September:

1. Revamp website.
2. Give Portrait workshop in Seguin, September 23-24.
3. Finish portfolio painting from August.

• Boy, does my website need revamping. Yikes! It's woefully out of date, both in style and in content. My sister Patty will be called upon to help with this. She keeps saying, "Decide what you want and design it, and I'll do it." Sure. So, Ok, it's time to decide and design.
• Registration for the two-day Portrait workshop in Seguin is full. I could maybe take two one-day registrations on the first day, because there are two artists taking just the second day.
• I'll have the portrait of the couple finished by the end of the month, I'm certain.

I'm not going to set October goals right now, other than to enter those two competitions at the beginning of the month and to start work on the painting for the Salon International. I'll see what else I might add to that list on the first of the month.

Ok, so that's where I am and where I'm heading right now. Wish me nimble fingers and a brave heart!

More progress on couple

From here on out there won't be much drama in the progress, as it will all be small refinements, all of which takes lots of time and won't show up as much in the photos. Today I worked mostly on her collar and neck and little touches elsewhere. This photo makes me think I have her eyes just a bit too close together. I'll check on that on Thursday.

Tomorrow's my day off- Marilyn is at the gallery tomorrow- and besides a long list of errands I need to run, I want to start a pastel commissioned portrait of a teenage girl and her horse. It's a very sweet reference photo I'll be working from.

Also, tomorrow I'll revisit my goals and confess my shortcomings and celebrate my achievements. What fun!

Progress on commissioned couple

I got to focus on this painting another 5 hours today. I start getting happy when at least all the white of the canvas is covered, and that's almost true now. The woman's white blouse is still mainly white canvas still. Tomorrow I'll get to start refining, inch by inch. I love my work.

Sunday Painting

In the company of blogging artist friends and family, this is what I painted between 1 and 3:10 p.m. today. To watch the two video recordings of the session, click HERE.

Thank you to all of you who kept me such good company as I painted!