First three days...

I'm really here! Let me see if I can bring you up to date...

I couldn't find my camera when I was on the train from Newark Airport to New York City to visit my friends Heather and Mary Ann on my layover there- PANIC! I was sure I had forgotten to pack it. I have since found it in a zippered compartment of a suitcase, but at the time, I was sure it was lying on my bed at home. So after a most luxurious Italian lunch at Becco's, my friends took me to B&H Cameras in Manhattan and I bought a new Panasonic Lumix and have been loving it. I got back to Newark Airport in the nick of time and found my gate had been changed to another wing of the terminal, so there was actual running involved. Stop laughing. I had good flights and arrived in Dublin at 7 a.m.

This nice bus driver was amazing in his driving skills. Narrow roads with a shear wall of vegetation often on the left (where I sat so I could snap photos) and the enormous bus didn't seem matched well, but he managed- all on the 'wrong' side of the road and from a seat on the right. He slapped his leg in time with all the songs on his radio station, sang under his breath a bit and laughed along with all the DJ's commentary. He got me to Belfast, and two other buses got me on to Ballycastle on the northernmost coast.

After a taxi ride to the bank to exchange Euros for Sterling, and a stop at a tea shop to pick up a quick sandwich, I got to my first guesthouse. Not all went well there, but it was in a beautiful place and I took a great walk to gather provisions after a four hour emergency nap.
The view from the patio of the guest house.

My room was inside and to the right.

I took a long walk and every turn had me wishing I was shopping for a home in this beautiful town.

The next morning, Joan and Harvey who were staying at the same guest house, gave me a ride to Limepark where I'll be staying the rest of the week. Joan's taking the workshop and Harvey's along to play golf. I met my cottage mates and one of them, Christine, asked if I wanted to go on a long drive to Donegal and beyond to the west coast. I leapt in the car and off we went. I had not returned the memory card to my camera, so was limited to what the internal memory would hold. It was difficult deciding what photos to delete to make room for others. I don't think I've ever been anywhere so beautiful as Northern and Northwestern Ireland. People tried to tell me, but you just have to see it.

Stunning views.

The highest cliffs in all Europe.
Perfect little farms and houses with the surrounding fields dotted with sheep and happy, clean, grazing cows. So different from Texas.

Foxglove growing wild and abundantly along the road.

Donegal Castle. Christine and I were offered the Senior price since it was almost closing time. My first entry to anything on a Senior ticket. The castle had been restored in many ways. It was amazing to be inside at the top looking out.

We got back after midnight and I hadn't had a chance to really see where I was, so today took photos of Limepark. This is the cottage I'm sharing with Christine, Mary and Judith.

The yellow door is the entry to the studio space where I got to paint today. The owner of Limepark Cottages, Melanie, offered to model for us this afternoon, so I got to paint for three hours even though it was a Sunday!

It was good getting to meet most of the other workshop participants, too. Tomorrow the workshop resumes for real. I'm eager to learn from Robert. I've heard lots from very happy artists about how wonderful he is.

Our cottage is called Poet's Corner. Guess I'll need to do some writing, huh?

After we painted this evening, Annie invited me to drive with her to Ballycastle for more provisions. This is the view above the town as we walked along the sidewalk. Can you believe it??

It's 1 a.m. and I need to get some sleep before the workshop tomorrow. The plan is to do some plein air landscape painting. Say a little prayer for me.

Thank you all for your sweet good wishes you've sent. Consider yourselves hugged! I'll write more tomorrow....

-Susan

I'm in Ireland...

All is well. Still figuring out electronic issues. Hurrying before computer battery gives out. Have taken lots of photos. Will paint a little today ...on my own.. not part of workshop. Sharing a cottage with three nice women artists. Drove with one of them, Christine Green, to the far west coast and back yesterday. Saw the highest cliffs in Europe, ate Irish lamb stew, hyperventilated over the fabulous views everywhere. Let's all move to Ireland!
Will post photos as soon as I can. -Susan

Tattoo In Support

This was a fun start during the Wednesday evening broadcast. Was it my imagination or was the conversation among the best we've had?

The subject of this painting is a woman who visited my gallery on Monday and allowed me to take photos after we'd talked about her tattoo (unpainted at this point). She had it done in memory of her mother who died of cancer and in support of her brother who is dealing with cancer now.

I'll resume work on this painting after I finish my commissions when I return.

I leave in the morning and will try to post every day, depending on finding internet connections!

-Susan

Countdown to Ireland

I'm getting SO excited about my trip to Ireland. I'll be gone 12 days, 7 of which will be at a workshop with Robert Liberace. I leave early Thursday morning and will spend a few hours in New York City catching up with two friends there during my layover. Then I fly to Dublin, arriving very early in the morning. I'll take a coach on to Northern Ireland and stay that first night in Ballycastle at a bed and breakfast owned by Robert's cousin. They say you can see Rathlin Island and Scotland from Ballycastle, which is on the northernmost coast of Ireland.

Then on Saturday I move to Limepark (just down the road near a town called Armoy) where I'll stay for the week of the workshop. We'll be working on portraiture in the mornings and plein air landscape paintings in the afternoons.

Right now I'm still planning to paint online this Wednesday evening before I go. I'm taking my camcorder and laptop, so I hope to broadcast while I'm there, too, if all goes well.

Preparing: Last night I toned 12 Raymar canvas panels, six 8x10s, and six 11x14s with acrylic paint in as close as I could get to a midtone grey, haphazardly made with red, blue, yellow and white. They were dry almost instantly and I've got them packed in two Raymar wet panel carriers. I've cobbled together a pochade (painting) box to use with a tripod rather than take my French easel, and I've gathered most of the paint colors Rob has on his supply list and bought the brushes he recommends. I'm not taking mineral spirits because you can't take it on the plane and because they'll have that available for us there. I am going to pick up some walnut oil to use as a painting medium, because it's on the list (well, Rob suggests linseed or stand oil, but they don't smell good to me)- not because I usually use it. I'll let you know what I think about it once I've used it.
I still haven't packed, because that would deprive me of that last-minute-panicked-packing experience I love so much. Ar ar ar.
Morgan and the kitties are going to get lots of love while I'm gone, and the house will be cared for. I'll stay in touch with my folks by Skype. My friend Karen will be on call if they need anything. My usual days at the gallery will be covered by four other artists. It looks like I'm really going to get to go!

Several people have asked that I blog about my experiences as I go. So I'm going to try to send a newsletter frequently over the next two weeks, along with photos of what I see. Stay tuned!

Susan

email- susan@susancarlin.com

Veggie Stew- so far, & reference- Want to paint this?

Other artists' paintings are in the post below this one. I've dated that post to predate this one... follow? In other words... scroll down to see the other versions!

Veggie Stew, oil 11" x 14" unfinished
Watch the first video of this painting
Watch the second video of this painting
Truly, I have the best company when I paint online. We share stories and ideas and tips and encouragement. Thank you to all who drop in and chat for a while! I painted from the reference below tonight during the broadcast. It's a photo I took of a still life I arranged for one of my classes in 2007. I'll work more on this painting, but this is all I could accomplish in the two hours I painted. I paint so few still life paintings in comparison to the number of portraits I paint, but this reminded me how much fun they can be.
You're welcome to use my reference (this one only) for a painting of your own if you'll send me a photo of the results - I'll post them with a link to your blog or website. Send a jpg (72 dpi, and approximately 6" x 8" -around 750k) to susan@susancarlin.com by June 29th. I'll be back from Ireland by then and can finish posting the ones from you last-minute artists. I'll try to post the others along the way. Paint happy!

Veggie Stew paintings by other artists....

Ann Rogers

Mary Segev

Alexis Taylor

Expecting

12" x 12" oil, Expecting
Gamblin collects the paint collected in its air filtration system every year to make that year's vintage of a color they call "Torrit Grey." They distribute it to their retailers to make available free to those who ask for it. Then they hold a competition for paintings painted with Torrit Grey, white and black oil paints. The deadline is August 15 this year. I found out about it from a viewer on my broadcast... I think it was Bill Brauker... and promptly went down to Herweck's and picked up a tube. Shortly after that a wonderful photographer, Patrick Lane, and his wife Stephanie wandered into the gallery. It didn't take me long to beg for reference material after he showed me some of his images on the internet. A few days later, in my email, I got the most wonderful image of Stephanie in full-blown, glorious pregnancy.
Last night I painted this during an impromptu broadcast. What fun! Patrick and Stephanie joined the conversation and made the two hours fly by.
I only needed Torrit Grey and white to paint this. It makes me want to do more like it! Folks can enter three images for the competition, so maybe I'll give it another go if I can find worthy images as reference.
To watch the recorded video of this painting, go HERE.

Leaves, leaves and more leaves

Today I've been just trying to get patterns of color and value behind Ailee and start trying to get the sense of dappled light on the top of the wall. There are hours and hours of refining yet to go, but I'm now starting to see a glimpse of what the finished painting might look like.

This is where the progress might be hard to see...

Long hours later, I'm not sure how much of the progress is detectible by anyone but me, but I wanted to post the images anyway. I'll work on it much of tomorrow, too.

Ailee coming along...

Progress, I think.

I don't often get to paint feet. I'm really loving the experience!

This is just a start, but I'm pleased with it.

Catching us up...

I made a little progress with Ailee's pretty face yesterday... will continue working on this painting today.

I'm working on Ailee's 40" x 30" portrait at the gallery this week. I work with my reference images on the monitor that I put on top of the counter and turn toward the easel. The changing light in the gallery is a.... challenge. That's it, a 'Challenge.'

Last night during the broadcast I continued work on this portrait of the artist John Pototschnik. I had great company while i painted, as usual! I'd been dreading painting that landscape that John did as a demonstration at the Greenhouse Gallery in March. How could I ever live up to his excellent landscapes? I do feel better to have at least covered the white of the canvas with a landscape-of-sorts, though.

This is where the portrait of John P. stands now. So much yet to do, but it's beginning to shape up.

14" x 11" oil, Shelby. I did most of the painting of this one online last Wednesday, but did spend some time beyond that finessing the details.

There's Always Room For Cello
8" x 10" (20.4cm x 25.4cm)
Oil on Canvas Panel
$100 with FREE shipping and handling in the US
E-mail me for International shipping rates or other inquiries.

I took the photos references for this painting in 2004, and did a painting from them then, but it was when I was newer to oils, and I wanted to try it again. The subject is our neighbor, Christina Joy, with her cello. I've also painted her with her violin, in pastel. This was fun.

I leave for Ireland two weeks from today! But I'm completely calm about it. HA! I'm going to try to post to my blog from there and maybe even broadcast my Wednesday show from there, as well. We'll see what's possible.

Vincent finished

This really was a fun project. Makes me want to cook up more like this for myself!

Dad's 81st Birthday

Dad and Mom were just going to keep me company as I drove out to see the school where I might be doing a mural. When we got close by, I left them to walk the aisles of a new Lowe's while I went on to the school. After my meeting, we had lunch and then headed toward home. I remembered mentioning that the Witte Museum's current exhibit was about the human genome and that Dad had been interested in seeing it, so we detoured to the Museum. It was a fascinating, interactive exhibit and we pulled every lever, watched every video and turned every crank. We moved on to the permanent exhibit at the Witte and then went outside to see the log cabin exhibit, then over to the Science Treehouse. We raised ourselves up by pulleys, suspended a ball on a stream of air, saw ourselves on a "green screen", Dad sent himself a postcard from an email kiosk, and played with every science plaything they had. Mom and I played soccer indoors with a beach ball. Then we noticed a boy outside riding on a "sky cycle" -a bicycle held to a cable with only a counterweight. I nudged Dad to go ride and he did! I was proud. Then we went for fish and chips and drove through Brackenridge Park til we found a picnic table near the river. After our picnic we noticed the train station was just over the bridge so we bought tickets and popcorn and had a fun ride.

Mom will turn 81 next month. You wonder what this has to do with art? Maybe nothing. But it has a lot to do with this artist. I'm so grateful they live nearby now where we can look after each other and celebrate the passing years, even as they clip by at a dizzying rate.

I'll be painting online tomorrow (Wednesday evening). Hope you'll drop by!

Vincent

The owner of this dog wanted to commission a painting of his now departed companion, a golden retriever, and told me the dog's name was Vincent Van Gogh. So I boldly suggested that perhaps he might like me to paint Vincent as Vincent Van Gogh might have painted it. I was surprised and delighted when he said yes! This is as far as I've gotten today. I like a lot about it. I'm going to see how I feel about it tomorrow, but thought I'd post my progress tonight to see what you think....

Adorable Girl finished

This painting will always be associated with meeting two great people, Graham and Leisa, who wandered into the gallery just before a heavy rain set in yesterday afternoon. They sat and kept me the most delightful company as I worked. Thank you!!

I've sent photos of the the finished painting to the little girl's parents and they wrote back that they're 'over the moon' happy with it. They're moving back to Australia soon, so had contacted me to see if I could paint her portrait in time to take it with them. I really pulled a marathon with this painting and like how it turned out very much. But then, how could you miss with such a cute little face as Isabella's?

A bit more progress...

I worked a bit more on this portrait before closing today. There are a few problems, but it's coming along...

Start on a 12"x16" oil portrait of adorable girl

Sketch with thinned burnt umber.

Beginning to block in color.

Interior of subject mostly blocked in. My reference photo:

I will likely continue work on this portrait online, in between sessions on the larger portrait of Ailee. It's been nice working on this one here at the gallery today. Lots of nice people to talk with. There's a Soul Food Festival in the plaza outside my door, so the aromas are teasing and enticing. Mmmmm.

Start of 40" x 30" commissioned portrait

This is what I managed to do in two hours last night during the broadcast. I had one wipe-off early on when I was working out the drawing. I see that I have the ledge way too high on the viewer's right side of the figure. For composition purposes, I'm thinking of what might lie on the ledge next to her on her left, viewer's right.
Ailee, the subject of the painting, joined us during the broadcast and was sweetly enthusiastic.

Progress on painting bound for Ireland

I continued painting this portrait online last night in the company of good friends. We had an interesting discussion about pricing portrait commissions as prompted by Mary Segrev who lives in Israel. The photograph above came out a bit dark, but it'll show the progress, anyway. I'm hoping perhaps to finish this later tonight.

Video of Mom when we were little, and Art Mothers

Please indulge my detour from the topic of painting today....
My mom will be 81 next month, and my dad will be 81 in nine days. They live near me now and I'm enjoying them more than I can tell. My brother put this video together a while back. I thought I'd post it in Mom's honor. My folks had four children- the first three only a year apart, then my little brother 3 and a half years later. I'm the first girl, second child. If you watch the video, I'm the brown-haired ham in almost every shot. I really lucked out being Mom's daughter. She has been the most constant source of love in my life. The experience of painting anything has always involved showing Mom - and Dad- when I'm done. They always respond positively and would hang them all on the refrigerator if they had one that large. I love you, Mom. Happy Mother's Day.

I had to come back and add to this post. I am so grateful for those women artists in my life who "mother" me in regard to my painting. They advise on technique and supplies, they remind me of competitions I might enter, they celebrate with me my triumphs and sympathize with my troubles. They share their experience and wisdom and encourage me always. Where some artists fall into the "sibling" category by being, well, you know... like siblings, there are those few who have taken me under their wing and figuratively packed me a lunch, nudged me out the door and reminded me to play nice with the other children as I ventured out to learn some more.

I actually know one local artist who made it clear to her daughters that they were not to be artists themselves, because it would be competing with her. So having an actual mother is no guarantee that one will be encouraged in one's art.

Let's look around and thank our "Art Mothers" today, too.

Some of mine are Diane Manousos, Barbara Muir, Jo Castillo and Libby Peters. Thank you!!!