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DREAMS TO SELL

6/19/2020 9:31:42 AM | 1 Comment

DREAMS TO SELL!

When I write a Blog and prepare to publish it, my art website asks me for permission to share it as a Fine Arts Newsletter. But first, they ask me what it’s about: my story; inspiration, my work, a particular painting, my struggle to be an Artist.

I have been thinking about that last one… Struggle to be an Artist. I never have. I am an Artist because that is what is inside of me. It is how I express myself. It is how I comment on what I see and feel in the world. When I don’t paint, I don’t feel as good as when I am painting. People close to me notice the difference.

“The object of art is not to make salable pictures. It is to save yourself.” -Sherwood Anderson, American novelist

The struggle for Artists is not in being Artists. It is in being seen. Being recognized. Being valued. And ultimately in being collected. Although, I believe…

“Whether you succeed or not is irrelevant, there is no such thing. Making your unknown known is the important thing.” – Georgia O’Keeffe, artist

Framed prints of PRAYER ANGEL, JOURNEY and BY THE LIGHT OF THE DUNE

Since the beginning of my painting career, I have realized that of all the people who love my paintings, only a small percentage can afford to buy the original. I had one client in Colorado who loved one of my expensive landscapes of the San Luis Valley where her family had lived for generations. To her, that sweeping image of the place she loved was worth putting money aside each month so that her grandson could look at it every day and know that this place was important in their lives. Still today, that sale remains the most important one to me that I have ever made.

“If there were dreams to sell…what would you buy?” - Thomas Lovell Beddoes, poet

But most people who love an original work of art do not or cannot do that. But still, they love it. And so even from my mesa straw bale home in Colorado, I found a photographer/printer who could turn my work into beautiful prints on canvas or fine art paper. My sister, Dianna, in Kansas City worked with me to create small note cards of my Colorado landscapes and still life. This was the way that I could share my work with many people who wanted to own a piece of art that touched them in some way. And this is a tradition that I have carried into my studio and gallery in Tarpon Springs. Making those prints and note cards accessible to art lovers who might like to purchase them is then the challenge.

Framed WaterBaby print of SIDE BY SIDE

“An artist is not paid for his labor but for his vision.” – James Whistler, artist

Art is not just visual, as poets and novelists and playwrights would attest. My studio partner, Percy Kleinops (artist and poet) and I have worked tirelessly to create the website Handwords.com, a source for sharing and selling his Poem Cards, our Note Cards and Greeting Cards. Our Handwords™ Facebook page is our posting and promotion site where we can share bits of poems and images to be found on our website. We call the Collection”Messages from the Heart™" Percy's Poem Cards are especially meaningful in these conflicted and confusing times. These lovely cards that are so easy and inexpensive to collect and send make you smile, laugh, cry with poems like Distance Separates Not and I Miss You My Friend. We have had an overwhelming response to what we are sharing on our Facebook page. Lots of Likes and Loves and Comments, all of which make us feel appreciated and let us know that we are touching your hearts from afar.

Selection of HANDWORDS™ Poem Cards and WaterBaby Note Cards

“The main thing is to be moved, to love, to hope, to tremble, to live.” – Auguste Rodin, sculptor

For those of you who love our work, our hope is that one day soon, you will explore our “Messages from the Heart™” on Handwords.com and discover those “just right for you” Poem Cards and Note Cards. We created them for YOU to make it easier for you to share "messages from your heart"!

Thank you for your loyalty in reading me. Thank you for expressing your appreciation for what I do. Stay safe. Be kind. And look for happy things.

Suzanne

LETTING GO!

6/12/2020 9:03:40 AM | By suzanne e.murphy | 3 Comments

LETTING GO!

We are all having to let go of something these days. Life is not the same. Change is hard unless we can see past it and envision something better. But still, I'm often surprised at the smallest things, almost inconsequential, that become the hardest to say goodbye to. Perhaps it is because hanging on to them is possible. Those larger things that we must let go of are many times out of our control.

I have had only two palettes in my 24 years of painting. They were both a piece of glass, 16” x 22” with duct tape around the edges for easier handling. I bought my first one in 1996 when I began painting on canvas in my straw bale studio in Colorado. I gave up that palette when I moved to Florida. Kind of a starting over thing, I guess. Also, it was glass and breakable. But it wasn’t easy to let go of that small, smeary rectangle on which I mixed so many intuitive colors.

I bought my second glass palette when I started Open Sky Studio and Gallery. I was working with new Gulf Coast colors and leaving the sage grey greens behind. A new start seemed to be a good idea. That was 2008, 12 years ago.

Many painters prefer to mix colors on a neutral palette of gray, beige or even on a piece of slick, white palette paper. The theory of using the neutral tone as a medium value is that it helps you find your lighter and darker values. Somehow those underneath colors have never bothered me in mixing new colors and values. My way of mixing color has adjusted to the leftovers. A blank canvas can be daunting enough, but a colorless palette seems even worse to me.

With each painting, the colors I mix change and blend with the dried colors of the previous painting. Usually after I finish a painting, I do scrape off the topography of the paint so I’m back to a somewhat smooth surface. But a layer of colors that have come before remain to coat the glass. My palettes grow into a color history of my work.

Oddly enough, each of my two palettes served me for 11 years. Without keeping track of the coincidence, last month, I started thinking that the ghost-like layers on my 11 year old palette were getting a bit bumpy. I couldn’t thin them out anymore.

My studio partner, Percy, was still painting on plastic plates. He had some for acrylics and others for oil. They were starting to stack up. So one day just recently, I ordered two new pieces of glass, taped the edges and placed them on our painting tables. How clean and neat! And uninteresting! I could hardly wait to mess up mine.

Now I have my third palette. What am I to do with the old, colorful palette that has served me through so many paintings? Percy said, “I’ll take a picture of it.” As you can see, it is almost a painting in itself. He wants to frame it!

I still haven't been able to throw it away. It's wrapped up in brown paper, sitting against a wall in our studio kitchen. One day soon, I will tell Percy it's okay to take it out and drop it in the dumpster out back. But...not yet!

See you in two week with butterflies...and a messy palette! Follow my Blog and look for my continuing monthly Newsletter, NO STRAIGHT LINES. You can catch up at:

https://www.suzanneelizabetmurphy.com/newsletters/archive

Stay strong. Be kind. And know that if you have to give up something, another something even better will come along. I promise!

Suzanne

OUR HEARTS BEAT THE SAME!

6/5/2020 9:21:25 AM | 2 Comments

We have chosen to replace our usual art Blog this week with these thoughts about finding humanity in our hearts. The human heart can hold many things; anger, jealousy, fear, prejudice. But it can also hold empathy, compassion, hope and love. Change happens in the heart and...

OUR HEARTS BEAT THE SAME!

Together we send this Message from Our Hearts to all of your Hearts.