2011-08-03T14:33:20-04:00 lifetype-1.2.10_r6971 http://sukiecurtis.artspan.com/blog/rss.php?blogId=5471&profile=atom Copyright (c) tag:blogs.artspan.com,2011-08-03:20471 2011-08-03T14:33:20-04:00

In the Garden , © 2011, 30" x 24", oil on canvas   I delivered this recently finished painting to the Yarmouth Frame Shop and Gallery  yesterday, just in time for ...

oil paints painting process In the Garden , © 2011, 30" x 24", oil on canvas   I delivered this recently finished painting to the Yarmouth Frame Shop and Gallery  yesterday, just in time for their up-coming show. "Dog Days of Summer" opens Saturday, August 6. If you're in the area, come on by 720 Route One in Yarmouth for the opening reception Saturday, from 4 to 7 pm, for a visit with art, artists, art lovers, food and refreshments!  For the past three weeks, I've been teaching a class at Artascope Studios in South Portland. "Expression in Paint" is the name of the class. We are half-way through the six weeks.   Since teaching art is a new experience for me, you might say I've been learning a lot!  Learning about how best to communicate and encourage others to explore their own artmaking has meant paying much closer attention to my own painting process (which includes the drawings that I do). So much of my painting is a process in which I make "seat of the pants" decisions as I go along, trusting some sort of judgment that is not easily codified. I draw on some basic accumulated wisdom about colors and composition, but after that, I'm on my own, figuring things out painting by painting, sometimes even step by step. This means that it's not all that simple for me to explain to others what I do, or even more, why I do what I do! I am, to borrow from the name of my other blog, trusting delight--trusting my own aesthetic about art and my own sense of what sort of energy or feeling I want to convey. Not that I don't borrow from other painters and allow myself to be influenced by art that I love, but in the end, the decisions are mine, and the end result is mine as well. Teaching the class is giving me a great opportunity to slow way way down so that I might notice what's going on within me as I paint. Some moments I'm quite clear about what I'm doing, or what I'm trying to do; other moments, not so much! No wonder it's hard to communicate this to others! Don't forget to come by the Yarmouth Frame Shop if you're in the area!     tag:blogs.artspan.com,2011-07-29:20141 2011-07-29T07:12:35-04:00

Untitled Still Life, oil on canvas, © 2008   Here's my second-ever painting with oils, done the second week of the class  that started with the image in my last post. ...

oil paints painting process Untitled Still Life, oil on canvas, © 2008   Here's my second-ever painting with oils, done the second week of the class  that started with the image in my last post. When I look at it, I can feel how hard I was trying to see well, to mix accurate colors, to pay attention to the shapes between objects.  I think I remember using a palette knife for parts of it, like the odd hand-made ceramic vase that holds the foreground. But what I remember most about doing this painting was the absolute thrill of mixing the "juicy" (flowing but not liquid) oil paints into colors. Especially the different hues of those two oranges! Partly there was the challenge of close observation of the real oranges as well as the paint on my palette. More than that was the pure pleasure of playing with colors in paint--a blob of this, a dab of that, mix and watch what happens.  The pleasure of mixing and playing with colors still thrills me, three and a half years later. Perhaps it sounds rather dramatic or silly to admit this, but I remember that in the midst of mixing those orange hues, I felt a profound sense of contentment and exhilaration.  "I could do this for the rest of my life," I thought. And maybe I will. tag:blogs.artspan.com,2011-06-29:17491 2011-06-29T20:35:42-04:00

(My first ever attempt with oil paints, February 15, 2008)   "I think you could write a great memoir about becoming a painter," a friend, neighbor, and big art supporter said to ...

General (My first ever attempt with oil paints, February 15, 2008)   "I think you could write a great memoir about becoming a painter," a friend, neighbor, and big art supporter said to me the other day.    I noted her words: "becoming a painter." Not a phrase I've been quick to consider as a self-description. But if a painter is someone who paints, for whom painting has become a primary means of self-expression, and who can't easily imagine not painting, then I guess even I can call myself a painter.    Another friend has recently encouraged me to think about writing "a little book--about your life and your art. An illustrated book!"   Let's just say I like this convergence of ideas from two intelligent, creative people. And it occurs to me that perhaps this blog is a place to tinker with bits and pieces of the story. Just for fun. Just to see what emerges.   When I titled my first post "Gotta start somewhere," I wasn't thinking of how I became a painter, or of writing a little illustrated book about my life and my art. I just knew that I needed and wanted to start an art blog!   But now I'm letting that title also refer to my starting point as a painter, or at least as a painter in oils. Because that's a recent story. And I even have physical evidence--a photo!--to go with it. The above photo shows my first time ever using oil paints. It was February 15, 2008 in a continuing studies class at Maine College of Art (MECA). I was still so scared of oils (thinking they were only for "real artists" and for experts) that I hadn't even fiddled with any of the paint before that first class.   After some introductory information, we were set loose to try our hand at a still life of sorts--the set up had both real fruit and colored blocks of various shapes. Others in the class seemed much faster than me, I remember. I didn't even finish my small canvas by the time we had to clean up.   What I remember most was making those slanted ragged marks in paint on the lower margin of the painting. Simply pushing the paint around with my brush was thrilling! And far more satisfying than the not-quite-finished product would suggest.   I don't know if I'd say I was hooked on oils then and there. Perhaps not. Though I know my smitten-ness became clear to me a week later at the class's second meeting. tag:blogs.artspan.com,2011-06-18:16431 2011-06-18T20:47:18-04:00

Pansies , Pears, and Companions , ©Sukie Curtis, 2011, oil on canvas, 20x24" While this is my first post in this blog on this website, in many ways it's simply a ...

General Pansies , Pears, and Companions , ©Sukie Curtis, 2011, oil on canvas, 20x24" While this is my first post in this blog on this website, in many ways it's simply a continuation of my other blog, known as "Trusting Delight."    For quite some time, Trusting Delight has been a catch-all blog: part commentary on my mid-life journey, part reflections on whatever catches my attention and sparks my curiosity and delight, part art blog where I have posted images of paintings.   And for quite some time, I've thought it might be a good idea to create a new blog that's just for my art, so that people interested in seeing my art don't have to wade through all the other stuff I write about! I am happy to be writing this post as part of this new website. Maybe it will help me to get back into blogging more often, now that I know what's what!   In the meantime, I hope you enjoy looking around my website. I have more images of paintings to add in time. For now, if you clink on the "Paintings" link, you will see three different galleries of images. Choose any one of them, and you will see a set of images of paintings.   There's even a "zoom" feature, signified by the large + in the upper right corner of each image, that allows you to get in close for a sense of the layers, texture, and paint application. I have fun zooming in for a different kind of perspective!   Thanks for visiting! Leave a comment whenever you feel like it!