Loss

Good Hugs

15 x 20 Oil

Loss, I don’t handle loss very well. Most of us don’t. Several of my dear friends have lost love ones this week. When they are grieving, I am grieving, too. It is a time that naturally feels like we should crawl inside and pull up the walls around us. Healing takes time. When we humans are ready, we will reach out again, touch and once again relate to the world.

I turn to my painting. It is an inside place that is quiet and peaceful, without words, a place to float and recover. Focusing so deeply on the problems that a painting can create, letting the paint flow, watching it mix with the other colors and catch the light, actually soothes and quiets the words flying around in my head. Questions of “why” and “what if…” fade quietly for another time. I feel closer to God when I am quiet. The ultimate Creator, helping me create, helping me heal. All is good, all is peaceful.

We have been given the right side of the brain as a way to stop all the chatter. Whatever is your “right brain” experience, that is your healing spot, use it to heal the heart.

November Second

So, here we are. November 2nd is the big day, big election. The Big Recession has had all of us on the edge. No matter what side of each issue you are on, you are worried. It is an uncertain time.

A dear friend of our’s, Craig, wrote to us about this very issue, “ dark days.” You know what he said (not sure if this is his original quote, but it could be… ) and I quote “ Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass. It’s about learning how to dance in the rain.” Wisdom for sure! What a great message for me and for all of us!

Do what you love, do it now! If it is painting, paint. If it is hiking, hike. If it is anything that is your passion, DO IT NOW! AND DO IT WITH ALL THE LOVE IN YOUR HEART! For me, that is painting. And so, my vote is in, my heart is now free to fly into the highest places and soar. That is what our individual lives are all about, that is what gives us joy, so let’s all go and do that! The world will keep turning whether or not the outcome of this week is what you expected, hoped or prayed for. We will survive. Our job is that we bring joy to the world by leaning into our own passion that brings us joy!

Be sure to Vote, then go out there and “dance !"

“Curtain Call” by Susan Blackwood

8 x 10 Oil

Now showing at Howard Mandville Gallery– Small Works Show, opens November 6^th.

A Great Time to Photograph

Are you having a wonderful fall? Here in Montana we are experiencing an incredible autumn! Two years have passed since we have actually seen the trees turn gold and orange. Last year the weather snapped into a deep freeze early in September and from there the leaves just turned brown and hung on most of the winter. But this year the color is glorious! The warm tones literally wrap themselves around my eyes, vibrating with joy. Every turn in the road reveals an exciting tree or bush. The mountains have become ribbons of golden aspens, shimmering in the light.

Silent Reflections 48 x 36 oil by Susan Blackwood at Highlands Art Gallery

Grab your cameras! All of you! This is just too good to pass up! All of you become artists with a camera in your hand. Not only will the camera teach you to see composition and values (especially if you set your camera to take black and white photos), but looking though the camera will stimulate the right side of your brain, the creative side…. And you will start seeing everything around you in a different way.

Years ago I learned the best way to photograph these fabulous trees and I will pass on the tip. Photograph the trees while you are looking toward the sun, straight ahead or on the right or on the left. That way you will get the intense color coming through the leaves. If you photograph the trees with the sun to your back, there is too much sunlight on the leaves and your trees will look washed out in the photos. It is a simple trick, but works wonders!

Now get out there and record this glorious time of year that shouts with color!

By the way, if you want to see a show devoted to fall, check out Highlands Art Gallery’s show that opened last Saturday night! Just click HERE.

The Results

Okay, I promised to let you all know about the wild weekend of three outstanding national shows

Are you ready for this… ?

Hang on to your HAT!

As many of you already know….I am overjoyed to announce that my painting,

“So, What’ll You Have”,

won Best of Show at the American Women Artists (AWA) Exhibition in Dallas, Texas at the Southwest Gallery.

So, What’ll You Have 22.5 x 30 Oil

It is an incredible honor just to be juried into any of these shows. As with all three national shows, I am humbled by the outstanding work.

The AWA Exhibition is a juried show of over 1500 entries from all over the USA. Only 60 works of art (paintings and sculptures of all styles and mediums) were accepted. A panel, consisting of 9 AWA Master Signature Members, were the judges that decided the awards for this show.

Here is the link to see the show

AWA is dedicated to the inspiration, celebration and encouragement of women in the visual arts. With membership of professional, acclaimed artists, AWA increases the public's awareness of women in the arts by exhibiting quality artwork in museums and galleries.

I wasn’t able to attend the AWA show (I was in Jackson Wyoming at the Western Regional Oil Painters of America Show at Mountain Trails Gallery). I would have had to be cloned twice to attend all three national shows.

Therefore, because I was unable to attend the award ceremony, this concept of winning such a big prize is still floating in the air, like an incredible dream that you keep remembering. People have sent me photos, told be all about the events, but not being there keeps it more like a dream. I know that once the mailman delivers the official written word, a hard copy of the award, then, I will finally grasp the total experience. In the meantime, I am still floating, too, and will be for a long time. This is a dream come true.

Thank you, all of you, for your wonderful letters and e-mails of congratulations. I have tried to write back to you, but it has been a landslide of correspondence. So if I haven’t written back to you, please know that I have read and cherished each note, smiled warmly, grinned a lot, and felt your enthusiasm and joy deeply in my heart! Some of these friendships are new, some span my whole career and some have known me ….. my whole life.

Thank you for all your support, thank you for believing in my work and thank you for loving art …. And me! My art needs you and your enthusiasm and so do I! You are and always have been, the “ wind beneath my wings”! Thanks!

Three Show Openings on the same Weekend

The art business has lots of ups and downs. We all hope our art is accepted, but between rejections in shows, galleries and sales (or lack of sales in this economy) your emotions can seem chaotic. One minute you are feeling discouraged, the next minute you get up lifting news or a great comment and you are soaring again. It’s an up and down experience. Well, after almost two months of feeling beat up by the economy, I have had a super “high flying” moment! I am really excited! This is a big weekend for me. My paintings are in three major national shows and they all open this weekend! This has never happened to me before!

American Impressionist Society Exhibition is opening tonight (Thursday) at the Richland Fine Art Gallery in Nashville, Tennessee. Here is my painting that has been juried into the show.

Click here to see the American Impressionist Society Exhibition!

Beyond the Clock 10 x 12 oil

Then, as those of you that have read my previous blogs, the American Women Artist Exhibition is opening Saturday afternoon at the Southwest Gallery in Dallas, Texas. Here is my painting in that show.

Click here to see the American Women Artists Exhibition!

So, What’ll You Have? 22.5 x 30 oil

And Finally Saturday night the Western Regional Oil Painters of America Show opens at the Mountain Trails Gallery in Jackson, Wyoming.

And here is my painting in that show.

Click here to see the Western Regional Oil Painters of America Show!

Maestro 16 x 12 Oil

I can’t be cloned, so I have decided to attend the OPA Show.

Stay tuned ….. I will let you know what happens!

A Blast from the Past

Last week Howard and I traveled to Chicago. As a Board Member of Oil Painters of America, he had official business. I, on the other hand, had business of the heart to attend to. Chicago is where I was born. Skokie is where I grew up. My roots go deep in that lovely land. Going to Chicago is always going home in my heart. I have family and dear friends there as well as memories, lots and lots of memories.

Vicki and Howard at the Art Institute

Chicago is a wonderful city full of culture, full of excitement and full of ART! ….. like, well, the ART INSTITUTE! Since both of my parents were artists, going to the Art Institute was a semi annual migration for my family. As a little child I regularly stared into the brush strokes of the greatest artists in the world.

Now, flash forward to last week, as my heart was getting a “filler up” of love, the anticipation of returning to the Art Institute was building once again. Saturday, my cousin Vicki, Howard and I boarded a commuter train (I love trains) and sped from Northbrook to the shores of Lake Michigan and the Art Institute. Vicki has had a membership to the Art Institute for many years, so needless to say she was eager to go again too. As a matter a fact, the paintings that we all loved, were like old friends to her. She knew right were each one was, around each corner and down each hall. What a delight.

Once we climbed the old stone stairs, the adventure began. Photography is allowed as long as the flash is turned off. Needless to say, I did take some photos that I want to share with you. I took whole paintings and parts of paintings, details that wowed me.

I photographed some amazing portraits, but right now I want to share the beauty of the hands and feet in some of these great paintings.

John Singer Sargent’s woman’s hand as she painted at the fountain…

Loose to tight, they are all wonderful.

Years ago, while studying drawing with Wynn Jones at Northern Illinois University, he was adamant that I draw the hands and feet accurately.

No matter how wonderfully I drew the figure or captured the portrait, my grade depended upon how well the hands and feet were drawn.

I thought about him and that class as I strolled the great rooms among the finest paintings in the world.

He was right, I thought. The greatest painting can be ruined with poor execution of the appendages at the ends of the legs and arms.

What a gift he gave me, the discipline to carefully study hands and feet.

By the way, because he told us that he would be grading us on the hands and feet, I made my room mates pose for me constantly.

Whenever we were sitting around in the evenings, I was drawing…. Fingers and toes, ankles and wrists, hands and feet… I made an A in Mr. Jones's drawing class, thanks to my hands and feet.

Awed by Encouragement

I started selling my paintings when I was 19 years old at the local art fair in Skokie, Illinois. Showing my heart felt work to the public was difficult. I felt exposed. “What if they didn’t like my work,” I thought. “Does that mean that they don’t like me?” That tells you how much of the artist pours into the painting. We are one with our work. If you like my work, you are liking the inner emotions of me…. At least that is what we artists feel.

Flash forward 40+ years. We have Facebook and Blogs, newsletters and Twitters. The whole world is now one huge network of artists cheering each other on. Now our paintings can be seen in every country in the world in a matter of minutes. News flashes around the world and so do the comments of support and encouragement.

I had that experience again tonight.

“So, What’ll You Have?” 22.5 x 30 oil

About 3 pm this afternoon. I found out that my oil painting, “So, What’ll You Have” had been juried into the American Women Artists National Show. There were 1547 entries and only 68 were accepted. I was (and still am) thrilled. So, I posted it on Facebook. That was 10 hours ago and the comments have been pouring in from all over the world. Artists and patrons, friends and strangers have been looking and letting me know how my painting affects them. So…. Exposed…..yes, we are as artists, but never before in the history of the world have artists been able to cheer each other on like this. I am awed. Yes, we can see this every day and every hour on Facebook. People thrilled and talking about it, but that doesn’t make it any less amazing.

Thank you all for those wonderful comments.

They went straight to my heart and will stay there!