Hopscotch

"Hopscotch"

24" x 18" oil on panel

I thought that Ivy looked cute in the outfit that 

she chose by herself (as only a three-year-old can). 

She was wearing this on the day of her 

birthday party. 

Simplifying the background and placing Ivy on 

an outdoor hopscotch seemed natural. It clearly 

made her the focal point of the painting.

Here's the image of Ivy that I used for a reference:

By editing our work we can create whatever we 

want in our paintings. Our references are merely ides 

that help us to catch the vision of what we 

want the viewer to see and feel.

We get to paint what we want!

Water Park

"Water Park"

36" x 48" oil on panel

I love painting images of water during the summer 

months.It was fun to sling the paint around and create 

the look of splashing water!

Here are some of the images I considered before 

deciding on my final composition.

When considering these images I decided to eliminate the 

background information. Instead of going with the tube on a 

white waterslide I put my subjects in a swimming pool. 

The moving water and the splashes were more colorful 

and better portrayed the movement in the scene. I increased 

the contrast between the kids and the background 

by making the sky (actually a waterfall) lighter. 

This is the image I decided to paint:

All Hallow's Eve

"All Hallow's Eve"

12" x 24" oil on panel

I am painting pieces for an art show in October of this 

year. When a show is several months away it's helpful to 

think ahead about what the season will be 

and then create appropriate works. 

"Life As I See It" is the theme of my show and what's more 

fun than a mysterious jack-o-lantern painting for October?

Silver Creamer

"Silver Creamer"

9" x 11" oil on panel

Gosh, I just realized that I never did post this artwork on my 

blog...so here it is! This is a silver creamer that my 

mother owned and used occasionally. I have fond memories

of Sunday dinners with the crystal and china.

Cracked!

"Cracked"

8" x 8" oil on panel

My friend, Dean, keeps chickens in a coop at his office 

(in his beautiful French garden). He recently took two dozen 

of the eggs and blew the contents out so that I could 

store them in my studio without spoilage. Now, I can 

use the eggs in my still life work for many years to come. 

To thank him I painted 

this small painting of two eggs.

Fun fact: When I set up this still life I actually went 

through six eggs. When some eggs were cracked their 

yolks broke and I stopped to wipe up the mess. 

Once, when I cracked an egg I had my camera 

on the tripod. As I walked back to look through the lens 

I saw the egg slide off the table onto the floor. 

I tried again but then I noticed that the table wasn't level.

I placed a shim under one table leg and tried again. 

I focused the image in my lens and went to click 

the shutter when I noticed the the egg was 

no longer in the frame! Ha-ha! 

And so it went...

Simple painting - YES!  Simple set up? Nope.

Day of the Dead

"Day of the Dead"

36" x 36" oil on canvas

Amber wanted an artwork to go in her master 
bedroom to match her comforter.

I didn't want to match the comforter design exactly, so I chose 
something that would compliment her room. The floors of her 
home are a turquoise color with yellow, purple and green accent 
walls.

Yes, She is an artist!

After toning the canvas with a transition of turquoise, 
I drew in the major shapes.

I began blocking in the major color masses and started 
to rough in the major structure of her face.

After tuning the major shapes and color masses, I had fun 
working the details of her face paint, moving her ponytail over, 
outlining the white borders of the background flowers and 
finishing the roses in her hair.

The finishing touch was to take my palette knife and distress 
the background so that it wouldn't compete with the figure. 
I scraped and added texture to give the painting some depth.

Completely fun!!!

Stacked!

"Stacked"

11" x 10" oil on panel

This was panel #1 of a three-part series for

the Art Access Gallery's  "300 Plates Show."

Want Coffee With That?

"Want Coffee With That?"

11" x 10" oil on panel

This was panel #2 of a three-part series for

the Art Access Gallery's  "300 Plates Show."

Decadence

"Decadence"

11" x 10" oil on panel

This was panel #3 of a three-part series for

the Art Access Gallery's  "300 Plates Show."

Mangos

"Mangos"

10" x 10"

oil on panel

Washed Ashore

"Washed Ashore"

11" x 14"

oil on panel

From My Garden

"From My Garden"

24" x 20"

oil on panel

Tis basket of vegetables was perfect for my

fruit and vegetable series!

Sand Patterns

"Sand Patterns"

20" x 16" oil on panel

More Shells! I can't get enough 

of these beach beauties!

Sea Treasure

"Sea Treasure"

12" x 8" oil on panel

Another painting in my sea shell series. This 

was done mostly with a palette knife. I decided 

to try and complete it it one day.

Starfish With Glass

"Starfish With Glass"

11" x 14" oil on panel

I lived for 15 years in Orange County, California and I 

came to love the ocean and the beach! I have a 

huge collection of sea shells that I have 

collected over the years. 

The Glass balls are from a glass factory in 

Caracas, Venezuela. The fishermen used 

them as floats in their fishing nets. I purchased 

them when I was visiting there.

Ocean Echo

"Ocean Echo"

12" x 12" oil  on panel

I put the glass ball near the conch shell because it 

reminds me of the ocean bubbles on the leading 

edge of the beach surf; an echo of sorts.

Silver Bowl With Apples

"Silver Bowl With Apples"

10" x 20" oil on wood

I used a palette knife on this painting.

The still life was set up to have two 

different light sources - a cool light coming 

from the left (notice the blue highlights 

on the shadow side of the apples) and a 

brighter, warmer light from the right.

In some areas I used a few brush

strokes to transition the colors.

Sugar Bowl 2

"Sugar Bowl 2"

6" x 7" oil on panel

I don't know why I love painting shiny objects. 

Perhaps it is the challenge of creating the illusion 

of metal on a two dimensional surface. 

Maybe it's a challenging exercise in "seeing." 

Whatever the reason, I simply adore painting 

metal, glass or images of water!

Trio

"Trio"

8" x 10" oil on panel

I picked these apples from a tree in

my neighborhood. I love seeing the

leaves and twigs still attached.

Want to Learn a New Technique? Copy a Master!

After considering the artwork that hangs on the walls my home, I decided to update my decor. I wanted my home to reflect that "an artist lives here" and I wanted to look at the "works of masters" everyday.

I decided to copy some masterworks. I didn't want to paint a copy that was exactly like the original, rather I wanted to paint in the manner of some of the great masters.

Hoping that you will be inspired to paint some masterworks yourself (trust me - it isn't as easy as you think), Below is a glimpse of what I did.

When you walk into my front door, you will be greeted by a 3' x 5' Henri Matisse called "The Woman in the Purple Robe." I changed the robe to blue so that it would match my decor. Don't tell Matisse...

His original:

Here's what I painted:


























This is a work that I painted for the hallway outside my kitchen.  
I wanted something that was 3 dimensional. It was a boatload of 
fun to paint!

Above my dining room table is a piece I call "After Motherwell."
I had a blast painting it. I let the paint drip down the canvas, 
pilied on passages with a knife and I even threw paint
at it. It's 4' x 8."

Searching the internet, I could not find the exact painting of 
Motherwell's that I copied. There are hundreds of his images 
online, however this one is typical of his style:

Here is what I painted:

Van Gogh's "Harvest at La Crau:"

Here's my version:

Two of my artist friends created works that are 
fresh and modern:

My husband, Seth, is the director of the Clark Planetarium 
here in Salt Lake City. I thought it would be appropriate to
hang Van Gogh's "Starry Night" in our bedroom.

I extended the right side so that the rectangular shape 
would better fit the space. I took a little artistic license...

Van Gogh's "Starry Night:"

Susie's version:


























Here's my copy of Marc Chagall's "Hostel Des Artistes"
that also hangs in my bedroom.

By now you know that I am fond of Van Gogh's artwork.
I can't remember the name of his piece but I have it in a book
at my studio.  I cropped the grassy field at the bottom of this 
artwork so that it would fit the space and then tweaked 
some of the colors to match my room.

We, as artists, can paint whatever we want for our homes!
We are natural born editors! In fact, everything that we paint
reflects our own personal view of the world.

Although we cannot sell or promote our copies of masterworks
by creating posters, cards, etc., (it is unethical and illegal) we can 
enjoy painting copies to hang in the privacy of our own home and 
continually be inspired by the work of some of the world's greatest 
master painters!