2012 Events

Plein Air Workshop: Effective Outdoor Painting in Oils
(16x20 oil by Karen Phipps)
Location: Taos, New Mexico
Dates: April 26, 27, 28, 29, 2012
Cost: $335.
For Advanced Beginners through Intermediate Oil Painters.

Join award winning artists and popular instructors, Karen Phipps and Susan Hong-Sammons, in this four-day plein air painting workshop. We will be painting in the beautiful setting of Taos. You will learn practical tips for setting up on location, working quickly and directly from nature, all with oil paints. We will cover equipment options to keep your gear simple and pared down, using a limited palette, focusing on big shapes, clean color, compositions, finding a focus and simple value patterns in order to capture the essence of the scene. The goal in this workshop is to learn how to take the scene before us, translate it into a simple and expressive composition, and then paint it quickly, directly, and confidently. After the 3 days of guided painting exercises and daily critiques, we will spend the 4th day painting more independently at a location with the group, followed by an afternoon critique and closing “wrap-up” session.
Compact supply list, syllabus, as well as recommended housing/B&Bs near to painting locations.



The Landscape of Riverside: Works Inspired by Nature
Oil Painters Karen Phipps, Susan Hong-Sammons, Ellie McDonald, photographer Sophia Soluri, and poems by Rachel Noelle will present new works inspired by the local landscape and nature of Riverside at the Riverside Public Library during the months of December and January. The show can be seen in the library's exhibit hall.
















Oil Painting with Expressive Realism
January 25 - March 7, 2012 9:30-1:30
Hinsdale Center for the Arts www.hinsdalearts.org

See the world with an artistic eye. Susan’s approach helps you to break down the process of producing a painting, in the studio, into its core components: design, main masses, mixing accurate color, value, and apply paint effectively all from direct observation. Individual and group critiques generously given daily.
Class supply list available at registration

Renaissance Fair Plein Aire Event

The procession to the art auction
the art auction,proceeds went to Variety, a children's charity

Bristol Renaissance Fair

I'd like to share a few photos from this past weekend plein air event which took place at the Bristol Renaissance Fair. As a participating artist, I have to say it was one of my most pleasurable plein air experience. Everyone connected with the Bristol Renaissance Fair including the visitors, were happy to be part of the fair experience. Their enthusiasm was infectious. It made painting in the heat and huge crowds easy and very very fun. It isn't everyday that an artist converses with medieval gentle persons about her paintings.
The event concluded with an art auctions. Proceeds went to Variety, a children's charity for physically disabled. The renaissance actors carried all the paintings in a procession through the fair grounds to the large theatre were they continued, in character, to auction "the queens art." Unsold paintings will remain on display until September 6, 2010.
"Banners Way" "Dress Up" "Sweet Meats" oil 6"x8" plus frames (sold)

Mountains in Chicago?

"Private Interiors"
"Along the Grove"
"Mountains in Chicago"
6"x8" oil on linen mounted on archival board
This was one of those lovely mornings when all you had to do was turn slightly to see something new to paint. My intention when I set myself in these Savana Oaks forest preserve was to focus on how to paint dense greenery. But it quickly became evident that at what seems to be green leaves and grass is so much more. The dark shadows were very warm and rather orangish. The bright morning light filtering through and back lighting, created rather coolish lime-y appearances.

On the last painting,
I planned on painting over one of my pieces from our winter plein air trip to Sedona when we were either painting in a hail storm or heavy rains. As I started I thought maybe I could leave the mountains and work a meadow into the foreground. I think I should have been more sensitive to the foreground. I may go back and tweak that area so that it looks more meadow-like.
($99. each)

Reeds and Rocks

We're still having spring storms although I guess I should call them summer storms. Although the flooding is a pain the results make interesting subjects to paint. Once again I returned to our rivers edge as my muse but it is the abstract concepts of capturing the dazzling light on moving water, rocks, and weeds that fascinate me and make this painting a very fun challenge. Basically I feel light is relatively cool and shadows are warm (relative to my painting)so why the yellowish highlights on the rocks? They looked yellow although a cool yellow. It's been interesting reading different blogs on this concept of warm shadows and cool lights.
($95. 6"x8" oil w/ palette knife)

"Etc."

I'm calling today's post "etc" because I thought I'd highlight a few of the things I've been working on these past two weeks. It's still the same as always although I've added card-making to my evening routine. Making cards by cutting the shapes from fabric is ridiculously labor intensive but I find the whole process calming. Either that or it's the red wine I'm sipping while clipping.

This first imagine is from a workshop I'm taking from Romel de la Torrez. I love his very laid back teaching style. We often don't even know when he's arrived. The biggest difference, for me, in his approach is his insistence on large canvas and painting fast. This is 20"x16" which is the smallest he recommends I work. Normally I would bring a 11"x14" so this feels huge. He casually threw out that I should have it all massed in within 20-25 minutes - gulp. But I grabbed the challenge as well as my largest brushes (not palette knives). The 2.5 hours flew and I was happy that I accomplished as much as I did.

Canson's Pastel Paper

22"x30"

vine charcoal and powder

cast study-2.5 hours

This drawing was done with a more "painterly" attitude. I first rubbed in a layer of vine charcoal powder, massed in my darks, and then pulled out lighter values with toilet paper, #4 bristle brush, and lastly for my lightest lights a kneaded eraser.

7"x5" card

"Wishes"

message inside

Wishing you all the great things in life

Happy Birthday!!!

or

"remembering"

Thanks for helping me remember what's important...

And today it's you

Happy Mother's Day

to purchase cards and see more examples - http://www.susanhongsammons.etsy.com/

"Everyone Needs Roots"

I've been experiment with non-traditional Susan compositions. This is the first one I felt happy with so much so I'm willing to blog it. Normally, I don't crop in my still lifes. This whole idea of cropping is really a "shake-up" for my world of paint - I know I'm pathetic. And!,... look at all that negative space. I'm still using my favorite painting tool = palette knife and I'm loving this 8"x8" format.

(available at http://www.susanhongsammons.etsy.com/ for $145.)

head study - Jessie

So great to get back to the Palette and Chisel and work with a model. Saturday there isn't a lunch break, which I prefer, so we can paint from 9-1:30 on one pose. Of course I was late (because I went with Karen and worked from 7-9 on a cold corner painting a street scene) but I still got to work on; simplify to big shapes, value, and then the time was up.

"Mac Red"

This was a temperature study. And I took artistic license by amping up the "heat", the temperature, of "Mac Red."

8"x8" ($149.)

Value & Temperature Studies

Thought I'd post a few recent studies I've been working on inspired by taking a four evening workshop with Clayton Beck at the Palette and Chisel.

Clayton challenges us to pick just one issue to tackle instead of going through our mental list of many art elements which we might personally feel necessary for a good painting. Also, finishing is not important or even on "the list" which is great since the workshop meets for only 3 hours and includes his excellent mini demos as well as lots and lots of information.

For this portrait study of a man I chose to sit on his lit side. The values here were compressed to basically one value. So in order to describe form, I needed to focus on temperature changes but keep the values the same, or very close. Clayton recommended that I find the middle temperature and work out from there. I found this thought processes really exciting and so fun. So of course the hours flew by much to quickly.

This young gal gave me more trouble than the man. I should have just dealt with just value and the temperature issues would have developed naturally. From now on I'll know just to pick one issue to deal with when in open studio. This should have been a value study and not, value and temperature study.

Both head studies are slightly smaller than life size.

If you're visiting Chicago, take the time to stop by the Palette and Chisel Academy of Fine Arts and Galleries. It is one of our nations oldest, (if not the oldest) not for profit art organizations. Besides have over 60 hours a week of live model open studio time, which is free to members, it also has a main floor gallery, low cost studios, sculpture house and studios, and workshops all housed in a three story Italianate mansion purchased by members in 1921.

City Art Gallery, Greenville, North Carolina

"From Coast to Coast and in Between"
Opening January 15th.

As I said in my last post, I'm in a show which opens on Friday. So I'm continuing with a few more oil paintings from this exhibition. City Art Gallery will be highlighting over twelve of my paintings. I'll be showing with artists Tjasa Owen from San Francisco, Tim Kennedy of Indiana, and Sallie Benton from New York.
http://www.cityartgreenville.com/

"Shimmering Lights"
30"x24" oil on linen
$1900










"Suspended Animation"
24"x13" Oil $1200.

"Buddies"

12"x12" Oil $845.

"Cascading Lights"

goofing around in the studio with this one from a painting I did at a quick sketch session. Not so fun or interesting to work without a model especially this gal. She's so passionate about dance and has this lively personality. Anyways, my point was to capture the light falling on her.

It's minus 20 degrees windchill so why am I posting a summer lighthouse scene??? It's because I love being holed up in my studio with the sounds of the winter wind and sleet hitting my window. It's so nice and cozy in my studio. As soon as I can, I hope to be back outside painting the silvery winter air but for now, I'm posting something I tried to repaint from a smaller plein air study.

"Brave Heart" 40"x30" oil

My daughter's passion is her love of horses and writing (visit her blog, www.aspiredauthor.blogspot.com). So this painting is for her. She loves this horse called Brave Heart. I think he's quite awful as he has thrown her quite fiercely a few time, once destroying her helmet. But she loves him so what's a mother to do, ...besides move her to a different riding school which yes, I confess I did.

"Hero's at Zero's" 14"x11" oil

Trying to capture a teenage in paint, from life, is like trying to paint a toddler. They are never still even while watching t.v. But just like sketching with charcoal I find it really rewarding to sketch in oils, although it's hit or miss if the sketch becomes worth saving. Here's another in my blop series.

December 5 from 2-7. If you're near Chicago, come to the Beverly Arts Center for a one day art sale/fundraiser. Karen Phipps and I will be their with paintings as well as painting plein air near or inside the center.

9"x12" oil on linen mounted on hardboard

I set up this still life with the opposite intent of the previous posting. I used dramatic lighting with definite shadow and lit areas and placed most of my objects in the light except for one apple. Also, after painting several still lifes with minimal color and in the lighter end of the gray scale, I was after a louder and more dramatic idea. Besides using the contrast of shadow and light to create my "loud-er" still life, I thought if I placed color notes which sit close together on the color wheel I'd get more zing, a "hey look at me," which is why I used my favorite piece of copper with the red delicious apples. Placing the green grapes (so hard to paint) behind was my neutral and transition into the background space.

Still looking at David Leffel, Jeff Legg, Henri Fantin-Latour, and my new addition this week - Morandi. Teaching gets me back into still life painting because it's a great way to study all those juicy art issues in the comfort of my studio. But I am missing the great outdoors particularly since we're now blanketed in heavy gray skies. Once I finish painting for my January show I'll be back to plein air painting.

16"x20" oil

Playing around with atypical lighting for me. This still life was mostly in light using lighter fabric. I'm not sure if I'm finished because I'm wondering if I compressed the values particularly in the background and tabletop drop, would it make a stronger statement??? I've been re-reading David Leffel and Gregg Kreutz books as well as looking at Henri Fantin-Latour still lifes. From them, I'm guessing the answer is "yes."

"Blaze" 48"x36" Oil on Linen

"Blaze" is the latest in this on-going series inspired by my neighbors Sugar Maples. I'm playing with abstraction and expressionism and realism and color and edges, all the usual stuff on my list of important art issues. But this series is large scale (large for me anyways) and the work is all palette knife. I can't quite get that intense redorangeyellowish hue found on this amazing tree. I like the physical exertion necessary when working large. It's a nice change from my 6x8s.

Peonys in Buds

"Peonys in Buds"
14"x11"
oil on linen

Over the weekend I was finishing several different still lifes and also repairing this painting which I liked but not quite, know what I mean? I really wanted the peonys to pop and didn't feel they were as strong in the original painting as they could be. So what I decided to do was compress the value in the background as well as go a bit darker and cooler. Also I was more decisive with the lighting on the surface which the vase sits. Now I'm happy with it. Which version do you prefer?

"Colors From the Sideboard" 11"x14"

I have several paintings halfway completed and I'm trying not to start anything new. But looking at so much wonderful art creates more ideas which I throw quickly down on canvas in hopes to complete later. Now I'm trying to slow down and smell the roses and enjoy the journey of discovery with paint. For the first time ever, I'm investigating higher keyed still life arrangements. I'm defining high-key as a narrow range of values in the higher end of the value scale.

After starting this still life I realized it really didn't fully stay with my objective which is why I set up another and another to push to high-key paintings. I'll hopefully soon finish those and post them as well. The value variation in my background is very minimal and subtle. This is also new to me but I thought worked well to pop the foreground objects.

A very challenging element was textures. I had to scrape away the porcelain many times because I wanted a distinctly different feel of smooth compared to the other objects as well as I wanted the highlights on the porcelain to cause the most attention. This is an issue I'll have to address again and hope for better success in another painting. I've taken this piece as far as I'm able.