Did you like that last video? Well, here is my second one. At this point, I was beginning to “learn the ropes.” Tater Tots is a cute little cat. This painting is small too, only 8 x 6. I didn’t realize that clouds were rolling in and out, as I was painting. Thus the color shifts a bit from time to time. That is the interesting thing about North Light. It looks so even, yet when a bright white cloud slips over head, my light in the studio gets brighter and warmer, taking on a bit of the sun. When the storm clouds are above, the light gets dimmer. Under a beautiful blue sky, the light in the studio has a cool velvet tone. Turn up your volume button!
Blog
Time-lapse take Two
8/29/2016 11:16:54 PM | By Susan Blackwood OPA AIS | Comment on this
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Painting Hazel
8/22/2016 7:31:33 AM | By Susan Blackwood OPA AIS | Comment on this
Okay, can you handle a couple more paintings of cats? (Hope so, cause here they come!).
I have been intrigued with time-lapse photography for years, so a few summers ago, putting my curiosity to work. I set out to tackle two learning curves with a our digial D-90 Nicon Camera, and an intrevalometer. My brain cells got quite a work out at first, then, like any learning curve, it got easier and easier. The end results have been fun, so I decided to share them on the internet. Here is my first one. Turn up your volume button... and enjoy! Stay tuned for another one next week!
Watch the time-lapse video of Hazel being painted
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfSQ-uIVKQY
Hazel 6 x 8 oil
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My Model Rocky
8/15/2016 8:50:00 AM | By Susan Blackwood OPA AIS | Comment on this
My model, Rocky
Rocky 7 x 5 oil
Little critters sure wrap around your heart! Some nights Rocky didn’t come home. He is our little fluffy long hair cat. Normally he was home before dark and cuddling with us, happy to be combed and loved, but some nights in the summer, no Rocky. Howard and I would spend a fitful night taking turns getting out of bed… calling out the door. Then in morning, the dogs and I would walk the neighborhood, while I was calling out “Rooooocky…. Rooooocky, Boooom Bah" ( his favorite name ) . Nothing. No cat.
Cats can be anywhere and in the summer I particularly worry that he might be trapped in someone’s car that he wondered into, or their garage or shed. Some cats even wander into the back of trucks, U-Hauls, RV’s, or empty houses when someone leaves a door open. He could be unknowingly traveling to some unknown destination…..
But time and again, that scenario didn't happen, just as I would resigned my self to settling down and starring at my e-mails (always a good distraction method), I would let out a huge sad sigh and in response I would hear a responding soft little churpy meow. Rocky would be home once again. Whew.
Rocky is older now and I like to think wiser. Like Howard and I, he has his routines and sticks to them. First thing in the morning... he gets out to the porch to soak up the sun and listen to the birds. By evening he wants to be just outside our door listening to us talk or watch tv. When the lights go out...he wants in. He has loves his creature comforts.... like snuggling with us.....Camping out all night is no longer his favorite passion.
Edge of Nap 6x8 oil by Susan Blackwood
In the Shadows 8x8 oil by Susan Blackwood
Watching Closely 6x8 oil by Susan Blackwood
Found a Good Home 16x20 oil by Susan Blackwood
Available at Highlands Art Gallery
Perfect Nap 30x24 oil by Susan Blackwood ( Rocky catching a nap with Elizabeth Robbins)
Available at Jade Street Gallery
Ying and Yang 12x12 oil by Susan Blackwood ( Rocky and Annie)
Available at Highlands Art Gallery
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Edge of a Nap 6 x 8 Oil
In the Shadows 8 x 8
Watching Closely 6 x 8 Oil
Among the Trees
8/8/2016 8:56:40 AM | By Susan Blackwood OPA AIS | Comment on this
Among the Trees
Detail of elk
Among the Pines
36 x 48 oil
36 x 48 oil
A few years ago.Howard and I, with our two dogs, hiked up to one of our favorite spots in Bozeman called Grotto Falls. Along the way we passed the stately giants of the National Forest, the pines. Through the years I have fallen in love with trees. Each one has such a personality: some lean to the left with lower branches touching the ground; some are straight as an arrow and then twist at the top. They are as varied and individual as snowflakes.
I didn’t always see the trees in this way. In my early years as an artist, drawing and painting people and animals were always easier for me than landscapes. As a child artist, I created each pine tree exactly the same. My little left-brain had found a symbol for the mighty evergreens and I used it over and over. As I artistically matured in my observations, I then saw too much! I looked at the trees, bushes and grasses in the fields as way too much texture! I was over whelmed with how to capture their nature and all those thousands of leaves! I sought advice from instructors and books. Little by little, and painful at first, I learned to observe these dense plants as I would a head of hair. Simplify! Look for form! Leave the texture as accents. Now I love painting landscapes, especially trees!
His Old Olive Tree
10 x 8 Oil
10 x 8 Oil
Tree in the Mountains
10 x 12 oil
10 x 12 oil
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Painting Plein Air
8/2/2016 1:10:31 AM | By Susan Blackwood OPA AIS | Comment on this
I have a confession. When I paint on location…. I am a fair weather plein air painter. This seems to be my pattern in life. Those years that I was a skier, I only liked to ski on the best days. And so it is when it comes to plein air. Now mind you, I have painted in bad weather, wrapped in warm wind and waterproof clothing, looking like the toddler wrapped for winter, and I had a good time. But plein air painting is difficult enough - why add to the problems. I can handle gentle breeze, hot sunshine and frigid temperature but I really excel in perfect conditions. I love to smell the fields and feel the dappled light skipping across the landscape. In these conditions, my brushes fly over my canvas and almost giggle with joy.
Often I am drawn to dwellings set in a landscape of beauty. Barns often catch my eye and beckon me to paint them.
Shadows on the Blue Barn 8x10 oil by Susan Blackwood
This fading gray blue barn had tall trees on the right and casting long shadows along it’s front. I had to quickly paint those shadows first because they were changing minute by minute. Behind the barn are the Bridgers Mountains, the beautiful gates to our Gallatin Valley here in Bozeman. In front of it were fields scattered with sunny wildflowers. It was a wonderful morning.
Often, I find a subject right at my friends’ homes. This barn is just one of Reny and Bill’s many wonderful old buildings in Pennsylvania. It has it all, including old red boards and stonewalls. What a joy to wake up in the morning, walk outside and start painting right there!
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