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REALLY?? Yesterday at 5:03pm, I turned 70 years BOLD!

7/20/2018 9:16:55 AM | By Susan Blackwood OPA AIS | 1 Comment

Really, YES, Really!

How did that happen? The years have raced by bringing so much fun, excitement, travel, and adventure inside my heart and around the world. I have met the most wonderful people ( young and old) all over the world and so many of them are now dear friends. Howard Friedland was one of those friendships that quickly turned into amazing love and marriage, 20 years ago.

I was born into an loving supportive family and I quickly became the center of their attention. THE FIRST BORN CHILD on both sides of the family has many advantages, I was flooded with love, held constantly and just plain blessed! ( Okay, maybe a little spoiled, too ). I wish all children could have that kind of start in life.

My wonderful younger sisters ( Karen Vance and Lindy Schneider) are artists, too and so were my parents and the generations preceding them. Did I want to do art, too? You BET! I was obsessed with art, drawing on the underside of tables, on the walls (up under drapes in the living room) and up under coats in the closet. The world was my paper, I drew everywhere. The older artists in our family were thrilled. They let me explore to my heart’s content, keeping me supplied with paper, pencils, tape and crayons. When I had a question, then we explored their knowledge. Otherwise, I was free to express myself through art.

70 years later ( really? still not quite used to that “7” ), I am still exploring the wonderment of putting color and shapes and lines on paper, canvas, or any other surface.

Thank you, all of you, all over the world! Each of you have touched my life in some way, even if we have never met. When you read my newsletters or blogs, or look at my paintings, buy my paintings, study painting or drawing with me, travel with me to a foriegn country, write a nice note on Facebook or Instagram - you touch my life.

To my family and close friends, I could never be who I am without you in my life.

Now, onto the next 70 years!!! What adventures to be had!

Hope you can join me!!

Big Hugs and Happy Brush Strokes!

Susan

Like Louis and Clark

7/1/2018 11:47:23 AM | By Susan Blackwood | Comment on this

Good Morning!

This morning, as I was writing to Jake Gaedtke, the President of The Rocky Mountain Plein Air Painters, I felt like I should share my thoughts with you, too. You see, Jake just complimented me and encouraged me on my new directions with Contemporary and Abstract paintings.

"Good luck on your show in Miles City . Your paintings look great! Your new directions in concept looks really nice together!" Jake Gaedtke

Here is what I wrote back to Jake.

"Thanks, Jake! It feels like jumping off a cliff and then wondering if I have any wings!

Everything I know about the traditional/impressionistic world of art, is completely different."

Really? YES!

Different surfaces, different mediums, different framing, different galleries, different shows, different type of clients, different artists, different collectors, how do I connect all the dots?"

Let me elaborate:

The safety and security of the traditional/Impressionistic world that I have known my whole life, beckons me to stay safe. Though it, too, is full of stress, it is, after all, my familiar stress.

The wild unknown of the Contemporary/Abstract world is like going on a huge adventure. It calls to me. Lots of unknowns in this new field, including me. In this new world, no one knows who I am.

I feel like an explorer. I feel like Louis and Clark hoping to discover the right passage, the right spot to camp, and a "Sacagawea" to help me find my way. (Did you know that it took 28 years AFTER we became a new country for Louis and Clark to start exploring the vast western part of this new land. The first 28 years were spent getting settled.) That is like my journey in this art career of mine. I have spent the first 50 years getting settled and secure enough to venture forth into another wild adventure.

Yes, I am taking my best equipment with me on this journey. I have all the many years of studying, planning and painting paintings: Composition; design; drawing; color harmonies; repetition of form; eye movement; textures; lost and found edges; and putting emotions into my paintings. These tools will serve me well as I bushwhack through the jungles/forests and ford the streams of this wild frontier of Abstract and Contemporary paintings.

Just like Louis and Clark, I, too, will have to leave behind the comforts of a society I am familiar with: Do I use canvas or board to paint on?; Do I mix mediums, trying new combinations?; Do I mix realism with abstract - (I like that idea); Do I work with Museums or Galleries?; What is the best approach to contacting Museums?; How far in advance to I plan a show?; When do I contact galleries or do wait until I am firmly confident in my new directions; Will the galleries take ALL OF ME, or only one of the new directions?; Do I stay with one style, one medium, one color scheme, one thought process when there is a world of so many possibilities?; Do I create a series in one direction before I sprint on to the new idea? What would Louis and Clark do?

I do know, when Louis and Clark started out on the east coast of our new country, they had no idea what was ahead of them: no road maps; GPS; encyclopedias ( remember those); no National Geographic Magazines or movies to look at; No Steve Ricks books to read; No friends to visit along the way; No stores to buy supplies. They had a mission to explore and discover. And boy oh boy did they ever do that! That is what I want to do, too.

I live in Bozeman, Montana. The Louis and Clark Expedition came right through our valley, floated down our rivers, traded with our Native Americans, ate the food from our valleys and mountains and found out everything they could as they traveled.

That is my goal, too. Yes, I bring with me all that I have learned in my great adventure of art. I will need all of this and more. This could take awhile, but I am up for the adventure.

In the meantime, my first 11 paintings are now on display.

Nature's Keyboard

60 x 48 oil

is at the Creighton Block Gallery in Big Sky, Montana