6x6"
oil on canvas
sold
This is one of the newer wind up toys I purchased at Borders. While adjusting his pose for his big photo shoot, I couldn't resist a shot from the back. His little pointed butt just set me off. He will, however, be favoring us with some full frontal very soon.
I like taking a break from getting a likeness to play with the toys, it's really relaxing and they seem to pacify the voice. Ahh, Friday. I'm ready.
6x6"
oil on canvas
$125
This is the second in a series of one of my favorite dolls. She's got such an amazing face and looks so tranquil. I long to sleep as peacefully as she does. Not a care in the world, perched on her chair atop a pedestal in the living room, she's quite content just to be dusted every now and then.
Impatience is a problem, rushed this because I wanted to see it done. A couple of highlight touches when she's dry will finish her up nicely.
My site has finally been overhauled and refurbished! Of course the voice is shrieking that it's not what it should be, but today, the voice has been summarily silenced, so scram! I'm going to actually enjoy an accomplishment and the attainment of a goal.
Still no original music but soon. For now "Greensleeves" will do. This is, I'm afraid, a dreaded template! There, I said it. As a working artist and graphic designer, they are equivalent to kryptonite, and I do apologize to web designers everywhere, but, well...in a word...recession. That said, I would have liked to design it myself, but too much to learn that I won't have the time to use again.
Some of the images need some color correction, blame it on that old non-calibrated screen, but on the whole I'm really thrilled. Please feel free to visit www.suzanneberry.com for a look-see. We'll be adding more in the near future, so please, drop by often. Thanks so much.
16x20"
oil on canvas
$350
The computer conundrum is almost sorted out. Took the ole fella to the Apple Store and apparently he was too old to fix...there anyway. Luckily we have another geek friend who is taking everything off the hard drive for us. Amazing times. I used to think being married to a mechanic or a carpenter would have been an ideal situation. Either the car would be in perpetually perfect running order or we'd have new additions added to the house every year. I found out the hard way how incredibly handy your very own personal geek can be. I won't complain about the household chores being ignored for, hey, at least a week after this.
Making the best of a bad situation—new to me—I painted much longer than usual, the world wide web being unavailable for browsing for a bit. The lingering depression lifted, I got a lot done and I feel like a professional. I still can't put working consistently and feeling like a professional together. Hmmm. Maybe someday.
Anyway, this is the still life I had chosen to paint for my very first 5x7 daily painting. Ha! A tad ambitious no? It ended up being started again on a 16x20" canvas and forgotten until I tidied the store/drying room yesterday. I believe I posted an in progress several months back. A few hours work and booya—an almost finished painting! Gotta keep the momentum going and keep the drying room stocked with "in progresses!" Feels so nice to post again.
My computer had a fatal boo-boo this morning! I am dead in the water! Completely! I even have a painting to post, but alas, no Photoshop! What a weird feeling this is. I am, however, remaining calm through this crisis. It did, after all, prompt himself to relent and finally purchase a brand new huge iMac, upon which I am happily typing away as we speak...er write, whatever. He's going to try and get me going as soon as possible, but in the mean time, I can paint away and have lots of new paintings to post when I'm off life support and back in bidness! Until then, I thank you for your patience!
16x20"
oil on canvas
sold
Talk about attitude. Who would even question this feline about her second appearance on this blog. I won't. Besides, icky day, need to post. Heavy sigh.
5x7"
oil on canvas
$125
I won't wax poetic, yet again, regarding the consumption of mollusks, as I presume the painting covers that subject quite adequately. Come to think of it, my intestinal torment occurred not two days following the aforementioned consumption. However, I am confident we ingested adequate amounts of "germ killer" to render the raw delicacy quite harmless. We had cause to celebrate and entertained a bottle of Patron for a few daze. Heaven!
There's something so ancient about clam shells. They seem old and wise. Whenever I slide the clam knife through and they crack open, I expect the secret of the universe to pour out. It hasn't, yet, but until then, I'm quite content with what does.
5X5"
oil on canvas
$100
This is the second in my bug series, the Lady in Red. I love these little ladies. As a child, I not only allowed them to live, but fearlessly encouraged them to crawl aimlessly about on my arm as long as they pleased. When one would eventually take flight, I was sure I had somehow not been a agreeable host. Imagine what a group of friends I would have had if my parents had told me all bugs were harmless and well-mannered!
I want to be careful to keep and essence of fun with these. Don't want to go to the dark place and do furry spiders and scary wasps, although that would be a challenge. And they are cute. We'll see. I had the same drying problem, but decided this morning to jump in and finish up as I did with the fly. Five days in the drying room netted me only minimal surface dry enough to paint over. Perhaps it's time to put the big fan together and actually use it! But, if I let them dry too long I'll get carried away and they'll turn into nature studies, which are fine, but not what I'm envisioning with these.
Had a rather aggressive stomach virus this weekend. All manner of nasty things going on. It's funny when one can't do what one wants how much one can't wait to get back to "normal!" I was up and painting at 8 this morning! Oh my.
10X10"
oil on canvas
sold
Finally! The dawning of a bright new day and the perfect opportunity to take Arch out for a walk and snap him in daylight. No more angry red-yellow glow.
In listening to the Jeff Hein DVD while working the other day, a few pearls of wisdom managed to break through to the light of reason that lies buried under years of self-taught nonsense. He never sets a deadline for a commission! Those words managed to grab my subconscious, slap it across the face and open it's beady little eyes. I've been painting myself into a corner with countless promised and missed deadlines. I've been working under graphic design guidelines and in doing so have hampered my creative process and in a very real way, denied my customers my best work!
In the commercial, graphic design world deadlines are crucial. Not so with commissioned paintings Suz, you can stand down. In my particular version of corporate hell, we were made to suffer all manner of verbal lashings and abuse if we didn't meet our deadlines. Once, I actually met the dreaded appointed time-frame, stood outside my director's office for his review, was told to come back later and was then written up because I missed the deadline. See! I'm beginning to sweat, even now, five years down the road. There, there, dear—it's over now. The light has come.
Digressing again. To sit down and work without the pressure of a deadline changes everything, as long as I sit down to work that is. Mr. Hein also stated— if one wants to be a professional one should behave like one. Set up a work schedule, adhere to it and what gets done, gets done. Point is, one is always working. In this way, the cold dark fear of failure to meet deadlines disappears in the bright sunlight of reason and self-support. Nice.
36X24"
oil on canvas
$350
Another oldie but goodie or perhaps..."just ok." The commission "Archie" is done but, when I went to shoot it, I discovered that the copy board just ain't workin'. It was after dark when I completed him so I was forced to shoot him on the board. Oh my! All detail and nuance lost in the dreaded, over-whelming, red, yellow glow of indoor lighting. Jumped online and Googled. Everything pointed to outdoor natural light. Hmmm. Where did the idea from the copy board come from? Oh well, I'm sure it will come in handy for something. I'll take an outdoor shot and re-post him on the morrow.
This is from a time when I thought painting objects up close and personal in a realistic fashion was what being an artist was all about. Chops. I was into chops in a big way. Still am I spose, but working every day is leading me in another direction. Can't wait till I get there, but the journey sure if enlightening.
46x15"
oil on canvas
These guys have made an appearance on my blog before. Yes, I am double-dipping, but, why not add this to my DP gallery and feel like I posted at the same time?
The daily I'm working on isn't havin' the alla prima thing today, at all, so its off to the drying room with it. However, I've called in air support in the form of a fan that closely resembles a younger cousin of the Twentieth Century Fox wind machine. I'll either have happily dry paintings or unhappily dry paintings complete with lint and dust hardened into the pigment. We'll see.
6x6"
oil on canvas
$100
I wanted to use this for our Valentine Day tribute with the above title, but it's a stretch if Anais Nin isn't on your bookshelf somewhere. It's a stretch if it is. Turns out, I missed the day anyway.
Impatience reared its ugly head again today as I gave up waiting for the background to dry on this and just buzzed through. Amazing. The heat is cranked up to tropical, the door is closed on the warmest room in the house and a huge fan gently circulates dry, lint-filled air throughout the space, and still, 2 weeks on, it hasn't even begun thinking about drying yet! It makes for more interesting backgrounds at least. Or this one, which is downright messy.
My updated website is just about ready to launch and I am stoked. They used "Greensleeves" for the music and it's calming and sweet, but I think we're gonna record something original and use that if we can. Hopefully it'll be up by next week. I promised myself it would be done by the end of November last year. Yeah, right.
6x6"
oil on canvas
$100
Valentine's Day hearts represent love and this one is dedicated to Devlin, the Wonder Dog. He's twelve, his health is failing, and we fear he's focusing more and more on the non-physical. It's been the three of us for so long, I'm not at all sure how we'll handle life without him. He is our baby, he sleeps between us, has something to say about everything we do and is incredibly put out should we share a kiss without including him in the embrace. He is our "Little Man," and I want to thank him for his love and devotion and uber cuteness.
As far as the painting goes, I'm completely surprised with it! I bought new brushes, filberts for the first time, and I think they made quite a difference. (Thank you again Jeff Hein!) Combine them with the fact that I thought our Valentine tribute was on the 14th instead of tomorrow and booya!—it looks like I know what I'm doing. Who knew? This is the first time in weeks I've finished a piece in one day as well. Oh goodie. Now I have time to clean the house.
