studio visit

come into my studio and take a look around.....can i get you a cup of coffee?

in the studio....

at home i worked on canvas in the same manner as on my i phone in the brushes app (see previous post), laying down color and pattern without much editing. it's not quite as spontaneous on canvas however, and i could feel myself getting too picky. the beauty of the digital image is that you can "save" at any point, make a copy and continue. it makes it so easy to try anything that comes to mind, knowing that if it doesn't work out you can always go back to the earlier version.

spring flowers

i was playing with my brushes app a few days ago while on the way home from skiing at stevens pass (and no - i wasn't driving!). i admit i have trouble just sitting in the car for long drives and this iphone app has satisfied my need to do SOMETHING productive while en route.

for two hours i just moved around colors and created patterns. i pulled out some tulip shapes in the end. i am so inspired by this unexpected spring weather we're having here in seattle....cherry blossoms, daffodils, forsythia - in february!

i liked what was happening, incorporating all the color and pattern, but in the end simplifying with some big, strong shapes. i have loved flowers since the years my mom spent working as a floral designer. she would come home with green fingertips and smell of cut greens.

just for fun - here is the movie version of the painting.....

why it presents in a horizontal format i will never understand.....

grey gallery

i'm having so much fun seeing all the amazing submissions to grey gallery's 5 x 5 show. there certainly is a lot of talent here in seattle!

http://greygalleryandlounge.blogspot.com/2010/02/5-x-5-submission-77-susan-melrath.html

paint what i see

i wonder what my work would look like if you plucked me out of my world and plopped me down in another. i respond to my surroundings and the people i come across. when i lived in south florida my work was altogether different, but even today a move there would have a big impact. such strong light that the shadows become shapes of their own. here in the pacific northwest i don't have that problem most of the year! so i can focus on color and not so much on value.