Tag Archives: after the style of Henri Rousseau

Apparition and Special Visitors

 

Apparition

This lime green man is wondering if he is the Apparition or the if the creature from a greek vase is. This was so much fun to paint. I love using strong colors and was able to complement those wild pink flowers and glowing  poppies with a dramatic blue background. The tree on the right is gold paint and glows. The colors in the image below are a tad lighter than the actual picture but close.

This painting is 7″ by 5″ and ready to hang. It is framed in a black and wood frame. You can get a better idea of it from the picture below. It is one of my favorites. It is for sale for $195.IMG_5127

The wonderful thing about blogging is you meet so many fabulous artists either virtually or on the rare occasion in person. My most recent open studios started with a delightful surprise. Fellow artist and blogger, Fay Terry stopped in to visit on her way to a workshop in Maine. She is a wonderfully talented woman and totally delightful. I am so thrilled she stopped by and  hope that in my travels to North Carolina to visit my sister that I have a chance to meet her and visit her studio.

Fay Terry visits 8-17-2013

And I am thrilled to report Bitsy is prancing and dancing when we let her out of her cage. She still is not allowed to jump so I have her on a leash and harness. She is not so keen on that. But she loves sitting on the bed and getting petted! And only 5 more days to sign up for my blog to be entered in a drawing to win a gicleé. It has been a quiet month so the odds are really good this time around. More exciting news next post…

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Bitsy says have a sale! Yes, art to pay the vet bills!

So poor Bitsy has broken her leg and had to have serious surgery. First it was the ER and a cast, but that didn’t work so off to an orthopedic surgeon for a plate and pins and circlage wire to heal her mysterious break (she won’t tell us what happened). We have been tending her day and night and thought she was on the mend, but the vet bills have mounted and she now is now sneezing and has a fever. Back to the vet again. This time more x-rays and a broad spectrum antibiotic.  I am having a cart sale ( cat + art) in hopes of making a dent in her vet bill. I am listing a few of my works at prices that will never be this low again. And Bitsy, well she is our baby and we sure want her to get well soon.

First picture is of Bisty resting in bed and the second is today waiting for the vet.

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Please take a look and consider buying a painting with more than one purpose. Each work is $150.00 and since I can only add one Paypal button at the bottom of my page, please either email me at susanmedyn@cox.net with which one you are interested in and I can send you an invoice or add a note next to your information via Paypal on which painting you are purchasing.

 

blue pink bird

Oh No, Not To A Grecian Urn!      SOLD!  THANK YOU CAROLINE!

Oh No, Not To A Grecian Urn! is inspired by the  Cycladic creatures that were on the amazing vases we saw at the Staatliche Antikensammlungen in Munich.  We had an intense museum filled visit there prior to going to the opening in Poland.

These creatures want to party and are ready to dance under the summer sky. The blue background is not lighter on the right-just photo quality picking up the light. This is a 7″ by 5″ Ink and watercolor on Aqua Board, lovingly made.

 

elephant talk ©

Elephant Walk  SOLD! Thank you Rosemary! 

Sometimes I want there to be lots of interaction going on with my creatures but in this painting I decided to let the creatures speak for themselves. I hope you enjoy the tamed wildness of sea anemones intersecting with jungle creatures and giant sized poppies. Did you notice those cut little marsupials hanging down? And it is even framed in a wood shadow box frame!

 

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WHAT BIG EARS YOU HAVE!        SOLD!      THANK YOU HEATHER!

This is a beautiful new 7″ by 5″ painting that I am adding into today’s blog. I loved the owl starring at the cute mercat like bunny. This painting was just finished and normally would be selling for $250 like my other works of this size but in my Bitsy vet quest, it is here framed in a black frame (which makes it pop right out) for $150.

 

The World Goes Round and Round

The World Goes Round and Round

 The World Goes Round And Round!   SOLD!    THANK YOU MARY SUE!

Well this speaks for itself. This little aqua board is 6″ by 6″ and framed in a maple shadow box frame. The background is painted gold, although that just doesn’t translate well into a photo. My Bitsy world seems to be going round and round to the vet.

cat in poppies

Hide and Seek!                      SOLD Thank you Jill and Donald!

This is Arthur, Bitsy’s loving little buddy who is so confused right now. She loves to sit in the grass and watch the birds. Since Bitsy broke her leg there is no more life outdoors for Arthur. He is actually going a little nuts because of it and is very puzzled by poor Bitsy’s cone and shaved skin. Arthur is also framed in a black shadow box frame.

Are They A Couple?

Are They A Couple?

I think by the cats smile we can be pretty sure they are going to get along fine. This is a 6″ by 6″ Ink and Watercolor on Aqua Board glowing with color.

To all my blogging and animal loving friends, I would love if you would share this post. The more people who see this, the closer we get to keeping up with Bitsy’s bills. And of course she loves you all!

P.S. If  you would like to help Bitsy but can’t afford a painting check out my card page…I don’t have them all posted there but I promise you 6 lovely ones for the price of  5.

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I am in a Wild and Wonderful exhibit coming up at DeBlois Gallery, Newport, RI, opening July 6th, 5-7PM

Rose White and Rose Red

Rose White and Rose Red

So I have the delight of being in a 3 person show with Gloria Merchant and her very cool 3-D Constructions. Come see her knocked up Barbie’s and outrageous GI Joe’s.

seed.pod ©

Trish O’Day is exhibiting a series of luscious sensual photos of flowers that aren’t to be missed.

YEAH YOU! ©

And then there is me and Yeah, You!

So, please join us for:

GIRLS GONE WILD

OPENING RECEPTION

SATURDAY JULY 6TH FROM 5:00PM TO 7:00PM

DeBlois Gallery

138 Bellevue Ave

Newport, RI 02840

The exhibit runs from July 6th through July 28th and is going to be a hot one!

I would love to see you there.

PS:

In a later post I will write about my trip to Europe and the amazing exhibit. The opening was attended by 3800 people! Yes, 3800 people.

 

 

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Do You Think They A Couple?

Do You think they are a couple?

Working on this new painting. The two creatures on the right are wondering whether the cat and giraffe are a couple. What do you think?

 

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Rebirth of Venus


cat painting

Titles tell us so much.  I first was going to call this “It Would Make A Cat Laugh”.

Then I thought about how beautiful the planets were in conjunction last night and wanted to call this painting “Waiting for the Stars”.

But Venus with her earrings reminded me of Willie Marlowe‘s series Peggy Guggenheim’s Earrings so in a round about way (since my lovely Venus is wearing earrings and maybe is as promiscuous as the wonderful Ms. Guggenheim) I thought, “One can’t be born with earrings, but one can make a reappearance, thus my title.

While you are here take a look at Willie’s website. Her works are influenced by Persian and Indian miniature paintings. Her use of color and reference to ancient art awes and inspires me. I feel so fortunate to have acquired one of her paintings in the series of Peggy Guggenheim’s Earrings. It hangs appropriately in our bedroom.

I love making my creatures appear and disappear. How many can you find?

This is an 8″ by 10” ink and watercolor on Aqua Board. I have been working and reworking this for the past two weeks. These paintings are slow going.

Rebirth of Venus is SOLD.

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Nesting

Nesting ©

Well it has been an incredibly busy time of year. Postcards are printed for the Exhibit at DeBlois Gallery The Art Stable Gallery is opening this weekend (I will be posting more about that soon), and we are getting ready to go to Europe for the exhibit I am in.  We went to a wonderful rock and roll wedding this past weekend and the bride and groom were one of the happiest couples I have ever seen.

I am loving painting such wild foliage and thought I might make a picture without any creatures. Not surprisingly, a few of them  snuck in here.

I am happy to say this painting is much less expensive than my others. I found that fewer creatures meant fewer hours.

Monday was such a glorious day that it is hard to remember what a cool spring it has been. I love how resilient we are. The flowers have opened in abundance and our nesting sparrow is surely going to have babes soon.

This is a 6″ by 6″ Ink and Watercolor on aqua board and comes with it’s own stand so you can display it immediately. It is for sale for $125.00

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Here’s Looking at You! and Gicleé Give Away

Heres looking at you © 2013

This was quite the challenge to work out as I wanted to stay with purples, oranges and browns.

Was able to put a nice wash of gold on the background.

Which creature would you like to be ? Any reasons why?

Please consider signing up for my blog and I will randomly choose a winner of a gicleé of one of my works matted to 8 1/2 by 11.

Learned today that I can significantly lighten Higgins waterproof permanent drawing ink from aqua board if I use soap and hot water.

I am interested to see how the painting will look with much lighter outlines.

Would love to have you follow my painting journey and be sure to let me know which creature  you would like to be.

This is a 8″ by 10″ Ink and watercolor on aqua board, varnished and framed in a shadow box frame.

To purchase click here:

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Elephant Walk

elephant talk ©

Sometimes I want there to be lots of interaction going on with my creatures but in this painting I decided to let the creatures speak for themselves.

Although my work  looks “childlike” to most eyes, I spend a long time on composition and work out color values on paper copies before I watercolor my painting.  I often do my work on aquaboard and varnish the finished work rather than use watercolor paper. I can go through 10 to 20 revisions of my drawing before I ever get to the inking stage.  Once I do ink in my paintings, I am using the old fashioned technique working with a crow quill pen dipped in indelible ink.  More on my process and intent in the next post.

Today I hope you enjoy the tamed wildness of sea anemones intersecting with jungle creatures and giant sized poppies.

SOLD

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Sheepish and just hanging around.

Sheepish ç 426-2013

I love painting dramatic imaginary foliage and poppies so here they are combined with a family of creatures.

This painting is getting framed in a beautiful maple floater frame. This is the style of framing I did for 8 paintings I mailed to Europe today.  (Ask me about the complexities of that task!).

This is on top of being woken up at 3:31AM by my cat Arthur who jumped on my head 5 times, swatted his tale on my face and cried repeatedly. I thought maybe he saw an animal as the light was pouring in from the full moon, or we hadn’t left the basement door open but when I got up to investigate,  just sat at the head of the bed crying. My phone is right nearby and I had the sound turned down to one notch. At 3:39 my 86 year old mom called me from the hospital. She had been taken there by ambulance after falling.

Sometimes I know things are just coincidences but I have been reading the book Making Rounds With Oscar that my dear friend and amazing artist, Kelley MacDonald lent me. This is the story of Oscar the cat at Rhode Island’s Steer House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center who goes and curls up next to patients destined to die within hours in spite of what doctors state or predict.

I am not saying Arthur is an Oscar, and my mom is already home, with a small fracture in her neck and a few bruises but thankfully nothing more. He is a smart and intuitive cat who came into my life when I most needed to have a kitten to help me refocus my energies on joy and playfulness. And he woke me up in time to see my phone light up and be there to talk to my mom when she really needed someone to help her talk to the ER staff.

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Arthur is in orange, Bitsy the calico.

And if you know of anyone who might like to sign up for my blog, I am giving away an IPhone 5 cover with one of my wild leopard paintings on it to one of the next 5 people who sign up for my blog. So, please pass this along if you think someone might be interested.

This painting is 9″ by 12″ on aqua board, varnished, framed and going to go to a new home.

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Monkey Business or How to Eavesdrop!

new 6 by 6

This painting has gone through several revisions over the past few weeks. I was pleased with the drawing but have darkened and lightened some areas to make a more harmonious painting. I continue to be in the poppy business.

It has been a very busy few days. I am trying to get work ready for several shows and have encountered those old framing challenges. I have several at the framer and am changing frames I originally was going to use by sanding and varnishing them.

I also hosted a meeting for South Coast Artists, an artist group I am part of on Thursday. There was such great energy at the meeting it felt like a party.

We have begun gardening and I planted 7 rhubarb plants in the lower 40. It is my favorite fruit for pies and I am hoping these plants take off and give me years of pies. I used Skype to chat with my daughter tonight who is in Hawaii for work. Now that job has some wonderful perks. She is staying at Waikiki Beach. I wish I were there. I could use some warm weather.

This painting is 6″ by 6″ and framed in a shadow box frame. It is for sale for $250.

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