Posted by Susan at 12:37 PM in About Painting | Permalink
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Artists are different.
Artists are in a perpetual search for inspiration... for beauty, joy, light, magic.
Artists are inventive, expressive, adventurous, and intuitive with an overwhelming desire to share their world.
I am such an artist.
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I love words. In fact, each year I choose a "Word of the Year," a word I have inscribed on a bracelet that I wear most every day. This year's word is Veriditas, a Latin word meaning "greening" like in in the spring... youth, vitality, freshness, health.. it also has the connotation of physical and spiritual health. Last year's word was Eudaimonia, a Greek work meaning "human flourishing" implying happiness and well-being.
This is the earliest I've decided on the next year's "Word of the Year," but if you are like me, you're ready for this year to be packed away in the books and to welcome a new, safer, healthier, more prosperous year ahead. My 2021 "Word of the Year" will be Opelske, a Norwegian word meaning "cherished to health and vigor" typically used in terms of gardening, but I love the possibilities of a bigger meaning.
“Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.”
~ Rudyard Kipling
"We are what our thoughts have made us; so take care about what you think. Words are secondary.
Thoughts live; they travel far."
~Swami Vivekananda
♥ Limoges
I love beautiful bone china, and could never choose just one or two patterns to collect. I love them all. My latest obsession is French Limoges china. I counted 99 Limoges factories and studios that have been in business for nearly 200 years. The pieces I've collected from charity shops and dig stores can be found for $1.99 each. They don't match each other, but they still go together beautifully. Several of the treasured pieces I've discovered are from the 1880s, some from the 1910s, 1920s, and 1940s, which can be identified by the details of their marks.
The little Limoges salad plates are perfectly sized for breakfast, and the teacups and saucers are divine!
♥ An Island Garden
For the past month, we've been studying the American Impressionists, and how in the summers they would congregate near the sea to form Artist Colonies to paint, garden, and escape the heat of the city. I was thrilled to discover the book An Island Garden by Celia Thaxter, an American writer in the late19th century who lived on Appledore Island in Maine at her father's hotel The Appledore House. Here she welcomed literary and visual artists such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Childe Hassam, and William Morris Hunt.
In her book An Island Garden published in 1894 Thaxter writes,
"Year after year the island garden has grown in beauty and charm, so that in response to the many entreaties of strangers as well as friends who have said to me, summer after summer, "Tell us how you do it! Write a book about it and tell us how it is done, that we may go also and do likewise." I have written this book at last."
She goes on to write,
"Of all the wonderful things in the wonderful universe of God, nothing seems to me more surprising than the planting of a seed in the blank earth and the result thereof. Take a Poppy seed, for instance: it lies in your palm, the merest atom of matter, hardly visible, a speck, a pin's point in bulk, but within it is imprisoned a spirit of beauty ineffable, which will break its bonds and emerge from the dark ground and blossom in a splendor so dazzling as to baffle all powers of description. The Genie in the Arabian tale is not half so astonishing."
The book is also beautifully illustrated with paintings by Childe Hassam.
Fast forward twenty years, and Dad wanted to make this recipe at home, but every recipe for Stewed Tomatoes disappointed him. He could not find a recipe to duplicate the tomato dish he remembered and loved from his youth.
Until one day....
While waiting to be seated at the local Cracker Barrel restaurant in the early 2000s, Dad picked up a recipe book and started flipping through the pages. To his delight, he discovered a recipe for Tomato Pudding. Could it be???
Using this recipe as a base, he tinkered in the kitchen and was able to recreate the tomato side dish of his dreams.
Tomato Pudding
DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Pour the canned tomatoes into a medium sized mixing bowl with brown sugar, half of the melted butter and half of the bread cubes. Mix well and pour into buttered casserole dish. Some folks add a little salt and pepper.
Top with remaining bread cubes and pour remaining melted butter on top.
Bake until bubbly and golden brown.
Delicious! But Dad's recipe is much simpler. Throw it all in a bit pot, stir and simmer stovetop until hot and bubbly. This variation is just as delicious, easier, faster, and with less clean up. I'll be making this recipe stovetop from now on.
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Posted by Susan at 10:07 PM in Bullet Point Blessings | Permalink
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The primary colors are red, yellow, and blue. The primary colors, plus black and white, are the essential ingredients for mixing all the other colors. You cannot do anything to mix pure blue, yellow, or red. They just exist. However, artists will argue among themselves which red, and which yellow and which blue is the best.
I've studied the palettes of more than 50 artists and have found that most select a cool and a warm of each primary color. For example, Cad Red Light is a warm red where Alizerin Crimson is a cool red. (This has nothing to do with the ambient temperature but whether or not the color leans towards a yellower version of itself or a bluer one.)
The problem with this strategy is you can never mix a perfect violet or a perfect orange. Both will be dull since a trace amount of the third primary color is present. So it's a constant quest to find the perfect primary colors on which to build your palette.
While most artists will mix their colors from their primary palettes, many are famous for using their primaries neat. The first to come to mind is Piet Mondrian.
Another is Mark Rothko
And Pablo Picasso
And Henri Toulouse-Lautrec
And, of course, one titled Primary Colors
Posted by Susan at 01:44 PM in About Painting | Permalink
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On Monday a few students gathered to resume studying color and how it was used by the Old Masters, specifically Monet. During the lesson, I mentioned Monet never took students, but he come to America to do painting demonstrations at his friend's art school in New York.
However, I wasn't sure where I got this information, so started researching it.
In 1896 Charles Hawthorne became assistant instructor to William Merritt Chase at his Shinnecock, Long Island, outdoor “plein air” painting school where the lessons of the French Impressionists were first brought to American shores. In 1899 Hawthorne opened his own outdoor school in Provincetown, Massachusetts, called the Cape Cod School of Art, and was the first school to teach outdoor figure painting. Upon Hawthorne’s death, Henry Hensche opened The Cape School of Art.
Monet never took students. Although Giverny became an artist colony, Monet kept a private existence and was not eager to socialize with devoted artists who were fascinated by his bright, sunlit canvases and energetic palette.
According to Camille Przwodek whom I had a conversation with during the Olmstead Plein Air Invitational in Atlanta several years ago, Monet did travel to the US and demonstrated his painting style, if I understood her correctly. William Merritt Chase, Charles Hawthorne, and later Henry Hensche learned and taught Monet’s Impressionist style of seeing and painting color with the influence of light.
As it turns out Claude Monet did have several exhibitions of his work in the US in the late 1800s and early 1900s, namely the New York Exhibition in 1896, exhibits at the Durand-Ruel Gallery in New York in 1899, 1900, 1908, and 1924. He had a exhibition of his work in Boston in 1911. So this potentially places the painter in New York and Boston during the last years of the Shinnecock Hills School of Art and the first years of the Cape Cod School of Art. But did he visit their schools? I still have not found this fact documented.
Posted by Susan at 12:53 PM | Permalink
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My friend Kim and I explored Cheekwood Gardens on Friday and collected reference photos to use in painting our submissions to the upcoming exhibit at the Mansion of selected works by Chestnut Group members.
Ideally we would have painted on site, but neither of us had time to pack gear and spend the day painting en plein air. Hiking the grounds and trails and snapping photos was the next best thing, and what a lovely day! Although the temps were near 90*, the humidity was practically non-existent.
After months of self-isolating, social-distancing, and every fun and worthy event cancelled, a morning among the gardens at Cheekwood were just what this creative soul needed for inspiration and rejuvenation.
Here is the highlight reel from our morning's adventure...
And the photos are stunning! Such a beautiful location just west of Nashville, Tennessee, every vantage point looked like a postcard. It was impossible to snap a bad photo.
Posted by Susan at 06:15 PM in Art Shows, Creative Spirits, Landscapes, On a Journey, Plein Air | Permalink
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Artists are in a perpetual search for inspiration... for beauty, joy, light, magic.
Artists are inventive, expressive, adventurous, and intuitive with an overwhelming desire to share their world.
I am such an artist. _____________________________________________________________________________________
"An egg today is better than a hen tomorrow."
~Benjamin Franklin
♥ Farm Eggs
Little things mean a lot. I'm so happy to have a connection to fresh farm eggs. I don't know what kind of chickens these beauties came from, but was delighted to find a variety of Easter Egg colors in the two dozen I purchased. Included were dark brown, light tan, a variety of pale blues and greens.
And they are delicious!
Can't wait to use them in the vintage cake I plan to make my Mom this weekend for her 80th birthday. Lovin' from the oven!
"A party without cake is really just a meeting."
~Julia Child
♥ Vintage Cakes
Just the word "Vintage" makes my heart skip a beat, so to discover the Vintage Cakes cookbook, it didn't take long to decide to purchase it. Included are recipes for Daffodil Cake, Lazy Daisy Oatmeal Cake, Honey Bee Cake, Kentucky Bourbon Cake, Chiffon Cake with Brown Butter Icing, Watergate Cake with Impeachment Icing, and a myriad of other delicious sweets. I plan to make Old Vermont Burnt Sugar Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting first for this weekend. My family will be celebrating both Mother's Day and my mother's 80th birthday. If there ever was a time for a celebration, this weekend is it!
I haven't made it yet, but will take photos and document it on my blog Charm of the Carolines. So click over for a visit next week and hopefully I'll have the post written and published.
For a treat today, allow me to share this recipe for Shoo-Fly Cake which looks amazing.
Shoo-Fly Cake
INGREDIENTS
CRUMB TOPPING
CAKE
DIRECTIONS
Center an oven rack and preheat the oven to 350*F.
To make the crumb topping, combine the brown sugar and the flour in a small bowl. Toss in the butter cubes and, using your fingertips, pinch the butter into the dry ingredients to form crumbs. Place the bowl in the freezer while you make the cake.
To make the cake, whisk together the sugar, butter, molasses, and vanilla in a large bowl until smooth.
Blend in the eggs one at a time.In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt, then whisk the ingredients by hand to ensure they are well mixed.
Using a rubber spatula, stir the flour mixture into the batter in three additions, alternating with the coffee in two additions, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Pour the thin batter into the prepared pan (9 by 2-inch round cake pan, greased with 1 tablespoon of soft butter) and sprinkle with the chilled crumb topping. Bake in the center of the oven until the top is firm, about 45 minutes.
Cool the cake on a wire rack for about 30 minutes before serving warm from the pan.
"You're slower than molasses in winter."
~Old Southern Expression
♥ Molasses
Molasses is a thick dark syrup. The British call it treacle, which is a generic term for any syrup made as a by-product of refining sugar cane. Molasses was a popular and economical substitute for refined white sugar in the eighteenth century. By the end of the nineteenth century, it competed with maple sugar and white refined sugar as America's chosen sweetener.
When sugar prices dropped after World War I, molasses and maple sugar both fell in popularity. but not at the Jones house. I remember my granddaddy would take a tablespoon of butter and a big spoonful of molasses and smash it all together on the side of his breakfast plate in a very unappetizing goo. Then he would spread it on biscuits, lovingly prepared by my grandmother and hot from the oven. The butter in the gray-brown paste would melt, and at some point magic happened.
(Please excuse the stock photo, but it is much more attractive than a photo of butter and molasses mashed together which doesn't photograph well at all.)
"If you love me, feed my sheep."
~Jesus Christ
♥ Olde English Babydoll Southdown Lambs
The Olde English 'Babydoll' Southdown is a breed of sheep developed in the United States to reflect the original type of Southdown brought over to North America by the early settlers.
Today, my friend Dianne invited me to the farm of her friends John and Linda to feed these somewhat timid lambs. The Swiss Valais Blacknose sheep were much friendlier and would eat out of the palm of my hand. So did the Scottish Blackface. The best I could accomplish with the tiny Babydoll was to feed her from a bucket.
"Agriculture is the most healthful, most useful and most noble employment of man."
~George Washington
"My grandfather used to say that once in your life you need a doctor, a lawyer, a policeman, and a preacher. But every day, three times a day, you need a farmer."
~Brenda Schoepp
"Agriculture is our wisest pursuit, because it will in the end contribute most to real wealth, good morals & happiness."
~Thomas Jefferson
"We have neglected the truth that a good farmer is a craftsman of the highest order, a kind of artist."
~Wendell Berry
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In keeping with current CDC health recommendations for social distancing, we have canceled all in-person painting classes for the duration. I am praying for everyone's good health and well being. Hopefully soon I will be able to publish a full roster of classes and paint with you again. (I'm keeping fingers crossed that will be in June.)
Please visit my Patreon Channel or YouTube channel for painting demonstrations and inspiration.
Please call me if you have additional questions or would like to purchase a gift certificate or register for a future class:
615-668-8263
These are a few of the paintings I've been working on. What's on your easel?? Post to social media and tag me to see #paintingwithsusan.
Links you may be interested in...
My ETSY Shops...
Colorful and Charming Art and Postcards from the Dimple of the Universe
Do you enjoy receiving a personal, hand-written card in the mail? Do you know someone who would, maybe a friend or family member away from home or now living in Assisted Living or a Nursing Home?
Postcards from the Dimple of the Universe is my Etsy shop that offers a subscription of 1-, 6-, or 12-handwritten cards, one each month, depicting an object or scene from my hometown, Columbia, Tennessee, aka the Dimple of the Universe or from around middle Tennessee, and delivered in a colorful envelope with a delightful US postage stamp.
It's a charming and unique gift for yourself or someone you love.
Recommended Supplies lists...
Supplies List for Creative Spirits Classes,
Adventure Awaits Supplies List,
Back Issues of Bullet Point Blessings at Creative Spirits Soar! blog.
Posted by Susan at 11:50 PM in Bullet Point Blessings | Permalink
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Posted by Susan at 09:03 PM in Plein Air | Permalink
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I have two Etsy shops. Etsy Shop One is Susan Elizabeth Jones. This is where paintings, prints, and note cards are available depicting images of my oils and acrylics paintings.
Posted by Susan at 10:38 AM in A Day in the Life..., Paintings, Prints, Note cards, Merchandise | Permalink
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Posted by Susan at 11:23 AM in Creative Spirits, What I know for Sure, Workshops | Permalink
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Artists are in a perpetual search for inspiration... for beauty, joy, light, magic.
Artists are inventive, expressive, adventurous, and intuitive with an overwhelming desire to share their world.
I am such an artist. _____________________________________________________________________________________
"Gratitude turns what we have into enough."
~Anonymous
♥ Front Line Warriors
It is with the deepest gratitude I dedicate this issue of Bullet Point Blessings to our World War C front line workers. Where would we be without the Doctors, Nurses, Medical Staff, First Responders, Environmental Services workers, Police, Firefighters, Elected Officials, Pharmacists, Bank Tellers, Grocery store workers, Mail Deliverers, Journalists, Truck Drivers, Restaurant workers, Volunteers to hand make hand-sanitizers & masks & teach on-line & add humor and do needed service work of all kinds of activities? Many people don't have the choice to shelter in place and many who do choose to serve anyway.
Where would we be without them?
I'm also grateful to you who are obeying the "Safer at Home" order and assisting the effort to stop the spread of the virus. You are doing your part, and I am grateful!!
"I get by with a little help from my friends."
~The Beatles
♥ Friends, Family, Students, and Big-hearted Acquaintances
I am humbled and amazed at the kind and generous donations that have been donated steadily to my "rainy day fund." With the pandemic and required social distancing, my in-person art classes came to a screeching halt along with the majority of my monthly income. Immediately I got to work creating online painting videos that I offer for free on YouTube with the option to make a donation through Venmo (@susan-jones-346) or PayPal (susan@susanejones.com), and a gift to those feeling the same financial pinch to enjoy the classes with my blessing.
And for those who want more classes with more in-depth instruction and service, check out my new Patreon on-line painting classes. Some of these classes are offered for free and others require a subscription. Now, not only can you enjoy my painting classes from home or on vacation or anywhere you may be as long as you have internet access and your supplies, but others who are not local or have access to the in-person classes taught in Spring Hill can join the fun as well.
Please help me out and share this newsletter with all your creative friends. Your recommendation means the world to me, and it will boost a small business during this crises we are all experiencing as well as increase the world's quotient of joy, color, and creativity. Be sure and tag me in the photos of paintings you post on social media #paintingwithsusan. I am grateful to You!
"Necessity is the mother of Invention."
~Old English Proverb
♥ The Internet
How did people survive the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918 with the internet??? I mean for real! The internet is how this "shelter in place" artist is staying in touch with friends through Facebook and Instagram. I am entertaining myself in the evenings watching "Escape to the Chateau" on YouTube, teaching on Patreon and YouTube and considering live online classes through Zoom.
I'm finding humor from other creatives, like this family in the UK. We are trying to teach my parents to purchase pantry items from Amazon Prime and perishables through the Kroger Curbside Pick-up app. Kids are going to school through Google Classroom. The Spring Hill Library has removed the password from their WiFi so anyone can park near the building and have free access. The Spring Hill Police department is parking patrol vehicles in all the Spring Hill Parks and turning on the car's MyFi for the public to use. (The username and password will be written on a piece of paper on the car's window. DO NOT TOUCH THE POLICE CAR.) I'm even attending church online.
When you can't be there in person. The internet is absolutely the next best thing. What a blessing.
If you are spending time binge-watching Downton Abbey, grab your free digital download of my eBbook The Downton Abbey Lexicon Primer, my gift to you free on April 5 only, just one British costume drama addict to another.
"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be hoarding toilet paper."
~Jane Austen, Pride & Prejudice, re-imagined first line
♥ Toilet Paper
It occurred to me that Toilet Paper may have been the most taken for granted item in the US a month ago, and today is one of the most coveted. My friend Sonja proudly displays her "catch" after a long day of searching and visiting several stores.
"I bagged a big one!" Sonja exclaimed gleefully. I don't think she could have been any more excited even if she had just caught an award-winning trophy fish.
And just when you thought there was nothing fun about toilet paper, my friend Christy introduced me to the brand she buys.... Who Gives a Crap?... environmentally friendly, recycled paper toilet paper wrapped in decorative paper. But the real story is this company donates 50% of its profits to building toilets for those in need. They have donated nearly $2 million to date to charities serving communities around the world suffering from malnutrition and lack of sanitation, something most of us take for granted even when we are spending time at home appreciating the little things we enjoy, or did, and will again.
Unfortunately, they are currently out of stock, too.
"Soap and water and common sense are the best disinfectants."
~William Osler
♥ Soap
Is there anything more elegant than soap?
Soap is made out of two simple ingredients, animal fat and an alkaline solution that allows for the process of saponification. It's easy to make, inexpensive to purchase, hasn't been emptied from the market shelves by hoarders, yet it's the best thing to clean ourselves, our clothes and our homes, giving us better health and longer lives.
♥ World on Fire
The last World War is the topic of Masterpiece Theater's newest production airing on PBS beginning this Sunday evening, April 5. The premier of World on Fire has been on my calendar for four months!
World on Fire is a seven-part epic drama about the lives of the main characters during the first year of WWII. It was filmed in five countries... Britain, France, Germany, Poland and US. We owe so much to the Greatest Generation, and it make World War C not seem so bad in comparison. Can. Not. Wait.
Stay safe. Stay healthy. Stay home everybody!!
"One of the secrets of a happy life is continuous small treats."
~Iris Murdoch
"Gratitude is a powerful catalyst for happiness. It’s the spark that lights a fire of joy in your soul."
~Amy Collette
"When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around."
~Willie Nelson
"What separates privilege from entitlement is gratitude."
~Brene Brown
____________________________________________________________________________
In keeping with current CDC health recommendations for social distancing, we have canceled all in-person painting classes for the duration. I am praying for everyone's good health and well being. Hopefully soon I will be able to publish a full roster of classes and paint with you again.
Please visit my Patreon Channel or YouTube channel for painting demonstrations and inspiration.
Please call me if you have additional questions or would like to purchase a gift certificate or register for a future class:
615-668-8263
These are a couple of paintings I've been working on. What's on your easel?? Post to social media and tag me to see #paintingwithsusan.
Links you may be interested in...
My ETSY Shops...
Colorful and Charming Art and Postcards from the Dimple of the Universe
Do you enjoy receiving a personal, hand-written card in the mail? Do you know someone who would, maybe a friend or family member away from home or now living in Assisted Living or a Nursing Home?
Postcards from the Dimple of the Universe is my Etsy shop that offers a subscription of 1-, 6-, or 12-handwritten cards, one each month, depicting an object or scene from my hometown, Columbia, Tennessee, aka the Dimple of the Universe or from around middle Tennessee, and delivered in a colorful envelope with a delightful US postage stamp.
It's a charming and unique gift for yourself or someone you love.
Recommended Supplies lists...
Supplies List for Creative Spirits Classes,
Adventure Awaits Supplies List,
Back Issues of Bullet Point Blessings at Creative Spirits Soar! blog.
Posted by Susan at 11:50 PM in Bullet Point Blessings | Permalink
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