Sue Flanagan’s Website

The first painting in my last post, “Pounding Surf of Oahu,” won the January theme award at the LaGrange Art League. It was perfect timing because the theme was “Pounding Surf.” These two pastel paintings were scenes at the same location on Oahu. It was literally at the end of the road. They look very different. I only turned about 90 degrees to the left to see the second image. It is interesting how the clouds can make a difference in the sea.

I continue to alternate between representional pastel painting to abstract collage paintings. This one I did because of family and friends who have gone through cancer treatment. It is called a “Patchwork of Hope.”

The zig zag stitch with some threads show how life can seem to unravel at times. The partial circles on the bottom right represent the cycles of therapy. However, my friend who has undergone breast cancer treatment felt they represented being surrounded by hope, freinds and family. The dove is a symbol of hope. This area of the painting is restful compared to some of the chaos around it. There is scripture about peace and hope imbedded throughout the painting.

With the new year I straightened up the studio, swept, dusted and vacumned. I finally finished a plein air painting that has been on the shelf for over a year. This is very early spring at the Morton Arboretum. It is a pastel painting on Pastelboard.

Well, I hope your year is off to a good start. Let’s hope for many creative days in 2012.
Sue

The beautiful island of Oahu, Hawaii, is my most recent inspiration for painting. I did two pastel paintings of the surf. This is a 16 x 20 in. pastel of waves that were crashing close to the shore. It was a beautiful, sunny day and the sun had a dramatic effect on the waves.

The second painting is entitled, “The End of the Road in Oahu.” We literally came to the end of the road on the south side of the island and this was the scene close to the rocks that we were standing on. There was a crew nearby filming a commercial.

I have also been inspired by another trip that I took. Last fall I went to Estes Park in Colorado. This was one of the scenes we saw while hiking. To be more accurate, this was my impression of what we saw.

The last two paintings were done on a hard board that I prepared using black gesso, pumice and water. I liked the surface.  I am currently trying Colourfix primer on boards and acrylic paper. However, I also like Wallis paper and Pastelboard.

Well, until next time, enjoy your travels and create something beautiful every day.
Sue

My recent inspiration came from sea shells. I could see through parts of the shells when the light hit at a certain angle. There are also many subtle colors and wonderful highlights. I had some sand in the garage so I put the sand on a cookie sheet and arranged the shells with a warm light on an angle to achieve a wonderful translucent effect. Here is a picture of the set up on a table. To the left I have tracing paper with my sketch of the basic shapes. On the right is a sheet of U-Art paper that has a purple gouache underpainting. I chose purple as the complement of essentially dull yellow in the set up. However, it was too purple so I put a paper towel over the wet underpainting and ran my fingers over it to lift up some of the pigment and hopefully cause swirls that you might see in sand on a shore.

Here is a picture of the sketch transferred to the paper when it was dry.

Then I started to apply the pastel working primarily from top to bottom and left to right. I used the tonal changes for the sand ridges.

Here is the final pastel painting. It is an 11 x 14 in. framed with a mat in a 16 x 20 in. natural wood frame.

I have not been plein air painting because of rain and wind with cold temperatures. Fall was far too short.
Peace,
Sue

The Chicago Pastel Painters National Show is currently displayed at the Mayslake Peabody Estate in Oakbrook Illinois. It will go to October 28th. The artist reception was on Thursday, September 22nd. This is a beautiful show and I am so pleased that I have two paintings in it. Here is a photo of part of the exhibit hall  The second photo is of me in the center with Judy Goral to the left and Annette Schaeffer to the right. Annette is one of my students, a very creative and talented lady. I know Judy from many artistic endeavors including the Chicago Plein Air Painters-SW group and the LaGrange Art League.

We are standing by one of my pastel paintings, the Grand Geyser. The other is Stellwagen Farm Winter.

The evening was a lot of fun. I saw some of my plein air painting friends including Rita Rogan who is becoming famous for nocturnes or paintings of night time scenes. There was a great variety in this show which made it very interesting.

Currently in the studio I have finished a couple of collage paintings for an upcoming show of the Midwest Collage Society. I have not quite finished a pastel of birch trees in the fall-more on that later. Here are the 8 x 8 collage paintings on gallery wrapped canvases. They were created on the theme of peace.

The last piece that I have done lately is called “Unity”. It was an experiment trying for a faux encaustic look using acrylic media. ”Unity” is on an 8 x 8 in. panel.

I just love to experiment and there are so many art materials to try! I hope to get outside to enjoy the beautiful fall colors. Peace to all of you.
Sue

I recently finished a mixed media painting that combines what I love to do in art and where I am spiritually. This painting is called Penitent. The physical therapist in me loves how posture and movement can express so much. The figure’s pose speaks volumes. The figure is all pastel but it does have a tissue paper base for the clothing. Acrylic paper was prepared with gesso, acrylic paint and pastels. I also used an image transfer for the scripture and crackle paste with more pastel for the ground. So I combined mixed media with my love for drawing and pastels.

I was recently in Michigan and had an opportunity for plein air painting. The weekend fluctuated from a high of 95 degrees to a high of 68 with rain and wind at times. I discovered Wau-Ke-Na preserves near a small town called Glen. I have to admit that for the first time I got lost in the heat. I went back the next day when it was very pleasant and I was more careful. I did two paintings in two different locations. Here are the photos of the locations and set up and one of the paintings. Click on the photos to make it larger. I will definitely go back to this location. It is beautiful.

Good news. I won the theme award at the LaGrange Art League this month. The painting is the Irish Lighthouse and the theme was Blue Skies. That’s all for now. Do something creative every day!
Sue Flanagan

I received good news yesterday. Two of my paintings were accepted in the Chicago Pastel Painters National show. Look in the Landscape gallery for Stellwagen Farm Winter and Grand Geyser. The show will be at the Mayslake Peabody Estate in Oak Brook from September 12th to October 28th. I finally finished up some paintings that have been sitting around. “Ireland Lighthouse” is actually a painting that I started 10 years ago! I put it away and every once in awhile I thought about throwing it out or reworking it. I changed all but the sky. I took a brush and Gamsol to the rest of it and then applied pastel. I tried to simplify. I also took scissors to it to crop it. Here is the result.

The next project was this landscape that I had started but only got as far as the underpainting in watercolor. Here is “Cloudy Oregon Sunset.”

I totally wiped out a painting of a Japanese garden on a pastelboard. Then I did this painting of a different kind of garden.

Finally, I used Colourfix pastel ground, tissue paper and acrylic media on acrylic paper. Pastel is the only pigment in this painting called “Unrestrained Joy.”

Well, until next time, happy painting!
Sue

Summer is flying by and I have been busy. I received an Honorable Mention at the LaGrange Art League for a plein air painting I did in Michign. I did this painting last summer. Click on the pictures to make them larger.

I finished 60 apple pastel paintings in 60 days. It taught me discipline and encouraged experimentation. Here are a few more examples.

I thought that I was burned out on apples but then a mixed media idea came to me and I painted this one.

This was a lot of fun. I put black pastel ground down on a small section anticipating that I would paint a realistic apple with pastel. I also used crackle paste, light modeling paste, and acrylic paint with stencils, stamps, etc. This got me to finish an abstract painting that I started about a month ago. It is a collage called Elements.

I used gelatin prints, acrylic image transfers, tissue and altered paper, acrylic paint. It is called Elements because my starting point was the Periodic Table that is placed throughout the piece. A few days ago I got into making more paper and altering paper. That led to this nonrepresentational collage painting called, “Blue, Strings and Circles.” I find the colors in this painting to be very pleasant.

Today, I returned my travelling journal to the LaGrange Art League. I was disappointed in that several people who were going to send me pages never did. So, most of the journal is my work. I had a lot of fun doing it but it was supposed to have contributions from many people. Here are pictures of the cover and some of the pages.

I have pages with pockets, doors, bookmarks, artist trading cards, and fold out pages. The picture of the flowers is actually a pastel. I sprayed final fixative on it and then dabbed acrylic gel medium on it. When that dried, I put two layers of varnish on top. In this way, the pastel does not smudge when it is handled. There will be a display of all of the journals at the LaGrange Art League.

I hope you are enjoying your summer.
Sue Flanagan

I am continuing my apple a day project. This is my 56th consecutive day of painting. All of the apples are pastel paintings of just one apple. I am experimenting with pastel techniques and styles. Here are some of the more recent apples.

So what am I learning from this? 1. Persistence. I can be disciplined enough to paint every day. 2. Adaptability. I am learning the benefits and limitations of my materials. I have been in the habit of using certain papers, pastel brands, and colors. This has changed. I didn’t even know that I had velour and LaCarte paper. I am not even sure what some of the papers are and I am now more familiar with red.  I have used the following papers: Strathmore with ridges, Canson, U-Art, Wallis, Velour, Fabriano Tiziano, LaCarte, Sabretooth, Jack Richeson. 3. Techniques. I definitely notice that my touch has become heavy because I usually use sanded surfaces. When I tried paper with very little tooth, I actually destroyed a piece because I was too rough with it. Also, some of these papers cannot take a wet underpainting and others have a lot of tooth. The paper texture will show through on those papers unless you have very soft pastels.

Well, I have to admit that I may be disciplined enough for an apple a day, but there isn’t a lot of time for other paintings. Here is one that I did of the Grand Geyser in Yellowstone National Park. We waited hours for this show and it was worth it!

There are health benefits to an apple a day. I am going to finish 60 apples and then move on to other things. I will be doing more plein air painting. Until next time.
Sue Flanagan

Spring has finally arrived! Friday was the perfect weather day-no rain, sunny, about 70 degrees and no wind! Well, I had to get outside to paint so I went to the Morton Arboretum. Unfortunately, thousands of other people went as well. I lost sight of the fact that it was Arbor Day and the Arboretum has a plant sale. It is a very popular event! No matter, I was in heaven. I did not miss this year’s daffodils and wild flowers. Here are some pictures that I took of that day. Click on the image to make it larger.

I have started a new project that was inspired by Marla Baggetta. See my last post. Marla has done over 100 variations on a landscape theme. In her workshop, we were instructed to do a quick apple. So, I thought that I could do variations of apples. I am shooting for at least 50 pastel paintings. I do one every day. This has helped me to get into the studio every day to at least do a pastel painting of an apple. Of course it is easy to vary apples because there are so many kinds. However, this project is more than that. I want to explore different pastel painting techniques and papers (Wallis, U-Art, Mi-Tientes, watercolor). I am doing a variety of underpaintings: oil, watercolor, gouache, pastel manipulated with water or Gamsol and no underpainting at all. Here are my first attempts starting with the one I did in the workshop.

At this point I thought that my style was definitely coming out and I needed to stretch myself. So here are apples that depart from my comfort zone. On the first one I limited myself to just 7 strokes. After all, the number 7 is the Hebrew number for completion. Then I did another one that was similar but added a couple of more strokes and some line. Since I do not usually use lines, I decided that the next apple would be all lines and very loose. Mi-Tientes paper was used for these.

Then I decided a different viewpoint would be a good idea. So I lit the apple from the bottom and I used water sparingly to give the pastel a thick look. I used watercolor paper for this. Then I used broken color to produce Granny in the spotlight. Green was produced by mixing colors. I changed gears totally and did an apple with the pointillist technique. Oh, that was painful but I like the outcome. Finally, I tried to do a transparent pastel by using a lot of water. However, I thought it looked dull so, I put more pastel on top when it dried.

Through all of this I am learning how to mix color and use different strokes. And, I am getting a lot of mileage which means I am doing a lot of painting.

In addition to all of this I am working on my travelling journal. I am running out of time. So, if anyone is interested in contributing to the journal, contact me through this site.
Peace,
Sue Flanagan

I just returned from a Marla Baggetta pastel workshop in Littleton, Colorado. This was a week of mental health for me! I stayed with my son Brian and his wife Jenny. I also got to see my son Patrick. The workshop was held in the Terry Ludwig studio where Terry makes his pastels. Of course, I had to buy some.

Marla is a very good instructor and I learned a lot. I highly recommend her workshops. She is well known for her variations on a theme. A couple of her demonstrations were on her landscape theme. For more info about Marla and her workshops go to www.marlabaggetta.blogspot.com or www.marlabaggettastudio.com. Here are some pictures of Ludwig pastels and pictures of Marla during instructional periods or in one of 5 demonstrations that she did over a 3 day period. Click on the picture to make it larger.

Here are some pictures of the studio and the group of students. This was a very talented and interesting group of people. It is always fascinating to see the many different styles of painting.

Finally, Here are some pictures of me. We were working on small value studies.

Marla has certainly inspired and encouraged me and one of my goals is to put in a lot of  “mileage.” This means to paint a lot more. More about that next time concerning my variation on a theme.
Peace to you in this holy time of the year.
Sue Flanagan