Waste Not Want Not - by North Carolina Painter Sue Scoggins

This is random and nothing like I usually do.  But, I was totally "over" painting seriously for the day.

There is this "thing" that really bugs me...that's called waste. Instead of buying new, I usually try to recycle or get more than one use out of things.  So when I really botch up a painting, while my first inclination is to throw it away, sometimes I just stick it in a closet somewhere and forget about it. This old canvas had an unusual amount of thick dried up paint on it.  I at least had to give it try....see if something could come out of it.

So I thought...let's turn negative into positive.  I took a mixture of prussian blue/dab of red/and whatever other dark I could find and sketched, in very thin paint, a line of birdies sitting on wires. .. let the shapes of color of the old painting create the shapes of the birds. Thus the odd shapes of those  little creatures.  The randoms colors in the birdies are all the colors underneath.  Such diversity, ha.

Then, I began to negative paint a neutral color around, filling in the background.  The bottom of the painting was already dark..so I just put in a few strokes to indicate buildings.

There ya have it.  Urban birdies.  (Still might head for the trash bin.)  But...it was a fun experiment.

OUT OF THE WOODS - Italian Lanscape by Sue Scoggins, North Carolina Painter

Most all of my paintings have a story behind them.  While working in Italy last summer, I took an afternoon to hike from Palazetto to the San Galgano Abby. The beginning of the hike was across this beautiful field of gold and yellow tall grass that had a narrow path going across it.  The path led into the woods that was tucked in the valleys of the Tuscan hills. The woods were pretty thick with an occasional plowed field appearing from time to time.  With my backpack filled with water, a light jacket, a sketchbook and charcoal pencil, I was ready to take in the delights of nature and a bit of adventure.  Oh yes and my cell phone that didn't work in such an isolated area.

After about an hour hike, I saw the Abby on the hill and wound my way around to it.  This Abby was a special place where the legend of the sword and the stone took hold.  Fascinating history.  After  a quick lunch and relaxing little sketch of the Abby, I packed up to head home.

Circling around the Abby, I found my path to return.  One little problem...I walked completely passed my little fork in the path.  Kept looking straight ahead and into the woods. The deeper I got into the woods, the more "forks" there were and soon I began to think, "Hmm. I haven't seen this place before."  Figured I'd find my evident long road through the woods that I had come in  on.  After about 45 minutes, I realized I was getting no where.  Kept going back and taking new paths.  After about 2 hours, my "non-panic" mode took over in my mind.  I realized I was completely lost.  I sat and thought through my survival strategy.  Figured as long as I had that plan in place I wouldn't panic.  So, I evaluated, my supplies.  One backpack to use as a pillow, two bottles of water to use sparingly, a  charcoal pencil to fight off the wolves that I had been warned about.  My jacket as my blankey......and headlines, "Stupido American Tourist Devoured by Tuscan Black Wolves."

Needless to say, my panic did NOT set in and I didn't not get eaten by wolves.  I kept a level head (which is very rare) and hiked back to the beginning of my return and found the right path. Trust me, an hour later, when I saw this clearing, "Out of the Woods" was born.  Whew!

Inks and Buttery Oils - by North Carolina Painter, Sue Scoggins

The creativity thing is such a mind game.  There are days when there is not a single spark of creative thought going on in my head.  Busy-ness, chit chat, and the like can fill the hours. I get energy from being around people.  But I get creative thought when alone.  Then the urge to paint comes!  It's like the brushes are screaming for me to pick them up and a vibrant color is begging to be spread on a canvas.

This painting began weeks ago with the spreading of transparent acrylic ink on white canvas.  Process magenta ink was carefully poured and spread with a palate knife.  The color is so intense yet so transparent that the white canvas shows through.  Oh such a gorgeous color!  Most all of my paintings begin this way.  The same was done with other colors some of them overlapping the other.  That was all that was done.  Here were basically three swathes of color across the canvas and I had no idea what to do with it.  So the canvas sat in a corner for weeks.

My studio is off of my living, so everyday whether painting or not, I walk by.  Unfinished paintings lean on the walls, some begging, some dormant, some wanting to be finished.  Yes...paintings are alive. (I promise, I'm not too crazy...really.)  But this one in particular had been begging for attention.
The other night, while sitting on my sofa, with this canvas silently calling me, I saw a color.  It screamed out at me.  So, I went in and put some indian yellow, pthalo blue, and white on my palet.  Mixed a chartreuse green and just started dancing it across the dark. I loved that green on that dark blue.  Thus the dance began.