Second Chance

We all need a second chance don't we?
As a break from the preparation of my Tidewater Show in June, I took a little aside.
ArtSource Gallery in Raleigh is hosting a fundraiser for Second Chance Pet Adoption.
The theme is companionship. Here ya go little fellas.

Soulmates

30x40 oil on canvas

Sunny Day in France-by North Carolina Painter Sue Scoggins

France on a Sunny Day

12x24 oil on gallery wrapped canvas

The sun is coming out and the days are getting longer.  I'm a creature of the sun and the sea.  There's just something about it.  As I have been contemplating what paintings are going in a show at Tidewater Gallery in June, I've been painting whatever comes to mind.  I've also been exploring some new techniques.  Scraping is such a good thing.  Scrape on.  Scrape off.  It takes away the attempt at perfectionism and lets the true colors come to light.  I just love that.

Stand Alone - A tree line by North Carolina painter, Sue Scoggins

It's another snow day in Raleigh, NC and a date with my easel!  For several weeks now, I've been preparing for a solo show at Tidewater Gallery at the coast. Images keep swirling in my head but few have landed on canvas.  It's challenging to nail myself down to one style or subject. Guess that's the "color in between the lines" sort of thing.....I can't!

While in France last year, I sketched several tree lines. Those rows of green things  (we're not suppose to call them trees, we're suppose to call them shapes) became compelling.

So, last night, behind my eyelids, I was envisioning this one white tree from one of my sketches. This little guy has been ruminating in my brain since last July.  How about a traditional?  An experiment in studying the classics.

The underpainting actually began the night before with a rough sketch on linen canvas,  using a paper towel instead of a brush.  Used just cad red and alizarin crimson thinned with turp.  Swiped on.  Wiped off.  Dried over night.

Up and ready, this morning, I turned on Yo-Yo Ma playing Ennio Morricone...Moses and Marco Polo Suite.  The music and the colors engulfed me and before I knew it 6 hours and two boxes of raisins  had gone by. 

I began by darkening my darks and trying to get a bit more definition.  Scrubbed on.  Scraped off.

I determined which area was my lightest.  Which was my brightest.  Which was my darkest. I began with a large brush.  But, when I laid down my long line of purple in front of the trees, I just picked up my pallet knife and couldn't put it down.  Seriously!  It was stuck to my hand and I couldn't let go.  It began to scribble and move color all over the canvas....sort of like a ouiji on steroids! 

Stand Alone

20x24 oil on linen

My First City Scape - by North Carolina Painter, Sue Scoggins

Call me crazy.  We had a "winter storm" in North Carolina last night...which amounted to a beautiful dusting of snow and frigid temperatures....So...What does a painter do on a cold wintery day?  Take a guess.

Hmm.  Could be celebrating Fat Tuesday. Could be playing in the snow with my grandchildren (if I wanted to try driving on ice.  NOT)...Could be making chili (but cooking is way overrated when you live alone).....or possibly sitting in my warm comfy living room reading  a book..(but that would put me to sleep)... NO!

I'm painting.

This morning, as the sun was rising, this was the view out my window.
  Of course, this image was just the beginning and it became stuck in my head.  That's what happens to painters, ya know.   Pacing back and forth in front of the 9 foot wall of windows I could see, through the overcast sky, the city of Raleigh beginning to take on color.

So, I chose to take a huge painting, 3ft by 5 ft, ...previously painted...and completely distroy it!..Distroy it and create something new!

I tried to create a sophisticated monochromatic city scape...but couldn't!  The color from the underpainting created depth as I laid pinks and Indian yellow in the sky. Can't help but be addicted to color. It's just who I am and I can't help it.  I was born this way!  Once on a roll, I had to scoot my easel around the room to get all the buildings and avoid any direct sunlight coming in the windows. Can't you just envision it?  A "rolling" painting.  Glad the floor wasn't down hill.  Whee!!!  Kind of funny. The paint was laid on, then scraped off.  Adjustments were continually made as the city took shape. The painting took a total of 8-10 hours...on my feet....non stop.  No food...no break (accept the potty).  I was in the zone.  No phone calls....only two text messages...total concentration.  (Not to mention the distroyed hours of the previous underpainting...that took hours upon hours....only be painted over)  Thus....my first city scape.  Still a few touch ups left to do...but pretty much completed.

The Light's On

36-48 oil (upon oil upon oil)

Hope you like it!

New Friends and Flowers - by North Carolina Painter, Sue Scoggins

Meeting new people is one of the most exciting parts of painting.  So often when a buyer comes to my place to pick up a painting they've seen on Facebook or when a commission has been finished, a new friendship is born.

Thank you Toni!  Hope you enjoy this painting for a long, long time.  What a privilege!

2015 - A New Painting Year by Sue Scoggins, North Carolina Painter

2015 has begun in a painting frenzy.  Deadlines have kept me from updating the blog but I had a request for a release of more France paintings.  They are being released slowly, simply because I can't let them go!  What fabulous memories...take me back!

On this hot summer day in July, I had rounded the corner into the square in front of the 17th century Hôtel de Ville.

Toting Buckets

7x9 original oil on board

$250

Aix is known for it's fabulous markets in old town.  This little French farm woman toted buckets in each hand while others sampled produce behind her. The market was bustling.

IN LOVING MEMORY of Jerry Scoggins - by North Carolina Painter, Sue Scoggins

For a moment I want to thank those who selflessly serve the sick and the dying.  For your service that cannot be put into words, your kindness, your attentiveness, your willingness to be there in the most intimate and tender moments and for your reassurance in the last days. .. I thank you.

Peace Like a River

24x36 original oil on canvas

Donated to:

Crystal Coast Hospice House

Newport, North Carolina