Fly Little Bird - by Sue Scoggins, North Carolina Painter

This has been going on for weeks. Transparent  layer upon layer.  A slight departure from the crazy energized paint slapping I usually do. It was one of those Emerald Isle sunsets that I had to run to...then I stopped.  It's calm drama...I couldn't speak.  I had to give it my respect.

Out of the Darkness - by Sue Scoggins, North Caroina Painter

About 15 years ago, as a caregiver, this completely bewildered person was forced to find a new career. I purchased a little box of beginning oil paints and 3 brushes.  It began with trying to capture happy moments...moments from my own life...but more often moments that I experienced through others.  Now, it has become a personal form of expression.  I paint emotion! I paint a hug. Respite. I paint authenticity.  I paint sincerity.  Painting was a gift that saved my life and provided a beautiful outlet while caring for my dear hubby suffering from Alzheimers Disease.  It provided an income. It provided a refuge. It provided passion and purpose!

Life is not a random bit of circumstance.  We all have an intrinsic worth to our lives and were uniquely and beautifully designed for a purpose. No one escapes suffering. Now...as an act of gratitude for what was given to me...I must share the hope than can come from suffering.

My mission is using the visual arts to share hope..that there is something greater than our circumstances.  It's much more than paint on canvas or a pretty picture. It's not forced. It's not perfect colors or color coordinated schemes for decorating.   A painting should make you sing.  It should speak out to you.

I am not selling ART.....I am selling HOPE.

Out of the Darkness
36x36 oil on gallery wrapped canvas

Bye Bye Sabbatical - by North Carolina Painter, Sue Scoggins

Six months have passed and it's blistering hot outside. The sabbatical is over. The urge has begun! Some say artists don't read...but this one does.  Reading, studying, and meditating on WHY I paint. Why not spread a little cheer working at Whole Foods, volunteer at elder care facilities, build for Habitat, bake for sick people?  Why not travel again? Why not play the ukulele?

It finally dawned on me that the thing I do best is paint. (It's a bit too late for the corporate world and  I'm a terrible baker.) What I CAN do is paint. It's a gift and my passion. Visual arts is one of the greatest ways for me to spread hope. And although it is a gift, it requires a lot of time, work, focus, solitude, and a heart load of spirit. When I see massive cloud formations or fields of abundant wildflowers, I become speechless. My emotions become almost giddy like a child.  I stop all conversation, sit in awe, visions start scribbling around in my brain, then I go running back to my canvas. If I don't get it out....I dream about those images.  Inks have got to fly and flow!

So...while I'm waiting for a shipment of large canvases to come in, I'm creating mediums paintings.   The oils will begin soon.   Stay tuned!                                    

thinned oil on birch above

acrylic inks violating the canvases below