Rainy Days and Mondays---

My problem is not that I don't paint daily, because I do; I just don't always have time to upload work and post it daily. Aaaaaaaaah, for an assistant, my kingdom for an art intern !! sigh~

This little work is part of an 8 painting series I did titled " Rainy Days and Mondays". I had in mind the Mammas and the Pappas, their song. Although the song talks about the melancholy of rain and that dreaded first day of the week, I really liked the lovely melody and the harmonies, and sort of transposed that into the colors I chose. I used a knife and an impasto gel which allowed me to achieve a great deal of texture.

I also employ special iridescent and duochromtaic oils, very price-y but worth the incredible mineral effect they give. If you change positions while viewing the work, the color changes also, from blue to blue-green, or from violet to pink, adds just an amazing dimension to the work.

I wanted to show that rainy days aren't always cold and bleak and grey, that there can be warmth in the rain, that the pit-pat-pit of rain drops is pure music, and inclement weather is beautifully atmospheric, lends to contemplation and serenity.

I always promised myself I'd never become one of those artists that paint the samed durned thing over and over, that I wouldn't get caught up in that obsession. For me and my world, there are just too many wonderful things to paint, to attempt, to prevent ever getting tightly focused onto one subject only.

There are those who'd say painting one subject repeatdely makes you excellent at it. I grasp that concept and even agree, but it just doesn't work for me too often. I'll do series of things, maybe 5 or 6, rarely more than that, and then I'm done with it, onto the next idea, the next challenge.
I think I have Artists's ADD. :):):) .

This 6"x6" work is done on a Gallery-Wrap canvas, a satisfying two inches deep. The sides are painted as well, extending the images around the sides, meaning no framing needed.

This work is 65.00 and may be purchased by emailing Circe2001@aol.com.
I check my mail frequently and will process your secure CC or PayPal transaction asap. Shipping ( in USA) will be 9.95. International buyers email me with postal code for a shipping quote.
Thanks for taking time to look, and hoping you can enjoy some rainy days of your own !!

"The next time it begins to rain, try to forget what your Mother told you about "catching your death of cold", lie down on your belly, nestlke your chin in the grass and get a frog's-eye view of how raindrops fall....raindrops make the blades of grass bend down, then the blade pops back up again....the sight of hundreds of blades of grass bowing down and poppin gup like piano keys strikes me as one of the merriest sights in the world..." -Malcolm Margolin, The Earth Manual-1985

Figuring It All Out....

My 3 year old grandson is visiting me for a while,

something I have fervently prayed to have happen since he was born. He lives in Florida and I am in New England, so we've been together very little, aside from our weekly phone calls.

This time with him is so very precious and I find myself trying to crystallize each moment, each funny thing he says, each lower-lip pout, into perfect memories I can access later, when he goes back home; when I am missing him so terribly.

I wonder if when he is older he will recall this time with his Mierme and his Father's family.

It is a curious thing, how we long for our most cherished dreams to be realized, and miraculously when they are, we may find there are aspects we had not counted on or factored into our poignant prayers. The heart hopes for happy things, rarely considering the downside.

For me, it is sacrificing my drug, painting, for the heart-rending love of being with this dear child, flesh of my flesh. He needs so much, this little one, and I am deliriously happy to provide it; but I find myself struggling with having any time to paint or write, acitivities which are soul-nourishing for me, as necessary on a daily basis as food and oxygen.

He is so frenetically busy !! He scampers about, finding one potentially hazardous thing after another to get into. I had forgotten how lightning-quick a toddler can be !

In a nanosecond's time, he found and opened up my sacred Tibetan Monk's prayer wheel, with it's yards of fragile paper prayers written in tiniest Sanskrit, wound up in meticulous tight spirals around it's spindle. My heart froze as I quietly told him to put it down, desperate to keep this artifact safe from curious little clumsy fingers...it had survived almost 50 years, and it's presence in my home is a spiritual anchor for me.

Thankfully, it survived Nicholas's investigation, but only barely. :)

I've had to fence off my studio because of the baby-dangerous items in easy reach there ( there is no door). The protective fence not only keeps Nicholas out, but makes it even harder for me to get in, one more layer of difficulty to accessing my work.

I suppose one could say Nicholas is helping me define just how important painting is to me, in addition to gifting my Grandmother's heart with myriad priceless memories.

I've given him crayons and paper to play with, which occupy him about as long as a fly lighting on a surface, then he moves on to the next wonderful mystery to look into. I gave him markers and construction paper, with pretty much the same result. He is a a true Techie Baby, completely besotted with anything eletronic. He has not one but three age-appropriate computers, which he plays with sporadically when not doing search-and-destroy in my small apartment.

He is tenacious in his curiosity about anything new, and at age 3, pretty much everything IS new.

On Monday while he napped, I hurried in my studio, desperate to try and tear off a small work. The painting you see here was the product, done largely with knife. I found it satisfying to do the work; acutely aware I had a time limit, a point at which my beautiful little Prince would awaken and demand all of Mierme's attention once more. It obliged me to work loose and fast.

I am pleased with the bright colors, the depth of texture and the almost gestural shapes. It seems to me to be a happy work.

I can thank Nicholas for that.

Since he is in the act of re-programming my TV remote control ( not in a good way) as I write, I need to get to the point.

Our dreams, our goals may have their origins in ethereal realms. When we manifest them into reality, into the harsh world of everyday life busy-ness, the shape of our wishes often transmute into a different form than that we hoped for. Doesn't mean there aren't wonderful reality-based benefits to realizing our dreams, or that the experience is any less blissful, just that it is important to temper our hopes with a modicum of pragmatism sometimes....to balance the shift between wishing and wishes actually being.

I think most people experience this phenomenon in the area of romantic relationships, hoping for Love to arrive on their horizon, transforming their life in some mystical way we can erroneously assume Love will do. When that bugger Reality sets in, and toothpaste lids are left off and dirty socks are strewn everywhere, the shine can wear off fairly quickly...and one begins to doubt whether it was really Love at all.

The danger here is that in asking the Universe for our most dearly held wishes to become manifest, we can lose sight of the reality, that all dreams have price-tags, and rightfully so...spiritual and life-costs we will be obliged to pay when our longing emerges from it's chrysalis into our living room.

There are always benefits, unseen at first, to balancing goals with reality....Nicholas has reminded me of that important lesson, in the most precious of ways.

This little 11"x14" work in the upper right corner is the product of my learning from my grandson. I'm doing something I usually eschew, posting this work on Ebay. If you'd like to bid on it, click here.....

"We have forgotten the age-old fact that God speaks chiefly through dreams and visions"

(Carl C. Jung)

"The final goal of human effort is man's self-transformation".

(Lewis Mumford)

Thanks for stopping by....more soon !

Warmly: Susi

URGENT ARTIST RIGHTS ISSUE

Usually I write about Art, the process of making it, how it affects our lives and throw in a little esoterica/philosophy on the side.

Today, however, I'm going to ask my readers to consider taking action on a great wrong done to an artist; a courageous woman who made her work under threat of death. I submit this story to you, with hopes that you will be moved to visit the site and take action, send an email; take maybe 3 or 4 minutes out of your life to help restore to an 85 yr old artist her stolen work. Here is the story:

In one of the darkest hours of human history, one of the children's barracks in Auschwitz, an astounding art drama unfolded.

This is where children were kept before taking them to the gas chambers. Dina Babbitt was an artist in the camps at the time, and one of the captive barracks captains asked her if she would paint a mural on the walls of the barracks to brighten up the lives of the kids. She chose Snow White, knowing that if she were caught doing it, she could be in big trouble.

After the mural was painted (the kids loved it, probably the last joy they would ever know) she was paid a visit by Josef Mengele. He was the guy who conducted horrific experiments on people in the camps, so naturally Dina was concerned for her life.What an ugly surprise she got !

Mengele was taking photos of some of the 13,000 gypsy prisoners in Auschwitz as part of his effort to prove that non-aryans were genetically inferior to aryans. He was not happy with the limitations of the camera, so he wanted Dina to paint portraits of them to more accurately capture their skin tones !

Now at 85 years of age she's trying to get her paintings back, and a museum that obtained them ( illegally) refuses to return her work ( they also send her releases to sign every time they reproduce her work, for which she has NEVER received even ONE RED CENT) .

Dina is having risky major surgery for cancer, and hundreds of thousands of artist the world over are sending emails to the museum in question to demand the return of Dina's work to her. She lives in California and has for many years. Several Congressmen/women have even written laws to facilitate the return of Dina's work, trying to help her get back what is rightfully hers, the stolen work, before she dies.

Here's a link to Dina's site:

http://www.dinababbitt.com/

I ask you please, PLEASE to consider going to the site, reading the info there and clicking on a link to send an email to the museum asking them to return Dina's paintings. This is an issue which should touch the hearts and conscience of all in the Arts, all who love Art; I ask you for your help; we CAN make a difference. Artists the world over are participating, no reason American artists & Art Lovers can't.

Here's Dina's site again...the email for the museum is in it, just click to send an email to them, giving your name and state/USA.

http://www.dinababbitt.com/

Thank You for taking time to read, hoping with all my heart to get a good response to this. Please consider sending the link to Dina's site to your friends/relatives. It would be a terrible sin for this woman to leave her life without her precious work, the faces of those who were about to die, back in her rightful possession. Just FYI, International Law fully supports Dina's ownership and rights to her work.

Your thought for today - "The quality of mercy is not strained". (Wm Shakespeare)

Seneca The Younger said "All Art is but imitation of Nature". Well, at first blush that kinda teed me off when I read it, but then I re-considered. Are we not imitating Nature in the strictest sense, particularly when we create ?

In Nature, there are seasons necessary to creating,to bringing something new into the world. The crops lie fallow and dormant in winter; Spring renews growth, life shoots through the soil, upwards toward the sun; summer brings blossoms and then Fall, the Harvest. The creative process is very similar; we process our ideas and allow them to germinate ( Spring); we allow our ideas to manifest and burst forth, whether on canvas, paper or bronze, ( Summer); we complete the work and once again return to thought for inspiration ( Fall) and the finished work is sold or stored ( Winter).

Our relationships tend to have seasons also. The rush of new love, the deepening of understanding & intimacy, the getting-comfortable-with-each-other, and sometimes, sadly, the end of the relationship either through death or severing of ties. If we could but learn to see these changes in relationships as seasons which are natural as Nature herself, perhaps we could also develop more respect for the weight of the process involved in being a significant other in someone else's life; perhaps then we could all learn to make better ( more relationship-organic) decisions, behave more humanely and lovingly with each other.

Just a thought.

This $65.00 small work ( 6"x6") can be purchased through www.FineArtBySusiFranco.com, or by emailing me directly. I check my emails daily, so you will get a prompt response. Thank you for taking time to share part of your day with me.

Warmly, Susi

Oscar Wilde and Matters of Art---

...He said "Life has been your Art; you have set yourself to music. Your days are your sonnets".

I especially appreciate Mr. Wilde's observation because it mirrors my own belief that we make our lives a work of art...or not.Every thing you do, every decision you make, small and large, grand or infinitesimal, adds to the tapestry you're creating. I know from my own well-worn path, however, that it is easy to get lost in the quest and lose sight of the value of the journey.

It is important to have life goals, to have an attainable mission for not only each day, but for the long haul. When the quest becomes the sole motivator in your life, though, you are losing yourself incrementally; you are discarding the genuine articles that comprise the landscape of your life.

Sometimes it's about staying grounded, having an anchor that keeps you focused not just on the horizon, but on what's truly precious in your life. For some that may be your significant other or family; for many it may be your work. Sometimes it's as simple as picking up a tomato or a plum.

No, it really doesn't have to be an actual tomato or plum, but just in case you need one to help you achieve feet-planted-in-the-fully-present, here is one I recently painted. At the summer shows, I was amazed at how fast these little fruit and veggie studies got snapped up, almost as fast as I could paint them.

I don't think that was a coincidence. I get the sense people are working at trying to re-connect with the earth, with that which gives balance to the rush-rush-hurry-go of thier frenetic daily hustle. Little paintings like this, product of earth's yield and seasonal movement, seem to be reassuring, engaging because they are so familiar, yet seen in perhaps a novel way that illuminates new thought, renewed appreciation.

"There is not a single work of Art that has not in the end added to the inner freedom of each person that has known and loved it". ( Albert Camus)

I'd like to think that maybe these small works may have an aspect of precious-ness for you; allow you to focus, at least momentarily, on something fully connected to life energy, full of promise and the hope of renewal.

As always, you may purchase this and many others of my work at www.FineArtBySusiFranco.com.


all images and text copyrighted-Susi Franco 2008

Well.....to say I've neglected my blog would be an understatement, so let's just leave it at I've been busy. Really, REALLY busy. There are so many new opportunities, so many new frontiers to explore that I find it difficult to prioritize sometimes, to divine which goal or project best serves my true objective. Being creative is a job, albeit a job unlike any other, and it must be tended to fastidiously in order to produce the best "product". I think because of that frenetic pace I often get caught up in areas which seem more pressing, and tend to let the low profile work simmer on the back burner.

I have so many new things to show you, lots of small works, which I've found over the last 9 months or so to be what buyers and collectors are seeking. Most folks can't afford big works as in prior years, so small was the way to go for the seasonal shows, and it was a concept that performed admirably for me.

All this talk of meeting new goals and re-thinking old ideas brings to mind something very wise my Grandpa Taylor told me when I was a little girl:

The story went that there was a ferryman who ferried back and forth across a river between two villages, countless times each day for ten cents a trip. A city fella asked him why on earth he made so many trips each day, that the people should be given a schedule, pick-up times that they'd have to abide by if they wanted to cross the river; that the crossing times should be at the ferryman's discretion, instead of the convenience of the passengers.

"That'd be more efficient", said the city slicker, " and you wouldn't be making all these crossings all day long".

The ferryman looked him in the eye and said "Mister, if you don't go, you don't get".

Even as a small girl, that story had an impact on me. I understood that we sometimes limit ourselves insofar as what we might achieve if we were only willing to think a little larger, work a little harder, go that cliched but so true "extra mile".

You must be willing to "go", to put yourself out there, do the hard work, whether in an employment situation or relationship or personal goals, in order to "get" the prize, the achievement you dream of and desire.

All goals, all dreams and wishes start with thought.
Thoughts are things; they have a definite energy, a definite force all thier own. Most people reject this concept at first, but think of it this way: you may not know how a microwave works, but it does work and very effectively ! It doesn't require your understanding to do it's work. Thoughts have the same energy, the same capacity for functioning very efficiently, whether you understand their process or not.

Think of what you want to accomplish, see it as an attainable goal, and then allow yourself to begin to feel grateful for it, as though you already have that cherished goal or thing in your life.

Learn to filter out what I call all those "NO messages", which sabotage your thinking and de-rail your hopeful feelings about your goals in life. If you complain and whine about your losses, your failures, the Universe will "hear" your negative thoughts and because like attracts like, will bring you even more losses and failures. Think successful thoughts and you will attract success.

I know, I know...it just seems too easy to be real, right ?

This is part of that whole "if you don't go, you don't get" concept I mentioned earlier. You must be willing to "go"...to accept that there are forces greater than you at work, every second you are in your Life, and that you can, with practice and positive intention, tap into them to your own great benefit.

When you can consistently be in that positive thought frame, you will be well on your way to the "get", the goals and dreams you've told yourself your whole life you deserve, but have never obtained 'til now.

I've been working at this myself over the last 10 months, and have seen such amazing things unfold in my life. It truly does work.

It requires that you discipline your thoughts, because as I said earlier, thoughts are things, and they have power and impact. But if just thinking differently could bring about your most important goals, make them manifest, isn't it worth your trying ??

Give yourself a little experiment with this concept. Quiet your mind, close out all the busy-ness of daily life, all those to-do lists and people tugging at the sleeve of your consciousness. Let your mind quiet and cool, like a still pond at sunset. Visualize your desires; think of what you must do to make the way for your goals ( this is called "right effort" by the Buddhists) to manifest. For example, if you desire a better paying job with more opportunities, re-do your resume or do extra projects at your current job or perhaps research on your own outside of work. You already know what you must do.

As you work on your "right effort", see yourself in that new job, at peak performance, banging on all six cylinders, happy and successful. Let yourself actually feel the gratitude of having that job ( requires some discipline to do this), and do so with all your consciousness.

The job will come to you, assuming you have kept positive thoughts, not allowed any "NO messages" or self-sabotage to creep in and keep you from right effort, and that you have consistently maintained positive energy in your thoughts on this goal.

Just try it. You'll see, and it will amaze you like nothing else in Life will.

We can talk more about this later, this manifestation of our thoughts/their becoming the path directly to our goals.

For now, I offer you a small token of my own thoughts for success....this 6"x6" oil and acrylic painting, titled "Perfume N' Pearls". This is a small part of my goal for myself, to have those lustrous pearls, to wear that expensive perfume when I attend my gallery openings, to enjoy the fruits of my labors and see them manifest in luxuries large and small.

As always, you may visit my website www.FineArtBySusiFranco.com to purchase any of the works you see here. I appreciate the time you've spent with me here, and there'll be more work posted soon.

I promise. :)

The meditation for this work today is" If you don't go, you don't get". -Dawson Waitman Taylor