Suzet's Studio Blog

Nothing Fun About Melanoma

I have been busy nursing my wounds recently. I had a rogue freckle (ok a few) checked out and it turned into a full on "carving of the artist" couple of weeks. It turns out all those years of slathering on the baby oil to get a tan was not such a good idea. Sunscreen was for babies. I am first to admit I really did not think of my skin all that much. It worked fine. Freckles were just dot to dots.

Until they started talking about cancer and I did a little search on melanoma.  I started getting a little freaked out. I went back and they took off big chunks of meat a few days ago. Now we have to wait until the lab checks that tissue to see if they got it all. In the mean time, I have lots of stitches and am hoping I just end up with some artsie looking scars. I hear they are cooler than tattoos.

My advice to you is sunscreen up to avoid becoming a Jack-O-Lantern. I'll post my cool scars when they heal up.

After School Art Class

These are some of the projects that my art students in the ARTrageous After School Art Class have created during our "Animal" theme. We have studied line through cave art ,shape through collage, form with clay and wood. We talked about different artists and how animals have been depicted though art history. The kids created glue line rubbing plates and then made a jungle of shared animal rubbing plates and painted them to create a resist. The students took photos of all the animal art they made before taking them home. Our next ARTrageous adventure will be figures. Come back and check them out in three weeks.

My Juried Show Entry

I entered a juried art show this week. The "Art in the Pines Art Show" was judged by Chris Van Winkle of Morrow Bay. My painting was accepted and was awarded "Honorable Mention". The first and second place winners were both pastels and the third place was a mixed-media collage. I took the photo before the judging took place so the numbers on the paintings are just the entry place cards.   

An Eventful Day

Today was a really eventful day. I feel very grateful to have had the chance to paint at the Carmody McKnight Vineyard in Paso Robles, California. Not only did I get to paint in the beautiful vineyard but was also treated to a visit into Gary Conway's studio. The plein air painting group the "Wednesday Irregulars" were fortunate enough to get to talk with Gary about his painting process and where his work is transitioning to next. His new studio smelled of fresh paint and had an openess I only dream about. It was a recharging of my art soul to be among nature, agriculture and people that were as excited by it as myself. FUN,FUN,FUN!

      

Sunshine Art Dolls

I've been working on this video all week while making the second generation of Sunshine Art Dolls. The Cloth,Paper,Scissors publication emailed me to say they were putting my Art Dolls in the Nov/Dec issue. I figured I had better get busy and make some more before the magazine hits the stands. The video shows my process with a few fun surprises. Don't forget to check them out on my etsy site after viewing the video.