I'm a recent graduate of Georgetown Atelier in Seattle, Washington and have just started to compile a new body of work. Much of what you see here prior to 2022 is older work and hopefully you'll note an improvement. Because I paint both in Contemporary Alla Prima (fast small and larger works) and polished realism, both categories are listed as tabs beneath this section. Stay tuned. I'm a work in progress.
I recently attended the long awaited wedding of my granddaughter Cassidy to her fiance, Luke. Like any grandma I wanted to give them wonderful presents. And I did. My husband and I bequeathed a monetary gift as well as an item from one of her gift registries. But it just wasn't enough. I mean, when you love someone you want to keep on showering them with stuff. Because my granddaughter and her family live three thousand miles from us, it makes showing love in other ways difficult. How many times can you heart someone on Facebook?
I recently became interested in doing miniature portraits and paintings on gold leaf. So I went to Cassidy's FB page and looked over all the wonderful pics she had been posting of her and Luke. I really liked this one so I copied it and projected it on my computer to work from. This was the result. I gifted this to her at her wedding shower and she loved it. Turns out that the photo was a popular one and she had used it on the special wine bottles that were gifted to members of the bridal party and family. I love doing these. The total size for the entire piece framed is 8" x 10". I can work from any photo you supply as long as it is clean and clear. Old black and white photos lend themselves nicely to a beautiful antique look as I paint them in a warm sepia tone on the gold leaf. These make wonderful anniversary or wedding gifts. Wouldn't you love to gift your parents or a favorite friend with one?
If you're interested or just have questions, you can email me at: susanspar@susanspar.com. Check out my website for other gift ideas. Thanks for reading.
I was proud to have a one woman show at the Sequim Museum in Sequim, Washington during the month of June. On June 17th I held a demonstration of a pastel landscape. I really enjoy doing demos because it's a great opportunity to meet the public in a way that introduces them to my work and also helps to enlighten and teach others about the art making process.
This painting was done from a small oil plein air study I painted a couple of years ago at Ediz Hook in Port Angeles, Washington. It's a long spit that goes out for about two miles into the Strait of Juan de Fuca. It was overcast that day and very windy. I actually did this small piece as a demo for the paper and my small plein air class. I used a very limited palette for the oil. I always liked the study and thought it would be fun to try as a pastel. So I used it for the demo.
I didn't have a videographer to work my camera so I set the camera up on a tripod and asked a friend to just monitor it and make sure it kept running. Unfortunately, I do step a bit out of the camera range but only for a second or two. It's been edited down and fixed as much as possible. Hope you enjoy it!
