Guest Post: Nanoscapes & Other Visions by Susan Gainen

PLEASE DON'T FORGET TO CATCH 

PART TWO OF MY STORY OVER AT ERIN'S BLOG ;)

Please give your kind attention to this wonderful artist who has been kind enough to guest blog here today. Take a look at her work, pop by her blogs - leave a comment and say hi. 

 'Why I Love To Paint'

nanoscapes & other visions, llc
Susan Gainen, Principal
              1390 Carling Drive, #207, St. Paul, MN 55108  651.917.0291 susangainen@comcast.net

Why I love to paint: Painstaking Exuberance and nanoscapes

I love to paint with watercolors because they give me an unlimited choice of colors and complete control over their intensity, a non-toxic infrastructure that travels well, and the rest of my life to keep on painting.  I begin with a blank canvas and my rules, which I have named “Painstaking Exuberance,” and paint every day.

'Fractured Glass'

Painstaking Exuberance is a 5-step creative process that makes each painting into a coloring book page: (1) make a pencil drawing; (2) paint a Davy’s Gray outline of each shape; (3) paint inside the lines; (4) paint an outline for each shape with a contrasting color; and (5) when appropriate, paint an outline of the piece.

'Sam the Snowy Owl'

My paintings are called “nanoscapes” because I began watercolors on post cards and small pieces of art paper. No sooner had I secured “nanoscapes & other visions llc,” a bank account, and a tax ID, one of my friends said “I love your work, but I can’t put a post card behind my sofa.” Thus, nanoscapes grew from post-card size to as large as 22x33 inches. My favorite papers are Arches 300# or 140# bright white. My favorite paints are from Daniel Smith, Winsor Newton, Holbein, and Sennelier. My favorite brushes are Daniel Smith Autograph Series 44 Kolinsky Sable in sizes #3, #2 and #00.

Having been an “arts and crafts” person all my life, I was unprepared to be enchanted by watercolor> Having been under the spell of the magic of detail since the 6^th grade, and a great fan of Solid Geometry, I was fully prepared to explore tiny spaces and to  embrace shape and dimension.

DETAIL  When I was sent to the back of the room in 6^th grade, it was clear that I couldn’t see the blackboard and that I needed glasses. Between diagnoses and delivery, my Girl Scout troop had a bird watching trip in Rock Creek Park. Without “delusional” in my vocabulary, I was memorably cranky because as friends pointed to blue birds and red birds, and I saw nothing. I got the glasses the following Tuesday, and could see every leaf on every tree and every blade of grass. It was a miracle.

COLOR and CRAFT From childhood, I could never get enough color and I always had something to do by hand. From the bright yellow enamel painted childhood bedroom closet, to tiny paintings on plaster-of-Paris eggs, macramé, copper enameling , wire sculpture, wildly-colored Granny Square crochet quilts, soft sculpture, prize-winning needlepoint oriental rugs, beading and pearl-knotting, crochet on tiny needles ---I did every craft that I could get my hands on.

nanoscapes’ driving forces  Anything can spark a nanoscape: shapes, colors, whimsical animals (my Small Friends), random things (The 31 Lost Left-Handed Gloves of January), or creative questions including “What happens when triangles go wild?” (the question that sparked the Fractured Glass paintings).

With watercolor, I bring all of these things together.

Susan Gainen’s website http://www.susangainen-nanoscapes.com/ and blog http://nanoscapesothervisionsllc.blogspot.com/

Wow - Well, I'm sure you'll all agree that these are spectacular paintings. Look at those colours! Stunning. Thanks so very much to Susan. You did a superb guest post. 

Everyone, lets pop along to her blog/web site to see what other jewels she has for us. 

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AMENDMENT - (17/10/2011) - NOT SURE WHERE THE PICTURES HAVE GONE - The author may have moved them from the original location, rendering the links given useless. Check out her site for her work.