Walnut Ink Drawing

River Cliff-Walnut Ink on Paper 8"x10"

     Walnut ink has me fascinated with it's gorgeous, rich color. Our refrigerator has a shelf of jars full of dark brown ink. Drawing is fun, but the process of making walnut ink connects my act of making a drawing back to the land with a deeper, felt connection.
     First, drawing with walnut ink means thinking about the drawings well ahead of time. The walnuts hang green on the trees, the weather changes, the leaves start to fall. The walnuts continue to hang on the trees. Finally they drop to the ground and can be gathered. The aromatic greenish brown balls are scattered in the driveway, and we drive over them day after day until the softening husks break away from the walnut shell. It is not necessary to drive over them, but it speeds up getting the husks off the nutshells.
     The darkest pieces are put into an old kettle with some water and simmered until I remember to take them off the burner. This is usually several hours. After cooling, the ink is strained and bottled with a bit of vodka to preserve it. Over time mold may grow in the ink, so I keep it in the refrigerator to extend the shelf life. But if it starts to mold, the film can be scraped off the top of the liquid.
     Walnut ink can be used with brush or pen nibs, mixed with watercolor or other inks. I'm not sure how lightfast this ink is, so recommend any drawings made with walnut ink be displayed out of direct sunlight. That's a good idea for any drawing.
   

Warner Creek Standing Rock 8"x10"

     The warm, natural tones of walnut ink seem just right for drawings of the rocks, trees and land that are part of Walnut Tree's home. Check back for more walnut ink drawings through the winter months.
Thanks for stopping by my blog!

The ART of Travel

A venerable traveler

Recently I've inherited suitcases from the 1940's and even earlier. Those were the days when travelers, especially women, had well made suitcases for every department of their wardrobes.
They were all hard case, with satin linings, ribbons to hold contents in place (neatly folded), and even removable trays.

Ruffled side pockets, tiny locks with tiny keys, leather trim....details and quality of construction was important.
Yes, they were heavier than contemporary soft luggage, but if you are traveling by car that doesn't matter as much as when your trip across the vast airports of today take almost as much time as your flight.

So, these suitcases are cool, but I'm thinking not fun enough. So I painted one a while ago, in tribute to the trip to Arizona that was planned but cancelled due to my broken leg. I painted the desert on the suitcase; a fitting way to memorialize the untraveled trip.

Desert Dreaming Suitcase painting in progress

After the suitcase was finished, it went along on some overnight trips. Arriving and departing really was more fun with 'Desert Dreaming' as a companion. By now it has been to Madison, Milwaukee and several places in Iowa.

Desert Dreaming Suitcase -the other side

Leo considering a journey with the Desert Dreaming Suitcase

The suitcase was a lot of fun. It inspired a painting project, was interesting to work with, and when finished was still more fun when filled up with my stuff and taken on a trip.

After a while, another suitcase started drawing my attention. It was going to showcase the coloring book  'A Day With The Horses'. After cleaning it up and putting a base coat of white acrylic paint on, the horses were sketched in with pencil, then painted with acrylic.

A Day With The Horses Suitcase

The painting went quickly. I forgot to take pictures of the process, so will show that another time.
'A Day With The Horses' suitcase is larger than 'Desert Dreaming'.  Both are about 12" x 18" but 'A Day With The Horses' is slightly deeper. 'Desert Dreaming' has more side pockets and a satin lining.
'Horses' has leather trim.

A Day With The Horses Suitcase-the other side

The desert is still on my mind! The leather trim added to the western theme.  Inside, this suitcase is roomy but simple; no ruffled pockets, just a nice big boxy space to put lots of travel stuff into.

Inside of A Day With The Horses Suitcase

Finishing this painted suitcase by painting the side panels and putting a protective coating on the painted surfaces completed the project.

Side

Top of Suitcase with Leo the Cat

A Day With The Horses is available on SusanCushingArt.etsy.com Other suitcases will be added in the near future. Visit my blog again soon for updates on the Suitcase Project. Thanks for stopping by!

Mountain Paintings at Wine Guyz in March

   Deep Snow High Mountains continues to keep me busy as the exhibit travels to another venue.   The Wine Guyz will host the paintings from February 27th through March 25th.
  Please join us for the reception on Wednesday March 8th, from 6-8pm. There will be new paintings to enjoy as well as The Wine Guyz ambiance.
  Now, I have to get back to finishing the rest of the snowy mountains, stormy clouds and glacial rivers waiting on the easel. I hope you can join us at the Wine Guyz.

Thank You Driftless Cafe

'Deep Snow High Mountains' paintings had a great showing at the Driftless Cafe in November and December. There were a number of positive comments about the show and also several sales.

I'd like to give a warm thank you to Luke and Ruthie, who have made a beautiful place to display paintings, and their support and enthusiasm was great.  

Sunset on Highway 1 - oil on canvas 11"x14" SOLD

Parkers Ridge - oil on canvas 11"x14" SOLD

After a long break from painting, I'm now finishing several more 'mountain' paintings that didn't get finished in time for display this fall and early winter. Once those paintings are finished, ideas for other subject material are ready to be explored, which really means lots of problems to solve and hard work to do. But it is fun, and learning something is one of the best feelings there is. Each painting has a life of its own, and is a unique experience to create. When one is later sold and goes to live on someone's wall, it's an added bonus to share my experience of that mountain place with other people, through the painting.
Susan

Snow Hoodoos Painting

Snow Hoodoos  acrylic on panel 16"x20" SOLD

Thank you! to the North Carolina purchasers of Snow Hoodoos. May you enjoy the painting in your home as much as I enjoyed creating it. Snow Hoodoos shares a sparkling clear, cold day after a storm created the lovely 'hoodoos' - snow sculpted by wind into huge mushrooms perched atop rocks and trees. In the hoodoos, light refracts through the curved layers of snow, making translucent bands of blue.

This weekend Snow Hoodoos' new home in North Carolina was covered in 8" of new snow. Somehow that seems fitting to welcome this painting!

Monashee Traverse  oil on canvas 24"x30" SOLD

A big thank you to the buyers of Monashee Traverse. It is an honor to have my painting be the start of your art collection.

Monashee Traverse goes to its new home in Seattle.

Simple Gifts for Holiday Sharing

     The first 'Simple Gift' to share with anyone is kindness. The second 'Simple Gift' is generosity.
If you also want to offer a gift to unwrap and enjoy over time, consider an adult coloring book.

Original drawings of real horses for you to color

    This beautiful coloring book has twelve hand drawn pages of real horses, in scenes from the grassy fields, snow filled forests and windy prairies where they live. These horses live free, in open country; each page of A Day With The Horses takes you into their world, as they graze under the stars, play together, take a morning nap, and more. All the horses' names, and information about them is included.
 

Joe and Dusty on a Snowy Day

      Adult coloring books are a great gift choice, for any age! Coloring is relaxing, meditative, fun and an easy activity to share. Give everyone their own coloring book, and share the colors. You can even take the pictures out of the book, and give everyone a picture to color. Then, put them on display for a mini art exhibit of your own. It's fun to share each person's unique colored picture.

   Coloring encourages relaxation; it can be used to enhance relaxed breathing, and mental calmness, which always feels good!

   A Day With The Horses is easy to mail to your friends and family far away, take as gifts when traveling for the holidays, or offer at gift sharing events, holiday parties and given as a special 'stocking stuffer'. Remember your friend or family member who is living in a nursing home too; a coloring book may be just the gift to bring them pleasure for many days.

   May your holidays be safe, and filled with kindness, sharing and the company of good hearted people.

     

Sunset on the Elbow River

A big thank you to VIVA gallery for sponsoring my exhibit 'Deep Snow High Mountains' during the month of October. And a big thank you to everyone who purchased a painting. The response to these paintings was heartwarming.

     Now the paintings are on display at the Driftless Cafe through the holiday season. On a chilly day, stop into the cafe, have something wonderful to eat, and enjoy the paintings. Lately I've been enjoying my favorite pizza, affectionately called the "Figgy Piggy".  Mouthwatering bacon, figs, blue cheese and garlic aioli-an unbelievably good combination. But really, you can close your eyes and point to something on the menu and it will be excellent!

     There are more 'mountain paintings' in progress so if you've seen the exhibit at VIVA, stop in at the Driftless Cafe sometime before Christmas to see what might be new on the walls.

     Since Deep Snow High Mountains went on display at VIVA gallery in October, I've been working on catching up with garden cleanup, hauling hay, and generally getting ready for winter. The warm weather has allowed time for the fall outdoor work that didn't get done while paintings were being finished in September. Besides, when it is 60 degrees, with a warm breeze, and the oak leaves are russet and golden in the sunlight, staying indoors just doesn't make any sense. The wind whistles through the eaves blowing leaves up toward the clouds on a sudden gust, warning of changes soon to come; so I know there will be plenty of time later to stay inside and paint. 

     See you at the Driftless Cafe!

Chinook

                                         Between the Clouds - oil on canvas 18"x24"

  All the snowy mountain paintings are done and on their way to VIVA gallery. But the scenes of those beautiful, amazing mountains are still filling my head, so I'm going to keep painting for a while. Remember to stop by VIVA gallery in October and take a virtual tour of some of the seldom seen places from the back country trails of Canada's western mountains.

        
     
   

Deep Snow High Mountains VIVA October 2016

    Yes, I disappeared for quite a while this summer-painting almost daily! Now the paintings are done and one their way to VIVA gallery in Viroqua, where you are invited to come and see them, and dream of far away snowy places, starry nights, vast forests and wintery storms.
    Each painting is a memory from travels in these magical, beautiful realms of bitter cold, brilliant light and deep snows. I hope you enjoy visiting the Canadian mountains with me through these paintings. See you at VIVA!

Changing Weather - Rogers Pass

                                              Changing Weather - Rogers Pass
                                                      Acrylic 12" x 24"

     Imagine 15 degrees below zero, more or less, a clear bright blue sky, blindingly bright snow and your friends and you are slowly moving up the mountain side on skis. The morning is spent in a long climb and your pack full of avalanche gear and all the necessities of back country winter travel is feeling heavy. But the top of the climb is near. Suddenly, the rising ground ends and a vast space opens up; clouds and snowfields drop away below your feet and fade into the distance. Rising over the chasm a mass of dark cloud blocks the sun. Everything below is shadowed purples and blues. Mist and cloud fall down the distant canyons into what seems like bottomless space. The wind picks up. Standing on the col, you are on the edge between two worlds; the bright, quiet sunlit fields of snowy slopes falling away behind and ahead, the low roar of wind and darkening storm.
    That long, cold ski up the mountain brought my friends and I onto the col where we'd planned to rest and eat our lunch before going onto the Illecillewaet Glacier  but the unexpected drama of this view changed our plans. We simply had to stand around for a few minutes and watch the weather roll in. Of course, then our lunch was shortened and the day's plans modified so we could get back down to a lower altitude before bad weather trapped us too far from the hut.
    This view remains one of my favorite of all the spectacular mountain views I was so fortunate to know skiing in the Canadian backcountry. I always knew it was a painting, and finally it is!
     If you ski, here's some information on this spectacular Canadian backcountry destination:
Rogers Pass

Rogers Pass ski routes

   While doing this painting, our Wisconsin snow has turned to rain, the grass is greening, birds sing and winter is finished for this year. But I'm inspired about painting snow so have another painting started of the Blanket Glacier area in the Monashee Mountains of British Columbia.
   Thanks for checking in; please share this blog, and leave a comment anytime!
Susan