Susan Kennedy Art

Delightful to get back into florals, and this little study is based upon Mom's rhodies. She's my source for these delightful blooms, and many more besides. Thanks, Mom! You can get lost in these huge clusters of blooms, as you can with a huge handful of hydrangea...intoxicating and time-stopping. My favorite quote about flowers that comes in to mind is by the poet Theodore Roethke: "Deep in their roots all flowers keep the light." What a beautiful, poetic, mystical depiction of the idea that the ethereal and the celestial can hide inside of us. (Since, in my book, we're all flowers.)More on that later. Pass along your thoughts on flowers and art, and let me know if you're interested in commissioning one! Here's my etsy store where you can see my latest paintings for sale, including this one.

Ha! Love it, caught Smokey in the Sun next to a small stack of paintings. I mean a stack of small paintings. I know, the paintings should neither be a) in the sun nor b) near a fuzzy cat. They won't be in the sun long, and the cat needs good art. I'm dying to start a new series on florals. Flowers seem to be such perfect metaphors for people, I find the idea fascinating! Here's hoping you have a painting to paint and a cat to pet. May God bless you with a sunny day and love to fill it!

You guys, check out my upcoming Watercolor and Oil classes in the new Fowler Park and Old Atlanta Rec Centers. (This is Forsyth County in the North Atlanta area) I'm loving the new classrooms, they are the big Multi Purpose Rooms on the right wing of those huge new Recreation Buildings. Yay! I've got a watercolor class (Tree focus; 4 weeks once a week for $80) coming up beginning March 29 at Fowler Park Rec Center. This will be Thursdays from 1 pm to 3 pm. Another watercolor 4 week session will start April 24 on Tuesdays 1-3 pm at the Rec Center at Old Atlanta. (directly across from Lamber High School on Nichols Road). You don't HAVE to paint trees, we'll definitely have the flexibility to work on more than one type of subject, so give me a call if you have any questions. A second four-week Thursday session at Fowler Park will be the last for the summer, starting June 14. And Oils: there are May and June sessions coming up! Another cool thing are some Saturday Open St...

I thought I'd have fun finishing and posting some of my doodles, they are near and dear to my heart! I feel young and happy when I draw in crayon! Can't help it!! These little drawings on card stock actually start as scribbles, and the marker sometimes follows the lines of the scribbles. I like it when they end up looking like illustrations of a mythical story, or landscapes from another planet. This one ended up that way, and the scene seemed like thunderclouds and vistas in some extraterrestrial place. So much fun, and so expressive an exercise; you should try it! I'm still teaching at Parks and Rec (but not drawing). However, there will be an experimental art class for teens coming up this spring, and more watercolor and oil classes. Go to www.susankennedy.etsy.com and convo me if you have any questions about classes or other things! Have a loopy day and pick up a crayon!!

This is the tree we will be working on in class on Wednesday January 18 from 10:00 AM to Noon, the first day of the January oil session! It's a beautiful Tamarack tree, someone inquiring about a commission inspired me and it looks like the perfect simple study for class. We'll spend the first half hour talking about painting in oils and sharing supplies (feel free to borrow my materials for the first class, just bring an 11 x 14 or 16 x 20 canvas or canvas panel!) The second painting is a simple and colorful still life you can do if you wish to branch out and depart from the landscape theme of the session. I'll be bringing a floral or still life idea to copy every week for those of my students who want to come to landscape class and learn from the landscape demo, but work on a different project. I'll help those of you who choose the "different" painting project as I make my rounds around the room, but the demo I'll be working on will be the landscape eleme...

Tuesday is Watercolor Class and Wednesday is Oil Landscape! The New Year is bringing new art possibilities, and I'm revamping my lesson plans to offer more project ideas for students. You can see the photo of some of the paintings we'll be doing together in Oil class (the still life with the wine bottle is only partially done); if you don't care for the Landscape element of the day (Trees, skies, mountains, water scenes), I'll have another option for you to try, normally a simple still life. You can see the soft focus red flower still life in the center of the photo which is an example of what you can do in class! I'll post more about the January Watercolor class also, the focus will be landscape and still life elements too! If you're interested in these six week sessions in Fowler Park and Sharon Springs Park in Forsyth County, Georgia, you can call to reserve your spot at 770 781-2215 . Feel free to email me at kennedyartstudio @bellsouth.net if you have any q...

This abstract is one I did a couple of months ago...I called it "Sunset at the Fish Cannery" because as I painted, it began to look like a city or a factory, and some of the glowing colors looked like sunset. It's always poignant how a beautiful sky can redeem even the most mundane and polluted landscape. You can see it in the work of some of the impressionists and their city scenes. Interesting to me, and a hopeful commentary on life and beauty. I hope God can pour his beautiful light on the dirtiness of my life! The painting also became a bit of a cartoon, I enjoyed it as it looked more and more urban, and I imagined fish workers walking out of the factory in the evening. The workers being fish, that is, not humans, with lunch pails in their hands, I mean fins. Goofy. I hope you enjoy!