Studio Views

I've been working this month on a new series of oil landscapes in preparation for a show this August at West Branch Gallery in Stowe.

This is my new easel from David Sorg, which will be helpful for the larger canvases I'm about to begin. No cranks to raise or lower--it's counter weighted, and slides up and down easily. A boon to my posture!

Mia likes to lounge around close by my brush while I'm trying to prepare canvases. I've been gluing linen to wood panels, then applying Art Board's excellent acrylic gesso. (That's a painting by Euan Uglow in the open book.)

Still life props and favorite postcards: Tom Thomson, Vincent Desiderio, Gerhard Richter, Catherine Murphy, Vermeer, Linden Frederick, John Sell Cotman. (Like most painters, I have eclectic tastes.)

New paintings I'm working on are images of New England summers--and not so far removed from our December weather, which has yet to see a lasting snow. Hopefully this week the cold white blanket of Vermont winter will arrive, and be the view from my studio hibernation until a Bahamas workshop in February.

My VT Flood Relief Art Sale Update

November 2012 Update: All of my painted photos of Vermont towns are now sold, and over $5,000. donated to local flood relief efforts. Thank you to everyone who purchased! I'll be posting more of these soon on my Vermont blog.

In the words of the latest issue of Burlington, VT newspaper "Seven Days":

"Artist Susan Abbott is selling hand-painted photographs of Vermont towns that she created for her blog, Let Me Show You Vermont. The gaily colorized images of iconic roads, buildings, farms and landscapes would be brilliant keepsakes of the state even if they didn’t benefit flood-relief efforts. The matted, one-of-a-kind 8-by-10-inch photos are $225 each and appear to be going fast."

And they are going fast! So far we have sold sixteen photo/paintings, and raised $3,500. for flood relief. There are seven more left, including "Moretown" (a village hit very hard by the flooding), shown above. I have over 200 towns to go, in my quest to paint and draw all over this beautiful state, and will continue to offer sales as donations as long as there is a need to help flood victims, so stay tuned...meanwhile, you can see the online art sale here.

Vermont Flood Relief Art Sale

See the online sale here!

Hurricane Irene tracked directly over my home state of Vermont on Sunday, August 28th. After twelve hours of torrential rains, waters poured down our mountains and rivers rose quickly, jumping their banks and inundating homes, businesses, and farmlands. Over 300 roads and bridges were damaged, including all of the highways that span the southern part of the state from east to west. Vermonters are working hard to recover, but they will need some help to rebuild.

I'm happy to be able to offer all proceeds from the sale of over 25 original hand-painted photographs to aid the relief effort here in Vermont. These images were created for my blog
"Let Me Show You Vermont", a project that's taking me on a sketchbook tour of all 251 Vermont towns. Unfortunately, many of these places were damaged by Hurricane Irene. Your purchase of one of the pieces in this series will be a generous donation to Vermont's recovery. And then come up and visit this wonderful state!

Plein Air in Provence

Painting in Provence was as exciting and challenging this summer as it always is. I especially enjoyed working on a series of plein air oils--you can take a look at them (as well as watercolors and sketchbook pages from the trip) here. As always, my students were a pleasure to travel with, and worked as hard--and drank as much wine-- as I did!

Web Article

Artist Network website has an article up called "Anatomy of a Painting" that analyzes my watercolor "Elegy". Take a look by clicking here.

A Summer Painting

I'm working this summer on a commission--a large still life triptych that is a return for me to the "Dream Table" series, this time in oil rather than watercolor. I'll be posting vignette details of "Spring to Summer" as I work my way across the tabletop. On my studio desk you can see some of the bounty of art books and postcards I brought back from Paris a few weeks ago, which I'll be perusing frequently in the future for ideas, technical help, and inspiration.

Colors of the Batey Update

My son Colin and I had a great opening for the "Colors of the Batey" show, which continues until July 1st at the University of Vermont Davis Center. We have sold six of the sixteen photographs and paintings--all sales are donated to the Clean Water Project for the Batey. Please take a look at the show online here!

Colors of the Batey Exhibit and Fundraiser

Last November my son Colin and I traveled to the Dominican Republic to deliver $4,500. we had raised to help a Haitian community there install a safe drinking water system. (You can read about our project here.) While we were there, Colin photographed and I painted and drew, with an eye towards continuing our fundraising for the community.

We are now having an exhibit of these paintings and photographs from the Batey Libertad at the University Vermont's Davis Center. You can see the show (including prices, purchase information and my sketchbook from the trip) online here.

We are donating all sales from the show to the Batey Libertad Fundacion to finish the safe water project. Please email me at sa@susanabbott.com for more information, or to make a donation! Even a little help goes a long way.

Vermont Land Trust Annual Report

The Vermont Land Trust chose a selection of my landscape paintings to illustrate their 2010 Annual Report. The VLT is doing great work conserving farms and forests across our state, including a 600 acre plein air painting paradise right across the road from my studio.

NRECA Mural installed

My mural for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association's Washington headquarters has been installed, and is featured in a recent issue of "Rural Electric" magazine:

"The NRECA Collection's shining jewel spans the mezzanine of the main meeting room--a forty foot mural that , according to artist Susan Abbott, captures the inspiring story of America's electric co-ops.
Abbott's vision consists of ten separate oil paintings completed in her northern Vermont studio in half-size, then digitally reproduced and enlarged before being installed on-site. Her work features a road and power line crossing regions, landscapes and communities, from coast to coast, and incorporates farms, forests, mountains, churches, a schoolhouse, and a co-op line truck, all in bright, uplifting colors.
'The concept popped into my head as soon as I saw the space where it would go", Abbott relates. 'Because rural electrification was a New Deal program, I thought about how it unified people in rural areas all across the country...My parents were big supporters of President Roosevelt, and the New Deal was a frequent topic of conversation in our house. So I understood my project from the outset.' "