Monday, February 28, 2011

New Website

Dear Friends,

God bless you, your loved ones and your ministries today!

I created a new website for myself: www.suetrowbridgeart.weebly.com Please check it out.

I am thrilled for a new week of painting on my prayers for Mother Nature. I am hoping that my images of birds singing and flowers blooming will help me hold out until spring actually arrives. When it does get here I will paint my arms and legs with flowers and do a happy dance!

Love, Sue

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Snowed In

Dear Friends,

God bless you, your loved ones and your ministries today!

Remember how fun snow days were when you were a kid?

We had two this week so our son and I did our traditional snow day activity which is playing "Fox and Geese." I caught his clothes five times (which is a record for me) and because he couldn't feel it he argued that it didn't count. When I said I don't lie, he replied, "What about Santa?" But I ignored that, stopped chasing him and started running away which worked because he chased me. Of course it took 2 seconds for him to catch me and I got so tired I crashed in the snow to avoid heart failure.

While I was down I noticed how colorful the sparkles in the snow were up close; it was like seeing a zillion tiny rainbows. I made a snow angel and got up for another round, but after being the fox nonstop and having to crash again I decided it was time for lunch. Luckily, he agreed and we shared a nice meal together.

I read another book that he recommended called "The Last Song" by Nicholas Sparks which was excellant. Our son loved the 10 year old male character named Jonah the best and cited how cute he was watching cartoons upside down, asking his sister why she was looking for a dress in her closet when there was no dress in her closet and protesting about having to wait until after meals to eat his dearly loved Oreo cookies.

Being book buddies with our kid is the best!

Somehow I managed to get a lot of painting done this week, so I am hoping to post 4 new paintings on Friday of this week.

Love, Sue

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Balancing Act

Dear Friends,

God bless you, your loved ones and your ministries today!

I am blessed to have a 15 year old who wants me to be "book buddies" with me, but he reads much faster than I do and he has more time for it. He recommended "The Hunger Games" series to me and I became so engrossed, I couldn't put them down and lost 4 days of working at my regular duties. It even cost me a fair amount of painting time!

I'm glad I took the time, because connecting with him is more important than even painting, but now that he wants me to read this that and the other thing, I have to figure out how to fit all this reading into my schedule without interupting my painting time or letting our house completely go back to nature.

Seeing the movie version of his books helps me to fit his passion into my life. Last night we went to see "I Am Number Four" which all three members of our little trio enjoyed. There was action for the guys and romance for me.

This is a good problem to have. our son has finally moved beyond the stage of wanting nothing to do with us. It's work connecting with teens, but it's so worth the time and energy.

Love, Sue

Friday, February 18, 2011

New Artist on the Horizen

Dear Friends,

God bless you, your loved ones and your ministries today!

I love teaching people to paint in oils! There is a new student in our group named Judy who is a naturally gifted African American folk artist. Her work is not only good, it's humorous. As soon as I get her permission I will give you her full name and a photo of her work.

Finding new talent is what American Idol is all about and it's fun to discover someone new who can move us to tears or laughter. I feel honored to be Judy's teacher.

Love, Sue

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Painting with Friends

Dear Loved Ones,

God bless you, your loved ones and your ministries today!

Today I go to the Art Center of Battle Creek to teach, share a potluck and paint together with my friends. Painting in community bonds people to one another, because painting is a pleasurable activity. It reminds me of eating a meal with one's family and friends, or playing a game or going to a movie.

The added element of making it into a habit or ritual makes the bond even stronger. Our group of friends has been gathering to paint together on Thursdays for 15 years now. That's a lot of commitment and a lot of fun!

Love, Sue

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

New Web Site

Dear Loved Ones,

God bless you, your loved ones and your ministries today!

I just created a new website today. It's in the infancy stage, but soon I hope to add more to it. The address is http://www.suetrowbridgeart.weebly.com/ . Please check it out.


Love, Sue

Monday, February 7, 2011

Earthprayers

Dear Loved Ones,

God bless you, your loved ones and your ministries this week!!

I am working on a new series of 12 paintings called "Earthprayers." They are happy images of a world filled with pure rivers, blooming flowers, joyful people, healthy animals, abundant forests, fruitful fields, and clean skies. I pray for the restoration and preservation of nature in all of its glory as I paint.

Like many of you, I am greatly concerned about ecology. This is one of the ways I can cope with my grief and fears for the earth.

I have limited my pallette to the six tertiary colors (blue violet, blue green, yellow green, yellow orange, red orange, and red violet) plus black and white. All of my colors are clean, which means that there is no brown or gray in them. (I just realized that this is symbolic of my prayers for a clean environment!) I do allow myself to mix my colors with white, but not with black.

The clear colors give the work a Caribbean feel, even though much of my imagery is very Michigan in nature. The canvases are mostly 16"x 20" so the bright colors act like accents in a room and don't feel overwhelming. The walls in our home are lined with them and they bring such joy into our home! I love to live with them and miss them when I take them out of the house to show them.

They are my babies and it's hard for me to adopt them out. I always hope they find good homes.

I hope to post them soon so you can see them.

Love, Sue