You Are Holding a Magic Wand | |
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Alice laughed “There’s no use in trying,” she said, “One can’t believe in impossible things.”
“I daresay you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen, “When I was your age I practiced for an hour a day. Sometimes, I believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” - Lewis Carroll
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In your hand, you hold a magic wand. You may know it as a pencil, a pen, a paintbrush, or a stylus, but it is an instrument of magic. You can conjure anything your imagination can hold and bring it into reality on a piece of paper or canvas. Nothing is impossible in the world of imagination… world peace, talking rabbits, singing fish, dragons, unicorns, interstellar travel…
Even the word “Impossible” can be reframed to say “I’m possible”.
What would happen if you use your art to practice believing in the impossible possible every day? Quantum mechanics has torn away old constraints. Science has proved that attention makes the difference between existence and non-existence on the level of tiny particles. The more you study reality at this granular level the more magical it becomes.
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Imagining a future we desire in great detail actually calls it into existence. When we can feel, touch, smell, and taste our desires the dividing line that separates us from it dissolves and our desires magically begin to manifest for us. I think we can even heal our souls and bodies with this process. Try it out. Try writing, drawing, painting, collaging and envisioning any sort of magic - experiment to see what happens.
One of the differences that distinguish a photographer from a visual artist is that the photographer must discover magic in the physical known universe. They need to be present at the right time and in the right place to witness the miraculous. They are limited to capturing things created by nature and the rules of the physical world.
How free it is to be an artist of the imagination. If we want a pink elephant to dance pirouettes wearing a tutu we wave our magic wand and there it is. If you want a miracle to occur - make it so! Dance with the flamingos, soar with the butterflies, drive a racecar through space - why not? On the world we create on our page anything goes.
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It makes me wonder why I painted so many portraits, still life, and landscape from photographs. What caused me to dull my thinking in this way? When I was a child I painted magical unicorns and talking animals.
At some point around puberty, I constrained myself to paint a world of beauty without magic. The world of imagination became separate from me and I could only visit through books and movies created by other people. For a long time, my thinking fit into a small box of externally accepted and approved behaviors. My world was limited to things I could actually document, hold and manipulate.
Did this happen to you too? Do you limit yourself and your art to what’s possible only in this realm? Don’t get me wrong, the physical world is pretty miraculous and filled with beautiful incredible things that are fascinating in their detail and structure.
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But what if we could 10X our possibilities to the supernatural limits of our imagination? Glinda the Good Witch said to Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, “You’ve always had the power, my dear, you’ve just had to learn it for yourself.” In my search for my personal and unique voice, a magical door opened recently and welcomed me back into the powerful world of imagination.
When we add a touch of magic to our creations it makes our work unique, expressive, personal, and powerful. You will invent impossible details to add to your work that would never occur to me and together we can expand the range of possible worlds.
Last month in my workshop one student created the most lovely snowman skiing over a spray of crocus popping out of a snowy mountain scene. Another student painted a delightful little monkey on a tricycle being lifted above the ground by fruit-shaped balloons. I am going to add whales that fly with mermaids through the clouds, magical deer that have trees for antlers, and more as the images pour into my mind. Work like this is rarely mistaken for someone else’s.
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Magic is something that we know is physically impossible, but when it happens we believe it is true. I'd like to share some of my favorite artists who use magic as a foundation for their art. Below are two pieces by David Weisner from his book "Tuesday" | |
Below are two pieces by Canadian Artist Rob Gonsalves | |
Below are two pieces by Polish Artist Jacek Yerka: | |
Below are two pieces by Russian Artist Vladimir Kush | |
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One of the things that hold me back from fully expressing my imagination is the kind of detail you see above. I would like to include castles, towns, mythical animals, and the like in my fantasy realms but they take a long time and extensive research to draw. I often wish there were an easier way, and now it looks like that easier way has arrived.
Have you kept up with the new developments in Artificial Intelligence? Arthur C. Clarke said that “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Magic is definitely happening at this moment.
Revolutionary pattern recognition software has been created and released in the past year that allows us to generate complex writing and images from simple prompts. ChatGPT can now write your college essays, blog posts, and book summaries in any writing style. It does so without plagiarizing anyone else. However, since the writing is based on patterns from its reading not all facts are sourced reliably so don’t let the computer do all the work on its own.
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MidJourney, Stable Diffusion, Craiyon, ArtBreeder, and Dall-E are image generators now available for you to experiment with. These new (Artificial Intelligence) AIs produce stunning, never-before-seen pictures. Users do not need to be professional artists. They do not need drawing skills. What appears on the screen is astounding in its realism and depth of detail. More than 20 million new images are being created every day.
AI generators combine deep learning neural nets that generate coherent realistic images with a natural language model that serves as an interface to the image engine. Human users enter a string of words - a prompt - that describes the image they are seeking and the AI generates a series of images based on that description. If you ask the AI to create in the style of Van Gogh or Joseph Stella, the results are remarkably similar.
A neural network learns skills by analyzing data. By pinpointing patterns in thousands of photos of houses or young girls, for example, it can learn to recognize and create several versions of a house or a young girl. AI's are not allowed to use images of actual people, the faces they produce are eerily familiar portraits of people who do not actually exist.
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“They can extrapolate,” said Oriol Vinyals, senior director of deep learning research at the London lab DeepMind, who has built groundbreaking systems that can juggle everything from language to three-dimensional video games. “They can combine concepts in ways you would never anticipate.” They have learned their art from scanning billions of pictures made by humans so their art looks like what we expect but over time they will restructure new pictures in ways no human is likely to think of, filling in details most of us wouldn’t have the skills to execute or the ability to imagine.”
AI bots are able to generate unlimited variations in whatever style we want in seconds! There are many ways these bots are superior to you and me. They do not get tired. They do not let emotion cloud what they are trying to do. They can instantly draw on far larger amounts of information. And they can generate text, images, and other media at speeds and volumes we humans never could.
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This summer Jason Allen won first place in the digital art category at the Colorado State Fair Fine Art competition for a large space-opera-themed canvas (above) that was signed “Jason Allen via Mid-Journey” It’s a canvas that would have taken some effort to make no matter what tools were used. Images in this category are usually produced from digitized objects, textures, and parts which are then collaged together to form the scene using Photoshop. They are not drawn by hand. In this area using AI is a natural evolution.
According to recent power users, the best image results come from long conversations between humans and machines. The human artist and the machine artist are a duet. Progress for each image comes from many iterations, back and forth, teamwork, and collaboration. It requires not just experience but also lots of hours and work to produce something useful. It is easy to get the AI to surprise you but it is difficult to get the AI to obey you. If you have a specific image in mind and want to command the AI to shade this area and enhance that part or tone it down, such commands are obeyed reluctantly.
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AI generators are opening a possibility for a new art form in the space between photography and painting. Behind this new magecraft is the art of prompting. The process of teasing out a great prompt is an emerging fine art skill exercising taste and curation. If this interests you or if you know young artists who are excited by this art form now is the time to jump in with both feet. Current versions of image generators limit prompts to the length of a long tweet, any longer and the image turns into mush. There are now prompt sourcing sites, books, and courses for you to investigate and contribute to.
You will hear a lot of noise that AI Image Generation is the end of art as we know it. The same thing happened when the camera first appeared, when Photoshop arrived, etc.
However, it is more likely that most AI-generated images will be used to create unique personalized, and copyright-free images for reports, slides, blogs, or newsletters. Most will be used to enhance places where there were no previous images. Many will probably be used, as on the internet, to create entertaining images of cats and pornography.
Eventually, you will see super personalized AI-generated movies on social media or elaborate worlds and images that help us process whatever is going on in our lives - envisioning animal heaven, or the home of our dreams.
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This circles back to our magic wand and creating and sharing the world of our imagination. What if drawing skills were not required to be an artist? What if there were a tool that enhanced and expanded the drawing skills you already have? What if all you need to be an artist is your imagination and an AI collaborator? Would you welcome that?
Will there be more artists creating work to open our hearts in a profound way? I certainly hope so. Could we use AI to envision the world we would like to create in more detail? I think so. Will AI keep people from wanting to learn to draw and paint? I doubt it. There is so much joy in the act of creation that I can easily see using AI to help me to add detail to my images more than I can see handing over the reins entirely to a machine. I am curious to know your thoughts on this.
Please reach out to me if you would like help in adding more imagination joy and magic to your art. I welcome the opportunity for conversation, collaboration, and commissions.
With Light and Delight
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P.S. If you didn't get the chance to download your free gift from me: Here is my "Inner Artist Inspiration Package" - a series of illustrated quotes in watercolor based on flower photos taken by family and friends.
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Botanical Gelatin Plate Printing Workshop | |
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Saturday, February 11, 2023
2 pm to 5 pm
at my home in Plantation, FL
$75
includes all supplies and light snacks and tea.
This class will be limited to six participants to allow everyone a chance to make some art.
Botanical Monoprinting with gelatin plates is a lot of fun!
The softness of the gelatin plates allows you to capture and print great detail in your artwork. Gelatin printing is perfect for making paper to use in mixed media collages, art journaling, junk journaling, and index card art. Printing this way is energizing but also calming and meditative at the same time. It’s an act of creative flow. It starts with curiosity, wondering what on earth will happen, playing around with surface masks, doing experiments, and testing different layering scenarios. You can get delicate detailed impressions with a strong plate of gelatin and mere hand pressure.
We will use an inked printing plate consisting of a pan of gelatin, glycerin, and water. Then flowers, leaves, and other objects are laid down and covered with watercolor paper. After pressing firmly, the first printed artwork is lifted and revealed. A second copy of the same design is made after removing all of the flowers and leaves to show even more interesting delicate textures. After drying, the print is ready for further development or framing just the way it is.
This class will be limited to six participants to allow everyone a chance to make some art. All paper, ink, and other supplies are included but you can bring your own flowers, leaves, or other flat objects that might add texture and interest to your design. Tea, water, and light snacks will be offered.
$75
per person payable in advance by Zelle or Venmo.
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Held in conjunction with the special exhibition Joseph Stella: Visionary Nature, this program featured talks on Charles Burchfield, Marsden Hartley, and Georgia O’Keeffe, contemporaries whose work demonstrates a similar fascination with nature. Speakers included: Elizabeth Finch, Head Curator, Colby College Museum of Art; Barbara Buhler Lynes, Art History Professor, Author, Curator Emerita, author of the O’Keeffe catalog raisonné; and Nancy Weekly, Burchfield Scholar, Head of Collections & Charles Cary Rumsey Curator, Burchfield Penny Art Center.
This was a fascinating exploration of the similar and varied ways this group of contemporary artists used nature as a muse. Stella’s use of harmony, color, and abundance were great examples of the ideas I introduced in my workshop. This was a wonderful exhibition and I am so glad to have been able to put the work into a greater context.
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3 Day Watercolor Workshop
San Pablo Community Hall in Marathon, Florida
January 18-20, 2023
The Painting Joy Workshop for the Florida Keys Watercolor Society is complete!
This vibrant community of 15 participants painted, played and experimented for 3 days using the colors, placement and shapes associated with joy. We elevated our spirits through a deep dive into what lights us up using movement, journaling, and prompts along with lots of time to create new art inspired by our discoveries from our imagination and history.
The 9 aspects of Joy from the book “Joyful” by Ingrid Fetell Lee was the container we used to describe and define our intentions for the type of joy we brought to each painting.
Testimonial: “I loved learning the 9 Aspects of Joy. I would have loved a tad more painting time but I was inspired all the way through. The energy from fellow students was joyful and I loved all of us doing the same circles on the same sheet of paper. I loved the meditation and the after-lunch exercises - I gave it all a 10!! Thank you, Susan” - Julie
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Featured Artist
Art Night at the Burrie
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"Art Night at the Burrie" on Wednesday, January 25th was outstanding.
A big thank you to the Charlotte Burrie Center and the City of Pompano Beach for collaborating with The National League of American Pen Women for this community event. The room was packed with art lovers, the food and drinks were abundant and fun was in the air. These five incredibly talented women artists shared their artistic journey to becoming who they are today; Karen Tondiglia, Susan Convery, Claudia Hafner, Rosaria Vigorito, and Chris Demarest.
I was thrilled to be a part of this group and had a great time meeting the guests and talking about my art. It was even more exciting to sell my abstract "BlueFish" painting in the photo below to a couple I know are going to love and treasure it in their home.
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Susan's Interview on MVTV | |
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Burgau Beach Hotel
Western Algarve
June 17 - 25, 2023
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My Portugal Women’s Art Retreat is Here!
Save the dates of June 17 - 25, 2023 when I will be bringing you to the town of Burgau in the Portuguese Algarve.
Burgau is a small fishing village on a pristine beach near the Costa Vicentina National Park.
The Western Coast is considered to be the least spoiled, least touristy and most scenic part of the Algarve. It’s made up of rugged cliffs, a national park, and numerous small, often empty, and incredibly beautiful beaches.
From our comfortable base in Burgau we will explore nearby villages, the caves and cliffs as well as a famous pottery studio.
There will be daily painting time, optional early morning yoga and meditation as well as delicious food, great company and conversation.
Please let me know if you would like to attend as spots are limited.
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Painting Joy
Created especially for artistic women in the third stage of life who are dissatisfied with their artwork and want to have more fun connecting with themselves and others. In this three-day watercolor workshop, we experiment with visual cues that inspire joy, discover personal symbols that resonate, and provide clues for ways to bring more effervescence into our life and art.
Please recommend any venues you know that might be interested in hosting this workshop in 2023 or 2024.
I would very much appreciate your help in getting the next booking.
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Private Art Retreats
A personalized experience, full of art and discovery, for those who….
- are traveling alone, or with a couple of friends
- would like a much more flexible, and free experience, and lots of fun, too, tailored exactly to your needs, interests, and experience level
- may want to combine painting with organized discovery trips and tours and really get to know the ‘real’ South Florida
- would like to book in for a shorter or longer time than most workshops
- don’t want to have to bring a mountain of supplies in their luggage
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Private Lessons and Events | | |
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Master Classes for High School Students |
Private, highly personalized classes in mastery for artistically-minded US & international students virtually on Zoom or in person at my home.
If you have a student who is a visual thinker, willing to push the boundaries of their own work, and serious about improving their options for college, I want to hear from you! Schedule a time to discuss how I can collaborate with you to build a portfolio that will give your student the greatest chance for success.
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Art Workshops, Critiques & Presentations |
Invite me to present or lead a workshop for your school, club, or guild.
I can customize a program for your event or present my skills programs on composition, color theory, drawing faces, coordinating light/shadow or understanding the cues for depth. I am available for judging, confidence-building critiques and recorded tutorials.
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Improve Your Artist Statement |
If you would like to delve more deeply into your own inner questions and clarify your thoughts as you create an artist statement for your website, a gallery show, a sponsor, or another project, please reach out, and let’s talk. I have helped many students write compelling statements for AP Art, college applications, and competitions.
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Sketchbook Prompt:
Draw 1 impossible thing on your plate and/or an imaginary creature joining you for breakfast every day for the next 6 days before you eat your breakfast.
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Please contact me if you are interested in adding any of the paintings below to your collection.
I will deliver if you live within a 2-hour drive and if you live further away, I will give you a reasonable price for shipping.
Venmo, CashApp, PayPal and Zelle are welcomed.
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Title: Peony Plenty
Media: Watercolor on Arches
Size: 11" x 15" Unframed, 16" x 20" framed
Price: $350.00
Frame: Gold Frame with a 2" mat
This painting is an example of the joyful aesthetics of "abundance" and "renewal". Peonies are a favorite flower of mine and they are in a gorgeous brass vase which I painted with iridescent watercolor..
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Title: Harbinger of Spring (study)
Media: Watercolor on Arches
Size: 11" x 15" unframed, 16"x 20" framed
Price:$275
Frame: Gold frame with 2" Mat
This painting is a study for a larger painting that isn't finished yet depicting a magical deer bringing spring flowers and a flock of scarlet tanagers out of the winter forest into spring on his amazing antlers.
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Title: Bluebird
Media: Mixed Media Monoprint
Size: 11" x 14" unframed, 16" x 20" framed
Price:$350
Frame: Gold frame with 2" mat
A beautiful bluebird flies through an imaginary garden of printed blue begonia leaves
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Title: Enigma
Media: Mixed Media
Size: 22" x 22"
Price: $550
Frame: Gallery Wrapped Canvas Gold Edge
This painting revealed an inner presence to me when I was trying to create an abstract painting featuring veiling and texture.
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