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~ Traveler / Artist / Photographer / Observer

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Tag Archives: vacation

Unfinished but… delicious.

02 Wednesday Mar 2016

Posted by Susana Weber in Art, Caribbean, Food, Painting, still life, Travel, Uncategorized

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art, arts, food, painting, St Martin, still life, Susana Weber, texture, travel, vacation, watercolor

Are you done with those yet? The light isn’t right… it’s not going to be right today. Well… alrig__…. Hey!

Acacados - 12x9 watercolor

Avacados – 12×9 watercolor

 

Waking…

29 Monday Feb 2016

Posted by Susana Weber in Art, Caribbean, Painting, Travel, Travel ~ Photography/Art/Food/Culture, Uncategorized

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art, challenging yourself, inspiration, learning, paint sketching, reawakening, special place, St Martin, travel, vacation, waking up, Watercolors

I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.

I feel my fate in what I cannot fear.

I learn by going where I have to go.

From “The Waking”-  Theodore Roethke – 1953

image

It’s a sad thing when your electronic devices remind you that your last post was one year ago… Very sad indeed… Sigh…

Then… Good morning. Waking. Inspired, as always by a tropical sun and warm breeze. Making use of my time and all these reflections and shadows. I’m waking… Going where I need to go.

 

What to do…

23 Tuesday Jul 2013

Posted by Susana Weber in Photography, Travel, Travel ~ Photography/Art/Food/Culture, Uncategorized

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Italy, people watching, rainy day, Rome, street photography, travel, vacation

… on a miserably rainy morning in the Eternal City… and you want to be out walking around seeing things and absorbing all there is to see and do in a magnificent capital city like Rome. What do you do? You go out and do all of that… and take your camera with you to record what other people are doing out on a rainy morning! What else?

Catch up on your email on the Spanish Steps.

Catch up on your email on the Spanish Steps.

Enjoy getting your picture taken.

Enjoy getting your picture taken… sorta.

Rest your feet and hope nobody takes your picture with this silly orange poncho on.

Rest your feet and hope nobody takes your picture with this silly orange poncho on.

 

Ask young beautiful girls to take your picture.

Ask young beautiful girls to take your picture… it works sometimes.

Stay inside and check out who didn't show up for duty.

Stay inside and check out who didn’t show up for duty.

Try to ignore your jet-lag as long as possi..b..zzzzzz

Try to ignore your jet-lag as long as possi..b..zzzzzz

Make a note to self to pack your own suitcase.

Make a note to self to pack your own suitcase.

Forget about the puddles... it's just a dress.

Forget about the puddles… it’s just a dress.

Sit down, eat gelato, meet new people and talk to everyone.

Sit down, eat gelato, meet new people and talk to everyone.

Is there more? Oh yes… later… Ciao

BTW… from the FREE Dictionary

Word History: Ciao first appears in English in 1929 in Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms, which is set in northeast Italy during World War I. It is likely that this is where Hemingway learned the word, for ciau in Venetian dialect means “servant, slave,” and, as a casual greeting, “I am your servant.” Ciau corresponds to standard Italian schiavo; both words come from Medieval Latin sclavus, “slave.” A similar development took place with servus, the Classical Latin word for “slave,” in southern Germany, Austria, Hungary, and Poland, where servus is used as a casual greeting like ciao. At the opposite end of the world, in Southeast Asia, one even sees words meaning “slave” or “your slave” that have developed into pronouns of the first person, again to indicate respect and humility.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved

Filling the empty canvas…

16 Sunday Sep 2012

Posted by Susana Weber in Art, Painting, Uncategorized

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art, arts, canvas, inspiration, intensity, painting, special place, St Martin, travel, vacation

The large white space has been knocking around this room and that one for longer that I remember… a 4 x 5 foot canvas… totally empty, that I bought for something that must have been in my mind years ago. Every now and then it would be in the way and it would get shuffled to the basement or the studio upstairs… or even used in the big window in the summer as a sun shade. Forgotten, it would sit in a corner… or behind a stack of frames where I’d eventually rediscover it. It’s accusatory white face gleaming at me… wanting to be painted and hung somewhere… anywhere. It developed a cut from something… a careless moment or pressure from some unkind frame or piece of orphaned glass leaning too close… Oops! so sorry… I hope it doesn’t hurt too much. A 4 inch gash 2 inches from one edge. Now that would have to be fixed before it could be painted… another delay!

Lucy's Snack Inspiration

Lucy’s Snack Inspiration

Several years ago… (God, this sounds awful!) I actually decided what I wanted to paint on the now spotted, fingerprinted and slashed white stretched surface. Vacationing in St Martin a few winters back, I took a photograph of a building whose orange color hurt the eyes to look at it… but, it changed the mood of the day to pass by it’s glowing walls! Everyone who walked in it’s presence looked outlined and “graphic”. One woman walked by in an outfit the same orange color. It was AWESOME! But, even though I could ‘see’ the finished painting in my mind… the start was still years away. Then……………………. I started.

Work in Progress in the photo studio... this thing is BIG!

Work in Progress in the photo studio… this thing is BIG!

The photo is fine for a photo but the painting in my head was a lot closer… a color-blocked composition with a figure walking through it. I rearranged the elements… sky, wall, roof, gate, sidewalk, street, figure… tighter and more focused… the elements becoming an abstract by themselves. Oh, and see that big hole on the right… yeah, gotta do something about that. I sketched the elements out and used a little fixative on the charcoal lines… then rough scrubbed in the blocks of color and values. Because this was so set in my mind, I felt there were few decisions that hadn’t been worked out even though I don’t remember thinking about it that much. I was just executing an already done painting. Weird… Next…

WIP 2

WIP 2

Things started picking up and I put an orange wash all over the figure and the sidewalk. Anything in front of the walls of Lucy’s Snack would glow! The under-painting let’s me work through what the values of the elements should be. I left off the iron gate because it would be easier to over-paint the wall instead of painting around the delicate lines. I really missed it as an element and couldn’t wait to get it back in.

WIP 3

WIP 3

I work on detailing some of the green metal roof, putting in a shadow for the figure on the wall and under-painting the clothing. The time of day is early morning just after sunrise with the sun low in the sky. This is when colors are their most intense, washing out in mid-day and softening in evening. This is the best time of day to photograph… and I love the light. The light is certainly an important subject of this painting. Oh, yeah… the hole is patched. Duct tape on the back and filled the gap with gesso and orange paint. Fingers crossed.

WIP-4

WIP-4

More detailing, building up that glowing color on the walls, adjusting values… darker or lighter… over-painting the clothing to the black and white in my vision… Really missing that gate. She needs that element to walk toward… to be ‘grounded’.

WIP 5

WIP 5

Finally… the gate from the unseen doorway. It adds so much… oh, well… that’s just me. Things are coming together. Lots of adjusting here and there… I think her head looks too big… so, I make it smaller from the back taking out some of the cap in the final. Seeking more movement in the skirt. Finishing the sidewalk textures and the street and painted stripes. The purse looks too important… no, just unfinished. I add a texture and more shaping, a shadow, a reflection from the white skirt on the bottom.

Morning light... Final

Morning light… Final

Is it done? Seems to be. I’m trying not to overwork it. Time will tell.

WIP face detail

WIP face detail

The canvas size makes it hard to see detail… so I’ve included these. It is great to keep a record of whatever kind of art project you’re working on.

WIP Final detail

WIP Final detail

Filling the big white space...

Filling the big white space…

So it’s done… the white canvas is no longer getting kicked from place to place. There’s a fortune in orange paint on it. The price of canvas has doubled since this one was purchased. And the empty white space in the kitchen is filled with something that reminds me of a very special place on the planet. It makes me smile… and want to plan the next trip there!

Artful food

12 Monday Mar 2012

Posted by Susana Weber in Food, Photography, Travel ~ Photography/Art/Food/Culture, Uncategorized

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artful food, culture, food, photography, St Martin, texture, travel, vacation

Eggwhite omlette

Eggwhite omlette

Cafe' aulait and apricot tartan
Cafe’ aulait and apricot tartan
Apple tart tartan
Apple tart tartan
Guilty pleasures
Guilty pleasures

French loaves
French loaves
Fresh
Fresh
The decision
The decision

Eggwhite omlette
Eggwhite omlette
Toppings and textures
Toppings and textures
Baguette French Toast
Baguette French Toast


One cannot live on photographs, editing, uploading, sketching and watercolors alone… so at some point one must prepare or… gather… some food and on the island of St Martin, it is artful indeed. Of course the French boulangeries are the obvious place to find it in its most artful form. In Marigot, Sarafina’s is a favorite just across from the ferry port and outdoor market. Trying to decide what to choose slows the line to a crawl… so better order two of whatever you choose. Even our everyday breakfast fare became something to make special… it only seemed right in the presence of such… artful delights!

 

© Susana Weber and Tattoo Communications, 2012. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Susana Weber and with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Change of air

10 Saturday Mar 2012

Posted by Susana Weber in Art, Photography, Travel ~ Photography/Art/Food/Culture

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art, arts, earth, illustration, landscape, nature, outdoors, painting, photography, plants, sea, Simpson Bay Lagoon, St Martin, travel, vacation, watercolor

Change sunrise

Change sunrise

A definite change… still, warmer, humid, mosquitos! Hearing things you don’t hear when the breeze is running… the dog down the hill… a carpenter cutting wood somewhere far off. Preceded by a night of wind and rain that rattled the shutters, the sunrise sky is like none we’ve seen since we arrived. I’ve amused myself with my watercolor postcards, finding hidden pictures on the tiles of the floor and pool lounging when the sun is not quite so high. I’m getting the hang of the watercolors. I’ve never liked the medium… I’m too impatient and tend to overwork a piece by not letting the color dry before I work on top of it. The breeze here taught me something. It helped dry things up and I could see that I had to wait. Learn something every day… try new stuff… keep those brain cells moving… :)))

Hammock on the porch postcard

Hammock on the porch postcard

 

© Susana Weber and Tattoo Communications, 2012. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Susana Weber and with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

More true love

09 Friday Mar 2012

Posted by Susana Weber in Abstract Macro Photography, Art, Photography, Travel ~ Photography/Art/Food/Culture

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abstract, accidental image, different cultures, hearts, hidden picture, texture, tile, tile floor, travel, vacation

Hidden hearts

Hidden hearts

Now see… this is what I mean about true love… they find me everywhere. I think hearts are the most common shape that I find in just about every kind of surface and texture that I see. These were underfoot in the tile floor of this lovely house that I’ve been able to call home for the last two weeks. We’ve been coming to St Martin for the last 10 years… renting different houses and loving the different cultures here… Caribbean, Dutch, French… all sorts of folks make this place their home… and home away from home. It’s starting to feel like home to me, too…

 

© Susana Weber and Tattoo Communications, 2012. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Susana Weber and with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

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