A Digital Painting about Mental Illness

We've been going through a lot of learning about mental illness in our family, and it's certainly not pleasant. I hope that as more light is shined on various forms of mental illness, that it will become a condition which is treated with the care and dignity of other illnesses.

This painting is a digital collage of many images: a digital version of a watercolor of mine, and photos of various places which have been important in a loved one's life. I hope that it shows both the tragedy of schizophrenia when it destroys families, and hope for the future. Maybe some day a diagnosis of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder or depression will not be the horrible sentence that it is these days.

www.susankennedy.com
www.sketchroom.etsy.com

McConnell's Mill Equipment and Interior, Digitally Painted Historical Photographs

This is one of my "painted" photos of my treasured places of Pennsylvania and South Carolina.

Interior of McConnell's Mill, Pennsylvania

You can see the posterized art photograph here on Etsy, and I have it cropped to various aspect ratios, should you be interested in purchasing the photo (of course, the copyright info does not appear on purchased .jpg files).

I'm sorting through a decade of photos, and some of them stand out as shimmering and otherworldly. I love the ones which include old wood, statues, buildings, windows, ruins, brick...anything which speaks to the viewer about the hopes and dreams of the people who built these things.

Particularly dear to my heart are places which house old machines. You can almost hear shouts and the grind of belts and gears as ghosts from the past reenact the life this place once had.

Thanks for looking, and for joining me as I figure out what my art means to me, and what I want to say.

www.sketchroom.etsy.com
www.susankennedy.com

Abstraction and the Joy of Paint

This is a painting which was very hard to paint...heck, all of my paintings are hard to paint these days.

"The Very Old Steps" acrylic on canvas, 24" x 18" SOLD

It was bought by my oldest and dearest art supporters, the people of Cumming First United Methodist Church.

I can't seem to be inspired by realism in the past couple of years, but abstracted and allegorical landscapes most definitely inspire me. I'm sure they appeal to fewer people, but they mean a lot more to me. Mostly these paintings of mine are about the painfully wistful longing that we all have for heaven and peace.

Usually these knife paintings have a faint distant area which suggests the tantalizing landscape of heaven, and the foreground is often blocky obstacles which are the viewer's/traveler's journey as she struggles to keep peace and heaven in view. This painting is definitely in that group and has that theme. It also attempts to capture, typically for me, a struggle against anxiety and depression as I travel along the paths and steps that all of us take.

I so appreciate the support of my patrons and appreciators as I seemingly paint endless paintings which ALL LOOK ALIKE! To me they are different, and to me they attempt to tell differing stories.

Fantasy Moon Photography

A fantastical moon hangs over the soft and dreamy landscape in the childhood land of Nod

It seems like I always have to tweak realism these days. This shot of the moon was one I took on a beautifully clear night at Edisto Island.

A close study of the moon always sets one off on a bit of wistful thinking, like what it would be like to visit the moon, or what it would be like to be looking at the moon from a very distant land.

This time I wanted to imagine our moon...as a sight shared by the struggling dwellers of the world of reality, and the sleepy inhabitants of the land of Nod. The nighttime sky in the land of Nod is softly dreamy, with wispy tendrils of clouds pulling away to reveal a glowing and beautiful moon. It watches over the sleepers and seems to grant them peaceful dreams as it watches over the serene night-shrouded landscape. (You can find this photo on Etsy)

If art is escapism, then fantasy art is the truest art, right?

Thanks for looking at my art and my "painted photographs!" Come back for more, as I try to document my move from my art as reporting on reality to my art as a means to tell a story or comment on what's important. Here's hoping I can come up with something to paint!

www.sketchroom.etsy.com
www.susankennedy.com

A Different Path for an Artist

"Junkyard Reverie" a posterized photo of a scene that shows the best of a junk shop stroll

About a year ago I got a job - other than teaching art, selling art, or working part-time retail. If you want to know what I discovered about my art, I'll tell you: the confidence imparted by a place in a creative industry, and the slightly more secure financial spot inspired me to instantly drop the paintings and projects which did not inspire me. I was done...painting what I apparently didn't want to paint.

I hadn't been aware that I wasn't so interested anymore in realism. I had been saying for five or ten years that I was enjoying exploring abstraction in my paintings, but I hadn't admitted that realism or even impressionism wasn't inspiring me any more as a means to grab my attention, or that of my viewer.

What is grabbing my attention now? Paintings, photography and even cartooning which have a story. It's obvious to any art student who has paid attention to her teachers that art requires a story, but I had gotten lost in a couple of decades of selling paintings and accepting commissions. My art had become "what can I paint for you?"

I still love realist art and impressionist art, because when I see a painting that has an amazing story or composition I have that much more respect for the talents of the artist. But for me, the artistic process has started all over again in an artistic childhood. I'm exploring color and a toolbox of techniques including painting knives when I'm using oils or acrylics, and filters and adjustments when I'm sifting through my photographs. I hope to describe my artistic journey a bit more in this blog and in the art I create.

Thanks for taking a look, and I hope you enjoy examining what inspires you visually and why.

Susan

www.sketchroom.etsy.com

www.susankennedy.com