Friday Feature: Artist Susan Hodgin

Gale
by Susan Hodgin
Oil on Canvas
216" x 48"

I had seen the work of artist Susan Hodgin in many of the local art venues here in Indianapolis before I met her in her studio at the Harrison Art Center.  What I love about her work is the sense of space that she conveys with abstract form.  Many of her paintings create a visual depth that reminds me of deep space cosmic depictions of our galaxy.  Yet her work portrays more than a particular time or space.  It expresses emotion that can be reflected back to the viewer.  This is the best of abstract work.  The type that can transcend the individual and speak to the universal experience of human emotion.

I discover new emotional territories.  My paintings are not landscapes but are maps of my experience.  They are an attempt to map, chart, and record my reactions to nature, both near and far.

-Susan Hodgin

Susan Hodgin in her Studio

Justice

Lady Justice
Copyright 2012 Addie Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
16" x 20"
Prints available on Fine Art America

I'm for truth no matter who tells it.

I'm for justice no matter who it is for or against.

-Malcom X

The Bonds of Love

The Bonds of Love
Copyright 2012 Addie Hirschten
Pen on Paper
6" x 6"

Her mother clutched her cold body and wailed.  I knew her heart break but also knew that tears were useless, that water under the bridge never returns.  
And yet nothing I could do would cut the bonds of human love.

-Kobayashi Issa

Common as Light

Common as Light
Copyright 2012 Addie Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
16" x 20"
Prints available on Fine Art America

Common as light is love,

And its familiar voice wearies not ever...

they who inspire it are most fortunate, as I am now;

but those who feel it most are happier still.

-Percy Bysshe Shelley

The Moment

The Moment
Copyright 2012 Addie Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
16" x 20"
Prints available on Fine Art America

The moment one gives close attention to anything,

it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself.

-Henry Miller

Friday Feature: Artist Penelope Dullaghan

Emily Dickinson Museum Poster
by Penelope Dullaghan

One astounding illustration artist that I love is the Penelope Dullaghan. It is hard to put my finger on what I like best about her work- but it might be the sense of space that she gives to her compositions.  The objects have breathing room much like how much Japanese art utilizes "negative space" or "ma." It gives her work an elegant quality. This space allows the eye to flow naturally throughout each piece. Lovely!

Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.
~Lao Tzu

Only a Small Light

Light
Copyright 2012 Addie Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
16" x 20"
Prints available on Fine Art America

You may possess only a small light, but uncover it, let it shine, use it in order to bring more light and understanding to the hearts and minds of men and women. Give them not Hell, but hope and courage.
-John Murray

The Spinner

The Spinner
Copyright 2012 Addie Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
16" x 20"
Prints available on Fine Art America

A woman spins wool into yarn using an old fashioned hand spinner.  This is what my friend Cara (an excellent artist and spinner) calls the "alchemy of creation."

People are capable, at any time in their lives, of doing what they dream of.

-Paulo Coelho

Darling

Darling
Copyright 2012 Addie Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
16" x 20"
Prints available on Fine Art America

Here a man and a woman are about to kiss.  I imagine that they call each other "darling" and maybe, just maybe they are about to go out to the theater.  It is all velvet and skin and witty cocktails.

I do love thee! and when I love thee not,
Chaos is come again.

-Shakespeare

The Higgs Particle

The Higgs Particle
Copyright 2012 Addie Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
16" x 20"
Prints available on Fine Art America

This year scientists celebrated the discovery of the Higgs boson.  It is the field of energy that allows particles to have mass, to exist.  It breaks symmetry.  It is the essential spark that propels life forward.  Fascinated by the physicist's visual images of the Higgs boson I created this painting.  

This man and woman embody that energy... as does every grain of sand.

One grain of sand,

One drop of water in the deep blue sea.

-Pete Seeger

Friday Feature: Artist Leslie Saeta

Entering South Pasadena
by Leslie Saeta
Oil on Panel
11" x 14"

Here marks the first "Friday Feature" where I will be bragging on the many other artists, living and dead, who have inspired me.  Today I am pleased to feature the artist, Leslie Saeta.

One distinctive feature of Leslie Saeta's work is her method of applying oil paint using palette knives.  It gives her work a rich and distinctive texture.  I especially love her boat paintings that capture reflections on water.

I am very grateful for all of the work that she puts into the Artists Helping Artists Podcast!  I have learned so much about art marketing by listening each week to this fun-loving show.  Soon she will be teaching on-line art marketing classes called WebinARTs.  I don't know when this woman sleeps I tell ya!  To that Leslie says...

But I am having too much fun to slow down!

-Leslie Saeta

Zeus and Semele

Zeus and Semele
Copyright 2012 Addie Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
16" x 20"
Prints available on Fine Art America

Once upon a time the Greek God, Zeus had a lover named Semele.  She asked to see him not disguised but in his true form, in all his glory.  He tried to talk her out of it, but she insisted.  When she opened her eyes to see him her body was consumed in flames.

Yeah- he was just that hot.

Sometimes when I look at men I have to turn away as if it hurts my eyes to see them... when they are beautiful and laughing and the essence of life.  They can be too much I tell ya.  

too much

(yum)

Laetus in Praesens

The Cathedral
Copyright 2012 Addie Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
16" x 20"
Prints available on Fine Art America

and I repeat...

 Laetus in Preasens
Happiness Now

-Horace

Carpe Diem
Carpe Noctem

Good mantras

D.C. al fine

Ophelia

Ophelia
Copyright 2012 Addie Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
16" x 20"
Prints available on Fine Art America

Poor Ophelia, I just want to shake you.  Did you really think that without that cupcake Hamlet your life was worthless?  You've got to learn how to have fun on your own girlfriend.  Seriously.

 Nature is fine in love, and where 'tis fine,
It sends some precious instance of itself
After the thing it loves.
-Shakespeare

Camellia

Camellia
Copyright 2012 Addie Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
16" x 20"
Prints available on Fine Art America

Be not afeard: the isle is full of noises,

Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.

Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments 

Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices

That, if I then had waked after long sleep,

Will make me sleep again: and then, in dreaming,

The clouds methought would open and show riches 

Ready to drop upon me that, when I waked, 

I cried to dream again.

-Shakespeare, The Tempest
 

Friday

Friday
Copyright 2012 Addie Hirschten
Watercolor on Paper
9" x 12"

If it should rain,

it will rain.

If the wind should blow,

it blows.

-Ikkyu Sojun

Sharing Stories

It has been a hectic and wonderful summer of storytelling gigs for me!!! By visiting libraries I was able to share stories with over 1300 children and spread a message of celebration for the world we live in.

Thank you my patrons and sidekick the Belly Button Beastie!

I feel a very unusual sensation - if it is not indigestion, I think it must be gratitude.
-Benjamin Disraeli

We need myths to get by.  We need story: otherwise the tremendous randomess of experience overwhlems us.  Story is what penetrates. 
-Robert Coover

And the winner is...

Dreaming of Roses
Copyright 2012 Addie Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
8" x 10"

Andrea Landis for commenting on my Facebook Fanpage!.  

Congrats! I hope you enjoy this painting.

Thanks to all who participated.

and now...

Happy Birthday to me!

It is time for a donut.

Those who want happiness must stoop to find it;

it is a flower that grows in every  vale.

-William Blake

 

Love Never Fails

Love Never Fails
Copyright 2012 Addie Hirschten
Pen on Paper
8" x 10"

Love is patient, love is kind. Love does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices in the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails.

-Corinthians 13:4

How Can I Keep from Singing?

How Can I Keep From Singing?
Copyright 2012 Addie Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
16" x 20"
Prints available on Fine Art America

My life flows on in endless song above earth's lamentation.

I hear the real though far off hymn that hails a new creation.

Through all the tumult and the strife I hear the music ringing.

It sounds an echo in my soul.

How can I keep from singing.

No storm can shake my inmost calm while to that rock I'm clinging.

Since love prevails in heaven and earth,

how can I keep from singing.

-Early Quaker Song

Awhile back I sang this song for my daughter as she was going to sleep.  We have a lullaby ritual.  I got all into it and was feeling very emotional.  Then I ended the song.  She sat up in bed and said, "How can I keep from barfing?  hahahahahhaaaa!"

funny.

How can I keep from laughing?

Incidentally- I finished this painting, took the photo of it- then decided that I wanted to rework the face. Here you have a rare glimpse of the painting, How Can I Keep from Singing, before it was finished. 

The Battle

The Battle
Copyright 2012 Addie Hirschten
Watercolor on Paper
9" x 12"

Each one of us has to find peace from within.

And for peace to be real it must be unaffected by outside circumstances.

-Gandhi

This painting is a very abstracted depiction of a battle field.

There are still flowers growing there.

Many Waters

Many Waters
Copyright 2012 Addie Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
16" x 20"
Prints available on Fine Art America

Many waters cannot quench love, 

neither can the floods drown it.

-Song of Solomon 8:7

A Single Soul

A Single Soul
Copyright 2012 Addie Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
16" x 20"
Prints available on Fine Art America

Always think of the universe as one living organism, with a single substance and a single soul.

-Marcus Aurelius

 

You are what you eat.

You are oranges

and the sun

and the rain

and all of it.