Work in Progress

Travail en cours / Work in progress
©2017 Suzanne Bélair
Oil on canvas 30 X 40

Inspired by San Gimiano, Italy- view from one of the towers, started this new painting, still untitled – to be followed

After all these years of painting, I finally got myself a T-square. I must say this is the first time I ever used this instrument and it is the best thing ever to draw and paint a complex urban scenes like this one, full of buildings and eaves trough.

This painting is based on pictures I took from the towers surrounding San Giminiano in Italy when we visited a few years ago.

San Giminiano is a small medieval town in the province of Sienna,Tuscany. The town is walled and known as “the Town of Fine Towers”. The town is famous for its medieval architecture and the preservation of 13 tower houses that date back to the fourteenth century. These numbered 72 originally and were built by rich families to show their wealth and economic power.

It is a beautiful town, still very lively and interesting to visit. Like a previous one I painted a few years ago, I decided to ass colors to the grey buildings to create a dynamic art piece.

 

Site web Suzanne Bélair

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Invitation Art Exhibit

This is an invitation for the wonderful Spring exhibit from the Lakeshore Association of Artists I am part of. This year again, approximately 45 artists will exhibit at the Fritz Farm Community Center, located at 20477 Lakeshore road in Baie d’Urfé H9X 1R3. One third of artwork sales and all raffle tickets sales will be donated to NOVA West Island.

 

NOVA West Island is a charitable healthcare organization that supports the West Island population by providing palliative and oncology care, adult and children bereavement programs, home support and adult day centers. These are provided by a team of registered nurses, health aides, program coordinators and volunteers.

 

The vernissage takes place on Friday April 21^st  from 7PM to 9:30PM and the exhibit continues Saturday 22^nd and Sunday 23^rd  from 10am to 5 pm.

 

Don’t miss this special event ! I will be there on Friday evening and Sunday afternoon.

 

I also invite you to visit my website at: http://suzannebelair.com and my facebook page: www.facebook.com/SuzanneBelairArtist

 

 

Hope to see you there !

 

Suzanne

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Painting of the week: INDOMPTABLE / INDOMITABLE

Indomptable
©2017 Suzanne Bélair
Acrylique sur toile 30 X 30 po

Man wants to subdue the forest

To his power, to his needs

Man wants to tame the forest

But the forest is fighting

Each time it resists

After each attack, it regenerates

Indomitable, secret, new

Each time it reveals itself

Despite the assaults

Every time it relives

 

©2017 Suzanne Belair

 

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Painting of the week: FOREST TRAVELS

Forest travels
©2017Suzanne Belair
Acrylic on canvas 30 X 30 in

Today I am sharing a new painting finished in January. Forests are one of my favourite subjects and I really enjoy painting this new series.

 

The traveller is moving towards the other side of the trees, towards the future. So it is in life, where we are forced to move constantly and become someone new everyday of our life.
Change is constant and our travels through life are life changing. Learning something every day, being kind to others, progressing, building, changing ourselves or something.

 

Painting and writing are metaphors for life. We strive to do our best, we have to confront our fear of committing to color and shapes just as in life, we often fear committing to something, we fear making decisions.

 

A good example is related in a book I have been reading authored by Joseph T. Hallinan, “Why we make mistakes”. The author relates a scientific study that concluded that when faced with the choice, students prefer not change an answer on a test (i.e. prefer doing nothing) rather than make a decision to change their answer even when they suspected the change might end up being the right answer. In follow-up interviews, it was revealed that it is the notion of regret that influenced the students most. They were afraid of regretting taking the wrong action and they regretted less not taking action and leaving the wrong answer.

 

So often, we get stuck in this way in our life, being afraid to make a decision we might regret, we prefer not to do anything which in itself is a decision but is not perceived as such by the brain.

 

In conclusion, be bold, dare to step over the threshold into the unknown, for this is what life is all about. Travel fearlessly through your life’s forests.

 

Ref: Hallinan, J.T. 2009. “Why we make mistakes”. Broadway books. New York.

 

 

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Painting of the week : THE LIGHT WILL FIND YOU

The light will find you
©2017 Suzanne Belair
Acrylic on canvas 30 X 30 in

Today I am sharing a new painting recently finished. It speaks of the light that is in everyone’s life and that will come out after any episode of sadness.

 

When you are feeling sad, discouraged, in a rut, it is better to stop and take a few moments to think about it and feel it fully, than to keep on going, making believe it is not happening. It is important not to run away from your feelings.

 

Here is something that I do and that makes me feel better every time.

 

When you get a chance during your day, stop what you are doing, sit down or lie down and feel these feelings fully. It might feel like heaviness in your chest but it could also be the panicky sensation we get when fear wants to insert itself into our life, when indeed it has. What can we do to help this?  It all starts with mindfulness and acknowledging what is happening inside you.

 

Breathing slowly and becoming aware of the physical feelings and calming these, is essential. Here’s how I do it. I sit down and close my eyes and I imagine a beautiful space surrounding me like a lush garden or a deep blue sky.  My own preference is I see myself sitting in a forest beside a tree near a small river, and I hear the water flow and it is very calm. Once the image is clear in your head, start breathing mindfully.

 

Breathe slowly through your nose. Breathe in your sadness, feel it in your body, around your heart, and then release it with the out breath, feel the sadness get out of your body with the breath and vanish in the forest (or whatever space you created). Continue this for a while until you truly feel the release (minimum 10 breaths).

 

Continue the slow mindful breathing: Others are also feeling sad, so think of them also, feel their sadness at losing a loved one or at their situation. Breathe in their sadness through your heart and breathe all this sadness out toward your beautiful image surrounding you, toward the vastness it, feel the sadness dissolve around you. Visualize your out breath carrying the sadness away from you.

 

While you are doing this exercise, be present to how you feel when you release the sadness in the nature surrounding you. Be present to your feeling of compassion for others and your feeling that you are not alone.

 

Be aware that all in temporary, life is impermanence and your sadness is also temporary. The light will find you.

 

Site web Suzanne Bélair

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Painting of the week: LA TRAVERSÉE (THE CROSSING)

I just finished this painting a few days ago.

La traversée (The crossing) ©2016Suzanne Belair Mixed media on canvas 30 X 40 in

 

I started it during the summer of 2015, painting outside on my patio in the beating sun and feeling exhilarated ! Unfortunately, my enthusiasm was short lived. I ended up with a result full of colors, but empty of meaning and after looking at it for a few days, I decided this canvas had to wait and go into hiding. It lacked harmony and hated it.

 

I have looked at it a few times over the last year and each time, the same reaction “NO” and I would turn away from my poor failed project. I had no idea where to start to fix it. There was no focal point, there was no story and I always like a good story !

 

A few weeks ago, I took it out from its hiding place and turned it around. After a long look at it, I emptied my head and tried to listen to what it was telling me.

 

And I saw it, the water fall, the struggle to cross it, the bridge I had to complete. We hear a lot about the fight to survive of war refugees these days. We are seeing a whole ancient city being destroyed before our very eyes while the world basically stands by. Thousands of families, women, children, men, die everyday because a few crazy people are greedy and selfish, because they want to control other people’s lives, because money and religion has become more important than their humanity.

 

This painting is entitled “La traversée” (The crossing) and talks about survival and determination, crossing to another, better world where safety awaits, and of the hope that carries us all towards survival.

 

Site web Suzanne Bélair
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Travelling through the Maritimes

Been travelling through the Maritimes for a few weeks visiting and looking for art galleries and museums.

There has not been that much time to just walk and enjoy local art though.

What I found in Nova Scotia is that most local art is folk art. Galleries that define themselves as showing “Fine art” can comprise anything from paintings, to tole painting to photographs and a lot of giclées and reproductions. On the famous Cabot Trail, one said “Fine art gallery” even sold chocolates. We found this disappointing.

We found a really fun gallery in Petite Rivière, The Painted saltbox, owned and run by two artists Tom Alway and Peter Blais. This gallery and garden are worth the stop. The two owners are not only talented but so much fun to talk with. They seem to truly enjoy what they are doing and sharing their “joie de vivre”. The gallery displays their originals as well as various size reproductions of their own art. A very upbeat and happy place to visit.

In PEI, we found a nice gallery in the French River area, that of Tony Diodati.

This two floors gallery includes the artist studio and his art was quite interesting, comprising his own brightly coloured PEI scenes and reproductions.

Our trip continues…Tomorrow, we are moving from Shediac to St-Léonard for the Symposium Rendez-vous des Artistes in which I am a participating artist.
We are setting up tomorrow and the event runs from Friday 19^th to Sunday 21^st.
That should be a lot of fun with nightly activities for artists and visitors alike.

To see the program click here: http://www.rendezvousdesartistes.com/programmation/

 

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