Category Archives: Learning

Five Days on the North Rim

Posted on October 14, 2020 by Sarah Sullivan

We camped on the edge of the Grand Canyon’s North Rim, not in the park, but along the Rainbow Trail in Kaibab Forest. If you look closely at this painting, you can see our two campers, my husband, sister, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Landscape, Learning, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 13 Comments

Slow Days of Summer

Posted on August 10, 2020 by Sarah Sullivan

Hanging out with family under shade trees in the heat of summer may be one of the best experiences ever. I wanted to capture this feeling of slow togetherness in this sketch.

Posted in Groups Interacting, Learning, Telling a Story | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Sunset in the Meadow

Posted on July 12, 2020 by Sarah Sullivan

When I look at the collection above of the plein air paintings that I did on our recent trip to Colorado, I notice that I am reluctant to include people in the landscapes and to use vivid accent colors. Since … Continue reading →

Posted in Deliberate Practice | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Marigolds on Stripes

Posted on November 5, 2019 by Sarah Sullivan

I brought my marigolds inside and took my time arranging the composition. For color and shape contrast, I put the round orange flowers on a mostly blue striped tablecloth. Then I arranged the wrinkles in the stripes to counter the … Continue reading →

Posted in Deliberate Practice, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Describing Nature’s Beauty

Posted on May 2, 2019 by Sarah Sullivan

There are so many ways of looking at, thinking about, and admiring nature. Some do it with words, photos, or paint, others in less common ways. Over the years I have come to appreciate the perspective of my favorite mathematician, … Continue reading →

Posted in Learning, Telling a Story | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Gordon Shows Us How He Paints

Posted on February 26, 2019 by Sarah Sullivan

I admire the exuberance and humor in the paintings of a local artist, Gordon Bashant. He uses primary colors, black outlines, calligraphy, strong values, and halos. It gives his work a boisterous happy feeling that I would like my own … Continue reading →

Posted in Learning, Telling a Story | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Intuitive Painting

Posted on February 14, 2019 by Sarah Sullivan

I just finished a four-day workshop on intuitive painting with the Arizona artist, Stan Kurth. Above are three of my favorite paintings that I did during the workshop. We learned to develop paintings intuitively. Not from life, not from a … Continue reading →

Posted in Deliberate Practice | Tagged , , | 11 Comments