Wednesday, April 3, 2013

We've Moved!

A Painter's Year has moved to my new site! Now all of my blogs and galleries, news and information are under one roof at the new www.susanabbott.com. Please click here to go to my new website--and at the bottom of the blog page, you can sign up for new postings. While you're there, take a look at all the new galleries and information on my site!

Many thanks to all of my google followers on this blog. I'd hate to lose you--so please go to my new Connect page and sign up for my mailing list, so I can keep in touch with new paintings and events.

I'll be posting frequent Journal Paintings for sale in my new site store, which you can see first on my new A Painter's Year blog--plus "Sunday Sketchbook", and a new feature of weekly "Painting Notes" on process and technique. Please come and take a look!

Monday, March 18, 2013

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Big Palms, Breezy Day

A majestic old palm swaying in the wind reminded me of a dancer bending to music only she could hear.

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

January Sunset, Hope Town

Looking out at the grey fields here on a rainy Vermont afternoon, it's hard to believe I was outside painting this harbor just a few weeks ago. Tomorrow I'm heading south to teach in Washington, where I'll post the rest of my Bahamas plein air landscapes, and probably find enough spring to paint outside again.

Friday, March 8, 2013

Socked In, Hope Town

Painted during rain and wind under shelter of the ferry dock, while barely holding on to my easel, palette, brushes, hat and composure.

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

High Noon, Dockside

One of my favorite places to paint in Hope Town is standing on the "Queen's Highway" sidewalk, with views either to the harbor or this screen-porched cottage, depending which way I feel like facing.

Friday, March 1, 2013

By Vernon's, Hope Town

Vernon's is one of two little stores on this part of the island, and since my cottage was close by I stopped by frequently for their freshly baked bread--giving me plenty of time to admire these shadow shapes on my way to and fro before I finally set up to paint them.

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Windy On the Bay Side, Elbow Cay

This is one of those "I only have a half hour, so I'm just not going to give a damn" watercolors--which I find, if filed away to age in the "mess" drawer for awhile, sometimes don't look so bad when pulled out again a few weeks later--especially during a snowy day back home in Vermont.

Friday, February 22, 2013

Big Clouds over the Harbor, Hope Town

Another afternoon of quickly changing weather, with sharp contrasts between a luminous distance and dark foreground.

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

White House and Yellow Shed, Hope Town

The strong shapes of the prussian blue shadows and the rhythm of the violet fence bridging the verticals of house and shed made this a fine motif--even without the wonderful orange-panted figure in the foreground, bent over and wielding a scythe to cut the grass, whom I thought was going to be the whole point of the painting.

Monday, February 18, 2013

Quiet Water, Hope Town

Looking down an inlet at the edge of the village one morning last week--though it seems, from back here in Vermont, like another year and season.

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Lifting Storm, Hope Town

I'm flying home to Vermont today, but will continue to post paintings from my three weeks in the Bahamas--which will help me remember the pleasures, once back in my studio, of working outdoors in a tee shirt in the middle of winter.

Monday, February 11, 2013

Sunday, February 10, 2013



My focus has switched from painting to teaching this week, and I'm enjoying showing my students the wealth of motifs here in Hope Town--though we haven't yet indulged in a round of Kalik beers and sketching on the Harbor Edge bar's deck.

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Pink House by the Harbor, Hope Town


Late afternoon light on a charming pink cottage, with those tropical white shutters that make such great shadow shapes.

Monday, February 4, 2013

Friday, February 1, 2013

Red Shutters, Hope Town

A  morning of brilliant weather, happily spent looking at colors and shapes--especially an equilateral triangle of cerulean ocean.

Thursday, January 31, 2013

Behind the Fence, Hope Town

A bungalow the edge of the town cemetery, in late afternoon light. (I took artistic liberties with the shutter color and tombstones.) Below is a watercolor of the same motif, with a different point of view.


Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Walk to the Dunes, Hope Town


I thought this one was going to be about a bike on a sidewalk on a cloudy day, and then the sun came out. One of the things I've learned in my years of painting is the need to let go of preconceptions, and be ready to follow any leads that come your way.

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Blue Boat, Gray Day

Yesterday was cloudy and windy here in Hope Town, which made for boats that, though anchored, never stopped rotating--and therefore an interesting painting challenge...

Monday, January 28, 2013

Hope Town Sunrise

The view facing east from my beach chair at 6:30 am Sunday, the start of what proved to be a lovely day for painting here on Elbow Cay.

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Sunday Sketchbook: Bahamas

Yesterday I painted an oil and watercolor, drew in my sketchbook, and had lunch in a restaurant with a dock that overlooks the Hope Town harbour. No matter how middling the food, being able to sip a cold Kalik beer and draw boats will no doubt lure me back there again many times.

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Pink Walls by the Harbor

My first morning of painting here in Hope Town, where I'm finding no shortage of motifs with unexpected and unusual colors and compositions (plus it's warm...)

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Model in Strong Light


Another figure study, and its warm light has me looking forward to my trip to the Bahamas tomorrow (especially since it will be twenty below zero here in Vermont tonight!) I be posting what I'm painting every day in Hope Town, so keep tuned...

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Sunday Sketchbook: Figure


I'm always ready to move off the figure, and into a composition that includes a wall, chair, floor, or foreground.

Monday, January 14, 2013

Journal 1/14/13

The view from my studio window, on a morning of warmer breezes and changeable light.