NEWS & EVENTS

This has been an especially busy year for travel teaching with seminars being conducted on the East Coast, the West Coast, Canada and many more stops in between. While it seems as though there’s been little time for anything but packing and unpacking the suitcases some weeks, it’s been such a wonderful experience sharing good times filled with laughter with so many talented decorative painters!

We are releasing the Kashmiri Floral Egg Box as a pattern packet this month. The designs, painted on a wooden egg box and three small goose eggs, use the popular decorating palette of Chinese blue and yellow. It features a floral medallion motif with latticework and scrollwork accents. A very comprehensive set of instructions is included for painting the pattern as well as the use of a craft lathe to create elegant eggs and ornaments. Large detail photos of all the design elements will help you with the painting process. Don’t forget, the craft lathe is available for purchase on the accessories page of our catalog. The wood piece itself is available through the Wood Concepts Studio web site at: www.woodconceptsstudio.com 

The Gilded Blessings Angel makes her appearance in the catalog this month as well. The second installment in our gilded designs portfolio, this pattern packet is a beginner’s instructional guide to the art of gilding and incising 23K gold leaf on paper. You may choose instead to paint the design on wood. Instructions are given for both painting surfaces. In addition to step-by step photographic instructions for the gold work, a full explanation of painting techniques used to create polychrome illumination is provided in complete detail with this packet of instruction. To create the main design elements, transparent watercolor washes are used for the foundation colors, while a layered value building technique is used to paint all the details. Step-by-step written instructions are positioned next to progression photographs in a "hold your hand" teaching style. A full size photo of the painted sample along with excellent close up photography completes the packet of instruction. This is a great design for year round display in your home! 

On our accessories page, you will find the Gilded Blessings Angel print. The design pattern is laser printed on a piece of 8.5” x 10.5”, acid free 100% rag card stock that resembles the mottled look of parchment while providing enough weight to stand up to layers of gilding and watercolor washes without a single buckle or bend. Preprinting the pattern right on the paper surface eliminates the need for surface preparation as well as tracing and transferring the pattern line drawing!

Susan currently has a project featured in the latest booklet by Kooler Design Studio, Inc. Candleholders - Light Up Your Décor contains 18 projects for the beginning to advanced painter. Eight decorative artists, including Sue, Ginger Edwards, Leila Lundberg, and Janet Wald, designed projects spanning all four seasons using wood, tin, glass and terra cotta. The book is available through your local craft store, Kooler Designs, or Leisure Arts.

Porcelain and ceramic tile is the painting surface of choice for yet another collaborative book being published by Kooler Design Studio during the 2006 holiday season. Susan’s Floral Swirls Tile Box will be but one of the creative projects featured in the book. Painting on bisque with the DecoArt Americana acrylics proved such fun that she is working on several new designs for spring 2007 utilizing this terrific surface material.

Be sure to sign the guestbook if you are not yet on our mailing list. We will be sending out email notices once the new patterns for fall 2006 are available. There will be a lovely new House Blessing ready in the next few weeks that will feature gorgeous old world lettering on the center panel of a wooden tryptich, and lovely angels holding flowing banners on the door panels. The 2006 installment to the Santa series will be coming out in November. Several new ornamentation and jewel designs are in the works for spring of 2007, and the sketchbook is full of project ideas generated during this year’s busy travel season. We look forward to sharing them with all of you in the coming months! 

Archives

February 2006: See Susan's Kashmiri Floral Egg Box in the April 2006 Decorative Artist's Workbook!

October 2005: Susan unveils the 2005 installment in the Santa Series. "Peace Dove Tree" is featured in Paintworks.

April 2005: Read about Susan's adventures as the representative for the State of Virginia at the 2005 White House Easter Egg Display.