March 4, 2025

Learning new Skills in the off season

In January of 2024, during my last winter break, I took a figure sculpture workshop taught by Alicia Ponzio. I had been wanting to do a little off-season experimenting, and since I’m a huge fan of her work, I signed up for a workshop. I have no ambitions of becoming a sculptor, but I know there’s a lot to gain from studying artistic disciplines outside of painting.

No doubt about it, sculpting is challenging! But pairing things down to studying the anatomy and proportions of the female form - without worrying about composition, value, color - allowed me to focus on accurate observation to interpret my subject in three dimensions. It was an incredible exercise in observation, and under Alicia’s insightful teaching, I felt my visual perception grow in ways that naturally carried over into my painting. That experience made such an impact that I’ve decided to make this kind of learning a part of my annual winter routine.

This year one of my areas of focus was all about boats, and boy is there is a lot to learn!

Since many of my event locations take me to coastal communities - East coast to West Coast and beyond - marine scenes (and seafood paintings - yum) have become big part of my body of work. Check out my collection of Marine Artwork here. But like horse people who know immediately when something's not right, people who know boats, know when you get it wrong! So this year, I am focusing more on getting my artistic sea legs where boats are concerned. Of course, my main interest in all of this is to make better paintings, to wobble along as I grow in my knowledge and further my painting skills.

Is it working? Well, see what you think:

Painting on location in Apalachicola, FL - Tucked In, 12x16", oil on panel, Sold.

The pictures above show my plein air setup and the piece that resulted. My focus on that piece was really to capture the feel of the scene. But when I returned this this scene in my studio, my idea was for the boats to be the central part of the painting's story. And for this, I wanted to add detail that made sense. Accuracy isn't the goal but I do want these paintings to tell a good story reflect an appreciation for the shrimp boating trade.

So as I painted, I reflected on what I learned - from the form and function of the outriggers and stabilizers, to how the nets work to capture shrimp and not fish or turtles, and how shrimpers tie cod knots to secure the nets with heavy loads but with a tug release the catch onto the work deck. I'm growing in my love for marine life and I hope that it shows in my work. I want my studio pieces to have a painterly feel and the extra time in the studio means I can spend more time with details, playing with sky colors and design and yes, educating myself to paint with more confidence when I get to paint these lovely boats again.

This blog post is 100% human written.

(832) 316-3363 - suzie@suziebaker.com