Sunset was still a couple of hours away

title: Sunset was still a couple of hours away
medium: Oil on canvas
size: 91.4 x 121.8cm

This painting is about our choice of living in the suburbs and driving cars rather than taking public transport or walking. It is also about the liberal council in Brisbane who is spending 1.8 billion dollars this financial year on tunnels for cars and only just over 200 million on public transport.

Why do you people vote for these idiots?

beneath that assured exterior, she's vunerable

Working away the last couple of days I have managed to get quite a lot done on these two paintings. There is still work to do but you can see where they are going and I am pretty happy with them so far. The exterior of the house is titled 'Sunset was only a few hours away' and I haven't named the interior yet. They are both oil on canvas.

I have to work on a group assignment today that is due next week. I hate group assignments. There is always at least one person that does nothing and takes all the credit. I really want a good mark so that I can do honours in 2010 if I want to. So I need to do the work of two to ensure that it happens. Next year I am doing an art theory subject and my major - painting. Hopefully this will be the end of group assignments.

I can't believe that the 2008 semester is over for me next week. It feels like it hasn't even happened really. Probably because I am only doing one compulsory subject that sometimes feels like it is only included to be politically correct. I was really looking forward to the subject at the start of semester but they didn't pull it off. Oh well, some stuff just has to be done sometimes.

Clayton Utz Travelling Scholarship

I feel honored and pleased that I have been chosen as a finalist for the Clayton Utz Travelling Scholarship. I recognise nearly all of the finalists. I am just happy to be in an exhibition with these other artists, some of which I really admire.

The artists in the running for the second LAUNCH Clayton Utz Travelling Scholarship are: Paul Adair, Tony Albert, Nick Ashby, Sue Beyer, Renata Buziak, Catherine Chui, Simon Degroot, Dave Groom, Adriane Hayward, Kirra Jamison, Vivienne Kelly, Dane Lovett, Hugh Manning, Rachel Marsden, Lyne Marshall, Nicola Moss, Deb Mostert, Paul Mumme, Marisa Purcell, Simon Roots, Luisa Rossitto, Pamela See, Tiffany Shafran, Walter Stahl, and Charles Street.

She hummed to herself as they continued northward

The work continues. I am really enjoying this one. The painting is about 77cm x 60 cms.

I am finding that I have an irrational thing that happens when I do a bigger canvas using this technique. I don't do it accurately at all. But when it is small I have no problems doing it the way I want to do it. Bizzarro! It's all in my head.

It is so good to be able to paint whenever I like. Having no job is so great! We can't spend as much as we used to, but I am so much happier! We don't really need more 'things' anyway. just as long as you can pay the bills that's all I really care about at the moment. I am lucky to have a very supportive husband. We make a good team and I feel like I am in a really good place at the moment. When he retires I will keep working and support him :-)

The working hypothesis is tested and refined through discussion

I have been working away for the last few days on some new paintings. I am really getting into the swing of doing my art full time. I put on music and lose a few hours at a time. I have been listening to This Mortal Coil, Dead Can Dance, Sigor Ros and Regina Spektor lately.

I usually work after lunch. It's funny, I just can't seem to do any painting before lunch. So I do all the boring stuff like the washing and cleaning in the morning. That leaves me all afternoon to paint and muck about.



These ones are under paintings. I use raw umber and lots of medium to do rough paintings that make a foundation for the next few layers. Sometimes I think I should just leave them like this. Sometimes they look quite good just like this.

OMG!

title: He created a smokescreen to conceal his true identity
medium: Acrylic, ink and posca pen on canvas
size: 91.4 x 121.8cm

I have been selected as a finalist in round 2 of the LAUNCH: Clayton Utz Travelling Scholarship. The painting shown above was selected. An exhibition of the finalists will be held at Metro Arts from the 9th – 18th December. I can't quite believe it :-)

it won't be this price for long so don't procrastinate

title: Anything good on tv tonight?
medium: Oil on canvas
size: 30.5 x 25cm
year: 2008

Finished this little painting this afternoon when I was supposed to be working on an assignment due tomorrow. Procrastination... something I indulge in constantly. Painting is a lot more interesting than my assignment.

You have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth

In some of my new paintings I am looking at home and architecture magazines, designed to appeal to a consumer by association with a desirable 'lifestyle'. One of my favourite words to make fun of.

I have also noticed recently that there are hardly ever people in my paintings and when they are in the painting, they are hidden from plain view. This was intentional in a couple of paintings, but I see that this continues without me thinking about it. It makes sense really, these scenes in magazines never look homey to me. They are trophies for people to aspire to. It's all about making lots of money in a job you hate, to buy shit you don't need, to impress people you don't like.


These paintings aren't finished yet. One more thing to add to the small lounge room painting and heaps to do on the house one.

All of the photos I put on my blog are taken with a small digital camera. The lines in most of the architecture paintings are all over the place. I try to fix them as well as I can but they still look a bit wonky.

Start collecting! It's fun!

You can now purchase my work on a new blog I made >> Sue Beyer Gallery.
I used to sell heaps of lino prints and etchings on Etsy but thought this is more direct. If there is anything on my website that isn't on my gallery blog that you want to buy, email me and we can discuss it :-)

Her mouth curved into an ironic smile

Did some work today on two other small oil paintings I started about a week ago. I am really enjoying the different scale. Most of my paintings are around the 1 metre mark. I would really like to tackle some really large canvases after these small ones. Don't know how I will get them home. I might have to make my own strainers.

I think for christmas I might buy a fancy power saw and a bench so I can mitre my own wood. I wish my Dad was still around, he could show me how to use the saw properly. At uni I have access to the workshops, but how would I get large items home? If I have my own set up I can use it whenever I like and get our neighbour, who is a builder, to show me how to use it properly.

At high school I wanted to do metal and wood work but I wasn't allowed because I am female... how ridiculous!

I had to do home economics and typing, of all things. I failed dismally at nearly everything at that high school, mainly because I didn't want to be there (but I knew I had to stay so I could get into QCA) and the teachers were unintelligent, boring arseholes. I used to be told to my face that I would never amount to anything, by teachers who never amounted to anything.

The moral of this story is... never listen to people who you think might be/are boring unintelligent arseholes.

hahaha

He was slightly dotty at the end of his second term

I have been wanting to paint on different fabric for ages. Experimenting is fun. I am going to put another layer on the white and leave it at that :-) looks quite good.

The fabric also adds to the conceptual aspects of the painting. Things to do with the home.

He accepted me without question, in all my imperfection.

Why don't you paint as realistically as possible? Cause it's boring for me! and it's being done by heaps of artists already. I am trying to get a message across not show how well I can make a painting look like a photo. Some people do it well and it enhances their concepts and what they are trying to achieve, but it doesn't add anything to what I am trying to say. I love the fact that my paintings are painterly and obviously done by hand.

I am sick of computers, slick advertising and superficial flawlessness! It's time for imperfections and a little bit of natural chaos!

He had a little money and could hide out till the end of the month

He had a little money and could hide out till the end of the month
Acrylic, posca pen on canvas
20.5 x 20cm

His daughter, a product of his first marriage

His daughter, a product of his first marriage
Oil on prepared paper
109 x 65cm

A multiple birth

These are the paintings I have been working on lately. The one above is called: Sunset was still a couple of hours away, and the one below is titled: His daughter, the product of his first marriage.

The titles are important for all of my paintings. They contribute to the concept of the piece. The top one is about 'lifestyle' choice, peak oil, living in the suburbs and forced to use a car instead of public transport. The bottom one is about a girl who is a product of her environment.

Whenever I am making a piece I am constantly thinking about what the concept entails. It is as if I am physically and mentally imbuing the work with what it means, as I am creating. I like to think that if someone was to touch the work they would get impressions of what it means, like a psychic.

They are both unfinished at this time. I am going to finish the one below today hopefully. I think the map layer really makes it. Until I started on that layer yesterday I felt that it was a bit of a failure, but now I am loving it! As soon as I finish it I will have a new favourite. Everytime I finish a painting I think it is the best thing I have done and then I move onto the next one and that one becomes the best thing I have done :-)

I am pretty happy with the way both of these pieces are going. I am enjoying experimenting and I learn a lot about paint each time I make something.

Starting to get into the swing of not working at a 9-5 job at the moment and I feel that it is paying off for me. It's the only way I can really make headway. I need to just to let myself get into that mind frame. I am feeling the most relaxed I have felt in quite a while.

She traveled the world in search of adventure

I couldn't remember if I posted the pieces I made last year while I was in San Francisco, so I thought I would post them. I learnt so much while I was over there about traditional oil painting techniques. Paul Mullins, one of the professors at SFSU, was responsible for many hours of torture and frustration, but I am so glad that I have done it now.

Car hulks were recycled into new steel

I am recycling at the moment. I have a heap of little stretched canvases that I have started paintings on and now I don't like them so I am ripping off the old canvas and restretching them to start fresh. They have been lying around for about a year so instead of spending more money I thought I would recycle :-)

I have pulled out about 100 heavy duty staples and stretched about four small canvases and my hands really hurt. not used to the rough treatment :-)

What I would/do do for art :-)

I have also put in an application for the Clayton Utz scholarship today. It would be really nice to be successful. I haven't done an application like this before so hopefully I covered everything i needed to. It took me ages to work on.




title: Homesick 1
medium: Quicktime
size: looped 480px x 240px

Brutalist architecture does not contribute at all to the 'idyllic lifestyle' and sense of 'community', promoted by the management of Park Merced in San Francisco.

No other meaning can be found in Homesick 1

The kitchen is long overdue for a makeover

I just finished updating my website. It needed a makeover and now it looks more like I think it should :-)
check it out at: http://www.suebeyer.com.au/

Did a bit of painting today but mostly worked on the site. once I got started I just couldn't stop until it was done.

Eleanor disguised herself as a man

He created a smokescreen to conceal his true identity
Acrylic, ink and posca pen on canvas
91.4 x 121.8cm

Man this one was painful. It seemed to take a lot longer to finish the top layer. I am not going to do another one of these for a couple of weeks. or maybe if I just do a bit at a time so that it doesn't seem so bad :-)

One thing I noticed about the posca pens is that the paint flows a lot better when it is around 30 degrees. I think it was about 35 a few days ago and it seemed a lot easier to use them and the paint was thicker. a good medium to use in the summer.