© Jaylyn McFadden

Above photo credit: Jaylyn McFadden

On the Easel

Walker Hill, Fable Farm, and More Swallows

In February I traveled to Kochi in Kerala, India, for 10 days of bold color, rich connections, and a renewed appreciation for leaping out of my comfort zone. I came home to mud season and sent pictures of snow and frozen rivers to new friends. They sent me pictures of a parade of elephants. How this trip will manifest in my artwork, I cannot tell you. But I’m sure it will.

I came home and got right to work finishing some new work for the Members Show at the Bryan Memorial Gallery which opens on Saturday, March 9 from 3-6. If you want to take a weekend roadtrip, grab a friend and come on up. We have to do things like this (roadtrips) while we wait for the snow to melt and the dirt roads to dry out. It’s muddy out here in East Barnard.

© Sue Schlabach
Sue Schlabach Artist

My studio is the former taproom in an 1830s brick house in rural Vermont.

But my favorite studio is under the sky where I get started on most of my paintings. The French call this en plein air, meaning in the open air. My brother gave me an old easel and it accompanies me around the back roads and hillsides near my home. In 2022 I started painting from the bed of our old pickup truck (I saw the Irish artist Elizabeth Cope doing this on the pages of Faire magazine and had to try it). I spend the winter months finishing my summer paintings, and creating dreamscapes that are composites of the places I’ve been fortunate to go. I work in slow-dry acrylics by Golden Paints and use wide hardware store brushes and Rosemary artist brushes. Just love them!

Paint, snap, write,

design, teach

Let’s work together!

Do you want to learn to paint, draw or sew?

Would you like to commission a painting?

Can I paint some patterns or birds on your walls, or restore damaged wallpaper (yes, I do this).

Do you need branding or photography for your business?

From my journal

It’s All So Fragile

It’s All So Fragile

It was 10 below zero when I woke up this morning. The sun is shining so bright I need to pull the shade to avoid squinting. And layered over an ordinary March morning is this ceaseless ache for the anguish across the globe.  Moments in Ukraine—described by...

read more
Good Madness

Good Madness

I’ve had these words pinned beside my desk since last spring when I came upon them. I tried to live by them in 2021. But 2021 wasn’t so easy. It followed 2020 which was somewhat worse. But 2019 was really hard for me with the death of my mother, so I’ve...

read more
What Does it Mean to Be Lucky?

What Does it Mean to Be Lucky?

Here we are, dust settling around the nation's Capitol, snow on the ground, my daughter planning her 16-hour drive back to college, and a new surge of coronavirus cases spiking. So much to worry about. Thinking back to last year at this time, my mother had...

read more

Follow Along

Want a little blue sky in your inbox?
I send emails when the stars align (every so often).