Welcome, Bienvenidos!

Summer Art, Movies, Books


Just wanted to let you know what I’ve been up to. Art, movies, books, birds and more.

Working smaller these summer days, exploring outside and inside.

Going small can mean walking outside with binoculars, ready to see what I can see.  Since  my artwork is devoted to animals and the natural world the inspiration is limitless.

Here’s a little sketch I’ve been working on for a new painting. Hummingbirds are one of my very favorite subjects. The tiny jewel like birds can only be found in the Americas. 

With their brilliant iridescent colors, amazing flight abilities and fearless personality, they are charismatic, popular subjects.

My recent work is a series of small studies where I am blending my realistic and playful styles, pushing and stretching boundaries, seeing what happens.

Next week is hummingbird week for the Cornell Bird Lab and I will be working on this favorite, charismatic subject.

This is Ruby Garden, watercolor & gold ink on watercolor paper.
Ruby Throated Hummingbirds, male & female :~)

Watercolor hummingbirds, hummingbird garden, Ruby Throated Hummingbirds
Ruby Garden, watercolor, gold ink. Sue Betanzos.com

🌸 Summer Movies & Books

Some movies and books are like old friends. I like to revisit them, getting the uplift each time of the pleasant and familiar.

Audiobooks for studio work and movies to wrap up the day with a glass of wine :~)

Here are a couple of YouTube trailer links for a very special, favorite movie I have always enjoyed; The Secret of Roan Inish.

Irish folktale, Selkie legend, Irish story, Ireland, family movie, endearing



This classic really captures the traditional oral storytelling that was how folktales and history were passed down. The generational families and their relationships with the land, sea, history.

Stories about stories, about the value of stories and how they unite us. How stories have power and meaning; whether they’re true or not (fairies anyone?)  

Here are links to trailers for The Secret of Roan Inish:


Audiobooks I listen to are an eclectic mix including; urban fantasy, romance, mystery, thrillers, sprinkled with biography/real. All are from my local library. I LOVE libraries. There are usually a few nature & art books on my desk just because nothing beats the tactile pleasure of holding a book. 

Current beautiful book on my desk is by artist Jackie Morris: The Lost Words. I look at it daily :~) 
poetry, nature paintings, nature watercolors



A few audiobook titles I've recently enjoyed: 

The Light We Carry, Michelle Obama • Lassiter, J.R. Ward • "N" is for Noose, Sue Grafton • "O" is for Outlaw, Sue Grafton • Shanghai Girls, Lisa See • Sleep No More, Jayne Ann Krentz • Bittersweet, Susan Cain • Together, Vivek H. Murthy • Chatter, Ethan Kross • Undercurrents, Nora Roberts • The Awakening, Nora Roberts (Dragon Heart Legacy) • Neverwhere, Neil Gaiman • Anansi Boys, Neil Gaiman • The Music of Bees, Eileen Garvin • All Single Ladies, Dorothea Benton Frank • Safe Haven, Nicholas Sparks • Lucky, Marissa Stapley • Moon Called, Patricia Briggs • A Court of Mist and Fury, Sarah J. Maas, • A Discovery of Witches, Deborah Harkness 

Beautiful Tucson sunsets. Extreme heat, thunderstorms in the late afternoon, sometimes leading to intense quenching rains - and rainbows!

















Small Treasures Miniature Art By Sue Betanzos

Hey there friends,

Just letting you know what I've been up to in the studio. A new collection of small paintings and mosaics are available on my website. 

I've always enjoyed making these tiny masterpieces and now they have their own gallery.


Tiny Barn Owl Miniature Painting Link
Small Treasures Miniature Art by Sue Betanzos

The miniature artworks are usually under 10 inches.  I like the way small works invite a closer examination of details.

As a multimedia artist I find each medium informs the other and I enjoy the process of creating.

I tend work in series which are then put into collections based on media, theme or both. 

When an idea takes hold, like a seed it grows in my sketchbooks that then turn into artworks.

🌀 The Small Treasures collection includes Mosaic Spirals of Life on stone and miniature wildlife paintings.

Spirals are one of the ancient and universal symbols found in all cultures around the world.

Mosaic mirror on Stone. A spiral of mirror with a Hematite heart at the center.  By artist Sue Betanzos.com
Mosaic Mirror Spiral of Life on Stone by Sue Betanzos.com.  

They can be found in nature, art, architecture and religion. Spirals represent growth, change, evolution and progress. 

The spiral of life can be thought of as a metaphor for the never-ending cycle of growth and change that describes the journey that each of us takes as we move through life.

There is a quote I return to for inspiration by Douglas Wood: 

“The farthest journey has but one destination; Your True Self.” 

Mosaic on stone by Sue Betanzos.com. Glass beads repeat a spiral of I LOVE YOU in Morse code.
Mosaic Spiral of Life with I LOVE YOU
in morse code on stone by Sue Betanzos.com




Every day brings new experiences and challenges, which help us to grow and learn about ourselves. 

As we face these challenges, we also have the opportunity to choose how we respond to them.

We have the power to create our own destinies through the choices that we make Every Day.

This is the message of the Mosaic Spirals of Life series; to remind ourselves that change is constant and You Got This, Keep Going!

A book I liked and recommend on this is Michelle Obama's The Light We Carry.

Celtic Spiral Glass Mosaic on Stone by SueBetanzos.com

Some will have a secrete, personal message in Morse Code (an element I've used in past projects). Or even an astrological star sign - just playing with new ideas! 

🦋 The smaller mosaics and wildlife paintings have their own Miniatures gallery.

Paintings of Migratory Monarchs, birds and more are painted on birch wood hearts with gold embellishments that softly gleam. 

More tiny masterpieces are on the way with new glass miniature paintings!

Miniature Quail painting with a gold circle background on a birch wood heart. At Sue Betanzos.com https://suebetanzos.com/artwork/4808981-Golden%20Quail%20Heart%20Miniature%20Painting.html
Golden Quail Heart Miniature Painting by Sue Betanzos.com  


Monarch Butterflies are currently endangered and need our help.  5% of all Monarch butterfly painting purchases are donated to Xerces Society and Save Our Monarchs.


Monarch butterfly miniature painting on a birch wood heart with gold edging.
Monarch Butterfly Miniature Painting by Sue Betanzos.com


This small golden heart painting is from the beloved fairy tale The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupery. 

Miniature fox painting from The Little Prince. Painted on a birch wood heart with the wise fox, silver stars and a special tiny red rose on a gold background.
Tiny Fox from The Little Prince by Sue Betanzos

It is a very famous quote from the book; "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."

The style belongs to my whimsical collection and this tiny fox is included in many of my custom St. Francis pet portrait paintings. 

Painted on a birch wood heart with the wise fox, silver star and a special tiny red rose on a gold background. That is an American quarter on the right for size reference.

For me, the quote perfectly describes the relationships between people and their furry companions (and each other!). 

The collection of small artworks will be growing and I’ll post them on my Instagram,  FB and on my website. Stickers and Labels are also being designed.