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 :~)

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.

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:

The Secret of Roan Inish Trailer 1

The Secret of Roan Inish Trailer 2

The Secret of Roan Inish Soundtrack (love the music)

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 :~) 

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!

Tiny Rufous Hummingbird Painting

More miniature paintings, studies of favorite subjects. This tiny Rufous Hummingbird is migratory.
I like using metallics, especially gold in my paintings and artwork. All of my glass paintings have touches of gold.

Rufous Hummingbird Gem - SueBetanzos.com

I have used gold paint, rather than leaf for years. It looks beautiful without the mess of applying leaf. However, I'll be placing an order of gold leaf with LA GOLD this year and play with it.

Golden brand of acrylic paints is my favorite gold paint. I have tried several metallic paints, and so far prefer this one for bright, opaque consistent gold. It does not require shaking to mix.

Lately, the trend I have seen is using gold leaf. Many artists are using it in their paintings. The term for using metal leaf on glass is Verre' Eglomise'.  French for gilding on glass. I found more artists in the UK and Europe using this method than in the USA.

Plenty of sign painters, but not much fine art. In the UK however, I follow several fine artists that use glass gilding as a fine art. A trip across the pond is in the planning, saving to visit the artists whose work inspires me!

Get Inspired!

When I'm stuck, tired or burned out, I tend to go to my sketchbooks and do small studies. It keeps me creating art in a non-pressure mindset.

They start out as doodles or light studies of a favorite subject. From there, they usually grow into detailed little paintings, drawings. Possibilities for future artworks in one of my mediums (glass painting, glass mosaics, colored pencil, acrylic).

Tiny Verdin on Cactus - SueBetanzos.com

I love songbirds, hummingbirds, birds. They are so full of life, lively. Actually, I love animals :) but find myself drawn to bird subjects these past few years.

Working in a series, exploring a theme, subject, style, medium is how art develops for me. My Gemini personality really shows in my ability to multi task in several mediums, enjoying the process of each one.
Example - diving into glass mosaics for a project, then acrylics for preliminary studies is effortless for me and many artists I know.

The only medium that require a day of mindset prep is going from painting traditionally to painting in reverse on the glass. It takes a day or so of practice for a few hours to rethink how I paint, front to back, backwards on the glass!

Marigold Desert Jackrabbit

Reverse glass painting of a desert hare for my new solo show Wild Reflections. The painting is done on the backside of the glass - backwards. The painted panel is then inserted into a shadow box frame.
It is available along with additional new work in the Wild Reflections Gallery HERE

Wild Reflections exhibit 11/2019 by Sue Betanzos 

Marigold Desert Jackrabbit reverse glass painting 11"x14" available HERE

I have been wanting to do this painting and have envisioned it for months. Now it is finished, as a saw it in my mind.
The painting is done with glass enamel paints in the the reverse glass painting technique, painted backwards on the backside of the glass.

Gold metallic paint was painted on the back to softly gleam through the hare's coat by intentionally leaving areas thin or unpainted to let the gold peak in a few areas. Glass is difficult to photograph, so I usually take my paintings to a local photographer, Wilson Graham for the best photos.

This photo was taken by me and does not do it justice. Later I will get a professional photo done that shows the gold highlights.

The painting is also used for one of the announcements as you can see!
It can be viewed in person at the Kirk-Bear Canyon Library Nov. 1-30.

Hares are such distinctive creatures with their beautiful long ears, large amber eyes. They are featured in many folktales and are connected to the moon.

This is a desert Antelope Jackrabbit with black tipped ears.
Gold metallic softly gleams through the coat which is why I call her MariGold. :)

Reflections Of Nature Solo Exhibit

A very nice solo show was awarded to me this year at the Ranch House Gallery in Agua Caliente Park, Tucson AZ.   Yay!! I am so excited!

Available artwork will be added HERE.

Set in the northeast part of Tucson, Agua Caliente Park is a little water oasis that draws a variety of animals, a nature habitat.
It's great for picnics and birding. Inside this park is a gallery that hosts 11 artists per year for solo exhibits.

I feel so fortunate that I was one of the artists selected for the date of Jan. 12 - Feb. 13, 2019.
It's been super busy in my studio between the show artwork and new commissions for the holidays.
Plus a bit of teaching.

Reflections of Nature is just that; reflections of my views of the natural world in this area. It's hard to whittle down the subjects because there are so many!

The show is a month long so as items sell, I will replace them with new artwork. A portfolio of the artwork available will be in the gallery to view as well as a separate gallery on my website titled Agua Caliente show HERE.

My artwork updates can also be found  on:

• Instagram @artgirlsue
• Facebook SueBetanzosDesigns
• Pintrest SueBetanzosDesign


More work will be posted in the coming 8 weeks. Yep, 8 short weeks until Christmas, 9 weeks until installation for this show - counting down the days!