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Mrs. Susan Hotard

What I Did on My Summer Vacation

Mrs. Susan Hotard · Oct 11, 2021 · Leave a Comment

A long-standing wish of mine was fulfilled this summer: to teach at the New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts. I had taught workshops there, and substituted for other teachers over the years, but I had not taught formal classes. Andrew Rodgers, the new director of NOAFA, invited me to teach both portrait and advanced still life painting for the entire eight-week summer session. I immediately accepted! I am grateful to family for graciously housing me this summer.

Some of the advanced still life students hard at work.

The New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts was founded by Auseklis Ozols in 1978, and patterned after the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts where he had studied. Luckily for us, both the portrait and still life classrooms have natural north light overlooking Magazine Street. Our delightful view was of unique New Orleans architecture: brightly painted double shotgun houses and a corner po-boy restaurant.

The view from the second-story front porch of Magazine Street.

I love to teach and I believe it is a calling. To paraphrase Exodus 35:31-35, the spirit of God gives the artist the wisdom, understanding, and knowledge to perform his or her craft, and gives the ability to teach. Teaching gives me a sense of purpose. It is thrilling when a student has an epiphany as a direct result of something I said. For example, in presenting the idea of a lost edge, I ask them to squint. Then I point out the lost edges on a figure and finally they understand. Many students say they have never heard of this idea before. I suspect they may have heard it, but were not ready to absorb it.  I frequently think of new ways to get my point across. For example, this summer I had students sculpt little balls of clay and told them to insert the orbs into the skeleton’s eye sockets.  I hoped this would help them in the future to remember that eyeballs are three-dimensional and to treat them as spheres. So, through God-given ability and years of studying, I would like to think I am answering my calling.     

Teaching is also a great way to make new friends and to build long-lasting relationships. Initially I was invited by a local New Orleans art guild to teach a workshop. From there, the Jewish Community Center director invited me to teach drawing classes. After my husband and I moved from New Orleans to Texas, I was asked by my fellow artists if I would teach a weekly portrait class. I usually return to New Orleans a few times per year to teach. So after almost two decades, I have taught countless classes and workshops. I have art buddies I have known for decades and new students that have recently taken my classes. As the Girl Scouts’ song goes, “Make new friends but keep the old, one is silver and the other gold”. I have stayed in touch with many friends through Facebook, Instagram, and my association with the New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts. Teaching is a wonderful path to friendship. 

Back to my summer vacation. I was in New Orleans most of the summer. I visited old friends and family, enjoyed café au lait and beignets at City Park, and ate New Orleans cuisine centered around fresh seafood. On the last day of class, we were photographed by a Times-Picayune/NOLA.com staff photographer. He wanted to photograph our class wearing masks to accompany an article about the mayor’s recent mask mandate. We reminisced about how the local photographers use to send film via carrier pigeons and now it is immediately done digitally.

Masked students in portrait class painting from the model.

Now that my wish of teaching at the NOAFA has been fulfilled, I am back home in Texas resuming my normal life. That means attending the Woodlands Art League portrait studio, experimenting with painting, and planning upcoming workshops.

Sophie Backlit by Susan Hotard OPA
Asian Preciousness by Susan Hotard OPA
Bright Eyes by Susan Hotard OPA

For Every Season

Mrs. Susan Hotard · Jun 1, 2020 · Leave a Comment

Eccl 3:5 a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing

A time to paint, a time to cease painting

For 7 weeks, my husband and I homeschooled and nurtured our two grandchildren, ages 4 and 7, while their mother recovered from Covid 19 and both parents worked from home in New Orleans.

It was a time to cease painting.

Instead it was a time to experience, a time to collect memories to store away for future paintings.

A time to record photos of children living their lives

Riding bikes

Gathering rocks

Running through wildflowers and muddy puddles

Fishing, cooking, coloring, reading, learning, watching, praying, loving.

Now a time to rest, and a time to paint.

Soon.

So I’ll sort through my reference pictures, color notes, conjure up my feelings, load a brush. A Time to paint.


“My Name is Jujuanna Hotard!!!” by Susan Hotard
15″ x 30″ – Oil on canvas

“Elizabeth Lucille” by Susan Hotard
Oil on linen panel – 8″ x 10”

“Julianna in the Light” by Susan Hotard
Oil on linen panel – 11″ x 14”

I was flattered that my little granddaughter copied my paintings displayed in our house.

The vertical piece is a portrait I did of her when she was almost two years old entitled “My Name is Julianna Hotard!!!”, oil on canvas, 15x 30”.

The cat painting is “Elizabeth Lucille”, 8×10”, oil on linen panel.

The portrait of a young girl is entitled “Julianna in the Light”, 11×14”, oil on linen panel.

All the crayon drawings were done by 7 year old Julianna Hotard.

Wishing all of you and your loved ones good health and safety!

Susan Hotard OPA, AIS, NOAPS

Experimentation

Mrs. Susan Hotard · Oct 17, 2016 · 1 Comment

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina nine years ago, my husband and I moved to The Woodlands, Texas. I found a walking path. It was like walking in a beautiful forested park with magical birdsong, colorful wildflowers, various species of trees and wildlife. I’ll be forever grateful for the therapeutic sanctuary this path and the move to The Woodlands has provided us in the aftermath of the New Orleans destruction.
But after nine years, I explored a different walking route. It was refreshing to take in different scenery of new streets and wooded paths circling unfamiliar cul de sacs. I greeted fresh faces in my own neighborhood. Taking an unknown path was so energizing in my walk, I decided to take new paths in my painting as well.
I had a long term association with The Garden District Gallery in New Orleans, located across from the famous Commander’s Palace. It became extremely valuable as historical real estate and the gallery closed. With that closure came a freedom from gallery expectation of my art work. I felt free to experiment with my approach to painting.

“Security”
by Susan Hotard
12″x16”
With “Security”, I combined drawing with modeling.
“Brass Pot with Onions”
by Susan Hotard
11″x14”
My painting of” Brass Pot with onions” was painted from life initially toned with a transparent red oxide rather than the usual raw umber.
“Mother and Child”
by Susan Hotard
8″x10”
“Mother and Child” represents a backlit, plein air feeling by using a light airy palette.
“Eric”
by Susan Hotard
11″x14”
Using a limited palette of red, yellow ochre, black and white on a traditionally gray ground; “Eric” was painted alla prima.
“Eric II”
by Susan Hotard
11×14”
Also painted alla prima, “Eric II”, was achieved using a white linen panel and limited palette of red, yellow ochre light, black and white.
“Daddy Love”
by Susan Hotard
8″x10”
“Daddy Love” was painted on a red oxide imprimatura concentrating on shapes.

The above paintings are just a few examples of the experimental work I’ve been trying.

Suggestions for Experimenting:

  1. No rules
  2. No expectations
  3. No formula
  4. Begin a new way
  5. Paint a new subject
  6. Start with a white canvas or an intensely toned canvas rather than always gray or raw umber
  7. Rather than drawing first, begin with shapes
  8. Paint with a new color palette
  9. Play with a different medium*

*But I realize this is an Oil Painters of America blog. Don’t worry, I may be unfaithful to oils every once and a while but I’ll always return to my true and passionate love: oil. I love the sensuousness of a juicy brushstroke, the feel and touch of a wooden palette, and the smell of turpentine.
The departure was just a fling to take a different path to refresh my thinking.
So in conclusion, if you are bored in the studio, perhaps it is time to experiment. If you always start your paintings the same way, paint the same subjects, and use the same formula for starting your work, of course you’ll have the same, safe, predictable outcome. The same old same old. The same sure thing.
If you are just a little bit bored in your studio, it might be time to take a different route, if only for a little while. Experiment!

My Favorite Thing – Susan Hotard

Mrs. Susan Hotard · Oct 26, 2015 · Leave a Comment

PaperTowels_HotardI have many favorite things. I was going to state that Bridgman’s Complete Guide to Drawing From Life, was my favorite thing for it has something to offer to the experienced as well as the novice artist.
But this past week I had to wipe out my painting three times before I was satisfied with my drawing of the model. On Monday, I wiped out once. But I am so glad I did! I really got to know my subject, capture the gesture, and design a much better composition! So my favorite thing (at least this week) is…
A roll of paper towels! I prefer the ones that are more like cloth, but I do not want to endorse any specific products. So try wiping out more often, and see if the result is a better painting.


www.susanhotardartist.com

“The Art Spirit” Book

Mrs. Susan Hotard · Jun 15, 2015 · 1 Comment

“The Art Spirit” Book
Robert Henri
the art spiritWhat is in a book? What can be finer than reading a deep, marvelous, enthralling book? This book is so magnificent that do I dare compare its influence on artists as the Bible’s influence on believers? Maybe, it is not quite as important as that, but close. And like the Bible, I can flip to any page of it and be inspired by a truth. In fact, when I was first serious about painting, after my morning coffee and devotional, I would open this book to any page hoping for some insight.
What is this book? It is entitled, “The Art Spirit,” a compilation of critiques to his art students by Robert Henri (1865 -1929). Robert Henri was an influential teacher and artist who, according to Wikipedia, studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and taught at the Art Students League in New York City. I have seen many of his paintings in major museums, and in my very humble opinion, his teachings are much more beautiful than his paintings.
For those artists not familiar with “The Art Spirit,” I recommend purchasing it. The paperback version is inexpensive (around $20.00), and makes a great gift for fellow artists who do not own a copy.
I use “The Art Spirit” as a reference whenever I have a question about painting. It has a useful index in the back. It is especially helpful to teachers. I have frequently used Henri’s lessons in my classes and workshops. For example, on page 34, he suggests: “You start by making a very simple drawing on your canvas, paying particular attention to the exact location, size and shape of all the masses, the hair, collar and shirt, the tie, his coat and the background. In this I have named seven areas, and together they cover the total of the canvas…You work at these seven tones on your palette until you are quite sure you have made mixtures that closely approximate in color and value the (1)light of the face, (2)shade of the face, (3) hair, (4)collar and shirt, (5) tie, (6) coat,(7)background…your palette represents but seven notes, each to represent flatly its corresponding area.”
Henri discusses brush strokes. It takes him seven pages! Every point he makes about brushstrokes is worthwhile.
On the subject of backgrounds:

the poster
I call this painting the poster. It is one way to begin a portrait.
“With the model before it, the background is transformed. Before the model takes his place, the wall is an identity in itself and is forward. When the model takes his place, the background recedes and exists only as a compliment [sic] to the figure. Do not look at the background to know its colors or its shapes. Look at the model. What you will see of the background while looking at the model will be the background of that model. All the beauty that can exist in the background rests in its relation to the figure. It is by looking at the figure that you can see this relation. With your eyes well on the model, the value tones, shapes which you apprehend in the background are those only which are complementary to the figure.”
The following quote is becoming a favorite of mine: “Age need not destroy beauty. There are people who grow more beautiful as they grow older. If age means to them an expansion and development of character [sic] this new mental and spiritual state will have its effect on the physical. A face which in the early days was merely pretty or even dull, will be transformed. The eyes will attain mysterious depths, there will be a gesture in the whole face of greater sensibility and all will appear coordinate.” As a baby boomer, I will be meditating on that thought!
I highly recommend that you read this book and include it in your art library.
Artwork by Susan Hotard
My Name is Jujuanna!!!, oil, 15×30
The Big Decision, oil, 11×14
Texas Tim, oil, 16×20
Happy Sunflowers, oil, 16×20

Sources:
The Art Spirit, Robert Henri
Wikipedia

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