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Posted on 1/21/2025 1:52:49 PM
By Susan Gainen
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Flying Molecule from the Big Bang in Progress
Substitute Imagination for an Electron Microscope
Although I own a lot of stuff, I have not -- in 75 years -- acquired an Electron Microscope. So, as I've now committed to documenting 2 Seconds after the Big Bang, I'm relying on my imagination for images of molecules flying throughout the universe, and a lifelong commitment to unhinged microbiology.
Nomenclature and The Plan
Nomenclature is a work in progress: each of these molecule images deserves a name. The plan is to create a significant number of images and to create an installation for an as yet unknown location. On the principle of rarely letting facts interfere with a good story, I'm likely to incorporate some -- not a lot -- of genuine science into the supporting text.
Seeking Random Acts of Whimsy
Knowing virtually nothing about the origins of the universe, it seems logical that its very beginning would be loaded with strange, new and beautiful things and wondrous images. Because the first of these would be molecules, it seems right to employ Painstaking Exuberance to make the tiny shapes and tiny spaces. Join me on this journey!
Posted on 7/15/2024 12:52:26 PM
By Susan Gainen
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The beginning of Really Wild Flowers
Really Wild Flowers - Acrylic Ink - Carbon Black Ink
Posted on 5/8/2023 12:03:59 PM
By Susan Gainen
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Tiny Shapes and Spaces #1
For 10 days For the past 10 days I've been exploring/indulging my love for tiny shapes and spaces. Having been gifted a HUGE box of art supplies including to 16x20 canvas pads, it was reasonable to explore their use and usefulness. So, it begins...
The Question: Is this simply willful procrastination or an exploration on the road to something new or just plain #artfun? They are, after all, pencil drawings and acrylic in dot and square-ish shapes. All connected. Quite purposefully connected. A genuine example of Painstaking Exuberance.
Left to right. Tiny Shapes and Spaces #1; Tiny Shapes and Spaces 2 (work in progress), Wheel on Circles (work in progress) and Fantasy Fibonacci Meets Tiny Shapes and Spaces (work in progress.)
***
See me and a great chunk of old and new work at Summer Art Events including:
Art-a-Whirl, May 19-21, Broken Clock Brewery, 1712 Marshall St. NW, Mpls
Art in the Hollow, June 3, Swede Hollow, St. Paul
Powderhorn Art Fair, August 5-6, Powderhorn Park, Mpls
Saint Paul Saints Art in the Park, Aug 13 & 30, Sept 7 & 20
And yes -- Broken Clock Brewery has BEER..
Posted on 5/4/2023 1:15:21 PM
By Susan Gainen
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Microbiology was never part of my world and it never occurred to me that I might want an electron microscope. Although I love the stories of inventions and discoveries, doing the "sciency" part of science was never in my sights.
Invented in 1931, the electron microscope has been chugging along, helping scientists to "see" atoms. Without that technology in my living room studio, I've had to make it up, using the arduous and absorbing "Painstaking Exuberance" technique. Thus, the Unhinged Microbiology series, now identified. Looking back on my work, it appears that I've always been doing this -- discovering shapes and spaces. This is and has always been -- quintessential #artfun.
Top to bottom: Little Circles (work in progress 2023); Connected Circles: Unhinged Microbiology; Fantasy Fibonacci #2; For the Quilters; Creatures with Antlers' Convocation to Promote Climate Science Because Humans Don't Do Enough; Molecular Biology 203, Light for the New World; Red Conversations; THE VERY FIRST NANOSCAPE.
Posted on 5/1/2023 11:52:25 AM
By Susan Gainen
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Robert the Tap Dancing Rooster
Robert the Tap Dancing Rooster changed my life
Robert was the first creature to visit my studio. He had been a regular rooster in a regular hen house for years until he saw someone (probably Gene Kelly) tap dancing on tv.
He said "I want to do that," and acquired tapes and taps and other implements of dance making. He practiced an hour a day, two hours a day, three hours a day, until he was tapping until 2 am.
A Rooster Epiphany
One morning he said "If I'm going to tap until 2 am, I don't want to crow at dawn." That very morning he met with the hens, shared his new insight, and was shocked to hear "Well, pal, crowing at dawn was your only job. If you don't want to do it, you're out of here."
Robert arrives at my studio
He came for a portrait and for career counseling, which was my day job at the time. When the painting was nearly finished, I asked the career counseling question: "So, Robert. What do you want to do?"
World's First Tap Dancing Rooster on Broadway
He drew himself up to his entire 3-foot height, and, with dignity, said, "I want to be the World's First Tap Dancing Rooster on Broadway."
"You'll have to leave Minnesota," I replied.
"I know," he said, and tucked his portrait under his wing and headed to New York.
Three weeks later...
The phone rang, and it was Robert. "I found the job of my dreams," he said -- somewhat tentatively. The heart of a Career Counselor began beating fast. "But I can't have it."
"Why?"
"I wanted to audition for the Rockettes, but they told me that I was too short."
Undeterred...
Robert stayed in New York, taught his very specific and intricate "Rooster Tap" to filled classes, and found a day job. He is the World's First Roller Skating Rooster Waiter, who works at a steakhouse just off Times Square that serves no poultry.
During Lockdown...
He taught his dance style on Zoom, and became a valued career counselor for humans and roosters, alike.
Lockdown Lifted...
His in-person and Zoom classes resume. His counseling calendar is packed with clients struggling with returning to in-person work issues. He considered several offers to develop energy drinks, but declined. "Eat a healthy diet," he insists, "and keep your cash."
Find Robert
He is always at The Art Shoppe at Midtown Global Market in Minneapolis. He will be at 2023 Art-a-Whirl at Broken Clock Brewery (May 19-21), Art in the Hollow at Swede Hollow (June 3), Powderhorn Art Fair, (August 5-6) Powderhorn Park, Saint Paul Saints Art in the Park Aug 13 & 30, Sept 7 & 20).
Posted on 10/25/2022 2:20:41 PM
By Susan Gainen
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Strawberry and Kiwi Curlew from the Starry Night Family
GOING BIG A few weeks ago, I said out loud that I wanted to paint a "big" canvas. Where would I get one? Fortune smiled, and I noticed a 3x4-foot canvas leaning against my easel. And, I said, "I'll paint a cat in the Starry Night universe."
GOING NOWHERE I prepped the canvas and created full-sized paper for the cat drawing. Then, nothing. For 10 days. I looked at hundreds of cat images on my hard drive, reviewing hundreds of cats that I'd painted. Nothing. No cat spoke to me (except Max-the-Cat who wanted to sit on the porch). I was terrified and frustrated.
LISTENING TO THE CURLEWS As you may know, I live with a veritable galaxy of Whimsical Creatures, many of whom speak to me often. For the past three months, I've been painting whimsical curlews (Strawberry, Kiwi and Orange - yet without feathers), and THEY spoke up this morning. "Paint a Purple Curlew! A Big Purple Curlew!" Inspiration and direction -- at last. Who could argue with Curlews?
Below from left: Strawberry Curlew, Strawberry & Kiwi Curlew (cousins, of course), and Orange Curlew expecting her feathers.
