Monday
Dec292025

Its a New Year 2026

 

I've been painting for this!  Always a pleasure to show with Gallery of Caribbean Art in Barbados. Would love to see my Bajan collectors at the opening.   

The definition for cacophony --a striking combination -- a cacophony of colour!

You don't have to wonder what the theme of this show is, just let yourself feel the rhythm, the sunlight, the heat of Caribbean-ness.  

I have been exhibiting with Gallery of Caribbean Art for more than 20 years, and am so happy to bring another set of work.  Times may change, but love only grows.

See you soon Barbados.

 Dancing Lady Bele 48" x 46" Oil on CanvasCacophony of Sails 24" x 36" AcrylicJust a baby. 12 x 9 Oil on Canvas

 

 

Sunday
Jul272025

Still working.

Somone asked me recently if I had any thoughts of retiring.  After I stopped laughing, I replied, "Why would I retire from work that I love?'   Still painting. Still curating. Still organizing international exhibitions for Grenada. I can't get fired, because I'm the boss.

What I didn't post here, Commissioner to the Grenada Pavilion at La Biennale di Venezia.

See the link.  A group project to try to get the public library in Grenada repaired and reopened.  See it in Venice, Italy until November 23, 2025.

 

The Grenada National Library

 

AND... 

 

Carifesta XV in Barbados in August will have visual art from Grenada as part of the offering.  Joining with at least 22 other countries, the celebration will shine.  See the website here for details

 

 

Saturday
Mar022024

The land the sea and the sand.

Appparently I am a wannabe Bajan.

Have a look at the exhibition at Gallery of Caribbean Art.

 

 

Saturday
Mar022024

The Land the Sea and the Hoi Polloi

The Gallery of Caribbean Art in Speightstown Barbados has graciously invited us to do another exhibit.

Faithful stalwart of a gallerist, Hazel Ann Mahy Batson has stayed with us through thick and thin, so that now after 20 years we can proudly say that we have shown 10 times in this lovely gallery.

If you love the paintings as much as I do, and want to take one to your home, just click here for

Gallery Of Caribbean Art.  They will make it so easy for you, and they ship world wide. 

Thanks for the love and loyalty all these decades.  Where would we be without you?

 

So where is Susan now? And what has she been painting.
Getting over the slowness of the pandemic has been hard on all of us. After all, we are not
making bread. And we can’t eat our paintings or wear them.
However if we are talking about the therapy needed get through that difficult time, I think the
artists were the luckiest of all.
Our usual is to be in the studio alone, working, meditating, correcting, and spilling paint. The
difference was that we weren’t getting paid for our efforts, because we couldn’t invite someone
over to see the work. So we didn’t get immediate feed back. We didn’t get that warm feeling
when someone connects with you through your painting.
We made plans, knowing they could be easily thrown out. One show I was organizing had three
dates pushed back. Eventually it was exhibited, but neither the artist nor the curator got to go
and see it. That’s not rewarding.
Surprisingly, we all kept busy. We all had hope in the future. We trusted that the path we follow
will still have some good for us along the way. That’s the thing about artists, we live in a fool’s
paradise. Happily.
This series is name “The land, the sea” and the hoi polloi”. The Hoi Polloi are the everyday
common people. In our case, the sailors, the fishermen, the farmers, the vegetable sellers.
The salt of the earth people who have always taken things in stride. We have Kick em Jenny,
our local undersea volcano rumbling at the moment. No one is panicking. We willl take it as it
comes.When the volcano in St. Vincent blew, we saved the ash to make some multi media art.
This series of work is deceptively simple. You take a glance and you think you know. Its a boat.
But did you realize the wooden boat is almost 100 years old. Built by hand, the hardwood
sourced from local trees. The caulking between the planks has been artfully pounded in by the
builder, who just wouldn’t trust that someone else would do a good enough job. The canvas
sails are recycled over and over, mending the rips, and not easily discarded. The waterline is
painted on by intuition, and when the boat is pulled into the water, the line hits the mark every
time. I can only imagine that the boat builder feels that same sense of satisfaction that we artist
feel when we complete that last stroke on the painting.
Come what may we continue to paint. We like it. Ok, true confession.
We love it.

Hope to see you on Sunday afternoon,
Susan
PS exhibition continues through 30 March.
Feel free to forward invitation
 

 

Saturday
Jul012023

Yes we are still in it!

Woefully absent from this platform, my extreme apologies!  Seems like Instagram and Facebook have dominated the posts for a long while, and it is time to remedy that!

 

Just a little timeline news.  In 2022 Susan led the team of artists from Grenada to the pavilion at Biennale di Venezia to show off our collective work on Shakespeare Mas. You can get more details from grenadavenice.org/archive It was fabulously successful with over 100,000 people visiting. 

Here is my contribution in painting --

 

The Grenada Contemporary came off in Late October of 2022 at Art House 473 -- see the catalog here.

And forward ever, the Grenada Pavilion for the  18th Architectural Biennale di Venezia, which you can see at Grenadavenice.org

Teaching a class today!  Professional Practices for Artists

Sorry this is so brief -- follow on Instagram, @susanmains. Facebook susanmains

More to come!