I'm often asked what I use in my Iwata airbrush and, after trying several different products, find that Liquitex Acrylic Ink is a definite favourite. It's permanent and works beautifully with the Liquitex Heavy Body acrylics I use plus it is easy to clean out my airbrush once I'm finished working...which has to be fairly immediate so that the parts don't become clogged with dried paint. I make my own airbrush cleaning solution, though it is available to purchase and can also be used to thin acrylics for use in an airbrush.

I typically set all of my materials up before filling the reservoir which is attached to the bottom of my airbrush (versus a gravity feed from the top)...my canvases and stencils are selected and set up as well as attaching the airbrush to the airhose & compressor so that the ink doesn't sit in the airbrush longer than absolutely necessary. Then I fill the container with the selected ink, turn on my compressor and utilize my dual-action airbrush (the trigger controls both the amount of  paint and air is expelled at once). As soon as I've finished, I take my tools apart and rinse all the airbrush parts in hot water then run the cleaning solution through it.

Since I'm not a huge fan of major clean up while I work, I'm surprised how much I love my airbrush as it is rather finnicky and time-consuming. But I really do. And my air compressor is very loud but I do love how small it is. I don't use it like a traditional airbrush artist does to create images, but rather to add interest to my backgrounds. It's been wonderful as spray paint cans made me uncomfortable because of their impact on the environment. Plus this uses so much less paint.

Airbrush Cleaning Solution (for water soluble paint):
2/3 distilled water
1/3 isopropyl alcohol
1 drop glycerin per 50 ml 

"Here I was, living a life I never imagined, but I was struggling to understand who I was. There was no opportunity growing up to learn about who we were, the Inuit, from our own perspective. In essence, we were institutionalized by being told who we were, how we would live, and when you are told a story for so long, you learn to believe it,” explains Susan.

During the past 25 years of reflection and songwriting, Susan kept coming back to one area of profound knowing – the Inuit are an extraordinary people deeply grounded in a culture forged by their Ancestors, their journey is what shaped them.

“Their life experience is the foundation on which our precepts of determination, adaptability and love for life are built, they began the journey to our present-day Nunavut.” (Susan’s Walrus Talks comments)

Whenever I'm stuck on a painting, I turn to other paintings. There is something about moving from one style such as portraits to another, which in this case are graffiti-like hearts. It helps clear any creative blocks. I think it's particularly freeing since the portraits require more thought and attention to detail while the hearts can be as wonky as I'd like, actually I think the wonkier to better. Much more interesting to look at. Someone recently called them my tic-tac-toe hearts...I love that. They are now available at Bluerock Gallery.

I love using spackling to add texture to some of my paintings but, since I tend to work on stretched canvas, using it by itself would mean it could crumble off the flexible substrate. In order to combat that problem, I like to mix it with heavy gel media. Gel media by itself tends to leave very soft ridges so the spackling ensures that I get sharper ridges. I like the pink spackling as it turns white once it's dry. It's fun to use an inexpensive house painting brush to get neat texture, or a spatula or palette knife. I also like to carve into it while it's still wet...it's great to  write into as well. A third option which I absolutely love is to use a palette knife to spreada thin layer through a stencil. Once dry, I do give it a bit of a sanding with an inexpensive sanding block, give it a good wipe then paint it with a layer of gesso just to make sure it's ready to go once I'm ready to paint. 

I've (finally!) completed three portraits in the 'Extraordinary Women' series and am struggling with whether or not to add writing (quotes from these women) or not. Initially I used a fine point paint pen on the portrait of Measha Brueggergosman, then a medium for Alice Munro and nothing for Catherine O'Hara. I've painted over the the writing on the center portrait using a transparent colour so the words are still slightly visible...for now. That may change again if I decide to block off all the writing. I'm really struggling as I keep thinking about the 'Nasty Women' series and 'The Grandmothers' where I didn't add any writing at all, but then, with the 'Heroes' series which was also on this shape of canvas (14x7 inches) I initially began without the quotes, but then added them as the series grew, which I ended up loving. Maybe I haven't found the right writing tool yet. Or maybe this series will include a quote in the title. I'm not sure yet. I guess we'll see where this pondering leads.

"Much had changed in the comedy business in the 30 years since she began her career at SCTV , when she and Andrea Martin, another cast member, took part in the writing process. "A guy at the Toronto paper had written an article about why women weren't funny," O'Hara recalled in an interview with the New York Post in 2006. "Some of the guys in the cast pinned it up on the wall. Then every time Andrea Martin or I would give an idea, they'd point to the article and be like, 'Um, excuse me.' So it makes me very happy to hear that a younger generation is interested in funny women. And I won't take advantage of them.""  (Encyclopedia of World Biography)

I've always felt strongly about being a little gentler on the environment so I have leaned towards using as much recycled material when I ship artwork. I re-use plastic, bubble wrap and boxes as much as I can. Earlier in my career I was told that it was important to package professionally, but I felt too bad to use all new materials, especially since I had access to recyclable items. My pieces are still well packed, just maybe not as pretty as some and, so far (after 20+ years) I haven't had any issues. I just make sure edges and corners are well covered and that the cardboard is well marked 'FRAGILE' so that heavy objects are not placed on top of them. It's worked so far, and I definitely feel better about my choices. Plus, this way I don't have to increase shipping costs to cover those unnecessary expenses. It's a win-win for everyone.

While I'm painting my mind is usually whirring with previous conversations. Last week I was part of a panel with LevellingUp and we discussed the challenges of pricing artwork, especially when starting out. I've been doing this for over 20 years and I still question the pricing. Fortunately I've been given a lot of assistance by galleries, though they have often pushed the fees a little higher than I feel comfortable with as my goal has always been to make sure that original art is accessible, plus I'm quite prolific in my work so I love to see it move into new homes. Pricing is difficult because there are so many things to take into consideration such as technical skills, difficulty & time required to create a piece, tools & materials used, local market, demand and more. 

The biggest thing I've learned about everything in the art world is that everything requires a lot of research. When I began, there was no real internet or personal computers so research meant visiting galleries and community art sales. The things I learned that were important were to look at the materials other artists were using and, since I'm an acrylic artist, at the time acrylic paintings were placed in a lower market than oils though that is changing. I paint on stretched canvas with a bit of a  preference for gallery depth (1.5 to 2 inches) and paint around the edges so the work doesn't need the work framed, though some patrons of my work do have them framed after purchase. When viewing other artists' work, I had to keep in mind they're training and experience while trying to find something similar to mine. Many of my previous galleries only took 30-40% commission though now galleries take up to 60% so those costs along with my time and material costs have always had to be taken into consideration. My husband is an accountant so he helped me to create a spreadsheet where I could change numbers to check on the final income, just to make sure the final price made some kind of sense.

One of the other things we discussed last week were commissioned paintings...many people charge more for them and ask for a 50% deposit though I don't as I tend to lean towards commissions where I'm given more leeway to create what I'm compelled to create plus I want everyone who owns a piece of my work to have it because they absolutely love it. If things don't work out (which is rare), I often list any with a gallery or use it as a donation.

A third topic that came up was pricing the same type of work in different environments (ie. selling through a different gallery, through an art show or from your studio). The three of us agreed that the prices should be the same everywhere for the galleries and for the collectors sakes.

Finally, sales were also discussed. I don't hold them often, but on occasion I do offer pieces that are part of a new body of work for me at a lower price until I have increased my skill set. I also occasionally offer sales on older works in order to support a good cause, such as our local Food Bank as I think it is extremely important to give back as an artist.

In the past year I have had to let go of working large due to issues with adhesive capsulitis (frozen shoulder) that has plagued me for several years. This may mean that the prices of my small to midsize paintings may need to be reconsidered as that is where my focus will now lie. My work is priced per square inch and I do try to keep smalls (ie. 4x4 or 6x6 inches) at a lower price point as I had received wonderful advice years ago that many collectors will purchase something small at an accessible price and then, over time, may purchase larger works as their budgets increase. I have definitely found that to be true as many of the people who have purchased my work through the years have collected a number of pieces. I feel very privileged and grateful for that.