READING

In 2023, April to be more exact, Susie began the journey into watercolor.  Getting her feet wet in Marilyn Bradley's classes, she then started reading and watching tutorials on brushstrokes, color wheel, mixing paint, underpainting ... there is soooo much out there.  

Susie's first reads were straight off Marilynne Bradley's shelves: 

Charlotte Huntley and Judi Betts, Painting, a Quest toward...Xtraordinary.  

Walter, Foster, How to Draw and Paint Flowers

Charles Reid, Portrait Painting in Watercolor

John Norton, Painting and Drawing Children

Her favorite book for beginners, recommended by her nephew in Minnesota:

Gordon MacKenzie, The Complete Watercolorist's Essential Notebook

While all of her previous academic writing had to do with educational leadership in schools, that background informed her approach to visual arts.  It takes a mindset to launch into a whole new realm of activity and productivity, especially as she ages. Susie wrote these pieces and had them published via Washington University. She's listed a few of the other books that have affected her positively as she approaches painting.

Deeper Learning: Practice and Possibilities by Susie Morice (Santa Fe Center for Transformational School Leadership, 2018)

School Stories: Engaging in Transformative Work by Susie Morice, (Santa Fe Center for Transformational School Leadership, 2017)

Leadership in Turbulent Times by Doris Kearns Goodwin (Simon & Schuster, 2018)

Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol S. Dweck (Ballantine Books, 2016)

The Power of Conversation: Transforming Principals into Great Leaders  by Barbara Kohm (Rutledge, 2017)

Principals Who Learn: Asking the Right Questions, Seeking the Best Solutions by Barbara Kohm and Beverly Nancy, (ASCD, 2007)

Shared Leadership: Transformational Collaboration by Barbara Kohm (The Institute for School Partnership at Washington University and the Santa Fe Center for Transformational School Leadership, 2019) 

The Internet is swamped with tutorials on watercolor painting.  They help you get in a groove of painting, honing your routine of practicing with paint. That said, and it is a lot of fun, it is no substitute for a deeper immersion into the experimentation of watercolor.  Susie found herself becoming really good at copying.  But is that the art of watercolor painting?  It's a piece of the pie perhaps.  And she still loves it and practicea by looking at what others have already done.  Heck, why else go to the Art Museum?   

Incredibly interesting are two shows that have been put out by the UK and are airing on Prime Videos.  These two shows have a long list of seasons and episodes all counting down to one artist that takes the highest honor at the end of a year.  Watching different types of art and artists create their masterpieces is captivating and inspiring...many of the artists are amateurs...a great mix of talent.

Portrait Artist of the Year

Landscape Artist of the Year

Also on Prime Videos, a series called How to Paint by Ricky Allman (from UMKC) is super informative.

Routinely Susie paints with friends.  It's better than hanging at a coffee shop.  It is certainly more engaging.  In tandem with the jabber in the air, painting with friends grounds Susie's painting in the love of sharing what she cares about.  Often she paints birds, flowers, trees, eyes, vegetables...all while her talented friends paint and talk out their families, politics, passions, dilemmas.  "It is not at all unusual that we are utterly quieted in the throes of our own brushstrokes ...a delicious silence without any need to fill the air with voices. These moments transform me, shift me into a state of utter delight. I love painting."