How exciting it is to be me in the month of love and history!
My month opens with a valentine making workshop! This workshop will be an easy and fun opportunity for you to create “happy Mail” for your friends and loved ones! It is offered through Rochester Oasis and the link is here: Valentine, Sweet Valentine
On February 1st I will be sharing my work at the Frederick Douglass Library! This library is on South Avenue in Rochester, New York! I will be bringing some new work including a rather different piece for me! (Stay tuned!)
On February 3rd and 4th, I will be sharing my work in our main gallery @Central Creatives at Piano Works mall. Jacqueline Salsbury and I have teamed up to create a lovely weekend of mixed-media art for you! She is the most incredible jeweler! You won’t want to miss that!
On February 10th and 11th, I have been invited to share my art at Genrich’s in Irondequoit. Last year, Deborah Genrich invited me to do a Valentine’s pop up and this year she invited me again! I am pretty excited about that!
As always, you are welcome to visit me at my studio – I would love to see you, show you my latest art, and of course the greeting cards!
This is my last formal open house! I hope you will consider supporting my small business!
I do not know how to express to you what a difference it makes when you support artists and other small businesses. I don’t want to whine about it being a difficult three years. (but it has) I don’t want to tell you that this year has been hard. (but it has)
I do want you to know that the art and other products I have to offer are made with love. Art, the creation of art, seems to be taking the best that I am and putting it into a card, a painting, or a scarf. It is carefully choosing the colors and images to create something wonderful. It is working on a painting until it feels finished. It is about bringing the best that I am to offer to you and to the world. This can be incredibly vulnerable, but also incredibly thrilling when you affirm that I am doing good work. This happens with your kind words, your purchases, and your encouragement.
Next in the #MarchMeetTheMaker challenge is to share the best decision I ever made.
Well goodness! I can think of several! Create Art 4 Good is not my first business. It is, however, the business I have taken most seriously. The first thing I did was to write a business plan, set goals, and do everything I could to attain those goals.
My first big goal was to have a brick-and-mortar in five years of beginning my business. I had it in TWO! I would say, the business plan AND taking the leap to have a gallery space were two of the best business decisions I have ever made! #grateful#CreateArt4Good#greetings4good#artistlife
I LOVE daisies, sharp Derwent Art colored pencils, microns with 005 tips, walking in the rain, water in general (lake, ocean, whatever!), tea, @goldenpaints, soup (it is the perfect food), mixed media art, fancy glasses (even if I am drinking lemonade out of them), cooking for people, and all things family.
I am so excited to invite you to my holiday open house! You are invited to shop small! Shop for Art, Cards, & gifts created for you and all the special people on your list! Several studios at the Central Creatives will be open for your shopping pleasure! Remember when you show small you support real people (in this case, a real artist doing her best) to spread love and joy this holiday season!Your purchases support the big magic!
Visit our building at the Piano Works Mall. 349 West Commercial Street (Suite #2795) East Rochester, NY 14445! Enter the building through the red door to the left of the Golf Pro shop. Proceed down the hall to the elevator or through the door to a set of stairs. Go to the second floor- you will see the Central Creatives doors there welcoming you to our little slice of heaven!
Welcome July in a sassy way! It’s going to be a great month!
Well, hello there! Welcome to July. I wanted to take a moment to share all the fun things going on in my life.
First, I am not (typically) one to make a big deal out of my own birthday, however, this year, this month, both my husband and myself are turning sixty. I admit, I kind of don’t believe it. There are days my body sure does feel at LEAST sixty, but I feel like I am just getting started in so many ways. But, regardless of what is ahead, I am celebrating. I feel like more than ever, I am in awe of the preciousness of life, the countless gifts I have received, and the love that I have in my life. I AM one blessed human. I am ever so grateful.
That said! I am celebrating with a one-woman show at Sylvan Starlight Creations. I have been creating for a long time (see above) and I want to celebrate that! I am grateful to Sylvia Serry who owns the gallery for this invitational. The opening is on the fifteenth of July and should be downright fun! I will be demonstrating mixed media art as it is my great love! (one of them anyway) Sylvan Starlight Creations is found at 50 State St bldg c, Pittsford, NY 14534. The opening will be from 4-8 pm. The show will be up through September!
Celebrating sixty years of life and creation!
Next, I have updated my workshops. At this point, I am very willing to facilitate workshops in person at the gallery or on a video chat. It is important everyone feels comfortable, but by all means, let’s be creative together!
you can find the listings on the website here: Create With Me
Join the Central Creatives for an open house!
Next up, (so much fun to share, isn’t there?) My beloved new home (well sorta new) is having an opening on July 30th! You can come to visit between 5-9 pm that evening. If that doesn’t work, PLEASE make an appointment- I would love to show you around! This is becoming my happy place! Make an appointment here: Susan Carmen-Duffy
Lastly, I HAVE SO MUCH FUN NEWS! I am going to press soon AND that means I will be offering a new subscription plan! Stay tuned! I think it is going to be really nifty and fun! There are several to choose from right now- find them @ Greetings4Good.org
REALLY lastly, I hope you are doing okay. Covid has paused the world in such an unbelievable way. I feel like the ramifications are far-reaching for each of us. Personally, there have been struggles, sadness, and loss. What has profoundly saved me has been the practice of gratitude, my art, my family, (chosen and gifted family as well!). Be gentle with yourself. Be kind to others. If never before we understood that we are all in this together – we sure as heck should now.
You have been asking for hours to visit- so here they are! Beginning in May- Mondays & Thursdays 11 am – 4 pm (except for Memorial Day)
I am beginning on the modest side, but please know that you are always welcome to make an appointment. Appointments are best made via email: Susan
Park between Ferrari’s and the Golf pro shop- enter our building through this red door! follow the hall to the elevator (there are also stairs) make your way to the second floor. The main central Creatives door is directly in front of you- Suite #2795. The main entrance to my gallery is to the right of that door. Please text when you arrive (as the hall doors are generally locked) 585.210.3161 – is the gallery phone!
Please wear a mask in the building. I have hand sanitizer available for your use!
Today the rain is falling steadily in Rochester, New York. Today, I love the rain, it is cleansing and can be so beautiful. The fresh scent fills me. It nourishes the earth- which seems especially important these days.
Spring has arrived. Those beautiful yellow-greens are popping up everywhere I look. Grass, trees, plants, they all seem to have the courage of spring.
This season feels more hopeful to me than any others have in quite some time. The path might not be linear but, I seem to have made peace with the “new normal”. I am diligently trying to function, grow, and even bloom. I am doing the work, both personally and professionally. It is not always pretty, I assure you, (have I shared about the painting I started about a month ago that now has about 37 layers of paint on it with seemingly no success?!) *insert frustrated face here*
One of the things I am working on is my greeting card website. (Greetings 4 Good) I am sure you have heard the story no less than a thousand times.
The motivation to begin a greeting card company began decades ago. (truth be told, it was about half a century ago!) It is funny how life sometimes brings you full circle. Since I was a young child, creating cards has been a “thing”. I remember being quite young and visiting my great-grandmother. She was gravely ill. I was convinced that making cards would heal her. While the idea might be slightly naive, I do believe there was validity in the intent. I made her several cards, some from folded paper, some from leftover Christmas cards, each was filled with great love. Each made that sweet woman’s lips part in a quiet smile.
For me, greeting cards are about thoughtful intent. It is about sharing my art and my heart. It is about creating connections. Celebrating victories, mourning losses, reaching out to those who might be alone (or just lonely), saying your sorry when you have been wrong; it is about reaching out (even and especially during a pandemic) to share your love. Greetings 4 Good is not just a way to share my work, it is about sharing my love. (and encouraging you to do the very same!)
I believe that my business life just finally caught up with my heart.
So today, I just wanted to check on you, while I spend the day working on my big dream! (I am up to eight pages of products!) I hope you are feeling warmth and of course, loved. I hope you feel your life is also full of the courage of spring. It might just be time to bloom my friends…
Sending you so much love,
Susan
Spring rain washes the soul and nourishes the earth
This is my last formal open house! I hope you will consider supporting my small business!
