I’ve spent most of my life in northern coastal California. And love it here. We’re within the sound of the ocean and only a half hour from Redwood National Park.
We went for a drive on Solstice in between storm fronts and found some lovely light, rainbows, Roosevelt elk and crashing waves.
Here’s an “album” of my favorite photos as a holiday gift from me to you, my friends and fans. Thank you for your interest in my goings-on and I hope you have a great 2013!
It’s live! My new website is up and running! I built it on a newish application called Sandvox, which I highly recommend. Nice choices for templates, WYSIWYG interface, fast publishing of updates and good communication from the company, which is based in San Francisco. I think that artists who are looking for something beyond the cookie-cutter fine art template sites ought to check out this product. It also looks like they are very receptive to suggestions for improvements and features, so there may be an opportunity to nudge them in the direction of doing things that would make their product even more attractive to artists.
I love the control I now have and, while I do pay for web-hosting, the existence of my site is not dependent on anyone else, a lesson I’ve just learned from my experience with GoDaddy after they cut off my access for 24 hours, which just coincidentally happened to coincide with the Strike Against SOPA. The fine art template sites all seem to charge for their services and besides really disliking their pedestrian template choices, who needs a monthly fee just to have a website?
Sandvox costs $79.99, ok, 80 bucks. I just downloaded the latest upgrade, which was free. You can also download a free trial version to test drive it.
In other news, I recently received this endorsement from Todd Wilkinson, the Editor of Wildlife Art Journal:
“What catches my eye with Susan Fox’s work, inspired by her travels to Mongolia, is her aesthetic, her craving for adventure, her way of naturalistic interpretation that reads, visually, like a beautifully-illustrated field journal. Susan’s paintings in oil speak of exotic people, animals and outposts set in a distant mythical corner of the world—an ancient kingdom synonymous with Genghis Khan, yet today a modern country surprisingly still unexplored by Western artists. Fox may be the only American animal artist who has devoted so much to Mongolia’s mountains, deserts and steppes. And that’s precisely why her work is more than decoration; it sparks conversations.
I salute art that tells stories—that upon each encounter with a painting or sculpture you realize there’s another narrative layer waiting to be explored. This involves something that goes beyond the technical virtuosity of an artist or the way light falls upon a piece; it gets, instead, to the reason why some art possesses soul. Whether she is interpreting traditional Mongolian horse culture, celebrating Argali (bighorn) sheep, or taking us off to the East African savannah (yet another destination on Fox’s map of travel), we know we’ve been on a journey to someplace special. Susan Fox endeavors to set herself apart and it shows.”
Todd Wilkinson, Editor, Wildlife Art Journal
THANKS, TODD!
The Society of Animal Artists, of which I am a Signature member, has recently started a blog. On it you will find news about the Society, workshop and event listings by the members and a calendar of Society events. Check it out and let me know what you think!
We also now have a fan page on Facebook. You don’t have to join Facebook to visit us. And I invite you to visit our new website, too! It has information about our organization, exhibitions and how to become a member of the premier animal art organization.
Why Did The Elk Cross The Road Dept.
We went for a drive last weekend to find a spot from which to watch the sun set. The clouds rolled in, so that was kind of a bust, but at the Stone Lagoon Schoolhouse campground, which is right off the highway, a large herd of Roosevelt elk were working their way through the almost-empty RV section. We circled around on the campground road and ended up perfectly positioned for me to get some nice elk reference.
This is about twenty minutes north of our house. There are often elk hanging around the campground, sometimes picturesquely situated in front of the old schoolhouse.
Oh, Honey, Look What The Cat Brought In Dept.
We think of it as semi-regular episodes of Animal Planet. This time, a very alive little shrew was left on an area rug in the living room where we couldn’t miss it. I picked it up in a paper towel and got a couple quick pics before turning it loose outside. Their metabolism runs really fast, so they can’t go long without food and don’t do well under stress.
Susan Fox, American Artist 