Susie Billings

Favoring a bright, warm palette Billings incorporates a range of mediums in her work - watercolors are painted onto japanese rice papers to create an underlying image. Then pastels, charcoal, papers, ink and gold leaf are applied to develop depth and create transparent layers. Billings’ final images are ultimately simple, yet complex compositions. “Billings uses color to create a subtle yet definite spirit. Her paintings leave viewers with a sense of optimism about life.”

For many years she lived and painted in a solar adobe home and studio perched on 35 acres of pinon forest overlooking Naturita Canyon near Telluride, Colorado. The high mesas, open skies and rarely subtle light of this southwestern corner of the country provided an ongoing source of inspiration. Currently Billings splits her time between the high plateaus of the Southwest, the coast of California, and a recently completed solar powered home and studio on the desert East Cape in southern Baja. Windblown by nature, Billings is able to travel and paint, teaching classes and workshops - simply journeying in search of new and inspired landscapes.

Mixed Media Collage & Watercolor
June 11 - 13 |  Friday - Sunday
10AM - 4PM |  $375
Susan Billings runs international art workshops, and paints in far flung locales, but always returns to Telluride to re-connect with the “vibrant arts community and environment that defines the Ah Haa School.” This years workshop will guide participants through three days of artistic immersion, bringing multi-media to life. Delighting in the summer alpine experience provides the foundation for this class. Watercolor, pastel, collage, printmaking, drawing, and journaling will be the core of your daily experience. Uniting this mountain landscape with the synergy of the engaged group will be the pathway to expanded creativity. You will collect ideas and do quick renderings outdoors in journals, then have time in the Ah Haa studio to review concepts and work in greater depth on a variety of techniques. This workshop is open to students of all levels and ages, from first-time beginners to accomplished professionals. Workshop size is limited to ensure that every participant has ample one-on-one instruction.

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Taos & The Georgia O’Keefe Ghost Ranch in Taos & Abiquiu, NM with Susie Billings
September 12 - 17 |  Sunday - Friday
$1995 includes all lodging and meals

Taos, New Mexico has been a transformative gathering place for artists for centuries. Let Ah Haa faculty member, painter, and workshop guru, Susie Billings, take you to the edge of the red sand desert to paint, journal, and reflect in a place unlike any other. Students will first travel to the Taos area, home to the Native Taos Pueblo tribe for over 1000 years. You will stay at the Mabel Dodge Luhan House for your first three nights of the journey. Throughout the 20th century, the Luhan House has hosted some of the greatest artists and thinkers of the time, including D.H.Lawrence, Martha Graham, Ansel Adams, Carl Jung and Bob Dylan. For the second half of the journey, students will travel to nearby Abiquiu, NM, where you will experience the wonder and transformative power of the Georgia O’Keefe Ghost Ranch. While creating amongst the towering rock walls and vivid colors that inspired O’Keefe for fifty years, Susie will engage you in a study of light and shadow within both the medium of painting and your own lives. Space is limited, sign up early.