A Spot For Tea painting

"A Spot For Tea" original painting by Susan Rios.

Susan Rios the artist.

Soon you will be able to take a painting of A Spot For Tea home.

I first learned about the artist Susan Rios in the Summer 1988 edition of Victoria Magazine. The article "Personal Impressions" featured some of her artwork and also a glimpse of her life. There were pictures of her and her daughter, Olivia, taking tea at the Rose Tree Cottage Tea Room in Pasadena, California which was one of their favorite spots.

I loved her art work and found the book The Art of Susan Rios that she had autographed in 1988. Fast forward 20 years and while speaking at the 2008 World Tea Expo in May I got to meet her in person. Susan Rios is an open-hearted, bright eyed woman who creates environments where people like to be (including myself). Her paintings are said to reflect her infectious personality and reveal her sense of graciousness.

She has illustrated many of the tea books we have for sale in the tearoom: The Twelve Teas of Friendship, The Twelve Teas of Inspiration, Join Me For Tea, The Twelve Teas of Celebration, Frienship Teas To Go, A Tea To Comfort Your Soul, and Everything I Know I Learned Over Tea.

I am very excited to announce that Susan Rios has completed an original painting of the tearoom 12 x 16 and we will sell 6x8 prints of that painting to our customers. The cost for the prints will be $45.00 each and we are hoping to have them available for purchase in September!

We will also be selling some of her other tea prints. To those who would insist that her paintings are escapist. Rios has a well-thought-out answer. "There are terrible pressures in contemporary life, and largely because of the media, our society has focused on how horrible things are in the world. Subsequently, people have lost the ability to recognize that they have a choice about what kind of world they live in. I have a very different philosophy. What I'm saying with my paintings is that you get to choose. It's so easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle and lose out on the best parts of life," she continues, "I want to remind people to pay attention to the good things, to stop and appreciate the small, quiet moments, because they're the most important times in life." taken from her book The Art Of Susan Rios.

For more information on Susan Rios and her art you can visit her website at http://www.susanrioseditions.com/.

1 Thessalonians 4:11 "Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands."