WELCOME! The Navajo

"The Navajo" recently won 2nd Place at the 2011 Beaux Arts of Volusia County Show, FL (on left).

 

 

The journey to mixed media abstract art has been exciting. It seems to be complex enough to keep me engaged in a continuing journey.

Especially intriguing are the pieces starting with bold gestures and then composing and decomposing to arrive at a satisfying composition. Titling work is difficult, as I want the viewer to see what he or she desires to see; leaving a little mystery to the work is part of my process.

Here are some of my favorite quotes and thought on abstract art:

Thank you for visiting! I welcome any comments you might have about my work and site offerings.

Sue Reynolds, Aritst (2009)M.S. Reynolds was born in Western Kentucky and subsequently lived in Southern Indiana until moving to Orlando Florida as a teenager.  She was educated at Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia and graduated with a BA in Education from Stetson University, DeLand, Florida.

Teaching was a constant interest and occupation despite moving around the USA and Europe while her husband was an Army officer.  In addition to elementary teaching, she taught Interior Design at the Barbizon School of Modeling in Tampa, Florida, and GED( adult education ) in Wurzburg ,Germany.

After retiring and starting her art journey, she studied with nationally known artists Christopher Schink, Carol Barnes, Katherine Chiang Liu, and Virginia Cobb.  These artists were strong influences. Serving on the board of Florida Watercolor Society, and ultimately as President in 2007,  provided acquaintance and  learning situations from the various jurors for the FWS  annual exhibitions such as John Salminen, George James,  Donna Watson,  and Mary Anne Beckwith.

Additional education came from visiting many of the European museums as the Rijksmuseum and the Louvre, among many others.  Also of great impact were the museums of New York City and Washington D.C.  Living in the Washington area several years, she enjoyed permanent gallery collections, especially the contemporary artists, and many special exhibitions such as Georgia O‘Keefe, Richard Diebenkorn, Joan Mitchell, Picasso, Mark Rothko, and the Wyeths,  N.C.,Andrew, and Jamie.

Exposure to the works of these artists influenced her to concentrate her efforts in the area of abstract expressions.

Artist Statement:

Creating abstract artwork is the outlet for unplanned and spontaneous play that seems to get lost as we mature. Allowing my "child-self" to emerge is quite a happy and entertaining challenge. I work in a non-objective, experimental process because it is freeing and suites my personality.

My work starts by clearing my mind of things to do, the clock and, any other details. Different music (jazz, rock, or classical) helps to create a mood and state that allows me to get in touch with the creative and relaxes right side of the brain and establish a zone of concentration.

My work is done on canvas, wood panels, or paper, using acrylics and various acrylic mediums. That wonderful paint! Acrylic paints allow enough drying time to play, but dry fast enough not to lose the initial impetus for the painting. I very much enjoy embellishing and finishing my work with various crayons and sometimes collage.  Paint is applied with brushes, sticks, spatula and other items to create a variety of marks. These things add marks that are expressive and serve to connect areas of the painting. My underlying goal is good composition using shape and space division with color, textures, line and mark as my chosen art principles.

Through my art I hope the viewer will make contact with what I am trying to express.