Susan Donahue

  

         In my paintings, whether landscape, plein air, still life, or portraits, I aim to give the immediacy of a real place, a real person, or a real object or even a real dog. The closer I observe the natural world, the better my painting. At the same time, I see an inherent abstraction in nature that I try to preserve and capture in my work. I love the pull of the three-dimensional representation against the demands of the two-dimensional canvas. But, ultimately, it is the touch of the brush on the canvas that binds me to my painting. As I once read, “The touch does not describe; it evokes.”

     I aim for an emotional response to my painting–one that draws the viewer to pause and think about what is being represented and why the painting exists.  I value that painting is a unique way to communicate with others, at first without words, and then, perhaps with words you never expected.

     After studying painting for nearly my entire adult life and visiting museums all over the world, I decided to learn how to do it. It opened a whole new aspect of my thinking and let me understand the nature of my creative instincts. I will never stop painting.