Susan
Lyon - Biography
Click
here to see some of Susan's father's drawings.
| Susan Lyon grew up in Oak Park, Illinois. Her initial interest in art was sparked by a television show on Georgia O'Keefe. "I hadn't seen art like that before. Her work touched me emotionally and seemed so personal -- I saw a television program on her life and that inspired me to take drawing classes. Lyon studied painting at the American Academy of Art in Chicago and was an active participant in Chicago's 100 year-old Palette and Chisel Club. It is there she first began exhibiting and selling her work; at twenty-three she was the youngest winner of the prestigious Gold Medal which she won two consecutive years in the annual Oil Painting show plus a third place in the Silver Medal Watercolor show. She entered the Oil Painters of America show once and got 7th place. In 1998 and 2000 she won an artist choice award in the Northwest Rendezvous Show. |  |
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Susan is a member of the Northwest Rendezvous Group in Helena, MT and was one of 50 artists who participated in the Laguna Plein Air painting competition in 2000. The shows are great to meet other artists and make contacts but the stress of painting on the spot is too much for her. She has been apart of numerous group shows but mainly exhibits with her husband in two person shows each year.
Susan draws much inspiration from painters such as Zorn, Fechin, Sorolla, and Celia Beaux. Lyon's technique is to paint wet on wet to start and then wet on dry for her finishing touches. She occasionally thins her oils with mineral spirits to obtain a balance of scratchy brush work against thick opaque strokes for the lights. "My style is realistic with as much impressionistic color as possible. I like to combine wide brushes for sweeping strokes in the background with small, soft brushes for subtle details in my center of interest." Many of her ideas come from the everyday objects that surround her such as stuffed animals, dolls or the occasional curious kitten playfully exploring her studio. "What I hope to accomplish is to convey the whimsical beauty I see around me as well as to make the viewer smile when they look at my work. When I started out as an artist, I struggled against my own more feminine tastes. I feared people would not take a painting of stuffed animals or dolls seriously. Once I overcame this self-consciousness, I was happy to find that what I enjoy looking at day after day also reaches others. Even when I'm painting fairly traditional things, my greatest joy is figuring out original ways of setting up the most common of still life objects so that they appear dynamic. Susan Lyon lives in a rural area of North Carolina with her husband, artist Scott Burdick, whom she met at the Palette and Chisel in 1989 and married in 1993. She moved there to escape the hectic pace of city life as well as to experience an entirely different part of the country. Surrounded by nature, Susan's studio allows her the space and privacy to grow as an artist. It also serves as a perfect home-base for her painting trips and travels which have included most of Europe, Turkey, Greece, Mexico, Canada, Nepal, Thailand, China and Africa. "The excitement of traveling, seeing so many new sights, and incredible works in museums; combined with the challenge of painting on the spot make me a travel addict! Even before I go on a trip I'm planning the one after." Susan's mediums of choice are oil and charcoal, with occasional forays into watercolor. Selected
Publications March issue
of "Art Talk", 1997; Visions
and Voyages - The Honors
and Awards 1992 1998 -
2008 Western Rendezvous of Art, Membership Affiliations Northwest Rendezvous Show - Helena, Montana
Check out our events page to see the several miniature shows that she participates in through the year
Susan painting at the Laguna Plein Air Painters of America show, Laguna Beach, CA -- 2000
Susan and a local girl named Rita in Backtapur, Nepal -- 2001.
Nepal, 2001.
Laguna Beach, CA -- 2000.
NWR Quick Draw - Montana - 1999
Me painting Hope Clure in my studio 2006
This photo was taken by a fellow volunteer Deby Wallach from California. It was taken in Feb 2007 in Tanzania while staying in a Masaai camp. |
