An Inspired Chat with Sue Graef of Clearwater, Florida

We’re looking forward to introducing you to Sue Graef. Check out our conversation below.

Sue, it’s always a pleasure to learn from you and your journey. Let’s start with a bit of a warmup: What makes you lose track of time—and find yourself again?
When I paint I am in my own world or universe and I guess you could say I’m in the zone. There is no time, no sound and no thinking about things. Sometimes I will play music with the idea I will listen to it while I paint. Hours later, when I take a break, I see that the music played and ended and I never heard any of it.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Sue Graef and I am an artist, specifically a painter, The reason I paint is something I rarely talk about. I would like you to have a good idea about what is behind all these paintings.

First of all, I have been painting since I was old enough to hold a paint brush; that’s a long time. The urge to communicate to other people via visual images is part of the story. The other part has to do with wanting to get a person’s attention using color, drawing them in long enough to see the details of the painting and then lifting their spirits with a light hearted, playful image.

The subjects I paint are, at times seemingly random, but they all have a common thread. They are images I see that have something attractive about them; possibly the patterns of crosswalks, windows, cars, trees, people, dogs, and the chaos of the urban environment. I like to take what I see and translate it into a whimsical scene that people can relate to.

Another entirely different aspect of this urge to paint is my excitement about color and composition. I get a feeling of happiness when I place one color next to another and the contrast or lack thereof is aesthetic to me. It’s a certain feeling of joy that is hard to describe. Regarding composition, it has to be just right and in order for that to happen, it must be interesting to look at and combined with color make sort of a balanced equation. The viewers eye must be invited to travel around the canvas, going from shape to shape and color to color.

Just writing this down, has created even more excitement about starting my next painting. This one will be a beach scene with an urban setting on the Florida coast.

Great, so let’s dive into your journey a bit more. Who taught you the most about work?
For the purposes of this question, I’ll define work as my work as an artist. The earliest influence was my mother who was also an artist. She encouraged me to work hard at learning the skills needed. These things included drawing the human form, landscapes, still lifes and anything else I could observe, She taught me to have a mind of my own and create from my heart, avoiding the encouragement to copy others. Just a little later in college, Stan Whitney, one of my instructors had a strong influence on how I worked. The most important thing I remember is the idea of spontaneity and staying away from pondering what to do next on a painting.

If you could say one kind thing to your younger self, what would it be?
Quit worrying about what other people think!

Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. What’s a cultural value you protect at all costs?
I believe artists should be encouraged to learn well the basics of their subject as a professional. These things are drawing from life, composition, perspective, color theory, the importance of imagination, basic design and the techniques of the materials being used.

Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. Are you doing what you were born to do—or what you were told to do?
I am doing exactly what I want to be doing right now! Whether I was born to do it or not is of no significance to me and I’m certainly not doing what I was told to do. I’m painting as much as I want to, exhibiting my work and selling it to appreciative collectors.

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