Susan Bailey | Biography

Yes! I am often asked how I can paint realistic still lifes at the same time as abstracted landscapes. Here is my story: I started drawing at a young age and continued drawing and working with water colors through high school. My mother taught Fine Arts and painted often herself, and she taught me about great works of art from books and visits to art museums. Even while pursuing a career in software engineering, I was always drawn back to my interest in art. I managed to sneak in a life drawing class in between science classes at the University of Pennsylvania. After graduate school I returned to my home state of Massachusetts where I enrolled in local painting courses and set up a studio at home, experimenting with various media.

In 2000 I began taking oil painting from Newburyport painter and gallery owner, Enrico Donati. The Donati gallery sold several of my paintings. Joining the Newburyport Art Association led to several of my paintings being selected for juried shows. In 2003 I took an oil painting class at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, painting the figure from live models. The teacher was Evelina Brozgul, an accomplished Boston-area teacher and painter.

Soon thereafter I began weekly lessons with Evelina in her studio, progressing from rigorous pencil drawing exercises, copying the old masters such as DaVinci and Caravaggio, to intensive training in oil painting and the use of glazes. Working from studio still life setups in these classes inspired me to branch out on my own, eventually producing a collection of still lifes in my own style infused with bright colors and patterned fabrics.

In 2007 two galleries accepted my work and continued to exhibit it for many years. More galleries have since followed. In 2010 I expanded into a new genre and style: abstracted landscapes. Although very different from the realist still lifes, these paintings continue to reflect my obsession with bright colors, expressed in a more abstract style. The concept of horizontal stripes in those paintings grew out of gazing at the ocean while sailing.

Next I became fascinated with darkness lit only by small areas of intense light. This led to a collection of interior figurative paintings set in dark bars, where I concentrated on bringing out the brightly colored lights that just might expose secrets hiding in the shadows. The dark bars then moved outside to morph into a series of dark scene paintings.

More recently I have been pursuing a style I call jagged stripes. It builds on an earlier style of pure horizontal stripes and also abstractly depicts a landscape. I am also exploring some pointillist techniques employing dots or short rectangles. I am excited by the prospect of pursuing all of these diverse paths into the future.

Recent Exhibitions

2023 Art3 gallery exhibition, Art3 Gallery, Manchester, NH
2022 Art3 gallery exhibition, Art3 Gallery, Manchester, NH
2021 Art3 gallery exhibition, Art3 Gallery, Manchester, NH
2020 Art3 gallery virtual exhibition, Art3 Gallery, Manchester, NH
2019 Gallery exhibition, Blue Heron Gallery, Wellfleet, MA
2019 Art3 Gallery exhibition, Art3 Gallery, Manchester, NH
2018 Gallery exhibition, Blue Heron Gallery, Wellfleet, MA
2018 "Distractions", Art3 Gallery, Manchester, NH
2018 "Through the Artists' Eyes", Art3 Gallery, Manchester, NH
2017 'Language of the Imagination', Art3 Gallery, Manchester, NH

2017 Gallery exhibition, Blue Heron Gallery, Wellfleet, MA
2016 Essex Art Center, Lawrence, MA Two-person show
2016 "A Sense of Place", Art3 Gallery, Manchester, NH
2016 Gallery exhibition, Blue Heron Gallery, Wellfleet, MA
2015 "Inside/Outside", Art 3 Gallery, Manchester, NH
2015 "Surf and Turf", Art 3 Gallery, Manchester, NH
2015 Gallery Exhibition, Blue Heron Gallery, Wellfleet, MA
2015 Spring group show, Art 3 Gallery, Manchester, NH
2014 “COLOR!”, Solo show, Firehouse Gallery, Newburyport, MA.
2014 “The Language of Color”, Art 3 Gallery, Manchester, NH.