Suzanne W. Ally - Artists Statement 2008

In May of this year, I began painting for myself again. After many years of making custom art for other people and helping them find their favorite colors in their homes, it was finally time to rediscover my own art.

I began by painting a small painting every day. I began with the subjects that were around me and the colors that were in my paint tubes. I set up an easel in my home office next to the cats' favorite window spot and made myself comfortable. I started with small canvases mostly because I didn't want to commit to something and then feel trapped into having to finish it.

As I painted the first few paintings, I realized I had a passion to paint what I love the most which is what is around me, which is my home, plants, and animals. The comfort of home is my starting subject and we will see where it takes me.

I continue to have to detune myself from trying to envision what another person might want, and re-tune into my own senses and sensibility. It has been a major battle of the shoulds, but it has been a blast. I seem to be revisiting the eras of art history that I learned about in art school in college, only this time I am painting myself through them, really tasting the paint as I go. Although I am enjoying visiting the art of Bonnard, Matisse, Thiebaud, Diebenkorn, and others, I hope to soon find myself in my own studio with my own painted words in my mouth.

As I look back on the paintings I have done the past three months they help me understand why I feel the need to paint. Did you ever consider that an artist is asked to write an artist's statement but a writer is not asked to paint a writer's statement? The things I am trying to communicate in my paintings are not really explicable in words, thus the use of paint and canvas.

I will say that I want my paintings to help people feel happy. I get excited when I find colors that set each other off or interact in a way that evokes some human emotion. I enjoy hinting at a possible story, giving slight clues that shyly peek at the edges of the canvas. I'd like for viewers to pause and figure out the puzzle, for as they search for the hidden meaning, they will trip across surprise color combinations and delicious dabs of pure paint and realize life is less fun when the story is narrated to you and more fun when your search creates and becomes part of the story.

Perhaps ironically, I am simultaneously blogging about my painting adventures where I share my thoughts as I paint. I admit the doubts, struggles and temptations to detour, that daily litter my pathway. Friends and curious artisans are beginning to join the group of readers who subscribe to my blog, and their increasing numbers of insightful questions and comments are expanding the scope of purposes the blog is beginning to serve.

Please visit my website to see more paintings and join my blog to read in more detail about my painting experiences. You just never know what's going to happen next!

Suzanne W. Ally
www.suzanneally.com
s@suzanneally.com
Troy, Ohio