Local artist Susan N. McCollough receives recognition in Artblend
Local artist Susan N. McCollough receives recognition in Artblend
Gulf Shores based artist Susan N. McCollough recently received recognition for her work in a profile in highly regarded art magazine Artblend. McCollough owns the Susan N. McCollough Gallery and Studio in her hometown of Gulf Shores.
She describes herself as a fortunate artist who gets to paint daily, which allows her to work in varied media. “I paint mostly in oils but have used acrylic, pen and ink, watercolor, charcoal and ink, tempera, pencils; and I sculpt,” she said. “Every painting is different. If you walk in my gallery you would think there were 15 different artists. Every new canvas must have a new thought.”
Throughout her career, she has produced nearly 600 paintings and has held 15 solo exhibitions on four continents. Her work appears in collections in nine states, and she created commissioned paintings for the University of Alabama, her alma matter, and Pasquale’s Inc. McCollough was selected to exhibit in the Florence Biennale in Italy, where she connected with artists from all over the world.
For McCollough, the artistic process is never-ending. “It includes every second of every day-even when I’m falling asleep,” she said. “In my mind’s eye, I see as many as four or five things that I want to paint. The next morning, I will paint one of those and continue to paint the rest until it’s time to paint something else.”
The abstract expressionist, who is known to work on multiple paintings concurrently, said she is constantly inspired by her present surroundings. “I never give out of ideas. I find inspiration in everything I come in contact with on a daily basis,” she said. “Especially a blank canvas.”
Living on the Gulf of Mexico’s white-sand beaches also provides her with endless artistic stimulation. “The calmness of the gulf, the palm trees waving with the ocean breeze, and our herd of horses that live on the ranch with us all add to the perfect surroundings for inspiration,” she said.