Sue McNally
Ruby Beach, Olympic Peninsula, Washington, 2011, oil on canvas, 84 x 96 in.
Vein, 2011, oil on board, 20 x 16 in.
After Rothko, (untitled 1956), 2010, oil on canvas, 36 x 32 in.
Night Field, 2010, oil on canvas, 54 x 44 in.
Red Skies at Night, 2010, oil on canvas, 36 x 36 in.
Valley Floor, 2009, oil on canvas, 162 x 84 in.
Paradise at Night, 2009, oil on canvas, 162 x 84 in.
Paradise at Night, detail
Dreams of Utah, 2010, oil on canvas. 60 x 72 in.
Devil’s Tower, Wyoming, 2010, oil on canvas, 72 x 84 in.
Winter On the Drive, 2011, oil on canvas, 12 x 12 in.
Artist Statement
I make large scale landscape paintings with oil, on canvas, and small scale self portraits, with gouache, ink, watercolor, charcoal, and gesso on paper. The practice of each informs the other. In painting, I focus on creating a balance between representational and abstracted elements. The representation is made through the practice of drawing on the canvas, working to make each view specific and recognizable to those who are familiar with that landscape. The paint itself becomes the vehicle to allow for abstraction. In drawing, I allow the gesture precedence, worrying less about representation. My goal for each piece is to be representational in the whole while never being representational in the parts.
Artist Bio
Sue McNally was born in Washington D.C. in 1967 and grew up in New England. She received a BFA from the University of Rhode Island in 1990 and an MFA from the Savannah College of Art and Design in 1995. She has been a resident artist at The Vermont Studio Center, Yaddo and most recently Ucross, in Ucross Wyoming. Sue works with traditional genres, making large-scale landscape paintings and self-portraits. She lives with her husband Doug Sabetti in both Newport, Rhode Island, and, off grid, in a yurt in rural Utah.
About Sue McNally
Patterns of nature—whether cloudy skies, tangled woods, falling snow, or green grasslands—embody a forceful presence and personality unto themselves, accentuating both their independence and interconnectedness as living entities. (Doug Norris)
Does anyone else catch echoes of Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” in the “Paradise at Night” painting?