Drawings by Susan McDougall
Marine invertebrates
Stubby Squid
Felt-tip Pen
California Fan Palms
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Fish
Cabezon
Landscapes
 Barn, Swauk Prairie
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By training a mathematician and programmer and now retired from a career with Boeing — Susan has balanced and sustained her scientific side with a love of the natural world, while her artistic side has found expression through art and photography. An avid outdoorswoman, special subjects of interest to her are birds, trees and western landscapes. Her photographs inspire many of her paintings and drawings. Susan works with Sennelier soft pastels, enjoying the purity of their colors and taking a keen interest in techniques of their application to best represent natural forms and textures. Recently, she has been working with felt-tip pen, distilling the complex forms of living trees and birds to present the essence of her subjects.
“The tension between the images I hold in my mind and the nature of pastel, the medium in which I enjoy working, forces me to think hard about how I can render just the right amount of detail to create images that are neither realistic nor abstract, but rather are ‘emblematic,’ showing the real center of the living creature or the scene before me.”
“The tension between the images I hold in my mind and the nature of pastel, the medium in which I enjoy working, forces me to think hard about how I can render just the right amount of detail to create images that are neither realistic nor abstract, but rather are ‘emblematic,’ showing the real center of the living creature or the scene before me.”