SusanGainen

Susan Gainen is a Whimsical Wildlife Documentarian and Abstract Painter.

She lives on a path that runs through Saint Paul (MN) and her living room studio which is frequented by creatures who sit for portraits, tell stories, and eat species-specific snacks. She combines geometric abstractions into the portraits of Saint Paul's prehistoric, historic, and purely whimsical wildlife, including its Lost Cave Paintings, Tiny Wild Parrots and Hummingbirds, Wild Parrots of the Grim Winter of 2013, Backyard Roosters, and the Pandas & Frogs from Saint Paul's Hidden Bamboo Forest. Her first collection of 70+ creatures' portraits and stories is "The Small Friends' Chronicles." (soft cover and e-book from blurb.com)

LLLamas She is lucky to have encountered several LLLama (their spelling) families who are featured in their book "Meet the LLLamas." (softcover and ebook from amazon.com)

ROOSTERS With no animal husbandry in her family, she is perhaps the most surprised artist and author of "The Backyard Roosters of Saint Paul." Who knew that you don't need roosters for the production of eggs? For fertilized eggs, yes. For regular eggs, not at all. (softcover and ebook from amazon.com)

CATS She knows that judgments are made when people enter the home of Women of a Certain Age and the see nothing but 2-d and 3-d cat art, cat posters, cat wall hangings, cat-shaped bottles, and cat tapestries. Thus, in her apartment (which is her studio), all but four pieces of cat art are upstairs. That said, her Model, Muse and Snacks Manager is Max-the-Cat, who is very proud of his book, "The New World of Cats: Max-the-Cat and Friends." (softcover from amazon.com.)

STUDIO MANAGEMENT: Max-the-Cat is Model, Muse and Snacks Manager, and he welcomes all visitors with species-specific snacks. He does this on a zero budget, which may involve money laundering. She does inquire because of a belief that she cannot be indicted for something about which she knows nothing.

ABSTRACT PAINTING Never having attended Art School, she had no traditional art vocabulary. One of her first contest entries was categorized as "geometric abstraction." She asked "What's that?" It took a while to see that a lifetime of doodles created a theme: "Every Piece Looks Better Because of the Pieces that Surround It." Those throw-away doodles generated a rallying cry: A liberal Olde Broad's Wish for Everyone to Behave and Be Kind."

ABSTRACT NEIGHBORHOODS In 2016, she began to make mosaics from paper, acrylic paint, and acrylic mediums. Looking closely, she realized that this body of work complements her original abstract paintings which are (to her surprise) representations of neighborhoods. Each tiny piece looks better because of the pieces that surround it. Each is an original and priced according to size.

IMAGINATION & EXERCISE She exercises her imagination every day, exploring new creatures, new designs, and new materials. Enjoy.

Note: She accepts commissions.