Artist Susan Mayfield at Trenholm Artists Guild in 2007

Susan Mayfield is an artist well-known for her use of color and light in her pastel and oil landscapes. A native and life-long resident of Charleston, SC, she currently paints and teaches in her studio on nearby Sullivan’s Island.

After graduating with honors in Fine Arts from the College of Charleston, she continued her studies with many prominent contemporary artists. Mayfield’s career has included solo and group exhibits in galleries such as the Wells Gallery, in Charleston, SC, the Joyce Robins Gallery in Santa Fe, NM, and The Red Piano Gallery in Hilton Head, among others. Her work is found in many corporate and private collections, and her paintings have been exhibited internationally in the Art in the Embassies program. In addition to painting, she teaches ongoing art classes in her studio and pastel and landscape painting workshops around the country.

Mayfield takes frequent painting trips to places that provide inspiration, such as the high mountain desert of New Mexico, and recent journeys to Thailand and Vietnam. However, it is life near the Southern coast that is the recurrent theme in her work. From the sea islands of Georgia to the cypress swamps and blackwater rivers of her native South Carolina, Mayfield explores the Lowcountry and the people who live there through paint and pastel. She feels a sense of purpose to record and depict the way of life that exists on the rivers, creeks, and ocean; a way of life that is disappearing at a furious pace through development and natural causes.

“ I hope to connect with those viewing my paintings, not only the beauty of the light and color of this landscape, but on a deeper level, a sense of the soul of this place”…

Susan Mayfield is currently represented by Bay St. Gallery in Beaufort, SC, and by the Ella Walton Richardson Gallery in Charleston, SC, starting in July 2007. contact: www.susanmayfield.net, smaywest3@aol.com, 843-327-4193.

Click here for a handout from the meeting.

Thanks to Jerry Bridgers for the meeting images!

Snapshots from our meeting below:

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Ann Lyness and Harriet Nass	L to R: Proctor Davis, Martha Jo Nelson, Martha Davis, Jean (a guest), Lynn Ruffin, Rita Ruth Cockrell and Mary Williams.	Marty Allen, Regina Moody and David Phillips	Sue Martin and Verlie Patrick
Frank speaks with our guest speaker before the meeting.	We had a nice turnout to learn about working with pastels.	Susan Mayfield talked about "how to avoid a bad painting."	Her demo began with establishing her horizon and placing her darks.
She then establish her "arrows" to strengthen the composition.	Susan then established her color contrasts.	Then she strengthen her colors and added details until nothing else bothered her!	Susan keeps her pastels in a plastic case filled with "GRITS".
Susan began her demo with a blank sheet of Murray pastel paper.	Example of Susan's work.	More examples of Susan's work.	Trannie asks a question while Carl checks out the GRITS.