Susan Lugar

Susan Lugar | Red Grapefruit

Your artist statement mentions a desire to create art that “soothes the world’s pain.” How do you see color and pattern contributing to this healing process?

I don’t remember a time I wasn’t doodling or mesmerized by color.  My Mother laughed often saying, “She HAS to be making something!” I thought I loved Science but what I really loved was creating shadow boxes for Science class.  Those  assignments made a way to drag color from words, creating part of the universe, in miniature! I find that the act of being creative soothes the parts of life that aren’t so colorful! The process itself is calming. That planets could drip fishing line strong from the top a shoebox was a challenge gladly accepted. Or, how about a Saturn hung in a ping- pong ball with nearby stars winking from tiny bulbs.  Instead of every course dotted with color, I saw kaleidoscopes whirring, jerking the rainbow into every discipline.  Just give me a topic and shoebox, Oh let’s go! (Well, Algebra was stretch!)

Susan Lugar | Dahlias

Growing up in the US South, how did those cultural and natural surroundings shape your relationship with color and creativity?

Whether we walk hand in hand with Pooh Bear or have joined Tinkerbell, marveling wide eyed through starry nights, stories provide escape routes!  Imagination stirs fragrance as a calming pot in this sometimes crusty world.  Art sings a similar stanza. The South lies rich in floral beauty as cotton fields sway in prickly-swishy balls. Moonflowers’ creamy petals yawn away steamy summer nights. Though the heat  and humidity swells thicker than the morning fog it helps push out gorgeous peony blossoms and magnolias!  To this day fireflies twinkle in backyard skies over honeysuckle blossoms that perfume neighborhoods. Growing up, natural beauty called out a politically troubled milieu, draping despair with possible escape routes… to wonder.  So it’s no surprise that I have many bubble gum pink peonies in my art, magnolias, poppies and gardenias as well. Bring them on!

You started with watercolors and later embraced digital work. What was the turning point that led you into digital art?

Rather than a moment in time where I skipped from watercolors to digital art it was more of a merging than a snapping to a new venue.  Growing up just three hours from the Gulf of Mexico and visiting there often, I compare this to that breathtaking body of water.  In rhythms lead by the moon, water pools up to the sand and some of the gritty texture floats back, gulping puddles from the sea. Both water and sand are in the slurry mix. Similarly, adding digital art to watercolors simply mingles the two and sometimes in the same work of art. Though the digital often splays boldly and the watercolors, mostly tender, occasionally there’s a marriage of the two!  (Ex. The one with the hummingbirds, butterflies and wisteria).

Susan Lugar | Snowberries

You’ve worked in HR and traveled to the Orient, the Middle East, and South America. How did those global experiences influence your artistic vision?

I’ve had several jobs, one as an English teacher and later work in HR (Oasis international Schools)  We actually lived in the Orient for over a decade in South Korea and two years in Hong Kong (where I left part of my heart!)  Later with the HR work I traveled extensively though was then based out of the US home office.  Wherever I went as I worked with international schools (www.oasisis.org) I always had a sketch pad or i pad. Oh, the airport waiting hours often spun with productivity. Forevermore, some  idea brewed anxiously begging to crawl out on paper. If Hong Kong doesn’t slay you with her high rises and mountainous perches around the world’s showiest harbor, maybe you just can’t be slain! I love my home: inspirational packed America lies coast to coast. There is also something intriguing about Asia. In Hong Kong old regularly meets new with fragrant frangi pani blossoms spilling perfume through each.  The same street may tout a fauna-rich park laden with bird cages- hanging in the trees.  Grandfathers often bus in with their tiny rubied treasures and find just the right limb for a caged bird… to sing. Chirp! Chirp! As nearby free birds join the chorus it’s a milieu not found in just any country.  And this park scene may lie in the shadow of a multi story high rise with an airplane whirring overhead.  Now that’s a mix that taps into ones creativity! If it doesn’t, just check your pulse!

Susan Lugar | Pomegranate

You’ve mentioned your visits to Afghanistan and the contrast between your artistic freedom and the limitations faced by women there. How has this awareness shaped your own artistic journey?

I would say that the most impactful place in relation to creativity, trial and curiosity was Kabul, Afghanistan. I could summarize this in one word, “Gratitude.” I found that artistic vision expands like a hot air balloon when you realize you have the freedom to pursue art.  Of course many Afghan women have talent far beyond my own, but they are often constrained by war and poverty. Parts of the culture strangle any hint of a professional pursuance in creativity. On one of my arrivals to Kabul, the US embassy had been recently attacked and the international grocery was also hit.  Flocks of goats meandered in the city streets with a shepherd herding them from the front of one business to another. It was trash day. Everyday is trash day. No bins just trash covering the grass. The animals chomped and chewed the rubble til their tummies bloated so they skipped the next few store fronts. The smell outweighed the shock.  Along the same busy streets that cried in horn horn blasts, mothers in full burka walked the traffic carrying a baby, hoping to make it through the next meal. Gutwrenching at best.  And I wonder how many of these precious women are a Picasso without time and a brush, trapped in poverty.  Anyone within earshot of these words and has the desire, means and freedom to pursue art…why not?  I’m grateful every time I pick up a watercolor brush or reach for the iPad for that next design that needs a push into color. “I get to try.” And I’m so grateful.

Many of your works are now connected to major retailers such as Bed Bath and Beyond, Target, and Amazon through Stupell. How do you balance creating art for personal expression and for commercial platforms?

*(Michaels and Wayfair have now been added to the above thankfully)

My styles vary somewhat. Sometimes it’s fairly tight with feathers and veins visible. Then with the florals a gestural loose style often takes sail.  As a Christian I feel that any work that is growing green in strength and pleasurable displays a creative freshness from God.  A divine gift. Yes, hard work and education expands the giftedness, but I literally pray for His blessings in creativity. I’m always a student! Within the scope there are styles I don’t enjoy or feel talented in at all: full on abstract art and ultra tight botanicals, like illustrations for botanical texts.  I admire those who can and do. The lane labeled Susan includes painterly soft watercolors, bold black and whites and sprightly holiday designs via Procreate.  So there’s a giddy mix.  I relish staying within the boundary that provides artistic liberties. But, I don’t entertain designs that demand I pull a line this way and that because the Fibula has to be connected to the Tibia. Count me out on those!

Susan Lugar | Large Peony And Stamp | 2025

Your practice often includes florals and surface pattern designs. What draws you most to botanical imagery?

We’ve circled back to creating soothe things in this sometimes harsh world.  If I can be part of solving the customer’s challenge of a blank wall, I’d be tickled  pink to throw a flower or fruit on that canvas!  The gentle fascination of a split grapefruit, the surprise of snowdrops poking out in late winter are nature’s show stoppers. The challenge of trying to create something gentle and painterly yet at the same time stay somewhat true to its form is delightful (and sometimes, hair pulling!) With having a website as well as workbook.com there are landing places for art directors to review possibilities and many of these designs are fruits and florals, by choice. I feel if I painted peonies 1,000 times, I’d still probably want to paint them…just one more time.