SUSAN DUNLAP PAINTER & PHOTOGRAPHER
  • Oils
    • SEM paintings 2023
    • Recent Florals
    • Luminous Abstracts 1996-2010
    • Abstracts with Contemporary & Ancient Chinese Characters. 2011-2014
    • Clay Face Series 1990's
    • About Loss 1990's
    • Floral Series 1990's
  • Watercolor
    • Invertebrate Series. Based on the work of Haeckel and the 1872 HMS Challenger expedition . Mid-Late 1980's
    • Contemporary Chinese Characters. 2010
    • Fantasy Series. Early 1980's
  • Photography
    • Photographs: Clay Face Series. 1995 - 2016
    • Insect's View of Nectar Plants: General Collection >
      • Asclepias
      • Aster
      • Bidens
      • Buddleja
      • Ceanothus
      • Cirsium
      • Echinacea
      • Gaillardia
      • Lantana
      • Salvia
      • Tagetes
      • Taraxacum
      • Trifolium
      • Verbena
      • Zinnia
  • Botany
    • Apical Systematics Scientific Paper
    • Apical images: Cactaceae >
      • Acanthocalycium
      • Ariocarpus
      • Astrophytum
      • Austrocylindropuntia
      • Aztekium
      • Cleistocactus
      • Coryphantha
      • Ferocactus
    • Apical Images: Sample from Aerulean Software & Issued U.S. Patents >
      • Arctostaphylos
      • Artemesia, Erigeron, Lavandula, Viburnum
      • Buxus
      • Ceanothus
      • Cistus
      • Cotoneaster
      • Eriogonum
      • Euphorbia
      • Geranium
      • Rhododendron
      • Salvia
    • Butterflies >
      • Butterflies in Mind: Perennials
      • Butterflies in Mind: Asclepias
      • Butterflies in Mind: Monarch
      • Butterflies in Mind: Zinnia
      • Monarch Nectar Plants (sample)
  • Great Spirit Path Sculpture
  • CV visual bona fides
  • Statement
  • Contact
Paintings in Oil: Abstracts with Contemporary & Ancient Chinese Characters. 2011-2014.

The style shown here emerged directly out of the earlier Abstract Series and is executed using old master techniques—numerous glaze layers built up to develop saturation and to depict form. I have been using this technique since the early 1990's. As with my watercolors, these pieces are luminous and convey crisply defined 'floating' shapes. The large pieces take on average six months to complete. 
Picture
'Free At Last'   48” x 60”   2010-2014   终于自由          Dedicated to Cleo Condoravdi and Paul Kiparsky

'Sweet Sweet' 48” x 60” 2011-2012 甜, 甜 Dedicated to Zhang HaiJun, Wang Chen, Zhang Jairui, & David Zhu. Available
'In Praise of Yellow' 48” x 60” 2013. 酱黄 Dedicated in particular to Wang Chen and her family and friends: Zhang Haijun, Xiang Liangzhong,Wang LiJuan, Qi Jinyu, & Qi Xin. Etymology from their family names are included. Available
'Red' 40” x 48” 2012 红 Dedicated to Zhang HaiJun Available
'Speak Freely Now' 48” x 60” 2010-2012. 现在可自由言说 Dedicated to Manuela Kogon and Martin Schneider. Available
'Red Breeze Covering the Past' 48” x 60” 2010. 红风遮盖往昔 Dedicated to HaiJun Zhang & Binghai Yan. Available
'Sing Freely (Man, Mountain, Stream, Leaf, Forest)' 24” x 30” 2010-2014. 唱自由 Available
'Freely Open Now (Heart, Eye, Mouth)' 24” x 30” 2010-2014. 自由 今 Available

Three of these paintings have a poem integrated into them. 

In 2012, I learned about the origin of a tradition in China to include a motto or poem in a painting . Typically the words are presented in an isolated portion of the painting or as a scroll down one side or the other.  I also learned that the 'empty space'  found in many works of eastern art is a symbol of space that allows the movement of wind—it is space left for wind to move through the landscape or one's mind.  I understood that the corollary for this in western culture is a respect for space and wilderness. 

My goal was to fuse Chinese cultural distinctions with those found in western art.  I was ambitions to give Chinese individuals a foothold into abstract art--using some of their own cultural attributes to do so.  I devised two strategies to pursue this goal: 'scrambling' the words used in a poem by floating the characters all over the painting, and by working with ancient characters.  By using ancient characters I could blend the aesthetic preferences of both cultures, and give individuals from each one an entry point into the work   I used movement as one of the elements shared by both cultures.

Picture
In Praise of Yellow, 48” x 60” 2013.  酱黄
Poem:
Great, desirable, large sunrise  
Praise the light of a bright sky 
Gaze upon pure flight



Ancient Chinese characters are used throughout this painting.
The modern equivalent of those characters are: 
海王, 良,祁,旦,奖, 明,亮,天,看,玉,飞


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  • Oils
    • SEM paintings 2023
    • Recent Florals
    • Luminous Abstracts 1996-2010
    • Abstracts with Contemporary & Ancient Chinese Characters. 2011-2014
    • Clay Face Series 1990's
    • About Loss 1990's
    • Floral Series 1990's
  • Watercolor
    • Invertebrate Series. Based on the work of Haeckel and the 1872 HMS Challenger expedition . Mid-Late 1980's
    • Contemporary Chinese Characters. 2010
    • Fantasy Series. Early 1980's
  • Photography
    • Photographs: Clay Face Series. 1995 - 2016
    • Insect's View of Nectar Plants: General Collection >
      • Asclepias
      • Aster
      • Bidens
      • Buddleja
      • Ceanothus
      • Cirsium
      • Echinacea
      • Gaillardia
      • Lantana
      • Salvia
      • Tagetes
      • Taraxacum
      • Trifolium
      • Verbena
      • Zinnia
  • Botany
    • Apical Systematics Scientific Paper
    • Apical images: Cactaceae >
      • Acanthocalycium
      • Ariocarpus
      • Astrophytum
      • Austrocylindropuntia
      • Aztekium
      • Cleistocactus
      • Coryphantha
      • Ferocactus
    • Apical Images: Sample from Aerulean Software & Issued U.S. Patents >
      • Arctostaphylos
      • Artemesia, Erigeron, Lavandula, Viburnum
      • Buxus
      • Ceanothus
      • Cistus
      • Cotoneaster
      • Eriogonum
      • Euphorbia
      • Geranium
      • Rhododendron
      • Salvia
    • Butterflies >
      • Butterflies in Mind: Perennials
      • Butterflies in Mind: Asclepias
      • Butterflies in Mind: Monarch
      • Butterflies in Mind: Zinnia
      • Monarch Nectar Plants (sample)
  • Great Spirit Path Sculpture
  • CV visual bona fides
  • Statement
  • Contact