Today we’d like to introduce you to Sue Graef.
Hi Sue, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
There isn’t really a hard line between when I wasn’t an artist and when I was. There was no single spark of inspiration that made me decide to become one — only the moment I realized I already was one, and that I wanted to keep going. That realization came more than five decades ago, as a kid making artwork in the house where I grew up in Haddonfield, New Jersey.
As a young teenager, I had the enormous benefit of my mother’s encouragement and guidance — she was an artist herself, and she was my first real teacher. That early foundation grew into a more formal education, first with studio classes at the Philadelphia College of Art, then at Tyler School of Art at Temple University, and finally at Clemson University, where I earned my degree.
In those early years, I carried a sketchpad everywhere. I drew what I saw, in pencil, pen, and watercolor. Then school brought the rigor: figure drawing, composition, design, perspective, color theory — all the fundamentals. At the time, I honestly didn’t see the point of half of it. It felt abstract, disconnected from the act of just making pictures. Now I understand differently — I lean on that training every single day I paint.
The path between then and now hasn’t been a straight line. There were long stretches of working full-time jobs just to make ends meet, counting down the hours until evenings and weekends when I could finally paint. It took decades of that rhythm — working to live, living to paint — before I could pursue art as more than something squeezed into the margins. I’m deeply grateful that for the past several years, I’ve had the opportunity to make art my full-time work.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Not a smooth road at all. In the very early years I hardly new how I would pay my bills let alone buy art materials but somehow I managed and never stopped creating artwork. Then I started making a decent living and was working long hours tom make ends meet. The goal was getting to the weekend when I had time to paint. Finally, things got easier and now I am doing quite well and living my dream as an artist.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I’m a painter and create bold and colorful figurative urban landscapes. My process almost always starts on foot. I’ll be out walking somewhere — a city street, a busy airport, a park full of people, the beach, or just around my own neighborhood — and something will catch my eye and make me want to recreate it on canvas. It might be the affection between a person and their dog, the movement of a crowd on a busy street, or a piece of architecture that stops me in my tracks. Whatever it is, I take dozens of photographs on the spot, because those references become essential once I’m back in the studio working out the details.
Then the fun part begins. I paint out the basic composition and start filling in color, working intuitively the way I described — one shape, one color, one decision at a time. Throughout the process, I love adding small details that give a piece warmth and interest, the things that reward a longer look. I keep working until I look at the canvas and simply know it’s finished: the colors have to feel coordinated, balanced, and attractive together, and the composition and color combined need to pull the viewer’s eye around the entire canvas. Once I’m happy with that balance, I sign it and call it done.
Technically, I work in heavy body acrylic, applying highly saturated color opaquely to the canvas. Where two colors meet, I keep the edge clean — no blending. That crisp boundary is intentional; it’s the reaction of one color pushed right up against another that I’m after.
As for what consistently shapes the work — it’s the walking, really. I walk everywhere, and that habit feeds everything else: my love of people, animals, the outdoors, and urban streets, filtered through a lighthearted point of view that I hope comes through in every painting.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://suegraeffineart.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/suegraefineart
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sue.i.graef
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suegraef
- Twitter: https://x.com/GraefArt
