Featured Artist: Susan Riddle

I had a moment to ask Susan Riddle, one of Modern Mural's contributing
artists (a brilliant abstract painter), some things about herself: check it out!

MM: Where do you live?
SR: In Aptos, CA, a very laid back, quiet town just a few blocks from
the beach. It can be really mysterious and foggy.

MM: Where do you go to think creatively?
SR: To my garden, where I find colors, textures and composition. I like
seeing it go through its stages during the year. It's death and regrowth.

MM: Who are your design influences?
SR: Gorky, Kandinsky, Rothko, Frankenthaler, Miró and all children's art.

MM: What's your favorite piece of art that you've produced?
SR: It changes all the time, but if I had to pick one it would be a piece I did
called "Imaginary Dreams" because it was totally unplanned. Usually, I
determine the colors I want or the layout I want, but this one was just flowing.



MM: What's one of your favorite leisure activities?
SR: Riding my bike by the beach and gardening.

MM: What is your favorite color to paint with?
SR: Red, because it goes great with yellow and orange (which are my 2nd and 3rd favorites. I've also been getting
into gray to offset the "happy". My college professor always used to say to me, "Your work is too happy -
get some gray in there!"

MM: What's your favorite dessert?
SR: Definitely strawberry shortcake.

MM: What message do you want to convey through your work?
SR: Joy and happiness.

Modern Mural's Genesis

I am asked this question quite frequently, and I just wanted to tell our story.

My husband and I lived in an old loft in downtown Chicago - the kind of loft that had the big red fire doors and a hand operated freight elevator. The real loft with charm, and lots of it. We loved the place and knew that we wanted to decorate it with some ridiculous edgy art. And LARGE. Being a few years out of college we were looking for art that was affordable but hot. Original art was too pricey and we didn't want to hang up a poster. We looked everywhere, with out success, and finally decided to do something unique.

Loft = large walls. We had something massive in mind, bought some huge acrylic sheets on eBay, drilled holes in the cement ceiling and purchased some stainless steel cable from Home Depot. The planning was done on weekends and after work, and involved more sweat than we thought.

Not knowing anything about the printing industry, we trekked over to a well known print/office supplies shop to get our photo printed. We were looking at blowing up our high res photo to 4 ft x 5 ft, black and white. For the price of a nice meal at Avec for 2 (with wine) we got a print that looked like it was xeroxed. We were crushed. We knew we could do better. For a few weeks, the acrylic sheets and tools lay by the wayside.

While waiting for our flight back to Chicago at the Phoenix airport a few weeks later, we pondered the situation more thoroughly. We wanted art that was cool, oversized, unique, bold and affordable. We couldn't find it. It was there in the airport bar in Phoenix where we scratched out our first business plan on a cocktail napkin. Modern Mural was born.