Hello and welcome to the 40th 3 Art Questions With Jackson interview! This time I am interviewing the talented painter Sue Mooney. I met her on Instagram and then in person at the Mall of America where she was showing her wonderful art. I am very impressed by what she does. Her answers to my questions were very inspiring and I think anyone reading will agree. Thanks you for reading! (Collage photo: Left side portrait courtesy of the artist. Right side detail of the artist's painting from @suemooneyart on Instagram)
Jackson: You have had an interesting journey to becoming a full time artist. Can you tell me about that?
Sue: It all happened by accident. I asked my ex-partner to take a picture of our dog wearing goggles while I was driving. A couple people stated that the photo should be on a greeting card. That's when the light bulb went off and I ran with that idea. Eventually I was putting in 90 hours a week at my full time job and doing art shows on the weekends. Something had to give, so I quit my job and sold my house. I bought a camper van and a trailer and went on the road with my two Yorkies for one and a half years to do art shows in the West, Southwest and South.
Jackson: Has the global pandemic changed the way you think about or make art? Have you lost many opportunities?
Sue: Cancelling all of my art shows was a huge loss of income being a full time artist. But on the flipside it has been a wonderful surprise because I didn't have to focus on painting my cityscapes due to the shows being cancelled. It enabled me to discover a new direction in painting abstracts which I absolutely love! And the response to my abstracts has been amazing. I finally found my niche.
Jackson: If you could meet any artist living or dead, who would it be and why?
Sue: Frida Kahlo. Because she was her own woman and wasn't afraid to paint what inspired her.
