Governor's Gallery
David Scott Suffridge
Zest for Life: A Vibrant Canvas
September 1 thru October 31, 2004
David
Suffridge has enjoyed doing art as long as he can remember. Born in
Pryor and having briefly lived in Colorado, David moved with his family
to Vinita at the age of seven. He displayed an early interest in and
talent for art that expanded and grew with the encouragement of his
high school art teacher, Carol Castor.
After graduation as co-valedictorian from Vinita High School in 1980, David earned his Bachelor of Arts in history at Oklahoma City University and married his high school sweetheart, Rosemary Newby.
Suffridge began to seriously pursue his art in 1990. “I wanted
to paint landscapes, but I had to begin at the beginning...basic drawing
skills. After nearly a year of nothing but drawing, it was time to
try the canvas. I resolved to go slowly, building skill on skill, and
hoped that after a number of years something worthwhile might come
of it. I preferred the path of self-teaching, working out my own methods
through trial and error, relying for inspiration on the great impressionists
of the past.”
After experimenting with various impressionist techniques, he eventually
developed his own manner of expression. His paintings continue to evolve
in both color and style and are a labor of love. The Colorado Rocky
Mountains have inspired Suffridge to paint numerous works of mountain
scenery, wildflowers, and starry skies and are the location of many
of his family camping vacations.
Suffridge’s appreciation of his native Oklahoma is reflected in his interpretation of the rolling, verdant countryside, with its magnificent trees and fields of giant round hay bales. His work is also currently exhibited at the Howell Gallery in Oklahoma City and can also be viewed online at www.howellgallery.com. He hopes to one day retire back to Vinita, there to spend his days painting the very lands that inspired his art from the beginning.
The art of the landscape
is, for me, all about beauty,” explained
Suffridge. “A technically proficient painting is not necessarily
a good painting. The best artists hide their skill in such a way that,
on close inspection, their work seems an exercise in simplicity, as
if anyone could do it. It is one thing to admire the skill of the artist,
but quite another to realize that he has truly created a thing of beauty.
The best art changes our perception of the world so that we notice
this beauty, which before we never knew existed, and yet it’s
as if we’ve known it all our lives.
As an artist I try to transport the viewer not only to a certain
place and time—the world within the painting—but to the
moment of creativity itself. This is to say: every artist has moments
at the canvas when suddenly he understands that what he is doing is
right The colors are perfect, the brush almost moves of its own accord,
the painting seems to paint itself. He wants the viewer to appreciate
the sublime beauty of nature, yes; but also to feel the driving energy
and zest as the artist filters that beauty through himself.
–David Suffridge
Sponsored by the Oklahoma Arts Council. For more information contact Scott Cowan or Karen Sharp at 405.521.2931 or scott@arts.ok.gov
Past Governor's Gallery Exhibits