Susan Montague

 

I am so surprised to be writing an artist statement. I thank my school's art teacher and coworker and my wonderful assistant for encouraging me to start doing some art in our library and introducing me to this honeycomb project. My husband has always been encouraging as I have entered a new path of creativity.

My panels are inspired by my current home city of Las Vegas. I’m not a native of Vegas and many aren’t. We've been here for thirty years so we are close to natives. I love this city and am proud to call it home. I have used some of the images that visitors and locals alike identify with aka “Sin City”. I’ve created six collages. They were all done with oil, pastel, alcohol, and watercolor markers.

I researched landmarks, images, teams and icons that have at some time been associated with Vegas. My images were drawn freehand in pencil. Some were done on paper and some on the panels. The paper allowed me to add more detail to my drawings. After drawing I used oil black markers for my favorite part of outlining my images and words. Then it’s the simple joy of coloring with markers. Watercolor markers were interesting and different and a new tool to use when doing future projects.