E-mail Sue at: Sue.Toppen@gmail.com
BIO CONTACT |
REPRESENTATIONAL |
ABSTRACTS |
ART SHOWS AND CLASSES |
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COMPETITIONS |
TRAVEL ESSAYS |
TUSCAN KITCHENS |
SIGNS OF MY TIMES |
RECENT WORK (Below)
Please join me and the Coup Marks ArtGroup March 13,14,15 at the March in Montana show Townhouse Inn Great falls, MT Room 104. "Local Color" Polson,MT 15x30 |
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"Coffee Mate" 14x11 One of my favorite people in all the world is my friend Steven. While he is now a successful businessman, he assisted himself through Architecture school as a waiter from time to time. This painting reminds me of him when he was a young fellow. In actuality, the setting is at a resort in Rio Rico, Arizona not far from our home in Green Valley. I love the gestures of folks in the hospitality industry as you can tell from the many Chefs, waiters and waitresses that appear in my work. |
"Home from Summer Pasture" 16x20 We moved from our mountain home in Monarch, Mt this last summer and one of the things I will miss the most is the cattle drives that went by my house several times a year. One fall, the cattle came down from the mountaintop and got into our little town and went berserk. They trampled gardens and couldn't be headed the right way for an hour. The reason turned out to be that they had been trucked up to the top in the spring and so they didn't remember the way back and when they got to the wide spot in the road they all found their own path!
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| "Tonights Special" 24x20 |
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"Table for Four" 14x11 What drew me to this table and chairs was the interplay of the chair rungs and legs. The Crosshatching they create along the bottom half of the painting are the balance to the glass bowl of gladiolas. I was in contact with a very special friend-Sue from my childhood this week. Thank you Google! In catching up, she looked at this web site and commented that my art is diverse -It certainly is! I do seem to have one recurring element that I return to often though and that is the idea of a bright window lighting the subject from behind. That phenomena occurs in three of these new paintings and scads of others over the years but it is one of the only things that I do repeat.
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"Summer Blooms" 14x11 I shared this vase of flowers with a new friend (Michelle) here in Ronan this week.We cut the apple in two and put half on her side and half on mine then we both painted our version of alstromerias. It was a fun afternoon and we were both happy with our result. What looks like a white cloth was actually two very small unpainted canvases side by side - they are now painted with flower pictues themselves. |
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Our new neighbors! The majestic Mission Mountains! This photo was taken from the front door of our apartment in Ronan,MT. We have already begun to seriously bond with these beauties that run the length of the Flathead Valley. My first (of what I hope are many,many) plein air rendition - completed this fall -is the painting pictured below. |
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| Collection of Therese Corbett |
"The Trouble with Tourists" 20x16 Chris and I were in BernKassel Germany on the Mosel River during Oktoberfest. It was a terrific visit, an Oompa band was walking through the town, the wine vines were heavy with the Reisling grapes and this couple was wine tasting and it seemed, contemplating their next move. This week I painted my impression of the two. |
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My first still life in my new Ronan Studio. It came out very different from most-sometimes they just paint themselves. It is about as bright as any I have ever painted. I used an orange paint for the pepper that I have had in a bucket for years and I just lathered it on-that was fun. |
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I am having great fun in Tubac, AZ getting ready for the opening of: "The Restaurants of Tubac Village" Show April 6-May 13 Reception April 6 5-7pm The show is at theTubac Center for the Arts and runs in conjunction with the "Taste of Tubac" culinary event- April 7. (Tickets on sale at several Tubac eateries.) Here I am painting this week at Shelby's Bistro near the Karin Newby Gallery in Tubac. Hope to see you at the opening! Click the button marked "Art Shows" to see the full show.
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This little painting was fun to paint for the miniature show at Karin Newby Gallery in Tubac and even more fun because this piece was chosen "BEST OF SHOW". The subject was taken from a photo of our daughter Kim and our Grandaughter Mallory. The miniature show was in part a fundraiser for "Hearts and Hooves" and was the forth annual event hosted by the Newby Gallery.
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"Latte Schmatte" 24x24 Two of us painted this scene at the Scottsdale Artist's School. We joked after three days that we would fight each other for the donut. Surprisingly, it still looked good after three days of being our model. It was fun to have the donut be such a contrast to the magenta backdrop and the magenta reflections on the silverware. My favorite part of this painting is the picture within a picture- Can you see the donut in the bottom front of the coffeepot? In person, you can see the cup and cream pitcher in the reflection too. This painting is for sale at the Illusions Gallery in Tucson 520-296-5752 |
| I took many good shots the day I was allowed to attend rehearsal of the Catalina Orchestra. I am a "gestural" painter and orchestra gestures are fun to depict. It is less fun to try for likenesses however and with so many in the picture this piece was a challenge. Apologies in advance to those who I may have offended especially to the young man whose bare foot made the picture and he didn't (I have a great photo of him to do by himself at a later date). These paintings will be available at a Dec 3 auction at Soleil Restaurant in Tucson-2pm "The Music Maker" 12x9 SOLD |
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I love my 9AM's at the Las Campanas Pool! to let me take their photos so I can create these color #1 , shadows #2, Big hats and glasses #3. look like the beautiful girls who agreed to pose Look for more of these to come in bigger sizes |
My swim mates have been so good as little character sketches. I am looking for I am actually trying NOT to make them but sometimes it just happens anyway. than these 5x7's. Thank you Ladies. |
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| 16x16 I'm having a bunch of fun painting veggies and italian groceries. I spent a couple of hours in an italian grocery in Phoenix on 16th St. the other day. The family had just finished filling tubs of fresh sausages- their cooler was full to the brim with them and the owner told me they do this every monday. I purchased cans and oils that will show up in pictures this week and dinners the next! Available at Illusions Gallery 520-296-5752 |
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"Little Treasures" 4th Annual fundraiser for HEARTS & HOOVES OF TUBAC Nov 24-Dec 31 Karin Newby Gallery Tubac, AZ Little 5x7 canvases like this one of the Tubac Cowgirl will be available for sale through the Holiday Season. A portion of your purchase will go to support this worthwhile cause. Come visit the Newby Gallery! $100 SOLD |
My Neighbor in Montana is Maxine Nebel, a fellow artist. She always has fresh flowers and a beautiful table cover on her oak table. The day I left for Arizona this year these almost spent sunflowers were on display and I thought it was one of the most beautiful bouquets of the season. So she put her yellow pitcher with it and I painted away.The painting came out with more of a moderne flair than ususal. |
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"Afternoon at the Two Pedal Pub" 20x16 Oil on panel I spent two weeks in the little burg of Knaresborough in Northern England. This pub was in the vicinity of the town square and I passed by it over and over in the course of the visit. This particular day, a wonderful old-style bicycle was chained to the black pole. I was attracted to the yellow sign and the black framed menu beside the door and the play of the shadows behind them. This painting took Second Place People's Choice - in the professional division at the Montana State Fair in August of 2006. |
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I received a fun commission last year by e-mail from a man who said his wife loved my paintings. Well.... we were already off to a great start weren’t we? He asked me to create a larger painting for his wife’s Christmas gift. We corresponded through the fall and decided to let his wife decide what the subject would be when she received the gift of the commission. This pair of paintings now gracing the kitchen in their stunning home was the result of his wife’s request for “very large asparagus (which she supplied on the spot from her refrigerator; We browsed through it for several more parts of the set-up as well. So, thanks to Tyler and Jenny, I started on a culinary series that now has encompassed dozens of paintings of Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar bottles from Tuscany and Seville, Cheeses and Herbs d' Provence from France, Soy Sauce and Teriyaki bottles from Japan and my own Sonoran Mexican Peppers and Tortillas.
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"Sunflowers and Bertolli" 8x10 |
"Ripe for the Picking" 18x20 |
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In August of 2006, We had the pleasure of joining our dear friends, Ryan and Jolyn at their rehearsal dinner for their wedding at the Barrister B&B in Helena MT. This quick little “sketch” depicts the two of them as they serve celebratory champagne to friends the night before their big event. Our love to you two and our many wishes for a wonderful life together! |
"Adulation"
36x36 Oil on Canvas
In 2006, I began painting abstract images when I entered the Eva Briggs Competition in May and this painting was fortunate to place as an Honorable Mention in that contest. It is shown here hanging in the Rogaway Gallery in Tubac,AZ.
I am devoted to the oil medium, so while others are using mostly acrylic paints for abstracts, I am wrestling with huge wet surfaces -the biggest challenge by far.
This genre may be the ultimate direction for me and I strive to take my representational work toward more and more colorful expressionist abstractions.
"Father, Son and Holy Ghost"
Oil on Canvas 24x36
This piece has really grown on me and right from the start took on a sort of spiritual overtone -thus the name. In this photo, it is difficult to see the textures of the color blocks or their intensities.
There are several crosses - all with the deep red heart at their center. I actually enjoy roaming around this painting -the repetition of the three blue spots, the chartruese forcing it's way in from the side, The yellow,green,brown series in the middle of the bottom. I told some friends I felt like this one sort of painted itself and in fact all the abstracts seem to come from a viseral intuitive place that I am enjoying the access of.
"Afternoon Window at the Gruene Store"© 2004 11"x14" oil on panel(collection of Betsy Vincent, Scottsdale, AZ)
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"Wet Wednesday"© 2004 20"x16" oil on panel
(Juror's Choice, 2004 MT Expo Fair)
(Collection of Tonya Riebe-Ricketts, Sacramento, CA)
"Boynton Bungalows"© 2004 12"x9" oil on panel
(Collection of Hazel Stull)
"Homage to Henrietta Wyeth"© 2002 24"x 18" oil on canvas
(Collection of the Artist)
"Tuesday Morning"© 2003 12"x9" oil on panel
(Collection of Tom English, Great Falls, MT)
"Van Gogh on the West Wall"© 2003 8"x10" oil on panel
(Collection of Rose Sepulveda, San Antonio, TX)
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"Chilly"© 2002 8"x10" oil on canvas
(Juror's Choice, 2002 MT Expo Fair)
"Roux the Day"© 2003 20"x24" oil on canvas
(collection of Marty Maier, AZ Culnary Institute)
"Are 3 Too Many?"© 2002 8"x10" oil on canvas
(Juror's Choice, 2003 MT Expo Fair)
(collection of Ann Henely)
"Great Falls Buffalo Hunt"
(Sponsored by CM Russell Museum 2004)
"MT Ski Buff"
(Delivery Day November 2004)
"Buffalo Hunt Preview Party"
"Late Nite at the Studio"
