Dragonfly Watercolors

Biography - Suzanne Hetzel

This Chicago area artist does pseudo-realistic paintings in watercolor. While they appear realistic, a closer look reveals how the artist incorporates a variety of techniques including salt, scratching, sanding, alcohol, pouring and repel to create the finished affect.

All works are original watercolors painted on 100 % rag French or Italian paper. This paper will not discolor over years and will maintain the strong and vivid color the artist has intended. The paint used is the highest quality available. It is pure, highly refined pigment from England and America. Suzanne’s paintings are intended to last indefinitely with proper care. All mats are acid free to additionally protect the artwork.

The artist works primarily from life and her imagination, using photographs only as reference. Suzanne’s passion is aqueous media as an _expression of the world around her. She is interested in the forms of nature combined with the structures of man, and the endless variety they present. Recent works demonstrate a serious attention to patterns created by common objects, and how they integrate with their surroundings and each other. Suzanne states, "I have a genuine attraction for groups of things, and the way they interact visually. It is fascinating how objects can be so similar and so different at the same time."

Suzanne Hetzel was born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, and has lived and painted throughout the United States. The opportunity to travel has allowed Suzanne to experience a broad variety of environments that have been a source of great inspiration.

Suzanne began painting at the age of 8. She first experienced watercolor through the lessons by her grandmother, Dorothea Mendte Taylor. Her early studies included work at the Wallingford Art Center in Pennsylvania under the tutelage of Cyril Gardner. She later graduated from Moore College of Art and Design where she was privileged to study with Georg Sklar, Charles Fahlen, Edward Shenton, Janette Banks, and Robert Koffler. Recently, Suzanne has been painting in other opaque media (acrylic, water soluble oils), with a focus on women and their life experiences as the thrust of her subject matter. She states, "Artists cannot be defined by a media or a subject. Their inspiration and form of _expression must change to keep growing creatively".

In addition to her fine arts endeavors, Suzanne has worked as a commercial artist, written and illustrated a children’s book entitled Nony the Pirate, designed textiles for R.A. Briggs, and taught various commercial design courses at College of DuPage, Glen Ellyn, Illinois. She currently teaches watercolor, drawing, and studio classes.

Suzanne has paintings and drawings in collections throughout the United States and Great Britain. She has works in the Episcopal Diocese of Philadelphia, and LaGrange Park and Waukegan Public Libraries. In addition she has designed and executed murals for a variety of public facilities and private residences.

In addition to her painting, Suzanne is President of The Transparent Watercolor Society of America, Past President of the Kendall Arts Guild, Kendall County, Illinois, and founder and lifetime member of the Antioch Fine Arts Foundation.

Recent Prizes and exhibits:

The artist can be contacted at:

Dragonfly Studio (artist’s studio)
    71 Long Grove Road
    Yorkville, Illinois 60560
    Email: dragonflys71@sbcglobal.net

Antioch Fine Arts Foundation Gallery
    983 Main Street, Antioch, Illinois 847.838.2274

Imagine on Main, Oswego, IL                                                                                                                                 www.imagineonmain.com, amy@imagineonmain.com

LaGrange Art League, LaGrange, IL 60525                                                                                                             www.lgal.org

Transparent Watercolor Society of America                                                                                                             www.watercolors.org, info@watercolors.org