Meet Mary Sue Copeland!
Mary Sue is one of PPWS’ Featured Artists for February 2024!
Mary Sue has been a member of PPWS since 2012 and became a Signature Member in 2015. She is also a Signature Member of the Colorado Watercolor Society.
Mary Sue’s Bio:
Mary Sue has always had a creative flair – from sketching or decorating her room and life, If there was an art class offered, she took it. In high school she was fortunate to attend a very large high school that offered unusual art courses for that time – oil painting, acrylic, watercolors, silk screening and many more avenues of art.
After high school, college didn’t offer much except teaching art and it was the mid sixties and everything was abstract. She wasn’t interested in either of those at that time. Just a few years later, she found a watercolor class in Colorado Springs taught by Tom Owen. So, Mary Sue and her neighbor went to his little house on Palmer Park Blvd. for watercolor classes once a week. Each summer he taught one week Plein Air workshop classes.
Later Mary Sue and her husband and two boys moved to Cody, Wyoming. There she took several classes but her favorite was taught by Tony Couch and it was a one-week workshop held in one of the old dude ranches up the South Fork of the Shoshone River near Yellowstone Park.
Later they moved back to Colorado Springs and through the Pikes Peak Watercolor Society she found so many wonderful classes to inspire her. Lorraine Watry was one of them.
No matter what was happening in her life, art was a part of it – sometimes front and center and sometimes in the background. Art is like a melody that plays through her life. The beauty of this created world and all that we see inspires her daily.
Mary Sue’s favorite things to paint:
Years ago, I enjoyed painting flowers up close but now I enjoy landscapes. I know it will change to something else at some point in the future. I like to move on to the next new thing.
Besides watercolors, Mary Sue also works in acrylic, ink and collage.
Mary Sue’s favorite or most admired artist:
That changes year to year but right now I enjoy Tom Sheppard, Randy Hale and Brenda Swensen.
Mary Sue’s goals for the next year:
To keep painting through whatever may come my way. This past fall I broke my knee cap and had knee surgery. My goal is to get back on the horse and paint!
FAVORITE ARTSY QUOTE
“Paint the world you want to see, not the world you see”
– Anonymous
