Susan Mackay was born in South Africa and lived in Johannesburg until she moved to Hershey, PA in 1989. She currently lives in Hershey with husband, Donald, and dog, Angus.
Susan began her professional career working in strategic planning and advertising. After spending years working as an executive at J Walter Thompson and the Saatchi Group, she founded her own marketing consulting company while raising three boys: Duncan, Andrew, and Calum.
She discovered a passion for art and figurative drawing after moving to the United States.
“In drawing for me, the allure has always been the human figure. It is a continual battle to represent that force of life which flows through us. That is the true beauty. Transcending form and color of face and limb. I search for that which gives us life, and exudes from us in its joyful, passionate, and tragic forms.
“For me it is important to express the mood, the attitude, the emotion, the life – the humanness of the model. I love the gentleness and subtlety of expression that the various forms of charcoal and pastel allow.
“The modified encaustic method I use is a complex application of wax on a prepared surface. This allows me to work for long periods on a piece, while still retaining the light (which for me is integral to the beauty) as well as the spontaneity and texture of line which I find expresses more accurately the flow of life.”