Welcome to the 6th year of the NESTER blog. Susan Reynolds, a close friend and gifted artist, published the first post in June 2020 with abstract paintings featuring the natural world. In 2025, respect for nature, its significance to our daily lives and our art, continues to be a central part of our mission. Do join us in celebrating the significance of the earth and its inspiration to artists contributing to the NESTER.
Take a deep breath, curl up in your favorite spot, and respond to Susan’s paintings.
Lorelie & Tim
The goal of my paintings is to lead the viewer into my world of nature thru abstracted images. I paint because I love the process. From color, composition, line, form and intuition. I approach my work with passion and creative choices.
Landscapes, birds and animals are often my subject matter. As I paint I commune and connect with nature. In the beginning I draw what I see and it becomes what I feel.
During painting I transform familiar objects, representing them just enough for the viewer to make their own meaning from my abstraction while allowing the viewer to take time to appreciate and to personally assess.
Susan
When you and I view the above painting, it is not complete until we respond to it. In looking at the painting, we have a creative experience that has similarities to the painter’s experience.
Susan exercises a dramatic amount of creativity in making the painting. But you and I generate a fair amount of creativity in reconstructing it in our heads, and reconstructing it in a way that is unique for you and slightly different for me.
Words that can draw you and me into the painting: SHAPES have their own character and effect (circles, zigzags, triangles, curves, diagonals). LINES create rhythm, movement, and harmony in the painting. Strong COLORS ( black, red, purple, orange)may draw us to the focal point.
In viewing Susan’s abstract paintings, what it is (and what it could be for you and me) is more important than what it is not. Her paintings welcome us to several possible interpretations. Perhaps, the paintings reach us in a way that doesn’t need words — like music.
Thank you for taking time to 
respond to Susan’s paintings.
We now live in a tangible and a virtual world. In this post, Susan’s paintings are in a digital format and not in a gallery. While this difference does change how we see the paintings, we can still experience our own interpretations of her art.
CREDITS:
Painter: Susan Reynolds
Writers: Saira May, Erik Kandel, Anna Mason
Graphic Designer: Tim Olson
Editors: Lorelie & Tim Olson
NESTER url: https://notesfromanester.com
To open Susan’s previous post, “AN ARTIST’S VIEW OF NATURE” – click here
I responded to these beautiful paintings that give me a moment in nature