About

It all started when...

   as a child, Susan began painting and designing flowers on her family farm in the Mississippi Delta.  After receiving her Bachelors of Fine Art from Louisiana State University in 1999, she travelled to the hills of Tuscany, where she began her first watercolor journals.  In 2003, she received her MFA from the University of Mississippi, and then followed the well-trodden artists' path to New York City, working in floral design while painting and showing her art.  

Susan has honed her watercolor skills on travels through Europe and Central and South America, filling journals with daily experiences.  While painting the Corcovado in Rio de Janeiro, she arrived upon her now-signature "sketch portrait" style.  Her first commission came as a bit of a surprise; sitting on the beach in Florida, a mother noticed Susan and her journal, and convinced her to paint her children.  Since then, Susan estimates she has created over 2,500 sketch portraits of children, families, weddings, pets, and houses.

Her work work has been featured in exhibitions in New York, NY; Cortona, Italy; New Orleans, LA; and Oxford and Jackson, MS. She has been featured in Southern Living, Design*Sponge, Holly Mathis Interiors, and Paper and Ink. She is married to artist Daniel Kelly IV and has 2 children, Mary Martha and Jeffery.