Bean Counter

Bean Counter mixed media and collage on canvas . Size 40" X 30". By artist Susanne Carmack. After spending most of my adult life and art career in the Washington DC area, I moved to the South in 2008. After a devastating fire that destroyed my home and studio in 2016 I moved around until I finally settled in Woodstock Georgia in January of 2021. After years of balancing family with teaching and a studio practice, I now have time to focus in the studio. Moving back and forth between printmaking and painting allows me to find the best medium to express myself. My chosen mode of printmaking using collagraph plates facilitates painterly marks. To make my printing plates I paint directly on the plexi plates using a mixture of carborundum and gel medium which hardens and allows me to ink the image. The gestural mark-making on the plate results in more rhythmic and spontaneous imagery for printing. I have converted my studio over completely from oil-based inks to Akua soy-based water soluble inks. Painting allows me to continue to work with mark-making tools and many different materials, focusing on gestural and textural imagery on canvas, panel and paper. Since 2016, the medium of collage has allowed me to use burned remnants from my destroyed studio.