Su Daitch loves color, and her art reflects that passion. In the spring of 2000, at the age of 50, that passion surfaced.
Su had spent the last 30 plus years of her life playing right hand to powerful men from Dallas to Chicago. She had never had a stenciled door, or marble plaquard with a fancy title but instead served as the eyes, ears, and hands of various executives for decades. She had lived in the behind the curtain world of the executive secretary. Like a true to life Oz, she had pulled the levers and made magic happen for those she served. It was a thankless job, one that can quickly make you realize the stark difference between the “them” and the “us”, but that was all behind her now. Age and time had gotten the better of her once razor sharp mind, and the fire that had fueled her efforts for so long seemed to only smolder now in the ashes of time. I guess she was in a place that is not so unfamiliar to a rest of us, save for what was to come next. What Su would discover following that day of revelation was that there was still plenty of magic in her; it just had taken a different and more personal form.
Announcing to her husband, Gordon, that she wanted to paint, he replied "Which room"? Little did he know that stored within his bride were literally hundreds of creations waiting in line to make their way onto the canvas. Thus, was the beginning of this self-taught artist's foray into the art world.
Once she explained to him that she wasn’t talking about redecorating, he stood strong in his support. He told her to go out and get some brushes, some paints, and a canvas. Su loves to tell of how she bought the biggest canvas she could find, not knowing if she would ever be authorized for a purchase in this way again. That first canvas came to life with images of a world unseen to the rest of us.
It would be almost two years before that passion fully erupted. With the urging of a close friend, Su landed a spot painting at Café Tu Tu Tango in Atlanta. (Café Tu Tu Tango was a restaurant fashioned after an artist's loft in Barcelona,. If you painted there, you get to hang your art.) The first night, Su found the most out of the way spot to set up painting for fear someone would discover she wasn't a real "artist". She was the one that discovered something. She liked bringing people into her world of color. Su found painting there to be almost magical and soon moved to the front of the restaurant just to meet more people. She says she felt like "Alice, falling down the rabbit hole." Whatever it was that had been locked up inside, started finding it's way to her paintings. And they started to sell. Soon becoming it’s #1 selling artist until it closed in Feb. 2007.
Su has always said, "anybody can paint". She then decided to show people how to paint abstracts. Because you cannot really teach abstracts, one can be shown how to use colors to bring out the "artist" in themselves. Tango allowed her to use the upstairs of the restaurant for her workshops. Art In Me (Three Hours With Su) changed the lives of many people who have taken her workshops. It's these one-on-one encounters that Su shines her best. Her love of painting motivates people who have never painted in their lives to go out and buy paint supplies and start painting. Many return for more "instruction".
Su's three greatest joys are her paintings, her workshops and hearing back from people who gotten one of her paintings. They tell her how much pleasure their paintings bring into their lives.
Her art is displayed at countless locations around Atlanta. Her portfolio has swelled to well over 1500 pieces; with almost one-third of those now in collections throughout the U.S. And, her flow of creativity has only been augmented by her success, as has her zeal for life, and her legion of supporters and fans
Su attributes her success to her husband, Gordon. His ever-present support and encouragement has allowed her the freedom to express herself on canvas in ways she could have never imagined. From making the frames and stretching the canvases, to taking the pictures for her website, Gordon’s behind the scene’s work makes this a true two-man operation.
Su and Gordon live in Smyrna, Ga with their 2 dogs, Maggie and Pee Wee.
