Inspiring Minds

HUSBAND-AND-WIFE PAINTERS SCOTT BURDICK AND SUSAN LYON ENLIGHTEN EACH OTHER IN THE STUDIO AND ON THE ROAD.

- Michael Clawson

Many years ago, Scott Burdick and Susan Lyon were traveling through Asia and while they were in Nepal their Sherpa guide was suggesting places they could paint. “Maybe you’d like to climb Mount Everest and paint it?” the guide asked. Burdick shook his head, “No, there are no people up there.” His answer is a small nod to the couple’s painting interests, namely figures, but it also reveals a larger truth about the aspect that drives them and their art—the human experience. Their work isn’t made in a vacuum with a mindless avatar as their sitter. They work with individuals, talk to them, learn about them, capture their emotions and incorporate those emotions into the finished paintings. Any artist could flip through a clothing catalog for reference material, but working with actual people—with hopes and dreams, all their quirks and behavioral tics, all their personality traits—allows an artist to discover something unique during a painting session. For Burdick and Lyon, they are searching for emotional certainty, a genuineness within the paint.