Oil and Clay Art by Su Zi

Artist's statement: 

The first is a pottery piece—a gift for a friend, a mask of The Green Man.

The other two are oil portraits—I have neither painting anymore.

The man standing is 22x48, if I remember; the seated person is 24x36.
I once had a one person gallery exhibit of oil portraits in New Orleans.
While those pieces are gone, I do have two oil portraits available on my Etsy site.

I prefer to draw from life—to have the subject in front of me while I sketch directly onto the canvas, or whatever. Both oil portraits were done this way: the ghost of the subject while they are in front of me, then the painting process, which is layers and layers.
The pottery piece is the opposite—completely invented from thought into the clay, fired, glazed, fired.

Image: A green, clay mask on a stained workspace. The face is a lighter green with the edges being darker and textured. The face comes down to a soft point. The eyes are a touch feline. The lips are full and slightly parted with the bottom being a darker green, which rest below a small nose. 

Image: A shirtless man in green pants and black shoes has his arms at his sides. His right hand is resting on an axe handle, and the axe head is pointed towards the left of the image. He has short, clipped hair and facial hair. He wears a serious expression.

Image: A woman with short, brown hair sits with her legs stretched out sideways on a green couch. Her upper body is tilted to the right, and she has her legs crossed at the ankles. She is wearing a t-shirt with shorts and ankle socks.

Update on the art:

The Green Man mask lives in the classroom of a high school history teacher in Florida.

The portrait of the man standing is in possession of a filmmaker and writer who recently relocated to Toronto.

The portrait of the seated woman is whereabouts unknown, potentially destroyed.

~*~

Biography:  Su Zi is a poet/writer and artist/printmaker and edits, designs and constructs the eco-feminist poetry chapbook series Red Mare. 

Publications include poetry, essays, stories and reviews that date back to pre-cyber publishing, including when Exquisite Corpse was a vertical print publication, and a few editions of New American Writing. More recent publications include Red Fez, Alien Buddha and Thrice. A resident of the Ocala National Forest, with a dedicated commitment to providing a safe feeding respite for wild birds, and for a haphazard gardening practice that serves as a life model for all aspects of her work.