Anytime I get an opportunity to photograph a fellow female artist, I consider it a huge privilege. Photographing artists and especially photographing female artists feels more like play and exploration and a chance to connect with a kindred spirit than it feels like actual work. My time with Suz felt just like that.

Suz of Suzanne Baxter Art is a graphic artist and muralist living and working in San Francisco. Her pieces are mesmerizing and paradoxically both minimalist and lushly ornate. Looking at her work, one’s eyes jump all around each piece, delighting in where they’re being taken. I find her work both relaxing and stimulating at the same time. What’s even more fun than seeing her finished work is watching her make the work.

With apparent ease and surprising speed, she free-hand builds her “doodles” (as she calls them) one line at a time. She worked on one in-studio while I was photographing her and I had to remind myself to keep shooting and not just stop and admire.