Susan McDonnell is a realist painter who has recently moved back to Minnesota after living in Southern California for 30 years. Her paintings are narratives inspired by her observations of wild animals in their natural habitats. Albrecht Dürer and Otto Marseus van Schrieck are influences on her exacting technique while Beatrix Potter and Lewis Carroll inform the angle of her imagination.

A native of Minnesota, McDonnell’s connection to nature was formed by annual family trips to Lake Kabetogama in the North Woods. A quiet place, relatively untouched, it has continued to inspire the nuanced content and tone of her paintings.