Suzanne Frie

This artist really enjoys a variety of different subjects!

The 'Angry Navy Chief' was developed after the artist's husband, a U.S. Navy Submariner, came home from work one night and shared a funny story about a Captain's mast. The result of the story was the very first 'Angry Navy Chief' growling 'I can't stop stupid, I can only slow it down.' Since then, many U.S. Navy Chiefs have requested and contributed sayings for those listed here. And the artist is ALWAYS interested in finding more sayings for the Angry Navy Chief.

After a PCS ordered move from Washington state to San Diego, California...it became clear to the artist that she was leaving out a very important group! The MARINES! Soon after the move, the artist developed 'The Drill Instructor'. Though the artist is typically closer to the Naval Bases, this provided an opportunity to include a lively and fun group of dedicated service members.

Nearing the end of 2011, the artist had been churning ideas on how to create a piece that could embrace the younger, junior enlisted sailors. So, she set about the development of 'Hey Shipmate!'. This new image is meant to share funny comments shared between sailors on their daily work days. Often, the term 'Shipmate' is view as a derogatory term, but the artist hopes that 'Hey Shipmate' can provide a chance for camaraderie and fun!

But the Military Themed artworks are not all this artist does.....In between all of the funny Military art....Rittenhouse does a lot of serious works too. The major focus of her works now feature the 'Paper Painting' process. These large works sit on a wooden frame and are completed rendered from tissue paper. Rittenhouse develops a tissue paper canvas and then layers many colors and layers of tissue paper to create large life-like pictures. These images range from boats in harbors, oceans and rocks, fields of sunflowers and little girls with chinese umbrellas.

Currently, Rittenhouse is working on watercolor sketches to continue with two series of paper paintings. The first, and longest running series, is of girls in white dresses with green or red Chinese paper umbrellas. The second series features the female figure with red backgrounds. This series is brand new and obviously subject to change and the introduction of other themes and colors.

Thanks for reading about Rittenhouse and looking at her work!
Enjoy!

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