Susan Lynn MacLeod   

Susan Lynn MacLeod departed this world far too early on Wednesday, January 18, 2017, at the age of 68. She was born May 16, 1948, in Billings MT, the first-born daughter of Jean and R.B. MacLeod. She is survived by her mother, Jean, her sons Jeffrey and Henry Holt, husband David Holt, sisters Cathy Hareland and Patty MacLean, and brother Mark MacLeod. Susan was also very fond of her brothers-in-law Jack Hareland, the late John MacLean, and Douglas Holt; and her several nieces, nephews and grand nieces and grand nephews. It would also be remiss not to mention her little dog and constant companion Remy, who brought her so much love and joy.

Susan lived 20 years in Billings MT, 23 in Seattle WA, and 25 in Laguna Niguel CA. She felt fortunate to live in such special places and to have made so many great friends. She participated in tennis leagues and homeowners association government and wrote funny first-person articles for tennis magazines and other publications. She even "crewed" for her husband during his years of multi-day, non-stop, insane, bicycle races, loving it when he would win, and absolutely hating it when he would break another bone.

But Susan was first and foremost an artist, primarily a painter. She thought like an artist in everything she did. While she had a casual fondness for many things and was an avid and voluminous reader, it was the intertwining world of color, shape, and perspective that appealed to her most. From an early age, as she once said, "If I could see it I could draw it." ...And she could certainly paint it as well--an alchemist transmuting humble and prosaic things into visual gold.

Two examples: Susan created a motif out of traditional quilting patterns, working the concept from something perhaps simple and basic at first, to colors and matrices of subtle complexity. Twenty-five years later she discovered kelp on California beaches--seaweed that grows gracefully in "kelp forest" a few hundred feet off-shore. But the living forest off-shore was not what Susan found most visually appealing. She loved the entanglements of dying and dead uprooted kelp that washed ashore with the tides and winter storms. While other beach denizens were...well...stepping aside, she was studying and photographing piles of the stuff, bringing it home, studying more, interpreting, and finally apotheosizing the shapeless tangles as something from nature, but elevated beyond it into the timelessness of art, rich in nuanced depth and shades of color.

Susan, however, would insists that her greatest works of art were her boys, Jeffrey and Henry, whom she loved so dearly, and for whom she created such a lovely and loving home. She devoted her middle years to raising them, participating in all of their school and sports activities, from editing the school newsletter to chaperoning trips for whale-watching, and multi-day adventures up the California Coast to Monterrey Bay. She saw them grow up into good, young men, and would have loved to have been there to help them through the many challenges yet to come.

Finally, no summary of Susan could pretend to encapsulate the wonderful woman, artist, friend, mother, and wife that she was. She was unique—one of a kind. She faced her illness over four years nobly and without self-pity. So even there she was an inspiration to those around her. To say she will be missed is inadequate because, for those who loved her so much, a part of us left with her and that part can never be replaced.

Note: Susan greatly appreciated all the cards, flowers, food, and support she received during her illness.
A memorial service will be held for Susan at McCormick & Son Chapel, Laguna Beach CA, at 11:00am, Saturday, Feb 4, 2017.

In lieu of flowers, please send donations in Susan’s name to the following:
Beach Ecology Coalition
c/o Dr. Karen Martin
24255 Pacific Coast Highway
Malibu, CA 90263

Guest Book:

"Susan and I were close friends in junior high school and missed each other when I moved and went to another high school. We still kept in touch and I was surprised when I saw her with the majorette corps for her school. She was their manager and I was the manager for my school's majorettes. Friends still but different colors.
I saw Susan from time to time and remember seeing her textile designs in Seattle. A piece of raku pottery and a 12x12 canvas of a portrait of some seafarer she saw in Seattle. Always creative, her art was special...just as Susan was in my life. She would send me samples of her work and lately postcards to her shows. So glad you said you were still going to do art on the other side. I will miss you old friend."

 Patricia Cooke Smith - January 22 at 10:18 PM