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Suttles went on to build a long and varied career as an artist and illustrator. He worked for the University of Tennessee Space Institute, NASA, and later became a creative director for a Fortune 500 company. For years, portraiture was something he did on the side \u2014 something people asked for when they discovered he could draw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI never thought of myself as a portrait artist,\u201d he said. \u201cI always wanted to be a fine artist.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, the commissions kept coming. Eventually, they became more than supplemental income. Suttles remembers the moment he realized portraiture could sustain him completely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was actually making more money doing portraits than I was as a creative director,\u201d he said. \u201cSo I quit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That brought him to Flat Rock, Tennessee, where he purchased and remodeled an old building into his studio. It\u2019s a space
that feels both working and reverent, filled with the quiet authority of someone who knows exactly what they\u2019re doing but feels no need to announce it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Like many artists, Suttles admits he wrestled with insecurity early on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI remember when I used to do portraits for $50, and every time I would sit down, I\u2019d be petrified,\u201d he said. \u201cMy gift is
God-given, and I don\u2019t really know how it works. I just trust it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That trust extends to how he conducts business. Unlike many portrait artists, Suttles never takes money up front.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf you don\u2019t like my portrait, I don\u2019t want you to have it,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I\u2019ve never had an issue.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Much of Suttles\u2019 life and art has been shaped by love and loss. He was married for 40 years when his first wife was diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer. She asked to return to Tullahoma, the place they considered home, for her final days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen she told me she probably only had a year left, she said she wanted to spend it there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After her passing, grief silenced his art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI tried to paint, and I couldn\u2019t,\u201d Suttles said. \u201cIt was like the talent was gone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It wasn\u2019t until a moment of resolve, after being told grief could do that, that he returned to the canvas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI went home, put a canvas down, and started painting,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd it was beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Art didn\u2019t erase the grief, but it helped him carry it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt still does,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Today, Suttles is married to Bethany, whom he described as patient, encouraging, and instrumental in bringing him back to painting fully. Together, they share a life based in faith, service, and creativity, including ballroom dancing, church work, and dreams of using part of the studio building as a free apartment for battered women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When it comes to his portraits, Suttles works primarily from photographs, but insists he\u2019s not interested in copying them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI don\u2019t want to be a human Xerox machine,\u201d he said. \u201cI take liberties, but I keep the resemblance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He paints using traditional oil techniques, layering glazes to build depth and luminosity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOils have soul,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s just something there that you don\u2019t get from a photograph.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The reaction his work inspires is what matters most to him. He\u2019s seen people cry when they receive a portrait, especially when it\u2019s of someone they\u2019ve lost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019ve had people tell me, \u2018This is my most prized possession,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cPeople can look at a photo of a parent who\u2019s passed, but an oil painting is different. It lives on the wall. It\u2019s part of the home.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n That belief has shaped how he prices his work. Despite international recognition, including being named a finalist and top finisher in global competitions judged by prominent art critics, Suttles has intentionally lowered his rates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI want people to be able to afford it,\u201d he said. \u201cI enjoy seeing people value my work more than the money they give me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n At 77, Suttles shows no signs of slowing down. He spends nearly every day in his studio, painting not for prestige, but for purpose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI think it\u2019s my calling,\u201d he said. \u201cAs long as I can paint, I will.\u201d GN<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" MUTT SUTTLES doesn\u2019t describe himself as extraordinary, even though the evidence lines the walls of his studio. Oil portraits of presidents, engineers, children, and parents long gone all surround him in careful order, each one rendered with a depth that feels less like likeness and more like presence. At 77, Suttles still paints seven days […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":24855,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/goodnewsmags.com\/tullahoma\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/03\/submitted-1024x683.jpg\")
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