Sue Yu Petty

Blue Ridge, Texas

There is something sacred about returning to the gifts placed in your heart.

The Artist

Letting light speak through every textured layer.

Sue Yu Petty grew up in Pasadena, California, painting and sketching from the time she could hold a brush — selling her first piece at just 15 from an art show in upstate New York. As life pressed forward, that gift grew quiet; it wasn't until her years in Chiropractic College, in the stillness between studies, that she found her way back to the canvas.

That awakening — of faith, of purpose, of love — set the tone for everything that followed. She chose oil as her medium and was deeply inspired and mentored by renowned Reflectionist artist JD Miller, whose 3D sculpted oil technique became the foundation of her practice. More than a method, Reflectionism is a movement — a community of artists committed to creating with intention and purpose, to living and working in love, and to letting light speak through every textured layer.

Her paintings are built up in sculptural, dimensional layers — oil woven into the canvas, rising from it like something trying to breathe — in vibrant, bold color, a deliberate choice to reflect the brightness she believes the world was intended to hold. Each work begins with a purpose, often anchored in Scripture, created to evoke hope and wonder. Today she works primarily on commissioned pieces, creating art that becomes part of the home it enters. She resides in Blue Ridge, TX with her husband Travis and their two daughters, Meela Grace and Mikayla Love.

Signature Moments

At a Glance

Selected Works

On Display at the Exhibition

Four works on display at the Inaugural Reflectionist Exhibition, September 12, 2026, Dallas.

“When I paint, it's like a meditation — the noise of the world grows quiet, and I feel a deep sense of peace.”

The Movement

On Reflectionism

Reflectionism is a contemporary art movement founded by JD Miller in Dallas in 2001. Its central proposition is that the constructive intentions of the artist — joy, gratitude, love, wonder, inspiration — are preserved within the physical substance of a dimensional oil painting and can be experienced by anyone who stands before it. Nine founding artists, each working in three-dimensional oil, carry this philosophy forward in their individual voices.

Stay in Touch

The Movement

Related Artists

Experience the Movement

September 12, 2026. Samuel Lynne Galleries, Dallas.