One of Sudduth's earliest memories is of painting a picture at the age of three. The son of an Indian "medicine lady," he recalls painting with a mud and honey mixture on the surface of a freshly cut tree stump while he and his mother were in the woods looking for medicine plants. When they returned days later, the painting was still there. His mother saw this as a good "sign" and encouraged him thereafter to paint. Finger-painting with mud-earth ochres and "sweet water" became a continual part of his life. He also experimented with adding color to his work by using wild berries, grasses and "paint rocks."

He married an Indian girl at an early age and they had one daughter. After his first wife's death, Sudduth married Ethel Palmore, his wife of more than thirty years, until her death in 1992. He and Ethel adopted a young boy, Rance Maddov, who was an artist and who later drowned. Sudduth spent most of his life working on rural farms and grinding corn meal in the Fayette County area...(continue reading)

Further information on Jimmie Lee Sudduth can be found here.