Hello, I'm Susan. Thank you for visiting this page!
I’m from Devon though I’ve lived in Worcestershire all my working life. Art was my absolute favourite school subject but somehow or other I was persuaded to follow a different path and went on to become a language teacher for several years before making a career in commercial translation. However, painting has always been my first love and in recent years making art has been my primary focus. Several years ago I developed my skills by attending art classes and workshops with inspiring teachers whose work I admired. I’m now one of the four professional artists working at Yew Trees Artist Studios at Bevere Gallery on the edge of Worcester where we welcome visitors Tuesday to Saturday from 10am to 4pm. I also have artwork displayed at the Birmingham Contemporary Art Gallery. I feel that I’ve come a long way in the past ten years!
My Art - I create colourful artwork ranging from representational to more semi-abstract and conceptual, mostly landscape and still life. Subject matter varies considerably since I tend to follow my impulses when it comes to inspiration. I especially enjoy painting semi-abstract landscapes inspired by scenes encountered on my travels - in particular south-west France - or by images appearing somewhere in my head, waiting to be interpreted in paint. I also love painting flowers and plants. I’m never short of ideas. There’s a lovely old street in Worcester that’s recently been decorated with zig-zag strings of lights with coloured lampshades and I just have to paint that scene. There are always a good few upcoming paintings being worked through in my head, and that’s definitely one of them!
Materials and Techniques - I use a variety of mediums in any one painting. These may include any of acrylic paint, ink, oil pastels, gesso, coloured pencils, wax crayons, charcoal and collage paper. Mixing paint with collage has become a fundamental feature of my artwork. I make my own and have boxes of the stuff in many colour combinations, ready to incorporate into my artwork if I feel the need. Or I may create some collage paper for a specific piece. Sometimes I’ll also use brown paper, tissue paper or even wrapping paper. It’s always interesting to see the effects of paint or ink over different papers. Newspaper cuttings and snippets from pictures in magazines may also appear in my art from time to time. Another favourite technique is the use of glazing mediums mixed with a little paint to build up colour gradually and add depth. I love to experiment with techniques and mix up media to produce visually intriguing pieces. I see variety as the key to my practice and hope it’s an aspect that draws the eye to explore my paintings. Having said this, sometimes I just simply paint. I work either on quite heavy paper designed for mixed media or on board.
Local Inspiration - There’s something mystical and beautiful about cathedrals, churches, priories, abbeys… that makes me want to paint them. I’ve actually done two paintings of Worcester Cathedral and one of Malvern Priory for that very reason. As regards local scenes, I’ve been inspired to paint The Diglis area of Worcester, poppy fields around Bewdley and lavender fields at Cotswold Lavender near Broadway. I love the way these flower colours totally change a landscape and make it exciting.
Exhibitions - I’ve taken part in various Worcestershire Open Studios exhibitions and had solo exhibitions locally in Worcestershire. More recently in 2021 I was involved in a shared ‘Colour Unleashed’ exhibition at Elmslie House in Malvern with fellow Worcester artists Cherrie Mansfield and Caroline Hall. Further afield I’ve been lucky to have had artwork selected for the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours at Mall Galleries, London in both 2019 and 2020. In 2021 I was a finalist in the Broadway Art Festival Exhibition and had work selected for the Worcester Open Exhibition. More recently Sixteen Gallery in Cheltenham invited me to submit work for their curated ‘Landscape’ exhibition in May 2022. In July I'm exhibiting at Pershore’s Number 8 Gallery jointly with abstract oil painter Dan Holden. I enjoy getting involved in local art projects and meeting the challenge of commissions, though I wouldn't accept to do something that's just not me or my style. I like the process of coming to understand what the customer wants and thinking through how to best achieve that.
Future plans - I’ll continue to work at Yew Trees Artist Studios, of course. I feel fortunate to have this space where I can not only create, but also work with a small group of artists and showcase my artwork to visitors. However, I plan to also spread my wings and start exhibiting at some of the better known national art fairs. Most of all I want to develop as an artist. Thank you for reading this - if you managed to get this far!