Artist's Statement
I am moved to paint when light, shadow and color come together in a dynamic way. It can be a face in the crowd, or a newly opened flower or a pear caught in the sunlight that captures my imagination. Being a painter has transformed the way I view and interpret my surroundings; nothing looks the same as it did 5 years or 10 years or 20 years ago. The artist’s eye is an adaptive one, always changing its way of seeing and portraying the world.

My watercolor paintings are most frequently created by layering multiple glazes of pure color rather than mixing the pigments together and applying it in one layer. This slow build up of colors gives the painting the wonderful glow and depth that characterize transparent watercolor artwork.

Four years ago, after a workshop with Minnesota artist Karen Knutson, I began to explore combining collage with watercolor. This has evolved from a few paper elements used to enhance texture in a painting to works done with gouache, Japanese paper, fibers, beads, metals and old photographs in addition to transparent watercolors. This technique has given me another way of interpreting the world.

Biography
Susanne began working in transparent watercolor in the late 90’s. In the last four years her paintings have been juried into national exhibitions with the Transparent Watercolor Society of America, Northwest Watercolor Society, Wyoming Watercolor Society, the Municipal Art League of Chicago, Woman Made Gallery in Chicago, and the Algonquin Public Art Program among others. In 2006 her painting of the Dundee Township Public Library was selected to appear on their new library cards. She is represented by the Old Courthouse Arts Center in Woodstock. Susanne has been a resident in the Algonquin area since 1977.