Susan is retired and lives 30 miles south of the Mighty Mackinac Bridge. She has lived in Michigan her whole life and graduated from Michigan State University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Education. Her career was spent in and around the Detroit area in Oakland County. teaching Elementary School for five years. Then ventured into car sales as one of the first car saleswoman in the Detroit area, selling Cadillacs, Oldsmobiles and GMC Trucks. Next, she returned to Business School at Oakland University and became an Account Executive for AT&T and ADP, all this while raising two daughters.
The only art Susan studied while obtaining her degree, was "Methods of Teaching Art to Elementary Students" but an interest in painting was sparked. The fire did not get ignited until she retired to an artistic community called Harbor Springs, and found many capable artists willing to help her get started. Her first instructor was James Kosolosky, who specializes in palette knife painting using oil. While attending his classes at the Charlevoix Art Center in Charlevoix, MI, Susan met many talented artists and teachers and loved the camaraderie of fellow painters The sharing of tips and techniques in a group setting is so necessary in improving your paintings.
From these associations, Susan discovered the Circle of Arts Center in Petoskey, MI. This art center has galleries filled with a variety of art exhibits throughout the year, and their annual show includes Juried Fine Art. In 2012, two of Susan's paintings were selected for the annual D’Art for Art fundraiser and her work appeared in the brochure and news articles advertising the show.
Susan has taken weekly classes from art instructor, Dawn Caine in Boyne City, MI., a very artistic friendly community, with art fairs and a special area of the city, dedicated to painters. The gallery name is Soho of Boyne City, and several of Susan’s paintings have been shown there. Dawn did a program in class, introducing Daniel Edmundson’s CD’s and web sight to us. Susan is now enrolled in the Art Masters Program and has received many great tips. For example the suggestion to try Rosemary & Co. Artistic Brushes, and using Walnut Oil as a medium.
Through Circle of Arts in Petoskey, Michigan, Susan started portrait painting classes with a famous art instructor name Larry Blovits. He now is living in Grand Rapids, MI, but spent most of his career as a PHD and Dean of the Art School at Wayne State University. His instruction is thought provoking and inspiring. Susan very much enjoyed his lessons.
Living in Northern Michigan you get four beautiful seasons to photograph and paint. Susan has worked with all four seasons, but her favorite is winter. You will find snow scenes aplenty amongst her work. Winter of 2012-2013 was never-ending so there were beautiful snow scenes to choose from, the tree branches sparkled and twinkled with diamonds of picturesque layers of drifts and cradles of the white frozen crystals. So much so that once in a while glitter was applied to the snow in her paintings to emphasize its star-glinting qualities.
Susan prefers an abstract style. Since she started with a Palette knife before she used a brush, the techniques of both are often combined for great fun in the studio.
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