Susan has had a life-long interest in animals, both domestic and wild. After admiring horses always from afar, she began horsebackriding lessons a few years ago. At the time, when yet another art-marketing class she had enrolled in had been cancelled, she decided to use her refund for a beginning horseback riding class. She couldn’t understand why things were not working out for her training as an artist. But little did she know, that things were really going according to plan…. Since emersing herself in the world of horses, Susan fell completely in love with them and began thinking about what kind of horse to buy for herself. It would have to serve as both a companion and model for her art. All of those slides she studied in Art History class must have had some effect on her, since she found herself particularly fascinated by the ancient breeds of the Andalusian and Friesian which are can be found in paintings from the Renaissance and Baroque periods. She was also interested in the modern American breeds such as Morgans and Quarter Horses and finally found herself a big, black, beautiful Morgan mare with a long, wavy mane and tail to call her own. This mare has all of the beautiful attributes Susan first imagined, but more importantly she is great fun to ride. Like in her art, Susan hates to limit herself to just one discipline in her horseback riding. She is interested in trailriding, dressage, driving, and reining.
Susan creates most of her images in linoleum, copper, or on inked plates of Plexiglas. Her lino-cuts still often depict architectural subjects as well as people and animals. Her etchings give her an opportunity to render equine subjects with all the detail that she loves. And her monotypes (transferred from inked plates of Plexiglas) are a spontaneous media which are often fueled by high-energy poses of horses.
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