Susan Fahrni emerges from the Columbia Valley: My Summer's Efforts

Artist Statement

I love nature and I love to try to capture it on canvas. Everything I paint means something special to me, whether it’s a scene I’ve tried to capture before it disappears, a view that holds special memories, or a glimpse of a part of our valley that I want to share with others who might not otherwise have access to it. The places I paint are real and as I paint I am ‘there’ be it perched on a mountain ridge, sitting by a lakeshore or standing upon a tussock of grass in the wetlands.
I generally work from photos, however, for me, capturing the images in paint on canvas gives them an importance, value, and even permanence that I feel photography can not.
I begin a piece by drawing key shapes on the canvas then washing a thin layer of paint on to block in the major features. I then start working from the background making my way forward envisioning what is behind and hidden by each slope, tree, etc. before I paint it. For me this working in layers gives each scene its veracity and depth.
Sunlight and its effects fascinate me. I have always admired the stained glass of medieval Europe and I love the way the sun illuminates it and shares the coloured glow with the world below. It is a man-made tribute to God and the world He created. However, His work cannot be surpassed as sunlight gives life and purpose to the colours of the real world giving them an “unearthly” glow.
When my work is going well, I feel a sense of awe and wonder and a thankfulness that I have been allowed to capture and recreate our beautiful world. Having said that, I am not certain how it happens and feel that I’ve been witness to magic as the work paints itself having merely allowed me to mix the colours and hold the paintbrush.
As I work, in my mind I see the birds and insects, feel the warmth of the sun, the caress of a breeze, and hear the rustle of leaves, the buzz of insects, the chirp and call of birds. I am transported to whatever scene I am trying to capture.
I have come to realize that my art represents who I am: passionate, realistic, yet orderly and a stickler for detail, and very ‘down-to-earth’.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

My Summer's Efforts

This painting is of an old way station that stands in a field just north of Edgewater. The old twinned tree beside it blew down in a violent windstorm in 2006. It was sad to see it go as the two made me think of a couple of old men who'd been friends forever. Sadly, one is now left to grieve the loss of his old friend.

Old Friends (20x16) acrylic on canvas
SOLD

I'd driven by this old cabin, adjacent to the highway somewhere south of Golden, dozens of times and never paid it much attention. On this day the light on the glorious fall colours of the trees just begged me to capture them somehow. Take away the highway traffic and the four-legged inhabitants of this cabin and it would make a great rustic getaway. Unfortunately many of these old buildings are falling victim to the years.

Old Cabin (24x20) acrylic on gallery canvas

SOLD

This painting evokes so many memories for me and my family: picnics, fishing trips, and weekends camping. Even as I worked on it I could feel myself sitting right there in front on my lawn chair. My husband is around the corner at the far end of the lake fishing in his blue canoe.

Cleland Memories (24x30) acrylic on canvas

SOLD

This painting of the Bugaboos is from a photo taken by my husband this summer when he and my eldest son went hiking on one of the few perfect 'hiking' days we had. I love the high country views but am not much of a hiker and certainly not up to these elevations. This painting is for all of us who likely will never see these glorious views personally. Enjoy! [PS My daughter insisted that I hide a Sasquatch in amongst the rocks. He's there and painted to scale. I challenge anyone who sees the actual painting to find him - no one has yet as they're all looking in the wrong rocks.]