Susan Fahrni emerges from the Columbia Valley: New Inspirations

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’.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

New Inspirations

I'm excited. We're just back from a trip to Utah where we took hundreds of photos of the most incredible landscapes I've ever seen. I am looking forward to capturing some of the images on canvas and playing with siennas, oranges, and ochres like I have not done before. New challenges!

Earlier today I set up the new canopy that I am planning to use during the Valley Arts Tour 2010 this coming August 1st - another exciting first for me.

This evening the weather and light were perfect so hubby and I drove northward to photograph one of my favourite subjects, the Columbia Valley Wetlands. I can hardly wait to start painting pictures of the wetlands in springtime. It will be an entirely different palate from the late summer/early autumn pictures that I've done. It was interesting to note that my favourite sites today were some that I've already captured on canvas. They just looked so different in their springtime garb.

I shall just have to get cracking on the large painting of the Bugaboos and larch that I am currently working on!

Susan Fahrni emerges from the Columbia Valley

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Wednesday, May 12, 2010

New Inspirations

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