Susan Fahrni emerges from the Columbia Valley: Bugaboo Gold

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, July 25, 2010

Bugaboo Gold

It's done! This one took me a long time to complete. It takes me a long time to build mountains one rock at a time and forests one tree, one branch, at a time. I don't know how God did it in one day! This is the view from the top of Chalice Ridge in late September/early October for the short time that the larch trees are ablaze with colour.

Bugaboo Gold

30 x 40

acrylic on gallery canvas

I am excited to share it next week at the Arts Tour 2010. I will be set up in Conklin's garden in Radium Hot Springs. Passports and maps for this fabulous event can be purchased from Pynelogs Cultural Centre in Invermere. The fun runs at all five wonderful sites from 10:00 - 4:00 on Sunday, August 1st. Don't miss it! There are so many talented artists of various mediums participating and I feel very privileged to be joining them.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...: Saw this painting at the 2010 Art Walk, it is awesome! The spectacular colours really caught my eye.; August 3, 2010 at 10:43 AM
Erika Schmid-Fahrni Switzerland said...: Ein farbenprächtiges und leuchtendes Bild. Mach weiter so :); March 21, 2011 at 9:56 AM

Susan Fahrni emerges from the Columbia Valley

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Sunday, July 25, 2010

Bugaboo Gold

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