Susan Fahrni emerges from the Columbia Valley: Two More

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’.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Two More

Here are two more small paintings that I completed in time for the Tour this past weekend.

I really love doing the little birds. Each of them has entertained me just outside the window where my easel stands. The little nuthatches are to be found year round in my yard although they do seem to find somewhere else to hide when it is really hot out.

Red-breasted Nuthatch

8x8 acrylic on gallery canvas

This little painting of an old building just north of Edgewater is probably one of the most photographed structures in the valley. This view of what was once the Carlson family homestead was taken in the spring when the grass was lush and green.

Edgewater Homestead

8x10 acrylic on gallery canvas
SOLD

Susan Fahrni emerges from the Columbia Valley

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Thursday, August 5, 2010

Two More

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