Susan Fahrni emerges from the Columbia Valley: Wetland Spring

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, March 20, 2011

Wetland Spring

I finally was able photograph this painting. The trick is having a sunny day but not photographing it in direct sunlight. I'm struggling to decide on a name for this one. I've done a series of four others of the Columbia Wetlands and numbered them. I can't decide whether to add this to this list as Columbia Wetlands V; to call it Wetland Spring; or Columbia Wetland Spring. Do post comments and let me know what you think.

20 x 16
acrylic on canvas
SOLD

Now it's on to my next projects. I have both a window and a wide narrow canvas on the go. I had such a tough time deciding what to do next that I opted to work on both alternately.

1 comment:

Erika Schmid-Fahrni Switzrland said...: Dieses Bild gefällt mir sehr gut.Die Farbenpracht der Natur des Frühlings ist perfekt wiedergegeben. Das Gemälde strahlt eine Harmonie und Ruhe aus. Es ist als sitze man direkt in der Natur. Mir persönlich würde der Titel " Wetland Frühling " als passend erscheinen.; March 20, 2011 at 11:55 PM

Susan Fahrni emerges from the Columbia Valley

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Sunday, March 20, 2011

Wetland Spring

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