Featured Artist of the Month : Susan Waters Dec. 2018 | TheArtList - Art & Photo Calls for Visual Artists and Photographers.

Susan Waters

Rockmart, GA

Susan Duke Waters lives in Rockmart, Georgia, USA, and was born in Bath, England. Artistic expression is a keystone of her life and a source of delight. She uses a variety media, working in oils, watercolor and acrylics as well as clay and papier mâché. Recently, Waters has shifted emphasis to painting on location, working predominately with oils, feeling the plein air experience pushes the most authentic response to the subject and hones the ability to find and capture the essence of a scene.

How and when did you start creating art?

My earliest memories include drawing. I have always been enthralled by art and the creative process. Crayons and pencils were the most easily accessible, so I started with them. I had a callus on index finger by aged four.

What media and genres do you work in?

For 2D painting I use oil, acrylic and watercolors. While I often work at home, especially for portraiture, I enjoy the challenge of painting on location and much of my recent work is plein air, which favors landscapes. I sculpt in paper mache and clay and most of these are human forms.

Who or what are your influences?

I feel that nature and the human face and form are my most compelling influences. Though I haven’t studied many artists, I admire the work of Michelangelo (of course!) John Singer Sargent, Winslow Homer, Richard Schmid, David J. Curtis (UK), Arthur Rackham and Roger Dale Brown.

What was your inspiration for Nativity?

This piece is part of a Christmas scene and draws from the spiritual significance of the story as well as highlighting the fragility and mystery of birth and humanity in general.

Describe your creative process?

Something seems beautiful and I respond. I suppose it’s a form of homage. More practically, the “Nativity” piece began with a wire armature and was filled out with chicken wire. The wire is covered with several layers of newspaper, moistened with a flour paste. The paper pieces begin larger and become progressively smaller so that joins are meshed and detail created. After drying, the surface is built up with paint, usually with a darker base coat, and a lighter second coat, and finally dry-brushed. With 2D work, the mental process is similar, though the “armature” takes the form of a roughly sketched outline, and the chicken wire by blocks of main tones and color.

What are you working on currently?

The Nativity exhibit which includes life-sized wise men on camels, an angel host, sheep and shepherds has just opened. Creating on this large a scale has been liberating. I am beginning a series of suspended figures linked in various ways. I also hope to continue a set of studio paintings analyzing Shakespearean characters. Meanwhile, I am eager to pack my easel and go outside to paint. I live where rural scenes and industry co-exist and enjoy the junction, especially when steam and low lying clouds meet; good wintery conditions!

What are your near/long term goals as an artist?

I wish to improve. I hope to continue to be excited by my work; not all the time, but enough to know I’m progressing. With sculpture the eagerness comes when a form curves just so, and in painting there is a thrill the right two colors abut. Additionally, I would like to learn to work in bronze.

Where can people view/purchase your work (gallery, website, etc)?

My website is www.susandwaters.com

The Nativity Exhibit mentioned above is at the Rockmart Cultural Arts Gallery, 316 North Piedmont Avenue, Building 300, Rockmart, Georgia 30153. It is free of charge and open from 10am - 4pm, Weds – Sat. until December 22, and also viewable by appointment by calling (770) 684 2707. www.facebook.com/rcac.ga

Artwork also displayed at:

The Art Station, Stone Mountain, Georgia.

The Skellenger Art Gallery, Cedartown Performing Arts Center, 205 East Avenue, Cedartown, Georgia.