About

SUSANNA BIRLEY CV

Susanna has lived and worked in the beautiful Cotswold village of Chalford near Stroud since 1995. She gained a First Class BA Hons. in 3D Design at Manchester Metropolitan University in 1978. after which she became a full-time potter for 13 years with part-time teaching in Adult Education. For the last 30 years she has been exploring the exciting process of water-colour and mixed media painting; largely inspired by landscape, flowers and still-life, but more recently has been experimenting with abstract and textural effects.

She has also completed a number of commissions for Portrait Heads in Bronze and Terracotta, one of which was accepted by the RWA.

EXHIBITIONS IN THIS AREA

Bath Society of Artists
Fiery Beacon Gallery, Painswick
Anderson Gallery, Burford
Nature in Art Museum
The Thin Dog Gallery, Cirencester
3D Gallery, Bristol
Bella Contemporary Art, Tetbury

Susanna is a member of the Fosseway Artists and exhibited regularly in their group exhibitions.

She had taken part in the Stroud Valleys Artspace (SITE) Open Studios event nearly every year since 1997, and more recently with the Select Arts Trail (Stroud International Textile Festival) 

ARTIST’S STATEMENT

I am largely a self-taught painter having studied the work of many contemporary water-colour artists such as Edward Wesson, John Yardley, David Curtis, Trevor Chamberlain, Ann Blockley and many others.

Inspired by the natural world, and often by the effects of light and shade, what I am trying to achieve in my paintings, is not a photographic copy of the subject, but an interpretation in terms of a balance of colour, tone and form whilst exploiting the beautiful, transparent and unpredictable qualities of watercolour itself.

I also enjoy using many different techniques to create exciting textural effects. 

All my life I have been passionate about music. (I am a competent pianist and qualified piano teacher!) and I feel this largely informs my approach and vision when painting. There are so many similar expressions in the language of music and painting:- tone, structure, colour, composition, shape, form, balance, dynamics etc: