Page 2 - Susan Lane intro portfolio

Biography:

I was born in Surrey, England in 1954 and moved to the Cotswolds with my husband Charles in the early 1980’s in search of beautiful
landscapes and to experience rural life.

I have always been an observer and lover of the natural world and have been busily creative since I can remember.
From childhood on I took pleasure in drawing, writing, reading and studying the world around me and recall the wonder I experienced
at the tantalising effects of light on matter, which is still an important inspiration to me for my art. This earlier creative wonder came
flooding back when I attended drawing classes at the age of twenty with Rose, who remains a close friend. From that moment on I was
totally smitten, drawing everything in sight and knew this would become a life time interest to develop.

I think this wonder I perceived, along with the ability to hold the experience is the reason behind why I decided to change my career
and become a full time painter. This involved extensive drawing and sketching alongside ‘En Plein Air’ painting (the method employed
by the Impressionists) by painting directly from the subject matter wherever I and my family have travelled, or in my local area.

When I am engaged in the process of painting I become totally absorbed by my subject matter, which has become more inclusive over
the years. I also study the great artists from any age and have a particular affinity with the Impressionist and Post Impressionist
movements because of their use of natural light and dynamic brushstrokes. More recently I have been attracted to the work of the
Symbolist Movement and have found this very good for incorporating imagination and design into my compositions.
I constantly search out museums and art galleries for any good works of art to enjoy, experience and learn from, whatever the genre.

Painting is to me a continuous pattern of striving for perfection and motivation and each work is unique and individual.
The joy of painting is in the process I believe; from the first conception of an idea to completion and it involves many stages of
emotional and physical engagement with the subject matter.

Over the years I have travelled extensively to collect sketches, ‘en plein air’ paintings and photographs from the UK, France, Germany,
Italy and the US.

I started successfully exhibiting and selling oil paintings of varying sizes from 10x12 inches to 48 x 50 inches from the 1980’s in various
prestigious galleries within the UK and the US.