Susan Graham

B.A. (Hons) Fine Art Cert Ed LSA

I studied at Rugby School of Art and Design and De Montfort University. I currently lecture at Leicester College of Further Education and teach at the Adult Education Centre in Leicester.

My work is inspired in particular around the coastal area of North Norfolk but also as far a field as Cornwall, the Scilly Isles and the Western Isles of Scotland.

These painting represent a coastal love affair with the sea and the mystery of what the day will bring. There is a magic of freedom a sense of belonging I feel when walking or painting in this area and it is here I feel I do my best work. I have been painting the North Norfolk coast an area of outstanding natural beauty continuously since graduating in 1998, obsessively in application and self-motivated in capturing the light, painting en plein air from dawn until dusk when the last of the evening light disappears. I paint in all weathers throughout the year battling against rain or wind.

The summer is awash with colour from the thrift and sea lavender on the salt marsh. The paintings reflect the light, atmosphere, mood, and the weather conditions of the day, the incoming sea mist as it floats in giving a surreal mystical experience to capture the spirit of the day not to reproduce but to convey a moment in time…a visual record of a place a sense of belonging a place to be retained and remembered.

The Physical activity of getting there combined with the mental concept of capturing the space of an area, an abstract analytical concept conceived and thoughtful, the place is the specific, evoking, its play of elements changing transforming familiarity of space. Walking miles along the strandline, through sand, and the movement of the sea, the crunching of the razor shells underfoot on the forever changing coastline, the space and the play of elements evoking along the coast with tidal creeks, salt marshes, sand dunes and marram grass, shingle and the movement of the tide, this state of flux on the shoreline and wide open beaches as the tide ebbs and flow.

All the above inspire me to paint a chance more than ever to get away from the hustle a bustle and constant noise to escape to peace and quiet to paint and not being disturbed except to be greeted by passing stranger who leaves as a friend or feeling the nose of a passing dog to see what I am doing.