SusanHaigh

I have always been enthralled by nature. I love the invitation to contemplate and delight in its diverse and specialized creations.
In my paintings it is my aim to showcase some of this beauty. I do not usually put my own interpretation on the subject. I know a flower is already perfect. My job is more to highlight that perfection. I hope my paintings will evoke the joy and peace that I find when immersed in nature’s wonders.

Living on an island on the west coast of Canada, the outdoors has always been my playground. A predominantly green world, I delighted in the splashes of seasonal color created by flowers. I decorated the margins of my school notebooks with flowers and was given free reign to make multicolored maps in Social Studies. As a teenager my world changed to predominantly blue as my family took to the sea and sailed through the islands of the Pacific to New Zealand. The highly scented and flamboyant flowers we encountered in our travels made a lasting impression on me. I return to New Zealand every few years to delight again in that landscape. I take many photographs, do some sketches and small paintings.

Back in Canada, I do most of my painting in winter from the photos I have taken in the more colorful seasons. I am a stickler for a good composition so often spend quite a bit of time cropping and removing distracting elements before I am ready to print out an image to work from. In that exciting phase of starting a new painting I sometimes get so engrossed in the glorious palette of summer that I feel a bit lost when I leave my studio. Out in the ‘real’ world it is cold, perhaps with a biting wind and often raining.

Although I am best known as a flower painter, I have recently been having a love affair with trees and landscapes.
I have dubbed my 12” x 6” canvasses, ‘treescapes’, and am enjoying an exploration of compositions that work in that format. The image wraps over the edges. I mount the small canvas on a cedar 1” x 8” board so the painting stands out proud.

Although I first opened my Etsy shop in 2010, I had other avenues for selling my paintings and only posted my photo cards. With the pandemic making it difficult for artists to connect physically with their fans, I realized I needed to improve my on-line presence. I am excited to have re-envisioned my Etsy site and look forward to making new connections.

I have a studio full of original paintings dying for a chance to get out in the world and share their joy. I also have giclee on canvas prints, cards and themed card packs.

In the eighties I studied at the Victoria College of Art. Over the ensuing years I have been in numerous galleries and I continue to show my work in juried art exhibitions. As a member of the Federation of Canadian Artists, I take part in many of their themed art shows at the Federation Gallery in Vancouver.

My work speaks for itself and its main message is; ‘we live on an amazingly beautiful planet!’. It champions the fragile and yet resilient natural world, the world we all need to cherish and protect. 2020 reminded us of the therapeutic benefits of being out in nature, in that green world that fills our air with oxygen. It is no wonder we sigh and breathe deeply in a forest.
Let my art grace your walls and create a place of natural beauty and solace in your lives.