Susan Outlaw – Friday Night Guest – November 4, 2022

(Submitted by Phyllis J. Pollard)

“I appreciate how Susan Outlaw does not shy away from the complexity, but rather throws herself into it; she doesn’t seek shortcuts to avoid the burden of detail, she attacks it. She breathes life into every important detail of the scene, and obeys the demands of light in all its vanity.”   ~ Dan Kent, Author

Susan is a realist painter from Ancaster Ontario with a background in advertising and design. She is a mostly self-taught painter who began painting in 2001 and has been dedicated to learning about art materials and improving her skills. Painting copies of the masters has been a rich learning experience for her. Her repertoire includes seascapes, landscapes, still life, botanicals, and architecture.

Susan generously shared her favoured materials and sources. She uses Natural Pigments colour and their Oleo Gel medium. Her favourite brushes are Princeton synthetics and a Rosemary dagger. Her supports are usually birch panels prepared with 2 coats of PVA size back and front followed by two layers of lead alkyd ground or Ampersand Gesso Boards. She has recently been experimenting with aluminum and copper and enjoyed the effects they produced.

Although Susan sold through two galleries for 14 years, she now manages her own sales through her web site, and on-line galleries, and has recently been offering prints of her original paintings.

Many thanks to Susan for sharing her exquisite paintings, materials and process. Susan teaches at the Dundas Valley School of art where she inspires her students to embrace detail and use light to bring their subject to life.