Surfcoast visual artist Susan Sutton is well known and highly regarded for her representational coastal images.
Susan’s detailed oil paintings on canvas embody social observations and specific subjects along Victoria’s Surf Coast, with particular emphasis on the region along the Great Ocean Road between Geelong and Lorne. These images have become well known and widely accepted in recent years as iconic paintings of living experiences around the southern beaches of Australia. Regional and city images from central Geelong, and occasionally metropolitan Melbourne convey the same feeling of actually ‘being there’.
Inspiration for my works is usually a response to personal involvement in an event or a situation. I paint best what I know and understand in the region I have lived most of my life … familiarity and research for detail form the basis of my created images. My paintings usually contain figures which I use to convey the social narrative, while the ambience and mood of the particular place or situation are conveyed through the effects of colour, light and atmosphere. All of these are extremely important components of my work.