Profile: Susan Stewart

Susan Stewart, an Australian landscape artist and photographer, was born in Sydney and grew up in the beachside suburb of Cronulla where the salt & the sand have been etched into the love of the sea.
Susan was later inspired by the aromas of the bush & the views of the open plains of Western New South Wales during her frequent travel west to Griffith in her early teaching career. Finally she settled in a Sydney lakeside suburb where the local landscape presented a fresh and contrasting environment to the beach or the bush.

Susan was encouraged to paint in her early childhood by her artist grandfather, George Mattison, who had studied and taught sculpture and drawing in Ireland before migrating to Australia. Susan’s holidays with her grandfather were often spent in museums, art galleries or walks in the bush, interspersed with sculpting or painting experiments. The art studio was a fascinating place to explore and observe as colour pigments were transformed into painting mediums.

Susan studied at the National Art School, Sydney and attained a Degree in Art & Teaching.
She taught Art and Ceramics at Secondary and Tertiary levels in Griffith, Western New South Wales, where she exhibited, sold paintings and won a First Prize in Painting in the local section of a Regional Art Competition.

On returning to Sydney, Susan taught a variety of art & craft techniques in Outreach programs for TAFE, in Women’s Correctional Centres, in Community Centres and the Star Program for gifted Secondary students as well as In-Service Courses for Secondary School teachers.

In recent years Susan has continued to teach drawing & painting in a variety of mediums at Community Centres and to exhibit her art. Her paintings have been acquired by a Regional Museum, corporate buyers & hang in private collections.

Susan studied and taught watercolour and mixed media for a number of years. She likes to write poetry & prose and has published her poetry. The digital repairing of old photographs and family historical research are mentioned amongst other interests and the computer mouse replaces the paint brush as a painting tool.

The local areas of Chipping Norton Lake and the Georges River have provided a myriad of subject matter for sketch books, paintings and photography.
A Jazz Festival with world renown artists, including James Morrison & Steve Clisby, was held at Grand Flaneur Beach on the banks of the Georges River for many years & and became the subject matter for Susan’s drawing, figurative landscapes and photography.

The changing beauty of the local landscape through a variety of atmospheric conditions and reflections across the mirror-clear lake inspired both poetry & painting.  The golden hour of dusk amongst the stands of lakeside trees and the river sand and reeds challenged a change of palette, contrasting with the duller hues of the wind swept trees and the textured waves across the lake on stormy days, matched only by the hail storms or the mist..

The famous Australian landmarks of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House have provided inspiration for many artists & photographers, including Susan Stewart. She has digitally enhanced photographs as an extension of the art form or developed them into paintings using a variety of media. Always an experimenter, Susan enjoys developing new styles as inspired by the subject matter and techniques.

Travelling to England & France opened up new areas of experimentation inspired by the contrast of atmospheric vistas, combined with the ancient & mediaeval architecture and textures.

Presently working with acrylics and a variety of textures has opened new directions and a return to a more contemporary style of painting.