Born and raised in New York, Susan Martin Spar received her early training from The Fashion Institute of Technology before moving to southern California in the 1980s where she studied with other well known artists and teachers and for a brief time at the Watts Atelier. Susan now lives, paints and teaches in Port Angeles, Washington.

Consisting of colorful landscapes and intensely detailed still life, Susan’s colorful work belies its tonalist approach to which her work owes its depth. Susan has won numerous awards for her work at juried competitions and she is in the permanent collections of both the Millard Sheets Foundation and the Corona Heritage Park Foundation as well as private collections throughout the nation.

Susan’s work can be viewed both at the Blue Whole Gallery and online at www.susanmartinspar.blogspot.com as well as www.susanspar.com

Artist Statement

The work, for me, boils down to a strong drive to create what I have an emotional attachment to, and to strive to impart some of that emotion into my work so that the viewer can share it. However, my work isn’t about unrestrained emotion and expression. It’s about feeling that is focused and tempered by the knowledge and command of my materials and craft which in turn allows me to bring a vision to life on a canvas or paper. The subject is immaterial – it doesn’t matter because it’s the light that I’m painting. While I’m a romantic and landscapes enable me to express grander feelings and drama, it’s still life and the figure that entertain my nature to look at things closely and fill me with wonder at the beauty which surrounds and sustains us in our everyday life.”