Susan Abma was always artistic and creative, but it wasn’t until 2002, when the youngest of her six children turned 15 years of age, that she finally had time to focus exclusively on her oil painting.

Susan took art classes in Montreal, Quebec where she lived when she was younger, Susan has also taken several drawing / watercolor classes under the tutorship of Kathryn Hines, studied watercolor and oil painting under Evie Marinoski and is currently still studying oil painting under Gene Prokop in Edmonton.
She believes that she is a lifetime student of art and will always take classes so she can learn from the work of many different artists.

Susan’s portfolio includes portraits of major corporate executives, government officials, family portraits and various industry workers (farmers, miners, etc.).

She is a voracious reader and reads every magazine and art book she can get her hands on - this has been instrumental in teaching her many options in oil painting, as well as lessons in composition, color harmony, technique and much more. And, she has studied the works of the great Masters to gain insight into their techniques and the spirit they gave each of their creations.

Susan has shown her work in many venues. Through these shows and other contacts she has made, Susan acquires commission work and loves the opportunity to paint portraits in particular.

Before she concentrated on art full-time, Susan owned a newspaper and magazine. She has many years of experience in marketing, promotion and advertising, as well as newspaper and magazine design. This graphic design and publication experience is a definite bonus, not only in her painting, but also in advertising and promoting her work.Susan’s studio is in her home on the family’s dairy farm near Leduc, Alberta, Canada.

ARTIST STATEMENT:

After many years in the newspaper publishing and advertising business where I took many thousands of interesting photos, several years ago I turned my strong sense of good composition and subject matter to creating oil paintings that touch my heart and make me fall in love
over and over again.Only then can I help others feel what I feel as I put the brush to canvas, and evoke from them the emotions that run rampant through me as I softly touch the brush to a cheek or a branch or a loose curl on a child’s forehead.I’m strongly pulled towards portraiture and large domestic animals, and often my subjects will take up most of the canvas as I love the feeling of a life-size or close to life-size subject. It makes me feel so close to the subject(s) and so much like I am a part of their world.Although I studied drawing and watercolor and then experimented with acrylics, when I discovered oils I knew I had found a treasure and now work almost exclusively in oils. I have studied oil painting under renowned art teacher and artist Gene Prokop, with whom I still study. I work mainly in a realist fashion and strive to achieve an exact likeness of my subjects with that extra ‘je ne sait quoi’ that makes my subjects important and interesting.

I am passionate about each of my subjects and, in my studio on our family dairy farm south of Edmonton, Alberta,  I live and breathe each painting through until completion and forever after. Each finished piece is a part of my soul that I need and want to share with others so they can experience the beauty, the love and the soul that I see and feel each time I paint.

When painting, I strive to make my work the best it can possibly be, and I continuously seek new avenues to learn more and make my best become even better in the future.