SUSAN SINGLETON

Many artists struggle to establish their artistic identity, laboriously trying out different styles to see what fits. Others  emerge fully formed, in full command of their craft and identity. Susan Singleton fits firmly into the latter category. Her new series of Dylan Thomas-themed paintings and drawings is a captivating and moving debut that heralds the arrival of a significant new Welsh talent, one whose art feels familiar, yet strikes out on its own territory. Even though she is just starting out and completely self-taught, her work shows an unusually strong command of colour, mood and realism, as noted by the late American oil painter Colin Pringle, who commented that, “Susan is a major professional. Her color sense and attention to detail are unparalleled. Her work is a major investment for the future.”

A tiny Swansea girl had a natural tendency to draw instinctively and obsessively before she could write, but did not take art seriously until her mid-40s. Susan Explains, “At school I was encouraged to pursue an academic pathway, which would lead to a career as a health professional. However I managed to sneak in a qualification or two in art through self-guided study at home. People need escapes during leisure time and mine included creative interests such as music and art, often combined with my love of nature and the outdoors.” During her 40s she found herself medically retired and trying to cope with empty nest syndrome. She recalls, “I needed to re-invent my identity and art provided the means of expression. All of a sudden I had the opportunity to unleash all the ideas in my busy head onto canvas and this took my lifelong interest in art to another level.”

Art had been Susan’s shyest secret, but in posting small artworks on social media sites and painting pictures for friends and family, she saw their genuinely excited reaction. According to the laws of physics, “For every action, there is a reaction.” Susan’s reaction to the beauty in our world is to paint, revealing her most secret heart. According to Susan, “Art expands our senses; ideas lie everywhere.” She believes, “Some people have a physical reaction to the magic and mystery of art; that is the revelation, of the communication, the sharing, at its highest level. Being a painting, not a lifetime, it is a compressed window to a place, object or being, captured in time, but it can change the shape and significance of our experience of the world; it helps extend our knowledge of ourselves and our place within the universe.”

Susan began experiencing successful online art contests and other artists rapidly began to take her art seriously. She is not a fan of the word ‘talent’, which discounts all the hard work, practise and experimentation that goes into building a skill. Susan naturally gravitates towards the outdoors, particularly to water and woodland, where that freedom to be herself is best expressed, creating paintings exactly as she pleases. She says, “It’s where I find that warmth and timelessness that I’ve always loved”. Much of Susan’s inspiration is drawn from the happy experiences and privileges of motherhood in the picturesque Gower Peninsula. She specialises in realism, creating meticulously hand drawn and painted serene landscapes, seascapes and portraits of people and animals, giving lifelike and lasting memories to treasure forever. Susan says, “The subject, style and medium I select are based on my immediate spontaneous emotional connection to what I see. Plein air and life painting produce a stronger connection, which shines through in my work. Each piece is unique, bringing out character and mood more profoundly than more modern means such as photography can hope to do”. Susan has a methodical approach of looking and interpreting, each painting beginning with a firm viewpoint of the end result, carefully planned to convey a particular emotion before the brush touches the canvas, though the wide variation of her own emotional response can result in some inconsistencies of style. She explains, “In emphasising, enhancing and playing down some elements of the subject to capture its very essence, the end result is often not at all like the image I see, however one of the highest compliments from spectators is the comment, ‘I feel as if I’m there’. That’s my motivation.”

Susan’s name began to grow on social media sites and the pieces began to fall into place for her. Opportunities for public painting demonstrations and exhibiting began to emerge via various Welsh art societies and groups. Her Welsh landscapes and seascapes sparked major interest and culminated in participating in a live art event organised by Swansea Artists Circle 2010 at Swansea’s National Waterfront Museum, celebrating the centenary of poet Dylan Thomas’s birth. Susan recalls, “This was the first public airing of my work. Tinged with excitement and apprehension, I chose to paint my first oil portrait in public: a colour portrait of Dylan Thomas. Reading between the lines I realised this was the purpose behind my invitation to the event.” Susan spent weeks gathering monochrome photographs of the poet who died in 1953, referred to other lifetime portraits of him and visited some of his places in an attempt to achieve a fair representation of his features, colouring and character. Finally she spent 3 days painting his portrait in public, referring to her carefully planned colour charts and notes. This was her first oil portrait: “The Chains Of His Grey-Haired Heart”. A second opportunity to paint live at the “Mumbles Marvellous Weekend” at Oystermouth Castle was presented by Swansea Artists Circle 2010 just weeks later, another Dylan Thomas Centenary event, where Susan had the honour of meeting renowned artist Sir Peter Blake.

Susan has devoted the past two years to creating a Dylan Thomas-themed series of paintings, drawing on inspiration from the places with which he is associated and taking titles of the pieces from his poetry. Her interpretations of his poems through her art reflect her knowledge of his favourite haunts, together with her own familiarity and response to these places. Viewing this series of paintings, it’s apparent that Susan knows these places intimately and they convey an irresistible sense of nostalgia through her attention to detail, mood and palette. She says,”It’s like seeing these places through a child’s eyes, when everything appears big and heightened. They portray that sense of childhood wonder that sweeps through his poems.”

Susan draws an analogy between her two main creative interests: music and art. As a musician she enjoys improvising and her art consists of variations on a theme, usually based on an emotional yet logical response, rather than haphazard. A recent theme has been Rhossili Bay. There are 3 paintings which show how she has studied this area:“I Sang In My Chains Like The Sea”; “The Whinnying Light” and “The Voices Of All The Drowned Swam On The Wind”, These 3 pieces are based on the same spot, using different media, perspectives and moods. The first conveys a realistic memory; the second is tremulously dreamy and nostalgic; whilst the third conveys sadness and beauty. Susan describes painting as, “A learning process, recording and comparing my feelings for the same spot, so I can later determine what resonates and where to build upon it in creating further paintings with the same theme.”

Susan had the good fortune of meeting Cardiff artist Anne Richardson, to whom she is deeply grateful for further encouragement, advice, inspiration and the privilege to exhibit as a member of Cefn Mably Plein Air Artists at the Dahl Gallery inside the Norwegian Church in Cardiff Bay in June. This is Susan’s first experience of exhibiting. “My art is suddenly gaining momentum”, she says. Susan is painting precisely the way she’s always wanted, creating pieces which are a culmination of where she’s been and where she’s going, sure to win her the notoriety that is demanded by the depth and quality of her work.