Colour, Movement, and the Energy of Place
Contemporary colourist painter Susan Edwards will be exhibiting as part of our Spring Exhibition 2028, presenting a vibrant and expressive body of work rooted in observation, atmosphere, and emotional response. Working intuitively and often directly from life, Susan builds her paintings through dynamic layers of brushwork, palette knife marks, and richly textured surfaces. Her practice is driven by a deep connection to landscape and lived experience, drawing inspiration from locations including the Cornish coast, the Yorkshire Dales, the Malvern Hills, Snowdonia, and Venice, each translated into paintings alive with colour, light, and movement that capture both place and feeling.
Alongside landscape, Susan is equally inspired by the drama of theatre and dance, as well as the quiet intensity and delicate structure of floral studies. These contrasting subjects allow her to explore rhythm, gesture, and composition in different ways, moving between bold, sweeping energy and more intimate, reflective moments. At the centre of her practice is a commitment to expressive mark-making, where colour is not simply descriptive but becomes the language through which atmosphere and emotion are communicated.
For over two decades, Susan worked internationally as an artist-in-residence aboard cruise ships, travelling widely and painting in extraordinary locations across the world. These experiences continue to inform her work today, offering a deep visual archive of shifting light, coastal horizons, historic cities, and fleeting moments observed in transit. This nomadic period of her career helped shape a responsive and instinctive approach to painting, grounded in direct observation and rapid response to changing environments.
Her practice has continued to evolve under the guidance of mentor Tony Eyton RA, with more recent works developing a more semi-abstract direction. Often beginning with en plein air studies and photographic references, her studio paintings distil and reimagine these initial observations into more layered, expressive compositions. This ongoing dialogue between observation and interpretation gives her work a distinctive balance of structure and spontaneity.
Susan has exhibited widely, including with the Royal Institute of Oil Painters, the New English Art Club, and Women in Art at the Mall Galleries, London. Her paintings and portraits are held in private collections internationally, reflecting a sustained and distinguished career dedicated to exploring the expressive potential of paint. The Spring Exhibition 2028 offers a timely opportunity to experience her work as it continues to develop, celebrating a lifelong commitment to colour, movement, and the vitality of the natural and human world.
