Susie Christie
I was born in Aberdeen and spent my childhood in Norfolk. I did my foundation year at Great Yarmouth School of Art, returning to Scotland to study at Edinburgh College of Art, graduating with an Honours Degree. Recently I spent a year at Leith School of Art on the one-year painting course.
I am always happiest when I am outside – as a child I was constantly getting wet and muddy. I spent most of my summer holidays running wild in the Outer Hebrides, lost in my own wee world. Now, a little older and slightly more sedate, I would still rather be gardening or out walking (when not painting), so it’s not surprising that my main inspiration is the landscape; the plants and animals that inhabit it and the ever-changing light.
Sketching is normally the starting point for my work but, in the process of painting, the real becomes mixed with memories, imagination, and my emotional responses to the subject. As the layers build, the painting often takes on a life of its own, with the final image being quite different from the starting point.
Through painting I try to convey the atmosphere I feel in a certain place and time, a memory of a half-glimpsed landscape, rather than trying to represent observed reality.
Please click on the image to show the full painting.
