Susan Schaefer — Canadian Fine Artist
Susan Schaefer, owner of Young at Art Studios, is a Canadian fine artist in acrylic & watercolour paints, as well as a photographer and graphic designer. She lives, works and creates at her British Columbia art studio just outside of Qualicum Beach on beautiful Vancouver Island, BC.
Acrylic & Watercolour Fine Art Paintings
As a professional artist in fine arts, Susan works mainly in acrylic & watercolour paints, although she started her career working in oils.
You can see her most recent acrylic & watercolour artwork
by visiting her Hot off the Palette Blog or view her online Gallery.
Susan is a member of:
- The Federation of Canadian Artists
- The Decosmos Fine Arts Society, Parksville
- A resident artist at The Old School House Arts Centre (TOSH), Qualicum Beach
- Pearl Ellis Gallery, Comox
Susan says:
"You may work with washes of acrylic paints, making it richer and deeper in quality while building up the layers. Working with acrylic paints is very forgiving. If you don't like something, you can just change it by painting over it and starting fresh.
Watercolour painting on the other hand is a bit trickier, as you have little room for mistakes. Often, though, it is those little mistakes that make a watercolour painting interesting. Maybe a color has run into another making some glorious unplanned effect. That is the beauty of watercolour paint — unpredictability."
Photography
Susan always has her camera with her, plus a spare set of charged batteries, ready for those many magical photo opportunities. As a result, she has taken thousands of photographs for use in advertising designs, artwork, website design and original watercolour & acrylic paintings.
Susan says:
"You never know when you take your dog for an afternoon stroll and stumble across a beach loaded with seals or a bald eagle lands directly in your path. It is those times when you say, 'Thank goodness I have my camera with me'.
I rarely throw any images away. What you may think is no good, or out of focus, could someday be used as a wonderful background, or a cropping from a photo used in a painting. Perhaps there is a special effect in one of those photos that you might like to try in one of your paintings. Don't rule out anything."