Susan Ryder NEAC RP's father was a talented amateur painter and at thirteen, she started borrowing his oil paints. She is still passionately in love with lamplight, to her it is more thrilling than the most beautiful sunset.
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Artist Statement
Susan's father was a talented amateur painter and at thirteen, she started borrowing his oil paints. Her portrait commissions began while she was still at art school and it was there that her love of interiors began with the discovery of Edouard Vuillard and the teaching of Bernard Dunstan. She is still passionately in love with lamplight, to her it is more thrilling than the most beautiful sunset. Setting her scene before starting an interior can take time, moving a lamp a fraction, draping a jacket over a chair or dribbling wine into a glass to just the right level, the upright stem of a glass is her passion too.
Method of Working
After choosing and arranging her subject, Sue does a pencil sketch to decide on the canvas size and proportion. She then ‘draws; in paint, squeezing Viridian, Ochre and Cadmium Red on the canvas and rubbing in with a turpy rag before wiping back the lighter areas to feel the composition emerging. She paints with round hog brushes, her palette: Titanium White, Yellow and Red Cadmium, Alizarin, Viridian, Cerulean, French Ultra and Prussian Blue. Starting with a middle ground object in mid tone - say a lampshade, she then cuts in with a darker tone behind then adding the important lightest point. She blocks in the larger shapes, always relating to the lightest point and thinking of depth, following with a finer hog for detail and emphasis. Two to three hours concentration - continuing the next day, light permitting. Final adjustments in the studio can take some time.