Early success turned career to paint

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Waipu art gallery Blackshed is holding an exhibition of work by local artist Susan Edge from December 16 to January 30.

Susan paints in a naive style that is vibrant and colourful, selling work through shops, exhibitions and commissions.

Initially gaining popularity years ago through her sewing and wall hangings, Susan developed a line that included whimsical appliquéd cushion covers and bags, fabric-collage wall hangings, and felt children’s activity books that became a catalyst for her later career as a painter and mixed media artist.

Selling her fabric creations at shops and shows around New Zealand her growing reputation lead to an invitation to exhibit her wall hangings at Whangarei’s Marina Gallery.

“Over the years I did 100 craft shows in cities around the country,” she says. “To make enough to sell I had to work seven days and five nights a week, but I didn’t want to go back out to work so I just worked extra hard to stay home.”

Susan had always wanted to paint and with some rare time on her hands bought a canvas from The Warehouse and some test pots of acrylic paint, and painted a simple farm scene. Encouraged by an overseas client who had bought several of her wall hangings, she entered her third and fourth paintings into the Telecom Art Awards and, to her surprise, her painting ‘Waipu Cove, Lagoon End’ won first prize and was printed on the Northland telephone directory.

“Suddenly I saw I had a new, viable way of earning a living. I backed a trailer up to the shed, filled it up with my fabrics, took them all to the dump and set up the shed as a painting studio. I’ve now been painting for 10 years and never looked back.”

In that time her work has appeared in numerous group and solo exhibitions.

“I paint seven days a week and I love it,” she enthuses. “There are things I think about doing – going to Morocco or Italy so I can paint there for a while, building a new studio that I could open up to the public. But I really don’t need to do anything else. I’m content to be in the moment and paint.”

n See exhibition details this page.

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