SUSAN FLAIG: Artist's statement

The content and message of my work is very simple: I am inspired by music, literature and my love of gardening to produce an essential response to what I see, hear and read.

I am not interested in painting in a detailed or realistic manner, but am motivated to find the essence of my subjects through spontaneity and gesture. I hope that viewers and collectors of my work will react to my paintings with some delight, and recognize the familiar, painted with unique style and vision, and interpret my paintings in a personal way. I like to paint atmosphere, with evocative and ambiguous passages within the painting, which viewers can interpret as they wish. Thus they become more personally involved with what they see before them.

I have been influenced by many painters, but particularly appreciate the work of Samuel Palmer, JM Turner, Joaquin Sorolla, James McNeill Whistler, John Singer-Sargent, Pierre Bonnard, Gustav Klimt, Paul Klee and Odilon Redon.

Colour and texture are integral to my painting, and I work primarily with acrylics, layering and applying paint with any tool, brush or even fingers to reach a desired effect. I use graphite sticks to produce gestural marks, and also to create tonal effects.