About the Artist

I paint landscapes in oil and gouache as a way of holding on to the experience of being outdoors. My work begins with direct observation: painting on location, walking a trail, standing beside moving water, or watching the light change across trees, rock, and distant hills. I am drawn to the elements that make a place feel alive—the pattern of a wooded path, the sound of a stream, a bright passage of sky reflected in water, or layers of atmosphere shifting across a mountain valley.

Although I now live near the Smoky Mountains of eastern Tennessee, my love of landscape has been shaped by a lifetime of living, traveling, and spending time outdoors in many different places. From the Adirondacks, Maine, and the mountains of Montana to the rivers, coastlines, and wide-open country of Alaska - I have experienced the natural world through hiking, backpacking, fishing, skiing, rafting, boating, and simply taking the time to look. Experiences in Yellowstone, Glacier, Denali, Grand Teton, and Acadia National Parks, and other wild places has taught me to pay attention to weather, changing light, the structure of the land, and the small details that make a scene memorable.

My plein-air studies, photographs, and memories become the starting point for studio paintings. In the studio, I simplify the scene into clear shapes and values, then use color, brushwork, and edges to rebuild the mood of a particular moment. I may begin with the accuracy of what I observed, but I allow the painting to be guided by what stayed with me: the cool shade beneath pines, the glow of late afternoon, the soundless distance beyond a ridge, or the welcoming feeling of a trail leading forward.

I do not want simply to record a view. I want to transfer to the viewer something of the affection, peace, and renewed attention I feel in the places I paint. My hope is that each painting offers an invitation to pause—to remember a place they have loved, to feel a connection to the natural world, or to experience for a moment the quiet spiritual refreshment that being outdoors brings to me.

Thank you for checking out my website.  Please browse through my gallery of paintings and contact me if you have any questions.  Blessings, Susan Morgan