Richard McKinley

"Where artists become better artists"

"Susan invites you to take a
journey through the pages of
her website. She likes to think
of art as 'timeless' and trusts
that, through her paintings, you
will also feel the 'passion' and
revelation she felt when the
inspiration for each of her
paintings was born."

Susan’s workshops focus on creating

realism, a sensitivity and emotion

enabling your paintings to captivate

the viewer. Through observation,

intelligent composition, and controlling

the medium, you will learn how to

interpret what is in front of you.

Applying texture, form, emotion and

atmosphere, Susan will extend her

methods and techniques of floral

pieces to show how they can be used

to create figurative and portraiture

work. Susan has been featured in the

International Artist

Magazine and

Artists Magazine

. She is the author of

Glorious Garden Flowers in Watercolor

by North Light. Please choose

desired date.

"Glorious Garden Flowers
in Watercolor"

Susan Harrison Tustain

The Art of Watercolor

July 13 - 17, 2009
July 27 - 31, 2009
Bend, OR

Cost $695 each class

Intermediate to Advanced

SUSAN HARRISON TUSTAIN

Painting and drawing since childhood, Susan decided

after an extensive trip to Europe and its national

galleries to take her work to a professional level. Her

exhibitions now sell-out soon after the doors open.

Queues for the exhibitions start to form several hours

before opening time and continue throughout the

duration of the show.

Susan's work has been on several prestigious

magazine covers and within the pages of many

publications. She has featured twice on television and

has written a book about her paintings and style:

"Glorious Garden Flowers In Watercolor". You will also

find her work in "Splash 6", "Splash 7" and "Splash 8"

(North Light Books).

"Glorious Garden Flowers in Watercolor" is a best

selling book of its type in the U.S.A, Australia, New

Zealand and it is now released in the U.K., Europe and

China.

You'll find Susan's work represented in collections in the

U.S.A, Britain, France, Italy, Turkey, Australia and New

Zealand. She tutors workshops in New Zealand and

USA which are in great demand and are attended by

artists from all over the world.

Passionate about a variety of subjects, Susan

particularly loves to paint child studies, character

studies, nudes, still-life, birds and of course flowers.

Painting intuitively, she has a natural affinity for

watercolor and an innate ability to captivate the viewers

of her work. "I love to see people responding to my work

and to hear the viewers of my paintings say they can

smell the roses or feel as if they could reach into the

painting and touch the aged leatherbound books as they

emerge from the shadows into flickering candlelight".

Her paintings capture the very 'essence' of her subject

and the viewers find themselves lost in the world she

has created.

Susan lives in the beautiful, clean, green New Zealand

countryside overlooking the picturesque coastal, port

towns of Tauranga and Mount Maunganui.

Training:

• Self-taught in watercolor and oil painting

Gallery and Exhibition experience:

• Exhibiting professionally for 16 years

• Exhibitions usually sell-out soon after door opens

• Queues for 5 – 6 hours prior to doors opening

• Original paintings sell for up to $US35,000. Average

price $20,000 - $30,000

Publications:

• Approached by leading North American publisher to

write book on paintings and painting style

1999 release of Best selling U.S. published book

'Glorious Garden Flowers in Watercolor' - North Light

Books Cincinnati

Now in fifth printing. Over 50,000 copies sold world-wide

Translated into Chinese.

• 12 Covers for 'New Zealand Gardener' magazine

• 21 editorials in 'New Zealand Gardener Magazine’

• Article in 'International Artist' magazine (Australia) -

April/May 1999: (10 pages)

• Article in 'Australian Artist' magazine April 1999 -

(approx. date).

• Article in 'International Artist' magazine Feb/March

2002: (5 pages)

• Article in 'Australian Artist' magazine November

2001:

• 'Roses' - 'New Zealand Gardener' bi-annual

magazine special edition. Interview with Susan

• Television appearance: 'Maggies Garden Show'

• Television appearance: 'Kev Can Do' (Approached

by the front-person/narrator Kevin Milne, to paint a picture

of a chosen rose for a lady who had a wish for a rose to

be named after her children that passed away from a rare

disease. Susan interviewed on the show and then

presented the painting.

• Cover of 'Deco' magazine (Taiwanese décor

magazine) October 2002

• Article in 'Deco' Magazine (Taiwanese décor

magazine) Dec 2002

• 'Watercolor Magic' magazine interview June 2005

(USA)

• 'The Artist' magazine interview May, June or July 05

(USA) (copy not sent to me)

• Contributed to 'Splash' book Series (North Light

Books Cincinnati Ohio USA) 2002,2003 & 2004. 'Splash'

is a series of books that are a compilation of leading

artists' works from around the world.

• Interviews in US magazines in 2005-2007

• Next Magazine November 2006

• Uno Magazine September 2007 (6 pages)

• Several pages included in book by Jane Freeman

(US artist) to be published 2007 by North Light Books

Cincinnati.

• Biography and 3 images in book 'New Zealand's

Favourite Artists' 2006

• Biography and 5 images in book 'New Zealand's In

Watercolor’ 2008

• Two international best selling double disc art

instruction DVDs

Competitions:

• First and second place and finalist in numerous

competitions

Seminars:

• New Zealand workshops two yearly

• NZ and international seminars in high demand,

resulting in long waiting lists years in advance

• Seminars conducted in France, Italy, Maine,

Oregon

and New Zealand

• In excess of 10,000 watercolour DVDs sold world-

wide

Class Outline

Susan’s shares her knowledge and experience to help you create compelling paintings:

Susan’s recipe:

Observe and interpret

Create an intelligent composition

Capture light, life and movement

Understand our pigments and mix clean, clear transparent hues that glow

Create luminous shadows that dance with color

Master moisture and tame washes

Create natural edges and soft blending using Susan’s Priming Method

Mould form with color

Avoid the ‘traps for young players’

Then finally, Susan will show you the icing on the cake:

How to bring it all together with Fine Tuning to create a painting that has a real ‘presence’.

Class Outline:

Day one:

• An initial welcome and introduction to the workshop.

• Outline of the following 5 days.

• Discussion on my teaching philosophy:

Focussing on ‘why’ and ‘how’ I use my painting methods. I love to paint with a sensitivity that allows the viewer to ‘connect’

with the painting. There are many components to achieving that goal. These will be interspersed throughout the workshop.

• Exercise using circles within which I demonstrate the four basic methods I use to create my naturalistic realism.

• Demo and discussion on my palette and the properties that make it perfect for creating paintings that glow with light

and life.

• Begin our initial priming washes on our main study

Days Two & three:

• Discuss in greater depth, the building blocks of a painting using my Priming Method

• Extend on methods taught the previous days

• Continue to build multiple washes and establish form and depth

• Soft edges, lost and found edges, luminous shadows that dance with color, retaining highlights, lifting highlights,

strengthening color, coping with large areas, delicate hues, rich hues, soft ethereal backgrounds, deep, rich, dark

backgrounds, ‘suggested’ objects, focal planes, leaves, petals, veins, creases, stamens, stems, cast shadows, shiny

surfaces, matt surfaces, reflected light, preparing for fine detail

Day Four (and Day Five am):

• Establish the fine detail and

• Demonstrate various other applications of methods

Fine Tuning: This is the essential ‘pulling together’ of a painting.

• How to create edges that roll so they don’t appear to be unnaturally harsh or sharp

• How to integrate the ‘jigsaw’ of segments so they flow rather than outline each area

• How to create lost and found edges as the subject weaves it’s way in and out of the influence of the background

shadows

• How to ‘roll’ the shadow colors onto our subject

• How to make our subjects become ‘part’ of the painting

• How to discern which colors would benefit from a change of toning or hue

• Finally, our signature and where to put it.

Day Five PM

• Photography

• Choosing a frame

• Marketing

• Self promotion/galleries

• Reproductions and licensing

• Critique/advice on work/photographs/future subjects artists have chosen to bring with them for viewing.