We are delighted to welcome Susan Edwards for her first exhibition of her exuberant contemporary Yorkshire landscapes at The Garden Rooms at Tennants.
Susan, who is originally from Yorkshire and studied at Leeds College of Art, was inspired by her hero Turner’s paintings and sketchbooks of Yorkshire and set off to find his favourite views of the Dales. J.M.W. Turner visited Yorkshire frequently, firstly on behest of patron Edward Lascelles at Harewood House, and then almost every year from 1808 to 1824, when he stayed with his friend and patron Walter Ramsden Fawkes at Farnley Hall near Otley. Turner found inspiration, with his sense of the Sublime, in the rugged landscapes, ruins, waterfalls and scars of the county – a mix of the elemental and the picturesque. Many of the views in Turner’s Yorkshire sketchbooks have barely changed since Turner’s era, and continue to inspire artists, such as Susan, today.
Following in Turner’s footsteps, Susan worked both on location in Yorkshire, sometimes in the same spot where Turner himself stood to paint, and in her studio to create this exhibition. Her work is immediately recognisable for her vigorous gestural mark making in oils on linen canvas, executed in an Expressive Colourist style. Paintings vary from iconic views such as Aysgarth Falls, to semi-abstract, colourful interpretations of the Fells landscapes, which were developed back in her studio from sketches made en plein air.
All of the works in the exhibition will be for sale. To learn more about Susan, please visit her website.
