Susan Shaffer

Susan Shaffer

As a teacher I hope to share my passion, inspire my students, and mentor them in developing their skills as artists. Most of all, I want my students to enjoy the gratifying and meditative process of creating art.

As an artist I want to portray paintings that stir emotion in the viewer. I continue to explore watercolors as my primary medium however I enjoy exploring new mediums, to satisfy curiosities and create new styles of art. I also enjoy bending the rules of art to explore if I can make a new form of art doing exactly what I've been told will not work.

Creating art is one of the most gratifying processes of my life. I love to paint high contrasts of lights and darks, creating intense drama with vivid and bold colors. Some of my favorite things to paint are life's simple pleasures. I draw inspiration from my farm nestled in rural south-central Pennsylvania. I enjoy the challenge of watercolor as a medium, painting birds, chickens, flowers, sunsets, sunrises, pets, and wildlife.

Over the past several years I have found creating art with mediums less easy to control very exciting, such as Batik techniques on Silk and Ginwashi rice paper, Intuitive Expressive art, wet cyanotype, and eco-printing to name a few. I work in many mediums, watercolors, acrylics, oils, collage, Batik, enjoying them all! Watercolor has been by far the most challenging medium to work in; I can't control the many factors that affect the drying time, and how the paint reacts with the water and paper. The water sometimes has a mind of its own! I continue to be drawn to watercolor and find the end results truly rewarding. I'm thrilled to share my passion with you and hope you enjoy my work.

I am extremely grateful to God for bringing art into my life. I draw fulfillment through teaching and creating art.