'On the Edge'

Susan Lincoln

PARROT INSPIRES ARTIST

SUSAN...

ARTISTS cite all manner of things as inspiration....

But a talking bird from the jungles of South America?

Painter Susan Lincoln, 44, is something of an enigma. She declines to explain what her rather idiosyncratic pictures are about - or which artists have influenced her style - but she freely admits to having a parrot as a muse.

“He’s an African Grey and he chats away when I’m painting in my studio,” she says.

Something of a Dr Doolittle figure, Susan lives on a smallholding near Penrith, surrounding by wilderness and a collection of ponies.

Although a prolific painter since the mid-80s, she only started exhibiting her work 18 months ago and has been astounded by the positive response from the public.

“People of all ages and from all walks of life have told me how much they enjoy my work,” she says.

“But I do keep my pictures to a very realistic price as I want to make affordable art that everyone can enjoy - that is really important to me,” she says.

An early admirer was renowned Cumbrian artist Conrad Atkinson.

He snapped up two of her pieces when she tested the public’s taste for her distinctive style by displaying them at HighHeadSculptureValley last year.

“I couldn’t believe it when I heard that he had walked in the tearoom and bought them,” she says.

Her latest collection of work entitled On the Edge - 15 canvases in acrylic - will be displayed in the main gallery from Thursday August 16.

“I am not going to explain what they are about - it is for everyone who looks at them to work out what they mean,” she insists.

But she does confess that the every-changing landscape surrounding her home is an ongoing source of inspiration.

“My passion for the countryside, my many animals and my love of painting marry to produce simple vibrant pictures which I hope bring cheer and a smile to all who view them,” she says.

Next exhibition:

24th April - 17th June 2008 click to view

We do hold a small number of her paintings between exhibitions