ARTISTS

Susan Robertson

I am a mother of three, a Pathologist (almost 30 years) and I paint because I have to.

I started painting as a child and started with the figure … children and comic strips mostly. I stopped painting in high school because at that point I decided I needed to get serious and study: I went to medical school and became a pathologist.

I started painting again at 45 years of age to escape, to explore, and for therapy. I found holes in my soul that needed filling so I took Art Therapy at The Toronto Art Therapy Institute, completed a BA Honours in Psychology and Art History while trying to increase my skill with various courses at the Ottawa School of Art. I painted abstracts for myself and landscapes and florals to improve my skills. I avoided the figure until about 6 months ago when I started wanting to tell stories. I have come full circle I guess.

I am, it seems, drawn to painting very large single frames of a mental cartoon strip with the narrative taking center stage. Painting the figure is a new adventure for me and I have no formal training. Thus my influences are more from the early and constant exposure to the exaggerated, sometimes gritty style of Stan Lee’s Spiderman and Jack Kirby’s Sandman. The other influences are (I am almost embarrassed to say) the pop music songs that get stuck in my head. The lyrics and tune seem to beg for an illustration and I try to accommodate.

PS. I am still a pathologist.