We were lucky to catch up with Susan Grant recently and have shared our conversation below.

Susan, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

I have always wanted to be a painter. In college I did minor in fine arts, but only had drawing classes. No painting. After college I danced professionally and did a lot of traveling. That gave me the opportunity to study art at museums and fairs. Finally when I was older and my children were grown , my daughter, an artist gave me lessons. She worked with me on the difficult challenges like perspective. First I started using acrylics but changed to oils. Didn’t enjoy the smell and difficulty cleaning brushes so changed to water based oils. Really like them now.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Living now in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan I am so inspired by the natural beauty around me. Being an outdoors sports person takes me to places I would not have seen if I wasn’t on a bike or skis. So I paint the places that I know and have looked at so many times. Of course I take photos but really I get the feel of the area just being there.
Lately I have been doing commissions which scared me at first. But I now take only those of landscapes, seascapes or golf courses (another sport I enjoy).
Also I have been painting on very large canvases. This is really fun! Especially painting Lake Superior.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Having the time and ability to paint, now, has made my life so fulfilled. After I stopped dancing I felt a huge void in my life. Painting now fills that void. So even when life gets in the way, I want to be expressing myself through my art. It’s like when I use to choreograph. Now it’s choreographing on the canvas. It’s exciting to start a new project. There are so many things to paint. When I walk in nature I am looking at the colors and naming them like my paints. I look at every detail and movement of nature. This then gets expressed in my work. How the trees move in the breeze, etc. and then when someone really likes my work, well it’s like an applause. “And nothing can beat the beat of an Applause .”

Have you ever had to pivot?

So starting my career as a dancer taught me discipline and also how to hustle to get a job. Then came marriage and children and no more dancing. Raising a family took a lot of energy (as you all know) so when they grew up and left the home, I felt a void. Sports didn’t really do it all for me. I needed a creative activity. I tried making birch bark baskets. That didn’t do it. I had done a lot of needlepoint before, but didn’t want to go back to that. Since I always wanted to paint but had no idea how to begin I asked my artist daughter and she did it for me. Now I do art fairs and galleries and I do hustle to get in. It’s discipline.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Susangrantart.com
• Instagram: Susangrant_art
• Facebook: Susan Grant