Susan Cooper

believes the ordinary is truly extraordinary and creates oil paintings of everyday reverences.

I came from a long line of bodacious, bawdy Southern women who considered creativity self-indulgent and introspection peculiar. Breaking tradition, my idea of a rip-roaring time is communing with trees, kneeling in earth, hearing the song of marsh frogs as a holy choir. I am a late bloomer. I have for many years been an art educator and art therapist, and finally listened to my own advice. Moving small everyday reverences from my mind, to hand, to canvas is one of my largest joys and comforts. Translating the natural world, my travels, the faces of those I love have been my efforts. Oils give me the lush world of feeling and depth I want to convey. These days I have become so enamored with creativity that I want my doormat to read : I love you, now go away. I often consider food on a plate so visually sensuous that I can’t decide whether to paint it or eat it. The interplay between light and shadow has been a primary emotional magnet since earliest memories. I am able to remember the interruption or brilliance of dappled light through the years more vividly than I remember some people. Bombarded with frenetic, noisy techno-excess in today’s world, I consider it an act of anarchy to tenderly record the simple, the quiet, the essential. I do believe the ordinary is quite extraordinary. I cherish the messy, unpredictable and nourishing act of painting.