“What you sense when you look at a Susan Billings painting
is spontaneity and joy in response to light and form. Her
work has little to do with art historians’ dusty theories
of retrofitted ‘isms’. From bold charcoal and pastels to
the delicate haiku of her watercolors, a Billings is clearly a ‘Billings’- an original with a freshness all its own. And since images always speak volumes about the artist who
created them, we can readily assume that Susan Billings
is a person of unrestrained energy who has been living a
very colorful life.”
Susan Viebrock/
Telluride Daily Planet
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Favoring a bright, warm palette Billings incorporates a
range of mediums in her work - watercolors are painted
onto japanese rice papers to create an underlying image.
Then pastels, charcoal, papers, ink and gold leaf are
applied to develop depth and create transparent layers.
Billings’ final images are ultimately simple, yet complex
compositions. “Billings uses color to create a subtle yet
definite spirit. Her paintings leave viewers with a sense of
optimism about life.”
For many years she lived and painted in a solar adobe home
and studio perched on 35 acres of pinon forest overlooking
Naturita Canyon near Telluride Colorado. The high mesas,
open skies and rarely subtle light of this southwestern corner
of the country provided an ongoing source of inspiration.
Currently Billings splits her time between the high plateaus
of the Southwest, the coast of California, and a recently
completed solar powered home and studio on the desert East
Cape in southern Baja. Windblown by nature, Billings is able
to travel and paint, teaching classes and workshops—simply
journeying in search of new and inspired landscapes.
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