156 North Street
Saco, ME 04072
susanransom@maine.rr.com
Art in all its forms is such a huge part of my life that I can’t imagine a life without it. I began drawing (Crayola strictly) when very young, mostly faces, which continue to fascinate and thrill me to this day. It’s far more than jut the look of a person—bones and flesh—but the way he wears his hat or history, the subtle or dramatic ways the inner person is revealed through color, light and shadow, expression, pose, gesture. To get that down on paper with pastels, my chosen medium, is forever a challenge and passion.
I was an art history major at Mount Holyoke College, then worked in the art and copy departments at J. Walter Thompson ad agency in NYC, where I won my first award in an art contest, for an oil portrait. Marriage and three children later, I studied portraiture and life drawing for 12 years at the Westchester Art Workshop with three gifted artists. Years later I’m still at it and have completed over 150 commissioned portraits, as well as portraits of pets, numerous still life and landscapes. As a sideline, I’ve created a series of illustrations and accompanying stories for young children, which I call my “Red Ribbons” line. I’m a Signature Member of the Pastel Painters Society of Cape Cod and a member of Pastel Painters of Maine, Maine Women in the Arts and the Art Guild of the Kennebunks. I have had one-woman shows in Manhattan and on Cape Cod.