Susan Harrison-Tustain was born and raised in New Zealand. From a very early age her mother, Florence, offered the encouragement and enthusiasm that allowed Susan to develop her creativity. She has needed no formal training and has developed her ability through observing nature, analysis, a great deal of experimentation, trial and error and reading countless books like this one. Passionate about teaching, Susan wants to share insights that have made such a difference to her painting journey. Painting professionally since 1992, Susan is recognized as one of New Zealand's leading artists. She won the inaugural 'New Zealand Gardener' magazine rose painting competition and her work appeared many times on the cover and within the pages of the magazine. She was included in the books 'New Zealand's Favourite Artists' (Saint Publishing, New Zealand) and 'New Zealand in Watercolour' (New Holland Publishers, New Zealand). The original edition of this book `Glorious Garden Flowers in Watercolor' (North Light Books, USA) was a best seller of its type world-wide, and published in both hard and soft cover and a Chinese language version. In 2012 Susan was honored to be included in the book 'The Power of Us: New Zealanders Who Dare to Dream' (Random House, New Zealand) by Sir Ray Avery - "...a celebration of 50 New Zealanders who are extraordinary in their own fields, both locally and internationally." Susan has written numerous illustrated articles for the prestigious 'International Artist' and 'Australian Artist' magazines and one for the magazine 'The Art of Watercolour' published in France. She is a featured artist in an episode of the Australian (now International) TV series 'Put Some Colour in Your Life', screened on networks in Australia, New Zealand, USA, UK and Europe. An article about her and her studio was a feature in the summer 2016 issue of the American magazine 'Where Women Create'. Her career has snowballed quickly to the stage where her exhibitions attract large numbers of national and international patrons, enthusiastic to view her latest creations and she achieves prices for her work which are rare for a living artist. Unable to increase the output of her original work, she now produces strictly limited-edition giclée reproductions of her best work to meet some of the demand. Her work is represented in many collections in New Zealand, Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Italy. Constantly challenging herself and exploring ways of capturing her world in her paintings, Susan loves to discover new pathways. She gathers inspiration and subject matter from nature, her local surroundings and her extensive travels - from beautiful, clean, green New Zealand to the United Kingdom, USA and Europe, especially her great passion: the village streets, gardens and countryside of Provence. She lives with her husband, Richard, in the New Zealand countryside, close to the picturesque coastal town of Tauranga. Contact Susan via email at (susan@susanart.com).
