Suzanne Gittins

Hi, I’m Suzanne Gittins. My passion for drawing began in grade school. Throughout the years, when my mother and I would walk downtown and pass the only art supply store in Ithaca, New York, I would go in and explore with wonder and amazement the array of brushes and colors and blank canvasses, awaiting my yet undiscovered creative abilities. When I finally expressed to my parents a desire to paint, they gave me the gift of oil paints, and all that went with it. Included in this gift was but ONE lesson on how to use these magical tools.

Ever since that day, painting has brought me such a mix of joy and frustration. After painting sporadically over the years, I decided to branch out and was able to catch a place in line for Carolyn Grosse’s wonderful watercolor lessons at the Falls Church Recreation Center. (She was so popular, that I hired a local boy to stand in line to put my name on her list while I was out of town.) Hence began my only formal training. Although now and again I do miss the oils which shaped the art of my youth, I adore watercolors.

And I now look forward to experimenting with water-based oils. My favorite subjects have always been animals, and those other animals – people – and painting flowers calms and delights me. Although I have no particular style to which I adhere, I kind of like it that way. It’s a challenge being uninhibited!