My name is Suzanne Walker-Harding, I was born and brought up in a village called Culcheth, close to Warrington, Cheshire. I studied at St Helens college of art where I received a Double AVCE in Art & Design. I then moved onto Cumbria Institute of the Arts where I received a BA Hons in Fine Art. I am now living in Ely, Cambridgeshire. I would describe myself as British - Contemporary Fine Artist - Abstract/figurative Painter. I am a full-time artist with a studio and gallery located in Littleport, Cam-bridgeshire. I created a mini series of vibrant and colourful closeup abstract portraits, these have now inspired a larger body of work. In this mini series my palette knife portrait canvas painting work oscil-lates between figuration and abstraction, being heavily inspired by individuality, urban life today, mu-sic and fashion. For me, painting is an intense experience, desirable and formidable and the only way to express myself. Using acrylics, I superimpose hundreds of pallet knife strokes enriched with brush strokes on canvases, all covered with a glossy liquid varnish. These portraits are heavily inspired by the individual of a heterogeneous urban lifestyle and population with segmentation of personality. Each of them taken from a different angle, each time repeated, exposing the face of urban life today. Art imitating life. The paintings, with bright colours offer a sensation of movement expressing a dy-namic and positive strength. Don't we all need a splash of colour after the last 18 months? I thrive on dynamic and edgy environments, drawing from their energy for my work. I like to move with the canvas from the easel to the wall to the floor. I feel nearer, and more part of the painting, inspecting it from every angle. I can walk around the painting, work from all four sides of it and literally become part of the painting. Using mainly pallet knives, Catalysts, and acrylic paint on the canvas, these splashes of paint harmonize and give to each of the portraits its own soul. I like to capture a moment in time, a personality trait or a feeling through my use of colour and intensity of application. The paint splashes are dissonant and noisy just like life itself.

“This was a hand to hand fight with canvas, I hope it shows brightness, In what has otherwise been a dark 18 months.”