PERSONALITY | Susan Ashley: I paint to make my world happier

Susan Ashley was born in 1982 in Coronado, California. She spent 18 years living in Northern California before joining the military as a weather forecaster. She traveled the United States before settling down in Alabama where she found deep interest in photography. Susan took a course from Shaw Academy and became hooked. For a while, she worked as digital retouch artist for Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep, a wonderful organization but man.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Susan was unable to go out and photograph anything, and lost interest in a lot of photography because people were showing the worst of themselves.

“I’m all for embracing all parts of a person, but I don’t embrace hate.”

“I picked up a paintbrush, turned on some Bob Ross videos, a glass of wine, and just lost myself for a while. It was wonderful. I could make my own happy little place and either paint through my emotions or just avoid them altogether!”

So, I guess I paint to make my world happier. It’s my happy little hippie life when I’m painting. For a while I deleted all social media, avoided the news, and just threw some paint on a canvas. It was ugly but I purged all their negativity I was taking in. Now when I paint, I try to bring that inner peace to a new level. I’m hoping someone can look at my art and relate to it, so they can say: “I feel this, and I’m not alone!”

Susan still take photos here and there. But now she prefers to take her experience as a photographer and make a new picture on canvas: idealistic images… unrealistic paintings, and a few paintings from actual places she have been, or plan on seeing one day.

By Joseph LEANDRE