Susan Jane Walp
Melon Sliced Open on a Black Plate with Knife, 2015
oil on linen
10 3/8 x 10 1/8 inches
Susan Jane Walp paints still lifes from her home in Vermont. Her compositions expertly balance silent spaces with a powerful geometry that pulls you in and holds you.
Her influences range from Piero de la Francesca to Lennart Anderson whom she met and studied with at a summer program run by Boston University during her undergrad years.
Susan and I talk about how she constructs her paintings, and how she balances precision with those spontaneous a-ha moments. We dive pretty deep into how she sets up her subjects. She has the patience to leave things open enough for change and for something larger than herself to manifest. Susan also shares how painting phases coincide with the phases of the moon, something I was completely fascinated by.