Light Space & Time Online Art Gallery is extremely pleased to announce that Susan Oakes has been named as the Gallery’s new featured artist and she will now be promoted by the gallery for the next 14 days in the gallery’s Artist Showcase.

Susan was selected as 1 of the top twelve finalists of the gallery’s recent Solo Art Exhibition Series #5. The placement in this competition qualified her art to be showcased in this feature.  Below are Susan's Artist Biography, Artist Statement and 5 images that were submitted to this competition.

Artist Biography:

Susan is a freelance digital artist/instructor with a diverse background in psychology, business, art and technology.

Having never been a person with merely one goal, one purpose, she has traveled a multifaceted educational and vocational road of discovery. Through her work and teaching, she demonstrates that art and technology are not antagonistic, but can coexist and should be used to enhance each other in new and exciting ways. In her digital work she blurs the borders between photography, painting, and digital illustration to achieve her artistic vision.

Artist Statement:

What I do is not really traditional photography, but “Photo Imaging” in which I use enhanced techniques such as layering, masking, and digital “hand painting”. The only difference is that in digital painting I don’t get my hands dirty!

Although it originates with computer hardware and software, my work is not the result of anything “automatic”, and is developed from my original photography. There is no “formula” or automatic process; no two pieces are done in exactly the same way.

In my recent collage pieces, I create composites of several photos, and sometimes vector illustrations as well. They are not only layered, but have various other effects such as painting, blending and masking to achieve a certain look. I begin with the human form and then relate it to elements in the natural world, such as water, plant life, or landscapes. The viewer’s eye is drawn around the piece to discover both the individual elements and how they coalesce to form the whole.

Susan Oakes Website:  www.suoakesphotoimaging.com