"I decided i wanted to be an artist when I was three years of age," says Susarto with a huge grin.
Her true love is painting -- mostly in oils, but sometimes in acrylics or ink. Her favorite topics are people and still lifes, but she sometimes likes to break out of that, and do some collage or acrylic stuff -- "it keeps me thinking and changing," she says.
But she has also created the "weirdo," a style of doll that she first made for her niece, and she loves the ones that make her giggle. For her son, she created the "zombie" line of dolls. "I started basing the weirdo descriptions on myself. ie: my sugar addiction, fear of squirrels, painting, etc... they now have spread into descriptions of people I know, as well...I know a lot of weirdos," she says, smiling.
She suffers no shortage of inspiration. "I guess in my painting, I'm inspired by shapes, and simplifying objects. There's a definite shape there, and I tend to make it obvious by surrounding it with line. People inspire me, color, and maybe even humor.
Susarto is a member of IrishRogueArtisans and the Etsy plush team. She currently lives in Pennsylvania, and has a B.F.A. from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, where she majored in painting and drawing. She has been a professional artist for several years, and exhibits in local galleries, and sells to individual collectors in the U.S., and also in Ireland and England. She is also married and has one son. You can see more of her paintings at her Web site.
