Looking at her work on display in the Four Painters, Four Perspectives exhibit in Red Deer, it might seem difficult to believe Sylvan Lake artist Judy Sutter's self-assertion that landscape painting isn't one of her strongest genres.
Sutter is one of four talented Central Alberta artists whose paintings - all of which portray a different perspective of the same scene - have been on display in the Harris-Warke Gallery in Red Deer for the past several weeks.
She and the exhibit's other artists - Jeri Lynn Ing, Susan Woolgar and Larry Reese - worked on each painting entirely separate from one another, and in their own respective styles. The result is an exhibit offering an intriguing insight into artistic perspective.
“It's a concept that Jeri Lynn came up with, and the idea was that we all go to the same place to paint in the summertime,” said Sutter, prior to a reception at the gallery last Friday. “She thought we should each pick our favourite location, take an image and then each produce that image in our own style.”
An artist since she was a child, Sutter has painted “on and off” throughout her life, putting brush to canvas primarily when time has allowed her to do so. While other commitments still limit how much time she dedicates to painting, she's recently begun pursuing it “a little more seriously.”
She has hopes of eventually becoming a full-time painter, but paints first and foremost through her love of creating art.
“I love the actual tactile feeling of putting paint on canvas and mixing the right colour. It's like golf - you hit that perfect swing, and you can tell when the ball connects,” she said. “It's very challenging and it's a non-stop learning experience. You never learn everything.”
Much of Sutter's artistic inspiration comes from other talented local artists, of which she feels there are many.
“I do find some of the people I paint with very inspiring,” she said. “There are a lot of people out there making art, and a lot of it's very good.”