Portrait of a Pointalist

Contemporary Pointalist Susan Entwistle, delves into her artistic loves, hates and influences and divulges her experience painting for Prince Albert of Monaco.

What originally inspired your painting style? Was it your interest in old Pointalist artists or was it simply a style that came naturally to you?

My painting came out of the style of freehand machine embroidered landscape pieces I was creating before I moved back to painting as a full time medium. The embroidered pieces were created in a painterly style using threads and I added texture with hand embroidered knots. This use of knots were then translated into the Pointillist inspired style I use today.

In your view, what is the most challenging type of art to create?

In my opinion, watercolour has to be the most unforgiving type of art to create. There is no freedom to add layers as one can with acrylic paint. Once you have begun a watercolour in the wrong vain, it is much harder to evolve the painting into something decent; although I’m sure I could be proved wrong!

What has been a high point in your career so far?

For me, every commission I receive is a high point as someone is putting all their faith in me to come up with a piece of original artwork that they will love and cherish. I also love exploring a landscape or garden that means a lot to the client and translating what I see into a new vision of their special place. It feels great to create something which is so personal to them.

Was it nerve racking when you were commissioned by Prince Albert of Monaco?

It was quite nerve racking at the start, but once I started the piece my determination to come up with a painting worthy of a Prince kicked in and I thoroughly enjoyed the process. The fact that I was painting in my new house and during a renovation at the time, did however create quite an interesting parallel!

How did you land on your final design for the Monaco Garden?

The Principality of Monaco commissioned the painting so they discussed with me what they wanted to see; the full view of the garden from the front viewpoint. We discussed it whilst standing on the roof balcony of the Monaco show garden. This view gave a great vantage point looking down onto the garden and the whole Chelsea show ground.

What has been the greatest challenge for your business during lockdown? Has it led to more creative opportunity?

The beginning of lockdown was quite unnerving as all our usual shows for the year were cancelled and many shops were closed.

However, as lockdown kicked in we soon realised that our e-commerce website was going to be a real benefit. The website has now become my main shop window and we have been made to put more effort into regular posting on social media, which has made a big difference. Fortunately, many garden centres as well as large gardens and estates have remained open and continue to sell my greeting cards. Additionally, people have been looking more towards their home and garden during lockdown, including decorating their homes, which appears to have helped increase sales of artwork and cushions and increased demand for original artwork commissions.

Do you have any new projects coming up?

At the moment I am embarking on a new garden commission. This will be a birthday present from two sons to their mother who used to be a plant nursery owner. She is passionate about plants and her garden is jam packed with amazing and unusual plants, flowers and trees. The challenge for this commission is to amalgamate various areas of the garden into one panoramic style painting. The painting will include the client's favourite flowers and trees. To show each plant at their best we are ignoring the seasons and bringing plants together that wouldn’t all be in flower at the same time.

Do you have a favourite piece in your collection?

This tends to change as I create more paintings but at the moment, I am happy with the colour variations and the detail of Spindle Trees. I created Spindle Trees last Autumn at Forde Abbey gardens in Somerset. Additionally, I will always feel a sense of pride over the Monaco Garden commission as well as my largest painting to date, Wisley Border from RHS Wisley gardens.

Which art movement/artist, old or new particularly inspires you?

There are so many inspiring artists and designers from history and modern day that it is hard to pin it down to just a few. I will say however, that I have an affinity with the Impressionists and have referenced the landscape paintings of Gustav Klimt many times for his use of colour and mark making. I also take inspiration from Monet, Renoir, Pissaro and Van Gogh. I also admire the beautiful flower paintings of Cedric Morris.

When it comes to contemporary artists, I find the work of Mikiko Noji and Ton Dubbeldam particularly powerful. All of the aforementioned artists paint from nature and the landscape, emulating its beauty in a stylistic form, something which I too strive to achieve.

Tannenwald, Gustav Klimt

Which is your least favourite artistic style/movement?

I’m afraid it is the pile of bricks in a gallery and the unmade bed style of ‘art’ that tends to get my heckles up! I personally love art that has an uplifting effect on the viewer, but also believe in each to their own when it comes to art as we all have such a personal reaction to it. As an artist you can never quite gauge how people will respond to your work which, for me, is what makes it all so fascinating.

My Bed, Tracey Emin

The art world is still suffering greatly, but with the determination of artists such as Susan (and the miracle of technology) we still have the opportunity to support artists. Visit susanentwistle.com and take some time to appreciate the hard work that goes into creating these works; you may even find something to buy!