Sue Lloyd
Gisborne

For Sue Lloyd, the forces of art and creativity seem to follow close on her heels where ever she goes. More often than not they can be found sitting with her as she works in her home studio or in her luscious garden.
Before immigrating to New Zealand in the seventies Sue had attended art school in the UK, and in 2002, with the support of her three grown children, she decided to pick up where she had left off. So packing up her most suitably student-like winter woolies Sue moved down to Wellington to become an art student once again. There, she rediscovered her love of painting; a passion that she hadn't given herself time to fully explore since her teens.
Now back home in Gisborne, Sue is committed to being a full-time artist and participates in exhibitions throughout the country. In 2004 Sue received both the 'Peoples Choice and Supreme awards' in the National Women's Work Exhibition, a Gisborne-run national art competition.
Fascinated by the rhythms and repeating patterns of nature, Sue often chooses plants native to New Zealand as her subjects; her immediate surroundings, namely her much-loved garden, serving as an infinite source of inspiration to her work. She is also drawn to working with the human form.
Sue loves the painting process: the choices of colour and tone; the layering; what can be suggested by the simplest or boldest brush stroke. She chooses to work with acrylic paint, and generally on stretched canvas, thoroughly enjoying all stages of the production of a painting - including making canvasses and framing them herself. Her aim is lasting quality.
"At present I'm exploring the effect of strong contrast, floating light and selective focus. What I learn from the close observation required in realism resurfaces in the creation of the slightly unreal elements in my work. Somewhere between what I see and what I imagine. I hope to keep in balance these intuitive and technical influences and to capture your gaze."

Sue can be contacted at sueelloyd@yahoo.com