“The Homecoming”

The highlights of her happy childhood centred around trips to “the farm” — her paternal grandfather’s home where little Susan was embraced in the warm bosom of a Polish and Ukrainian family and community. In a beautifully detailed scene titled “The Homecoming”, she has captured perfectly the contentment and delight she experienced each time her family was welcomed to her grandparents’ farm.

Nineteenth century clergyman and social reformer Henry Ward Beecher said, “Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.” He also said, “The art of being happy lies in the power of extracting happiness from common things.” This is the gift that Susan’s paintings bestow both on her and on her viewers. Mein finds inspiration in the everyday, the commonplace — the architecture and the landscape of the familiar and the well-loved. Her paintings celebrate old buildings, snow-covered fields and trees, children skating, and always somewhere, the family’s former but still beloved cat, Fluffy.

Local Treasures

With her supportive husband’s photographic help, Susan enjoys exploring local settings in search of new subjects. Her painting of the view of Perth’s Stewart Park from the patio of Code’s Mill is a perfect example of her ability to envision the past. Gone are the anachronisms — the utility poles and the cables and the car-filled streets. The scene is bathed in moonlight and a fresh snowfall blankets the ground and frosts the trees. Yes, Susan Mein’s art is nostalgic — her paintings evoke that mixed bag of emotions we experience when we recall the past from a sentimental perspective — part happiness, part sadness, and a genuine yearning to revisit the scene.

Susan fell in love with painting when she received her first set of paints as a five-year-old. She always loved to sketch, and she first taught herself to paint with watercolours. Marriage at 21 to a man she had known previously during high school led to a move to the Ottawa area, and one of their two sons was born in Almonte. Her husband’s career took them to Montreal, and Susan linked up with other artists and painted more frequently. Until1992 her first responsibility was to her family, and she thoroughly enjoyed the luxury of being a stay-at-home mom.

Then she discovered acrylics and decided to take her art to a new level. “I found that painting with acrylics frees me to be me; it feels as if the brush is just a natural extension of my arm.” She dilutes her acrylics to an almost watercolour consistency, and applies multiple washes of paint to achieve depth and detail while retaining a smooth surface to her works. She paints on masonite, preferring a hard surface to the resiliency of canvas or paper.

‘Tis the Season

Winter scenes predominate Mein’s work. “Christmas on Mill Street” celebrates her favourite winter event, set in Victorian times in one of her favourite places — Almonte. Maybe her fondness of the period comes from the fact that the original Tottenham is located in the borough of Greater London in historical Middlesex County in England, founded during the reign of Queen Victoria. Her love of the season is certainly in keeping with the invention of the printed Christmas card in England in 1843.

Susan’s rendering of “Mrs. McCarten’s Flowers”, based on the McCarten House in Carleton Place and the old Tannery, illustrates her appreciation for the beauties of the summer season. Her penchant for painting charming old buildings is evident in all her works. Susan considers herself exceptionally fortunate to be able to do what she loves. “I paint for me — for the sheer pleasure of sitting down and painting the scenes I love. It restores and rejuvenates me.”

Finding Fluffy

So far Susan Mein has not parted with any of her original paintings, preferring to offer fine quality giclée prints for sale. For a variety of family-related reasons, Susan and Doug Mein are in the process of relocating back to the Tottenham area. At the moment, the only way to avail yourself of one of her beautiful Canadiana scenes is to contact her by phone at 256–2067 or by email. We will update her phone number and email once she has completed her move.