The Deltona Art Club’s Featured Artist for the month of July is Susan Furrie. Her watercolor painting Ukraine Rebirth is on display in the entrance to Deltona City Hall. Furrie wanted her painting to represent the colors and hope for the future of Ukraine and its people.

Raised in Florida, she received her Bachelor of Science in art education at Texas Woman’s University. Then she moved to California, where she married her husband, Wayne, and started a family.

Art was no longer her focus when she went to work full time, but when her husband began an early retirement in 1992, they sold their home and began touring the country full time in their RV. Furrie’s love of drawing and painting was reborn, and she began keeping sketchbooks done in pen and watercolor as they traveled.

Furrie was particularly interested in lighthouses, old mills, and other American themes. Her sketchbooks became the picture memories of their travels.

When Susan and Wayne settled again in Florida, she began to challenge herself with plein air, painting in oils. She also paints in gouache, acrylics, and different media. She has taught classes in batik, drawing and painting, and has won numerous awards for her work.

This artist statement best describes Susan:

“The world is a visually exciting place to me. I usually paint in a representational style but see my subjects abstractly — the pattern of shadows, the mass of a building, the curve of a wing. I like to be able to almost see the artist’s hand at work and love the spontaneity of a loose pen stroke or the surprising freshness of vibrant watercolors or thick oils. My aim is to translate the excitement I feel for color and form, whether on paper or canvas or my ever-present sketchbook to the viewers of my work.”

Furrie is a regular at the Deltona Art Club’s art sessions at The Center at Deltona, where anyone is welcome to join in at 12:30 p.m. Thursdays. The club’s monthly meetings are on summer break until September.