Susana Mata

Me, Susana

My name is Susana. I live and work in Barcelona, Spain, although I come originally from the Basque country. I started with art as a hobby when I was a girl. After I finished school, I stopped drawing for a while but later during my university years I took it up again as a hobby. Little by little I wanted to know and learn more and I thought this was an incomprehensible field. That fascinated me.

My first encounter with art was when I started drawing classes at the Museum of reproduction in Bilbao. It was so fascinating and I felt so comfortable using this way of communication. I loved it immediately. In fact, since a child I have always drew a lot though as I belonged to a big family nobody paid too much attention to me liking.

I think drawing shows the personal language of each person. It shows you the pencil stroke of the person drawing, it shows you the knowledge of that artist in particular, his/her character, the way the artists see the world, the way you concentrate on an idea. Some artists observe every detail, other artists are more abstract, others make quick drawings, others make a master piece of a drawing. And I learned to observe, to see the real world, to see the lines, the perspective, volume. It was a completely new world.

Drawing has been a very important fact in my life. Drawing has taught me to see, to enjoy and to paint. The best way to start a new painting is first of all to make drawings, so I would say that drawing is like writing but without letters.

Drawing vs. painting

For me the only difference between drawing and painting is the use of different mediums. Of course, drawing allows you to be more flexible. Sometimes to transfer ideas from drawing to painting is not so easy because drawing gives more freedom, is more direct. Later to put these ideas in colour is not so easy sometimes. What drawings offers me is its readiness to express ideas. On the opposite a painting in oil colour has to be thought beforehand. For me is a magnificent tool to think about my ideas the paintings I work on next.

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