Susan Kemp Art: THE ADVENTURE OF MAKING ART (and cats playing brrrmmm-brrrmmm)

Nicky curls up with familiar objects.
(Photo: Susan Kemp)

The youngest of my six cats made herself comfortable on my new broom today (photo, right). I thought it would make a nice picture, her being one-eyed and also lying on a "witch's" broom. Almost sinister, I thought, although my Nicky really is just too sweet to be called that.

Only when posting the pic here, did I notice that she had positioned herself next to one of my artworks that also has an eye missing. I could not have planned or set this up better.

Now fast asleep...
(Photo: Susan Kemp)

I work in many mediums and you could say my trademark is variety. The artwork in the picture is one of my assemblages made with my ceramic masks, which I combine with found materials, plastic materials, hardware products and materials, and natural materials.

These works are never planned. I just start somewhere, usually with a mask, and see where it takes me. Some of my paintings are commissions or are based on reference photographs, but others are also not planned. They are never consciously conceived; they just announce themselves. They have a life of their own and sometimes even “choose” their own frames.

Maxi - so called because she has a personality larger than
life - also feels right at home with a broom. You can't
sweep HER out of the way! (Photo: Jaco Taljaard)

This photograph of Nicky with the broom and mask is another example of these exciting experiences that make the process of making art such an adventure for me.

Seeing that I have three brooms and six cats, there had to be more cat-and-broom pictures, like this one of Maxi (photo, right). Larger than life, with a penchant for brooms; scared of nothing, always with a steady glare. She is NEVER cute.