Susan Himmel is an Albany based watercolorist and mixed media painter who has been creating art in one form or another all her life. Himmel's original focus was on three dimensional art, primarily pottery, jewelry, and wall hangings until 2006. That is when she fell in love with watercolors during a week-long workshop at Kripalu Center called Painting and Yoga in the Berkshires. Himmel immersed herself in drawing and painting classes at IS183 Art School of the Berkshires and in regional workshops over the next few years. Always a keen observer of nature, Himmel finds inspiration for her work in the hill towns, the deep forests, wildflower paths, mountain lakes, river rocks and clouds, as well as in everyday objects. Lately she has been exploring the urban landscape as well.
Himmel attributes painting to changing her life, saying "As a result of my journey as a painter, the way I experience the world has shifted. Painting has become my looking glass, the means of examining life inside and out. Art is alchemy; it changes individual lives and whole communities for the better."
Her work has been featured in solo and group shows in galleries and in non-traditional settings in the Northeast, especially in the Berkshires. Paintings hang in a number of private collections here and abroad.
Himmel attributes painting to changing her life, saying "As a result of my journey as a painter, the way I experience the world has shifted. Painting has become my looking glass, the means of examining life inside and out. Art is alchemy; it changes individual lives and whole communities for the better."
Her work has been featured in solo and group shows in galleries and in non-traditional settings in the Northeast, especially in the Berkshires. Paintings hang in a number of private collections here and abroad.