For 40 years my painting has been inspired by nature. My paintngs of landscapes and nature and imagined and abstract. They are a direct result of my life experience.

I used to close my eyes and paint what God created in my head. It was a way to find peace and comfort in a fast and disconcerting world. I wanted to preserve these blessings of abundance and beauty for my grandchildren. Creating these images is my way of giving thanks.

Now I close my eyes and see chaos, swirling colors, and a collision of ideas. Some days I paint with a siren. Other days I paint from a softer place in my soul that has seen the harm we have done to our natural world.

Where I used to paint in the hope that people would stop and look at the beauty around us, now I want to wake up my audience with my imagination.

The consequences of progress affect us all. My personal experience with mercury poisoning leaves me conflicted about how to paint the ocean's awesomeness knowing that the ocean and the fish are laced with toxins. I can no longer paint aspen and birch in their fall splendor without wondering what has happened to our animal habitat that unleashed the Lyme Disease epidemic many of us deal with daily. Our environment and we are all connected.

My experiences have taught me to change everything--from what I eat, how I understand medicine and healing, to how we care for our scarce resources.

I paint completely from my imagination. I start with an idea, allow it to grow and then let me creativity and heart lead me. Color and layers inspire me. My paintings take on a different meaning when they are close than when they are 15 feet away. I create this effect by continually challenging myself with new ideas and new materials.

My goal is to elicit emotion. I want people to get lost in my art by finding a new interpretation of the natural world and their part in it.

I paint what God has given and align my work with others who show us how fragile our world has become. A portion of my art sales supports activists who are restoring the commons and addressing the balance between man-made and God given.

Born in Pittsburgh, Susan Swarz inherited her creative gene from a family of artists and musicians. She has been painting for 40 years, has three children and nine grandchildren. Since 1998, she has devoted herself to painting full time from studios in Park City, Utah and Martha's Vineyard. In 2010 her work is featured in a special showing at the Springville, Utah Museum of Art.