Carrie Suzanne

ST CATHARINES, ONTARIO CANADA

I paint what music feels like using acrylic paint and mark-making tools on canvas.

My work is for people drawn to bold, high-energy contemporary art with a street-art edge and a love of mystery, meaning and wonder.

I hope viewers feel pulled into the rhythm, movement, and emotional energy of each painting, and recognize something of themselves within it.

 

My Process

 

 "Art is the concrete representation of our most subtle feelings."

— Agnes Martin

 

MUSIC

Painting is my way of making my inner world visible. Whether its Beethoven or Rage Against the Machine, I play the same song on repeat until I feel the urge to make the first mark. It's become a meditation that quiets my mind and helps me move beyond thinking into a place where I can access the deeper parts of myself.

INTUITION

As a reminder that all parts of myself are welcome, I often begin by painting with brushes in both hands at the same time on large canvases. It's a full-body process, almost like I'm dancing with the canvas. I trust my intuition and fill the canvas with layers and layers of bold marks and bright colours. I feel like I have to get it all out. There's just so much to say.

LANGUAGE

Throughout my work, writing-like marks always seem to appear. I don't really decide to make them, they just come out. They feel like a language somewhere between words and musical rhythm. I don't know what they mean, but I never feel like the painting is finished until they're there.

FINISHED

I can't explain exactly how I know a painting is finished. One day I look at it and realize there's nothing left to say. It feels like the painting has become its own thing, almost as though it was always meant to exist. At the same time, I feel like I've discovered something about myself. When I look at it, I feel a strange mix of completion and vulnerability. That's how I know it's finished.

My Story

High School

My creative journey began in high school. An inspiring art teacher taught me that making art begins with developing ideas, experimenting, and following curiosity, while an English teacher encouraged my love of writing poetry. Those experiences shaped the way I still create today. Paint and words have always been intertwined for me, and fragments of poetry continue to find their way into my work.

Family

After marrying the love of my life and starting a family together, I devoted myself to raising our two children, who are now adults and remain the greatest joy of our lives. I wouldn't be where I am today without my husband, DT. He has been my biggest supporter, my greatest encourager, and has believed in my creativity through every stage of my journey.

Photography

Although painting wasn't part of my daily life when my children were young, creativity never disappeared, it simply found new ways to express itself. It first became scrapbooking, where I loved creating beautiful visual stories from the everyday moments of our family life. Wanting to create better photographs of our children inspired me to study photography, which eventually grew into a professional family and newborn photography business that I ran for eleven years.

Painting

I loved documenting other people's stories and watching families grow, but as I grew too, I realized I wanted to create work that expressed something more personal. I no longer wanted to capture how the world looked. I wanted to express how it felt. That realization brought me back to painting.

Now, I create intuitive abstract paintings using acrylic paint and expressive mark-making, guided by music, intuition, and my inner world. My work is full of rhythm, colour, energy, and emotion, and I hope viewers recognize something of themselves within each painting.

My work has been exhibited throughout the Niagara region, including multiple exhibitions at the Pumphouse Arts Centre in Niagara-on-the-Lake.

Today you'll usually find me in my home studio in St. Catharines, surrounded by music, paint, and WAY too many brushes, following my curiosity to see where creativity leads me next.

 

Selected Exhibitions

Upcoming

Art at the Pumphouse Outdoor Show Aug 1-2, 2026
Pumphouse Arts Centre, Niagara-on-the-Lake

2026

Visions and Views
Pumphouse Arts Centre, Niagara-on-the-Lake

Blooms and Vines
Pumphouse Arts Centre, Niagara-on-the-Lake

Dunnville Art Association Member Exhibition
Dunnville Home Show

Dunnville Art Association Exhibition
Minga Café, Dunnville