During the spring of 2022, local artist Susan Kounanis got a phone call that made her year.
“I almost cried when I got that call,” said Kounanis, recalling a call from the Sun’s sister paper, New Times, to congratulate her for winning Best Visual Artist in the Best of SLO County 2022 poll. “I was shocked. At first, I thought it was spam or something.”
Colorful oil paintings by Kounanis, who lives in San Luis Obispo, have been displayed at multiple venues—including the Clark Center for the Performing Arts, the SLO Botanical Garden, and Art Central—along the Central Coast over the years, while the artist’s latest solo exhibit marks her debut showcase in Santa Maria.
In early March, Kounanis hung more than a dozen of her floral still life pieces at the Ameriprise Financial Office, which will remain on display inside the office’s gallery space—where solo art displays by local artists rotate every few months—through the end of June.
Kounanis’ three-month residency at Ameriprise is timely, as her floral artworks make a great fit for a spring-themed show.
“I love peonies, I love hydrangeas, I love sunflowers—you know, I love them all,” said Kounanis, whose admiration for flowers has always been tied to her passion to paint.
“I got into flowers when I started painting,” said the self-taught artist, who was drawn to books about floral paintings before creating them herself. “I pretty much taught myself through books, videos, and online courses.”
As the category’s name suggests, Kounanis paints her floral still life pieces from life, with her floral subjects in front of her rather than, relying on reference photos. She has a studio space at her home where she meticulously sets up her scenes to paint from.
“I always paint from life. I have a still life stand where I set my flowers up,” Kounanis said. “Sometimes it takes five minutes, sometimes it takes a couple hours.”
The reason some projects take a while is all due to getting the lighting just right, Kounanis explained. The artist’s motto on her website is “forever chasing the light.”
“You can really capture the light in an oil painting,” Kounanis said. “That’s kind of what I’m all about—keeping the viewer’s eye on the painting through the light, to follow the light and capture the light throughout the painting.”
One of her favorite props she likes to add to some of her paintings is a glass of whiskey or a cocktail, simply because of how well these kinds of drinks can play off of light, visually.
“Those are really fun,” Kounanis said of pieces like Whiskey Dahlias, Warm Embrace, Whiskey Neat, and Whiskey Sour—all available to purchase in greeting card form on her website, along with several of her various artworks.
“The reason I like those is because once you put a glass of whiskey under the spotlight, it glows beautifully through the glass, especially at the bottom right-hand corner,” Kounanis said. “It’s so pretty, that’s why I like to do those. I don’t drink whiskey. I don’t even know much about it, but I do know it glows pretty.”
Before embarking on a new painting, Kounanis is usually able to get her flowers from local grocery stores, although she has occasionally grown her own blooms on her property—but not without difficulty.
“I try to grow them myself, but we have a lot of deer in our backyard. I used to love deer, not so much anymore,” Kounanis said with a laugh. “I’ll get mine from Trader Joe’s and other stores, and luckily my husband knows what I like, so he’s always bringing me home flowers.”
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This article appears in Mar 30 – Apr 6, 2023.