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The word meteoric probably doesn't do justice to the rise to fame of professional artist Suzanne Cannon. Not too many years ago Suzanne was relatively unknown outside the Peak District, where she had a small, but growing, band of appreciators.

Now her work is much sought after, both at home and abroad, and is the subject of private collections as far afield as South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Australia and the USA. International interest has been enhanced with the recent opening of her Central European studio in Zurich.

Working exclusively in oils, Suzanne's reputation has been built upon her refreshingly original contemporary landscape art. Her evocative landscapes, often typified by dramatic sweeping skies, attract the attention of those who prefer an edge to their art. The majority of her time spent in the hills is around dawn or last light or, better still, immediately before, or after, a storm. She knows, at those times, she will experience the magical infusion of colour that brings a time and place to life. The wonderful and evocative intensity of colour that you experience in her work, is simply the result of her ability to transfer the atmosphere of these times to canvas.

Suzanne’s semi abstract work arrests the attention through the bold and complex use of vibrant colour, allowing the imagination to take different and diverse directions, without ever losing sight of the sheer excitement and passion of the piece.

Appreciators often muse over her role models and influencers, and Turner’s name crops up most frequently as being a potential source of inspiration. The truth is that she is entirely self-taught and, in her landscape painting, she has always, and will always, use no other source of inspiration than nature and her surroundings. She has tried many times to call upon some explanation of 'technique' that helps her describe her work and style, but she has given up trying to find a way of 'pigeon-holing' or describing it!

Suzanne has a strong sense of emotion. Some time after visiting a place, she often finds it difficult to recall its physical characteristics. She cannot recall the sun's direction, where its shadows were cast or sometimes even recall the physical characteristics of the environment. The emotion of the place, however, never leaves her – Suzanne is always captivated by its atmosphere - and she finds herself able to capture that emotion in her painting. Sometimes she can be found working in her studio months after such an occasion, when she suddenly feels drawn, or even compelled, to work on a piece that recaptures the emotion and the atmosphere of that place.

Neither does Suzanne ever work from photographs. Long ago she tried it and it is not for her. Painstakingly recreating an accurate representation of a place, either as a painting or a photograph, allows us to capture the memory and the beauty of a place but misses, she thinks, the most important ingredient - the atmosphere of being there. Suzanne can find no better way of describing her style than painting ‘from the heart' and not 'from the head'.

Suzanne has also developed a successful Corporate Art business, providing artwork for nationally recognised companies, more and more of whom are appreciating the value that original art brings to their business. As well as creating the commissioned artwork that reflects both the image and ethos of an organization, Suzanne coordinates and manages the disparate activities that are required to bring the project together.

She continues to be the subject of solo exhibitions and has been invited to exhibit at the Society of Women Artists (SWA) international exhibition and, more recently, at the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists (RBSA).

Seemingly not content with the success of her wall art, Suzanne has launched her first contemporary ceramic collection at a gallery in Derbyshire where she is delighted to be exhibiting her premier collection. Despite the different medium, there is a distinct similarity of style. Suzanne takes the classic human form, reflects upon its beauty and elegance, then has the courage to set it free in a celebration of the joy of simply being. Each piece is created solely, and lovingly, by hand, so each piece is unique. She uses both stoneware and paper clay to create her torsos. The paper clay, used for the finer finished torsos, incorporates finely chopped fibres of the ancient flax plant. Each piece is twice fired and finished with a multi layered glaze that make them as pleasing to the touch as they are to the eye.