VYear-! Suzanna Blunt planning West Van open house ONI ONLEY put it bluntly when he call- ed her Canada’s premier portrait painter. Evelyn Jacob SPOTLIGHT FEATURE But after two decades of captur- ing counts and countesses, actors, politicians and heads of corpora- tions in portraits, Suzanna Blunt is expanding her palette, embracing both the Sacred and the profane. Where once her studio walls were covered with likenesses of her clients who stared back at her through watercolor eyes, today they are brimming with studies of crucifixes, Virgin Marys and Ron:anesque art of the 11th and 13th centuries. And for the first time she is in- viting the public into her West Vancouver home to take a peek at what she’s been up to. “She's just exploded this year,” says Blunt’s husband, Brian Clayden. ‘‘She’s gone nuts. For 14 years she’s always done com- missions. “And complained (about them),”’ adds Blunt with a grin. After all those years of portrait work, Blunt realized she needed to rekindle her imagination. So early in 1991, she and Clayden, together with their 11-year-old son Kay, set out on a year-long Euro- pean sojourn. They eventually settled into a summer cottage on the edge of a vineyard near the south coast of France, and within hours Blunt was recording her environment: fruit-laden trees, aromatic herbs and lush rolling hills. ‘It was stunningly beautiful,” she recalls, “the light was amaz- ing. | met some extraordinary ar- tists while | was there and just stuf- fed myself with exhibits. | drew and drew and studied and studied and never stopped. | felt as though | had come home.” Blunt lived in England for nine years while studying at the Ham- mersmith School of Art and Ar- chitecture and tater at the Byam Shaw School of Drawing and Painting, where she won a schol- arship to the Royal Academy. She was born in Harbin, China; her father worked far the Hong Kong-Shanghai Bank and brought his young family to Canada when Blunt was only three. The same year the precocious tot decided she would be a painter. As a teenager she spent three summers at the Banff Schoal of Fine Art immersed in drawing, painting and sculpture and by 14968 she was teaching at the Col- lege of Marin in San Francisco. Portraiture was the one area in which she had always excelled, and after moving back to B.C. in 1970 it became, and has remain- ed, her bread and butter. But Blunt never stapped thinking about other artistic possibilities. “1 felt that when I left Europe t had to make a living and didn’t have a chance to pursue my work,”’ she explains. That's not to say she has feft 2OFtrait painting altogether. Blunt, however, acknowledges that the demands of the art form can be overwhelming. “It’s the most difficult thing to paint because you have to get more than a likeness. And you have to please everybody.’ Sweeping back curly blond locks she says frankly, ‘I don’t know why | do it. | practically have a nervous breakdown every time i deliver a painting.” Some of her well-known clients include the Count and Countess Dobrzensky, the Prince and Princess Drutskoy-Sokolinsky of Brussels, Harry Rankin and Art Phillips. See Year page 24 Wednesday, Nov. 11, 1992 - North Shore News ~ 23 NEWS photo Mike Wakefield A RECENT trip to the fush Provence region of southern France has given Suzanna Blunt inspiration to move beyond her portrait paintings. Sonta’s coming) to Breakfast Santa Ciaus Is COMING To BREAKFAST Saturday November 21st at 8:00 a.m. in the Food Court. includes A&W Breakfast, Entertainment, Prizes and Santa‘s Arriva! at 9:00 a.m. Tickets available at Capliano Mall A&W or information / Lottery Kiosk. Hurry, space is limited! 935 MARINE DRIVE. NORTH VANCOUVER OPEN MONODAY-WEDNESDAY 106:00-5:30, THURSDAY & FRIDAY 10:60-9:00, SATURDAY 9:30-5:35 AND SUNDAY NOON-S5:00.