Susan Rodio
Susan Rodio creates magical art cards by using acrylic on canvas. Her ACEO are professionally printed on high quality silk coated card stock, it is traditional ACEO size of 2 1/2″ x 3 1/2″. You can own a piece of her art by visiting her ETSY shop at www.etsy.com. Susan gives us her biography;
Cloud Sprites
“Since a very young age I have been drawing and painting and making a variety of art. After completing High School, all I wanted to do was continue making art so I studied and completed a 3 year Diploma of Fine Arts in Sydney in 1996.
I majored in Studio Painting but it also gave me experience in Etching, Black and White Photography, and Sculpture.
I had my first group exhibition in Sydney in 1996 which was a great experience.
In 1999 I moved to Newcastle, NSW where I lived for 5 years and in 2001 I started my own Art Business selling my own original hand made Greeting Cards and Gift Tags to local Boutique Gift Stores which I continued until 2003, at which point I left Newcastle and moved back to my home of Sydney.
Clamshell Mermaid
Seeking a new start and not sure what direction to go in, I worked in various jobs from a dishwasher to a recruitment consultant in the corporate world in order to get by while my art took a back seat for a little while. However I could not ignore the strong feeling inside that something was missing I was not content on a mainstream path as I knew the only real satisfaction I had experienced in regards to work was with my work as an artist. I believe it is important to follow your passion in life whatever form that takes, in order to experience a sense of fulfillment and purpose.
I have always been fascinated by the use of colour, light and luminosity as well as the effects of light and shadow. I am also greatly inspired by nature, mythology, astrology, spirituality, archetypal imagery and well as symbolism and dreams. 
Many different artists inspire me, some include Josephine Wall and Judy Mastrangelo, Sara M Butcher, Brian Froud, David Delamere, Maxine Gadd, Lisa Hunt, Constable, Van Gogh, Klimt, Edward Robert Hughes (Pre- Raphaelites and Romanticism) Jonathon Earl Bowser, Catherine Andrews and Howard David Johnson.
Here I have answered questions that I am often asked about my art.
Why faeries and mermaids and fantasy art? 
Most of my inspiration comes directly from nature as well as what is beyond the 5 senses, what you can pick up on when you still the mind and allow parts of the mind, like the unconscious to filter forward.
I believe in multidimensional reality, ie, that the material sphere of existence is not the only thing that is real, our perceptions are limited by the fact that we are in a physical form.
To me there is far more to our experience of life than the material reality we engage in our day to day lives and I try to capture more subtle levels of reality and I seek to engage the audience with these subtler energy levels that are generally on a more unseen level.
It may sound strange but I can often see faces in trees and mountains, I believe anyone can tune into these things you just need to sit quietly, quiet the habitual chatter of the mind and allow the mind to open up to its natural receptive state and you may be suprised at what is perceivable.
Magical Moonlit Faery
As an artist doing this type of thing can be quite powerful as it opens the mind in a way that takes it beyond the ordinary scope of experience.
The energy of faeries, mermaids, angels and spiritual energies come to me from nature and beyond and throw a little imagination into the mix and the result is a painting. These are the things that I am inspired to paint, it is simply what captures my soul and what I am driven to portray through the medium of painting.”
Electric Moon
Susan Rodio has her own website. Visit her at
http://susanrodioart.bravehost.com
Susan became an ARTCARDIST on July 9, 2009