Every Christmas Eve, Santa stood on our rooftop and jumped down the chimney!

Well...actually it was Dad in a Santa suit and he jumped BEHIND the chimney...but to all the children watching in awe...

BELIEVERS FOREVER !!!

CHRISTMAS parties were magical at our house. Nothing was impossible for my creative mother -- everything home-baked, the house decorated to a theme with a fantastic musical program.  She somehow talked my serious, scientist dad into
doing this each year...

...Climbing up a ladder behind the house in a Santa suit with bells jingling across his chest, Dad would walk across the roof (always foot deep in snow) - climb on top of the chimney with spotlights flooding him from head to toe and stand there under a star-studded night sky as cousins, aunts and uncles of our large extended family piled out of the front door to
catch a glimpse of the
real Santa Claus !

...And then, with a loud HO-HO-HO!, he'd give a great big jump and in a twinkling, disappeared down the chimney!

Moments later he could be found in our living room, just climbing out of the fireplace, where he gave a present to each girl and boy as parents took photos.

 I was working as a portrait artist when I decided to paint a portrait of Dad as Santa
​for the family. (See top of post)
A print company loved it and has asked for new images every year since. 
​I snapped this photo of my parents at one of our Christmas parties, catching a special moment. I later used it to create ​"Mr and Mrs Claus."

Now you know
Why I love Christmas! 
Why I love to create Christmas paintings!
And why
​I Believe in Santa!

How on earth did I get into the business of painting on glass?  Well....

I married a pilot. Two weeks later he left me.
OK, it was basic training in the Airforce for 6 weeks but I was just 19 years old - too young to be a widow - and that's exactly how I felt!
Little did I know it would get worse...

After Pilot training he left me again to go to War. That's when I decided that sitting around waiting for him to entertain me was absolutely not working! I had to do something for myself.

Dried flowers in picture frames were popular at the time and I thought I could create the same look with oil paints and layers of glass to make them look three-dimensional.

​By the time Dave and I were reunited(at last!), I had established a unique painting business with just one employee - me!

• I cut and polished the glass
• I developed designs and patterns
• I purchased framing equipment 
• I ordered beautiful imported mouldings which I cut and mitered myself
• I also acted as my own sales rep visiting all the gift and interior design shops in my state. 
• And did I mention I was raising two little boys and the oldest was 2? (Irish twins - noun. A pair of siblings born 12 months apart).

My husband turned out to be amazing!!! He organized me as well as the business.

​We moved with the Air Force and in between his flying trips we went on selling trips to the big cities and beautiful stores. 

Soon we had a professional rep with his sales team sending us orders that we couldn't keep up with - so we hired help and my glass paintings took off into stores throughout the nation and up into Canada.

All this took place during the 1970's.

These glass paintings are now collector items. They continue to be unique  - frequently circling the internet. In recent years I have taken many of these paintings apart - cleaned, polished, remounted and reframed them. These are now worth multiple times their original value.

Arctic Owl

Morning Glories

Glass paintings were a great benefit to my entire career as an artist. The fine brush work it took to create these intricate paintings developed my technique for portraiture and the incredible detail required in creating a face. 

By the time my husband left the airforce for the airlines, we had two more babies and I was at the beginning of a flourishing portrait business which in the long run has been more enjoyable and rewarding.

I love people more than flowers, more than animals (a close second), more than trees (another close second) and more than landscapes. I love people! 

Hello to everyone and welcome to my Blog.

I'm Susan Comish and I love COLOR, PEOPLE, and CHRISTMAS!

I've been coloring in one form or another since I could hold a crayon, and my favorite subject has always been people, (including Santa Claus).

People are the most amazing, interesting and mysterious things on the planet - period!

​Everyone is dynamically colorful with a colorful personality to match. Everyone has incredible differences that can be discerned and recognized from miles away (or at least from across a room). Everyone has an interesting back story that is exciting to uncover. This intriguing mystery of people is what I get to solve in my work as an artist. It is always exciting; always an adventure.

And... even more to amaze......I find that every single person is attractive and interesting in absolutely unique and different ways. Even when they themselves don't think so.

I first became enamored with the art of portraiture when I was just 8 years old. That's when my parents took me to have my portrait painted. Growing up with that painting on the wall of our front room, I studied it meticulously. I had crayons, I had watercolors, but I had absolutely no color that resembled the flesh tones of that painting. I often stood nose to nose with it, as if I could see deep enough to uncover the mysterious mixture of color that made it look so life-like.

​This is me at 8 years old,
painted by artist,
​Gene W Anthony.

Then....as a sophomore in high school with no prior basic art classes, I somehow ended up in an advanced class with 4 other students who were all seniors. Our class room was the attic of the old BY High School. The teacher started us out in oil colors, AND he brought in live models from the BYU. -Awesome!




​
The pigeons that perched on the ledge outside our rooftop window were cooing along with my blissful enthusiasm. I was in my element!!!

​
A photo from my BYHigh yearbook. Here I am in my attic art class concentrating so hard, I didn't know this picture was being taken.

​(I know...that's quite a hairdo I've got, but notice the model's hair...same style!)

Continuing on to Brigham Young University was a breeze. I loved the full spectrum of art classes I received there. 

Imagine my excitement when several years after graduating I happened to meet the man who painted my portrait all those many years ago! Gene Anthony took an interest in my art, tutoring me in the heavenly realms of Portrait work. I jumped for joy when I learned his palette of celestial colors. I have never stopped painting.

***And now you know my colorful backstory!
​​

Brigham Young High School with it's bell tower 
Now the City Library
From my locker in the basement, I ran up six flights of stairs each day to reach art class
​in the attic before the bell rang...Phew!