"Passed" Painter of the Day

This Friday's painter is Susan Catherine Moore Waters. She lived from 1823-1900. At the age of 15, Susan attended a girl's seminary with her younger sister and to help pay for schooling and their expenses, Susan provided drawings for the Natural History class.
At 17, she married Mr. Waters, and didn't draw for a few years. But in 1843, after three years of marriage, Susan began her career as an intinerant portrait artist. She traveled in the areas of southern New York and northern Pennsylvania. Here is the portrait of "The Lincoln Children" © 1845. ..aren't they lovely? A sweet customer of mine sent this notecard to me made from the original portrait that hangs in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
She would often stay with the family of her portrait sitters until the portrait was finished and move onto the next family who had hired her talents. Her work was done on available materials, such as linen, cotton, or mattress ticking!

And just as Erastus Salisbury Fields, Susan was painting portraits when the daguerreotype
was invented. When the requests for painted portraits dwindled, she and her husband started a photography studio and took photos until the mid-1850's. Since she owned the studio, she had her picture taken, (see upper left photo).
After they "retired", Susan began painting again, but this time, instead of traveling, she painted beautiful pastoral scenes and still lifes for the Victorian home.



References and links:
http://www.mfa.org/index.asp
http://www.askart.com
http://www.nvhistory.org/artists.shtml