the artist
Andrea Sutton grew up in a very, very small town in Southern ontario, and began drawing when she was just a wee thing. It was during french and geography classes in grade school that she began drawing pencil portraits...Andrea realized then that she could draw anything or anyone.
Miss Sutton comes from an artistic and free spirited family, who support and love her very much...in spite of her inability to speak a word of french and her lousy sense of direction.
the later years
Andrea pursued her love of drawing to Sheridan College and then freelanced as a technical illustrator for a while. Her love of people won out, however, and she returned to portraiture to satisfy her pencil cravings. While living in Mississauga, Andrea began accepting commissions for memorial portraits, and other portrait work. As many artists do, she supported her art habit by working as a picture framer.
today
Andrea lives in Ottawa now, is still picture framing (at the wonderful Patrick Gordon Framing) with some other artist/framers. She is active in the arts communtity in that fair city, and has not put the pencils away...commissioned portraits are a large part of her drawing world.
Andrea's most recent projects reflect the woman she is. Her incredible personal energy, a powerful sense of humour, and an immense passion for life and all it offers...all reverberate through the subjects she chooses to illustrate in a photo-realist style. From amusing to eccentric to the truly grotesque, she explores what makes humanity smile, think, or experience a slight chill....all beautifully and rendered in the graphite she loves so much.
Download a copy of Andrea's CV here (pdf)