Private Underwater Commissions

How the experience begins

A private commission begins with a conversation.

Together, we consider the feeling of the work, the setting, the water, the movement, and the scale of the final piece. Susan brings fabrics and simple visual ideas to begin with, but the session remains open, intuitive, and guided by the water.

Once in the water, Susan gently guides the process. There is no need to know how to pose. She observes how you naturally move, how fabric responds around you, and how light shifts through the water.

Together, you create a series of images that become the beginning of the finished artwork. The final piece may be developed on panel or paper, shaped through scale, surface, and hand-finished detail.

Become part of the Saltwater Mythologies.

Susan offers a limited number of private underwater commissions for individuals seeking a deeply personal, one-of-a-kind artwork.

Each commission begins in water — with movement, fabric, light, and breath. The session creates the source imagery for a future work, which Susan then develops through her layered process of archival pigment, fine art paper, oils, pastels, and luminous hand-finished texture.

The result is not a traditional portrait.

It is a mythic translation — an image of the self transformed by water.

Inquire About a Private Commission

The finished artwork

The underwater session is only the beginning.

After the imagery is created, Susan develops the chosen work through a slow, hand-finished process, building layers of pigment, oil, pastel, and encaustic texture until the image carries depth, luminosity, and presence.

Each finished commission is created specifically for your space, your presence, and the feeling you wish the work to hold. Scale, surface, and final details are considered with care, so the piece becomes not simply an image, but a singular work of art.

Commission Structure

Private underwater commission sessions begin at $3,000.

This fee covers the private underwater session, creative direction, use of selected fabrics, and the creation of source imagery.

Finished artwork is commissioned separately and is priced according to size, surface, finish, framing, and presentation.

Larger-scale and site-specific works may also be considered by commission. Depending on the project, pieces may be created on hand-finished panel, museum-grade cotton rag, or Dibond aluminum composite with hand-applied acrylic texture.

Travel, location, and production costs are quoted separately when a session takes place outside Susan’s planned studio or location schedule.

A limited number of private commissions are accepted each year.

Who this is for

This offering is for individuals and families who feel called to the water — collectors, couples, children, and those entering a new season of self.

You do not need to know how to pose.

The water carries much of the work.

Begin a conversation

To inquire about a private underwater commission, please share a little about what you are imagining — your location, access to water, and the feeling you hope the finished artwork will hold.

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Begin a Conversation