When Susan Carnes was 9 years old, her paintings and drawings were exhibited at the Library in Superior Wisconsin. Susan loved to explore woodland trails bareback upon a black Percheron from her father’s team of horses. Lake Superior fascinated Sue, and she spent hours playing with the driftwood, crossing and swimming the streams that fed this inland ocean. Susan grew up, married and raised three sons on their own cattle farm. She became a teacher and a counselor working in schools, and hospital settings in the Duluth/Superior area. After the family left home, Susan moved to San Juan Island where she found a wilderness of amazing beauty reminiscent of her childhood. She helped present the work of 4-H children at the fair.  It was like a circle home. Susan created My Champion out of the pieces of her life. She painted images of the wilderness in all its power and majesty, while telling of a little girl who learned to appreciate what she had.  Friendship, wonder at the beauty of nature, stewardship, self esteem, creativity, and the power of play and dreams are themes. The longing to be unbridled and run free is graced with love in this portrait of a wild heart.

Masters Degree in Counseling and another in Art Education from the University of Wisconsin, Superior. 6 years counseling at a pain center, in Duluth, MN. Elementary School Counselor for 6 years in Sweet Home Oregon schools.4-H Coordinator in the San Juan Islands in Washington. Numerous awards for painting. Championships showing and racing horses.