Susan Wilson, born in the majestic landscape of New Zealand, came under Spain’s powerful spell when she first arrived in Europe. The tie to Spain – its art, its skies and landscapes, its architecture – was strong, and she has returned countless times. Wilson sketches constantly, and drawing is at the heart of her practice. Her encounters with the visual environment are recorded in sketchbooks – sometimes she even draws the passing landscape while travelling through mountains in a moving car. Most of the sketchbook drawings are executed in pencil, ballpoint or marker pen, graphic media that are responsive to the artist’s touch and easy to use when on the move. The perceptive vignettes of Spain found in her sketchbooks are the springboard for the further images assembled in this volume. The book leads us through stages of her creative process, beginning with first ideas to fully elaborated drawings from direct observation, and on to the paintings or prints whose genesis began in the Spanish sketchbooks. For countless artists before her, from Leonardo da Vinci to J.M.W. Turner and Frida Kahlo, sketchbooks double as visual or written journals.

Her sketchbook drawings stand on their own as intensely observed studies of architecture or painting. Others lead directly to fully developed paintings. Yet others recall compositions that have remained in Wilson’s imagination when portraying herself or others. Even in contemporary portrayals painted in London, a recollection of Velázquez or Murillo can be felt in the still containment of Wilson’s sitters. The drawings, paintings and prints collected in this volume reveal the fascinating overlay of experiences that informs the artist’s work. Wilson’s painting might associate Antipodean snow-capped mountains with the Sierra de Guadarrama in winter, or the still-lifes of Zurbarán with 21st-century flowers, accompanied by a backdrop of postcards from the Prado. They are enduring evidence of the artist’s decades-long engagement with Spain’s visual character and richness: moments that have arrested the artist’s attention still resonate in Wilson’s work, long after they first were set down on paper.

Susan Wilson studied nursing and worked for two years in a neurosurgical unit. After travels in South America she went to England and studied at Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts and then the Royal Academy Schools. She has taught at The Royal Academy Schools, the Slade School (UCL), The Royal College of Art and Chelsea School of Art. Currently she is Senior Member of Faculty at The Royal Drawing School. Her work is in major collections including Auckland Museum – Auckland Art Gallery, The British School at Rome, British Museum Dept of Prints and Drawings, HRH King Charles III, Oriel College Oxford, Murray Edwards College Cambridge, The Usher Gallery Lincoln and the National Trust. She exhibited at the Hayward Gallery in 1982 and won a prize at The National Portrait Gallery John Player Award for her painting of José García The Migrant Dreams of La Mancha.