About the artist

Greetings! I’m Susan Wheeler.

I grew up in New England in a beautiful wooded area with streams and hills, which (as an only child) I loved to explore. The little animals in the woods were always so sweet and fascinating to me, and I knew their homes had to be equally as adorable as they were.  Surely they didn’t live in dirt burrows, but sweetly decorated little homes. I had this (rather extreme) need to actually see them inside their little homes, living out their animal lives! 

I wanted to paint it all as I saw it in my mind, as realistically as I possibly could. 

Fast forward to the 1980s - I had been painting for fun in my spare time and one day was flipping through a publication called the “Artists Market Book". I saw an ad that had been placed by Sunrise Greeting Cards from Bloomington, Indiana looking for art submissions. I sent them a few sketches… they liked them and asked if I would be interested in doing a line of greeting cards!

And that’s how Holly Pond Hill came to be, from a seemingly random art submission. I’d dreamt of painting a world as a reflection of how I wished the world could be. Not only beautiful, but full of kindness and brimming with Gods love. A picture of His love for you, me, and all His creatures!