Fashion and glamour can't compete with Nature! Hip and swinging with the latest trends, New York City in the 60s and 70s was a perfect place for fashion illustrator Susan Dade. But there were no trees, or marshes, or boats sailing on a deep blue waterway. While perfect for fashion, it lacked natural beauty...something that lured her from the busy city to North Carolina a few years ago.

Now, instead of sketching models, she paints landscapes, waterfronts and other natural beauties. Her paintings are free spirited, yet conceptually detailed.

Upon graduating from the prestigious Parsons School of Design, Susan was hired as a fashion illustrator for Woman's Wear Daily, the fashion industry bible consulted by designers, manufacturers and clothing buyers looking for the latest fashion trends. Susan was on staff there until the late 1960s when she was hired by Glamour magazine to illustrate and design advertisements, posters and brochures—all connected with the major advertisers of the publication. Her charcoal and pen-and-ink drawings were printed and seen among its pages through 1979.

Her ready-to-wear lifestyle slowed down a bit when she left to raise a family and started teaching part time at a number of fashion schools, including the Fashion Institute of Technology. Fifteen years later, Susan moved South and took up painting full time.

She doesn't miss the fashion sketches that jump started her career, but instead keeps busy painting the seaside scenes of the Carolina Coast! Her work is shown at Ricky Evans Gallery and Franklin Square Gallery, both in Southport NC, and Corporate Canvas Gallery in Wilmington, NC, among other galleries.