For Susan McLaughlin, her wooded, lakeside house in Newtown, CT plays an influential role in her artistic vision as a magical realist painter. By providing her with an environment that comes alive with the sights and sounds of nature, she’s able to closely study as an explorer would by uncovering, recording, and rearranging the beauty of the natural world and the beauty of human beings.

This connection to nature comes from her horticultural interest manifested in the daily ritual of digging and pruning in her Connecticut garden. A daily ritual of physical immersion with the dirt and the worms of life contrasts with the otherworldly fantastical spaces she creates for her paintings. The paradoxical character of these two places imbues her paintings with an alluring mystery.

Enjoy this visual tour as we bring Susan’s property to life through images that depict the relationship between her paintings and gardens.