What Classic Films and Journals Can Teach Us About Art

Meet Susanna Booth, a Michigan-based oil painter whose portraits splice Old Hollywood glamour with the untamed presence of big cats. This interview is for our Arts to Hearts Project website, and it dives into how she builds a story through faces, gesture, and the quiet charge between nostalgia and imagination.

In our conversation, Susanna shares how ideas often start in her journals, then shift into pictures, keeping the candour of the page while giving it a new form on canvas. She talks about a lifelong love of classic films from the ’40s and ’50s, think Bringing Up Baby, Fred and Ginger, Roman Holiday, Sabrina, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and Hitchcock, and how that silver-screen polish pairs with her fascination for animals, especially cats, to make portraits that feel glamorous and alive.

What we learned: painting is the language she reaches for when words feel limiting; her subjects act as mirrors for what she’s feeling in the moment; and she wants viewers to pause for the things beneath the surface—the unspoken memories and daydreams that hover around a person. Across the interview and her statement, a clear picture emerges: Susanna is chasing that technicolour, bittersweet, dreamy mood of old cinema, translating private notes into images that invite curiosity and linger like a scene you can’t quite shake.

Susana Booth is a featured artist in our book “101 Art Book: Animal Edition .” You can explore her journey and the stories of other artists by purchasing the book here: https://shop.artstoheartsproject.com/products/the-creative-process-book

Susanna Booth is an artist based in Michigan. Working primarily in oil, she creates portraits that merge Old Hollywood glamour with the vitality of wild animals. Drawing from her own journals and personal reflections, she transforms private musings into visual narratives that are both intimate and surreal. She is forever in the pursuit of melding her inner world with the outer through her art.

1.  Your portraits bring together the elegance of Old Hollywood and the raw vitality of wild animals. How did these two seemingly different worlds come together in your practice?  

I’ve always loved old movies-the way they transport you into a world that feels more beautiful and heightened than everyday life. I want my art to carry that same feeling. At the same time, I’ve always loved animals, especially cats. Bringing those two loves together lets me create portraits that feel both glamorous and alive.

I hope they pause to consider the hidden emotions beneath the surface of everyday life. My portraits are both intimate and surreal because I want to capture not just how someone looks, but the unspoken feelings, memories, and dreams that linger in them.

Susanna Booth

2.     How do your journals and private musings find their way onto the canvas, and what usually sparks the shift from written words to painted imagery?    

My process often begins in my journal, where I put my thoughts into words. From there, I look for a way to transform those private reflections into imagery. Painting becomes a translation; it carries the honesty of the diary, but in a form that feels less exposed while still profoundly true to me.

3.   Nostalgia and imagination play strong roles in your work. Are there particular eras, films, or moments from the past that often resurface in your portraits?    

I’ve always loved old movies, especially from the 40s and 50s, and I’m deeply drawn to their aesthetics. One of my favourites is Bringing Up Baby; in the most literal sense, you can see that influence in my recurring use of big cats. I’m also enchanted by the elegance and glamour of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, as well as films like Roman Holiday, Sabrina, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and Hitchcock classics. Honestly, I love too many to name. My goal with painting is to create art that captures the same feeling those old films give me, like stepping into a world that’s technicolour, bittersweet, and dreamy.

4.   Many people struggle to say what they feel in everyday life. How has painting helped you give form to things that are harder to put into words?  

Painting gives me a way to express things I can’t always say out loud. When words feel limiting or too exposing, I can translate those feelings into colour, form, and imagery. It allows me to communicate something true without having to explain it directly.

Painting gives me a way to express things I can’t always say out loud. When words feel limiting or too exposing, I can translate those feelings into color, form, and imagery.”

Susanna Booth

5.  When you bring a subject to life on canvas, do you think of it as a character in a story, or more as a mirror of the emotions you’re processing at the time?  

Definitely a mirror of the emotions I’m processing at the time. I hope people pause to consider both the seen and the unseen, the story beneath the surface. My portraits often draw from my own emotions and musings, so while they feel intimate, there’s also something dreamlike that leaves space for viewers to bring in their own experiences. I want them to feel a spark of recognition, like they’ve stepped into a moment that is both personal and universal.

6.  Your portraits carry a sense of intimacy while also holding an element of the surreal. What do you hope someone pauses to consider when standing in front of your work?  

I hope they pause to consider the hidden emotions beneath the surface of everyday life. My portraits are both intimate and surreal, as I aim to capture not just how someone looks, but also the unspoken feelings, memories, and dreams that linger within them. If a viewer walks away sensing something familiar yet otherworldly, like they’ve stepped into a memory or a dream or an old movie, that makes me happy.

As we close this introduction, it feels clear that Susanna’s work is not simply about painting faces; it’s about creating portals into moods, moments, and memories that resist being pinned down. She draws us into a space where classic cinema’s elegance collides with the wild beauty of nature, and where each portrait becomes both a mirror and a mystery. There’s a tenderness in the way she translates her private reflections into brushstrokes, yet also a spark of glamour that keeps the work shimmering with life.

In sharing her process and inspirations, Susanna reminds us how art can hold what words cannot: those fleeting daydreams, bittersweet emotions, and the half-remembered glow of something just out of reach. This interview is an invitation to step closer, linger a little longer, and see how nostalgia and imagination meet in her world of painted stories.

To learn more about Susana, click the following links to visit her profile.

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