About the Artist
Mary has lived and painted throughout the United States, and
is now based in Tennessee. She is best known for her commissioned
portraits in oil. Depending on her client's wishes, Mary paints in a
tightly controlled formal manner or in a loosely posed impressionistic
style. Often the more impressionistically painted portraits are of
casual grouped families at the beach. Her objective is to convey the
spirit and personality of her subjects, while maintaining accurate and
convincing likenesses. Utilizing a strong design framework, beautiful
harmonic color, and masterful paint application, Mary connects with the
viewer by creating powerfully expressive paintings that become family
treasures.
"A well rounded painter needs to be proficient in portraiture,
landscape and still life" says Mary. To keep her approach and
technique fresh, she enjoys switching between painting disciplines.
Mary spends much of her summers in California and coastal South
Carolina, and enjoys painting landscapes "en plein air". She has
created a body of work that reflects her love of combined landscape and
figure painting. These painting are often of the beach and portray
human figures against a background of sand and sea, capturing the
essence and movement of both. Mary is also working on a Barn Series,
which capture glimpses of our vanishing rural history. From her studio,
Mary's floral paintings and still life works reflect the delicacy of
nature and the beauty that can be found in simple everyday objects.
Mary is a member of the National Portrait Society and the Oil Painters
of America. Mary is an award winning artist and has participated in
many group and solo shows. Her work can be viewed at the Jamison
Galleries of Fine Art and at Emory's Fine Art in Murfreesboro, TN. In
addition to painting and raising a family, Mary teaches art classes
with an emphasis on design, technique, and color. She finds it
extremely rewarding to be able to paint and to share her knowledge and
love of painting with others.
"I am truly blessed to have a profession that gives me great joy" Mary
says.