About the Artist

About the Artist
While working as a software designer, Mary began studying watercolor at night mostly as a way to reduce stress. She fell in love with watercolor’s translucency, softness, pure beauty and unpredictability. Wanting to improve her art foundation and watercolor practice, Mary enrolled in EMU’s Masters in Studio Art with a watercolor concentration and graduated in December 2022. She is a member of the National and Michigan Watercolor Societies, Guild of Artisans and Artists, Adrian Center for the Arts, Creative Washtenaw, Artists for Community Exhibits (ACE), and ArtBreak Studio (founding committee). Mary is a frequent exhibitor at the annual Westside Art Hop. Her work is represented by the Whitepines Studio Gallery and the Gutman Gallery.
Mary loves kayaking, hiking, music, and hanging out with friends and her dog, Buddy.
Mediums
Watercolor, alcohol inks, acrylic, oil, pencil/graphite, pen & ink, photography
Artist Statement
Painting for me is both meditative and a physical process. I usually start a piece by quietly sitting for several minutes and imagine a color. That color becomes the starting point. Then it begins: pouring watercolors, tipping the paper, blowing, brushing, scraping, spraying, imprinting, waiting.
My paintings, often abstracted, focus on the passage of time, the beauty found in nature, and my concern for it. I love the freedom to experiment with color, surface, texture, and design; to witness the sheer joy of colors mixing on the page.
In the end, I paint what moves me, causes curiosity, touches my heart. Can gauze bits, ice, rain droplets, mud, twigs, the greens of spring, the color explosion of a sunset, or the fading blues and violets of nightfall tell a story? Can fear, sorrow, healing, beauty, and love all be held simultaneously in what feels like a wrinkle in time?