23 Aug Hello!

For those of you that are new…

Hello, I’m Mary!

I am a self taught artist living on the north shore of Chicago, Il.

I work from my home studio while raising my 3 daughters with my restaurant owner hubby.

We also have a border collie, Abigail.

Home is everything to me. And working from my home studio has been a gift at this stage in our family life.

I painted through highschool and then took a giant break (all of my 20s) to pursue theatre and acting.

At 30 I started painting again and have steadily built my art practice and business from home. 

My art practice began with oils (highschool), then acrylic (when I returned to it), then went like this…

Acrylic to pen & ink to watercolor to gouache to acrylic to multimedia.

My work has grown increasingly abstract through the years and now that’s my primary focus. 

My career has grown through consistent sharing on social media (thanks Instagram)

and collaborating with licensing partners like Minted who have exposed my work to a vast audience.

Through Minted I have brand collaborations with @bhldn and Michaels.

I also license my work with @alphaainc and @level57.art. And am represented by the lovely ladies of Sorelle Gallery.

Currently, I’m developing a digital course for artists on how to create an art habit and build an art practice from home. 

Things/People/Places I love (and that inspire me!):

 Music… @thisispattismith, David Bowie 

@arcadefire @tobenwigwe @siamusic 

@brandicarlile  @jonimitchell @petitbiscuit 

Travel…France, California, Portugal, road trips! Bucket list includes Ireland, Japan and Costa Rica.

Unique color combos and Indigo Blue.

Artists…Frankenthaler, Rothko, Mitchell, af Klint, Toulouse-Lautrec, Klimt, and Twombly.

Nature…the mountains, the beach, forest walks, flowers, flowers, flowers.

Poetry…Mary Oliver and currently obsessed with @katejbaer 

Books, podcasts…I made a resource guide with recommendations on these which you can access here.

Interior Design…so integral to my work.

Thank you so much for being here!

If you’d like to follow along more on a day to day basis, check out my instagram below.

I post to my stories on the regular. Have a fantastic and inspired week!

16 Aug Following my Curiosity

Technically, I’m “self taught”. I got my Bachelor of Fine Arts in ACTING.

But the truth is I was always an artist and started painting at a very young age.

I was really torn in high school which path to pursue in college…theatre or art.

I even compiled an art portfolio my junior and senior years of high school.

It’s funny the non linear paths our lives take. I learned through A LOT of trial and error, through showing up every day and consistently sharing the stuff I was making in my living room at night.

I learned by paying attention to what my peers and art heroes were doing, and by what was resonating with people on social media (aka brilliant and free market research).

In the early days of insta I followed the interior design skills of Emily Henderson (@em_henderson) and through her found Danielle Krysa (@thejealouscurator). Danielle introduced everyone to SO much good, weird art. It was like a master class in contemporary art. I devoured Art Inc. by Lisa Congdon ( @lisacongdon), books by Austin Kleon (@austinkleon), Elle Luna (@elleluna), Jen Sincero ( @jensincero) and Amanda Palmer (@amandapalmer).

Everyday I learn from these incredible artists and business pros through their podcasts, stories and their walking the talk:

 @emily_jeffords, @jennakutcher, @cathy.heller,

 @bonniechristine, @shuntagrant, @debbiemillman,

 @amyporterfield @elizabeth_gilbert_writer

and @andyjpizza.

I learned (and am still learning!) through following my curiosity.

I think Michael J. Fox says it best, “I think I benefited from being equal parts ambitious and curious.

And of the two, curiosity has served me best.”

p.s. I included all these links for you to check out these amazing people on instagram, so you can fall down the art rabbit hole. Maybe one of the above people will lead you to find someone that speaks specifically to YOU!

09 Aug Believer

The blank canvas can terrify you or thrill you.

The variable in the situation is what you literally and figuratively bring to the table.

Some days painting an idea feels like a slog…trudging through thick tar.

Every mark is questioned. Every possible direction feels dangerous.

Other days, painting feels like freedom. Like releasing a pressure valve. Ideas tumbling onto the canvas, surprising, elating.

I vacillate between these two extremes. Some days I can feel where I’m at in terms of mindset before I hit the studio.

If I’m feeling closed off, I move my body. It’s the fastest way to get things going. To ground myself. To wake up my brain to possibility.

But Mindset is haaaaard. It’s learned. It’s practice. In some of us, it’s maybe innate.

To those people, I say how?

What are some things you do to access the “believer”, that carefree dreamer, that knows everything will turn out ok?

02 Aug Limitations Stoke Creativity

Imposing constraints on your artwork might seem like the antithesis of creativity, but it’s an extremely useful tool in making good work.

One simple limitation is only working with a chosen color scheme. I do this often…only using 3-5 colors in a given palette. It serves to keep my pieces cohesive and the viewer’s eye moving.

Other examples of common constraints are:

•limiting the tools you use (i.e. only painting with a palette knife)

•Your subject matter (i.e. portraits of historic women)

•The time in which you create (i.e. allotting 1 fast and furious hour)

• The materials you use (i.e. Sumi ink on 8 x 10 pieces of paper)

The constraints you set as the “ground rules” give your pieces direction and serve as a foundation for creating a larger body of work…the ultimate goal for expanding your practice!

My constraints with my recent 100 day project were…

-all were created on 5 x 7 inch pieces of paper
-100 pieces in 100 days
-creating abstract work
-only using my current palettes and paint colors in my studio

What constraints do you impose on your creative work? And if you currently don’t…what’s something you’d like to try?

26 Jul This

And this is why art is so subjective.

This is why you can see a piece of art or listen to a song and immediately feel a sense of familiarity.

You just “get” it and it gets you. Sometimes you just can’t explain the attraction…It simply speaks to something deep inside you.

Sounds familiar right?

Art…the great mirror.

19 Jul What dream?

I didn’t give visual art power or time for over 10 years. And when I finally did, it turned out there was a whole lotta good stuff waiting for me…A source of joy, an outlet for stress, an incredible community of women, many like me…mothers and lapsed artists needing to get back to their creative roots. And finally a career that gives me freedom, that I can steer from my home, while I raise my kids.

I finally gave it time. I made making art for 15 minutes a day a priority. That’s how it started.

What dream can you give 15 minutes today?

12 Jul On Meditation

Meditation is something I’ve always aspired to make into a regular practice but never really felt I was “good at”.

But then I started to understand how painting is meditation.

I try to achieve a flow state through sustained energy focused on one thing.

Meditation  reduces stress, anxiety, depression and even physical pain. And that is a large part of what painting does for me. Perhaps that’s why I can’t NOT do it. It truly is survival.

I started painting again at 30 years old as a way to cope with the isolation of young motherhood. And in many ways it saved me. It allowed my creativity to pour forth when I couldn’t act in plays or engage in adult conversation about politics and philosophy. It became my outer expression of me at a time when my identity was so fiercely tied to my children.

When I struggled with postpartum depression and anxiety following my third baby, painting was a trusted source of calm. I remember that my first plant cell abstracts were created in the first painting session I had of total free play, in the weeks following my third baby’s birth. The tangled flow of watercolor poured out of me.

And it’s funny, because I see these pieces as all about connection. And that’s all I was craving in that dark period. Connection to others, to my children, to spirituality, to creativity and to myself.

As I’ve been writing a course on developing an art practice, it’s apparent how closely tied my wellness rituals are linked to my art.

These days I meditate daily, in my studio, before I start creating. The two practices are intertwined.

Do you meditate? Is your creating art linked to your daily wellness practices?

05 Jul “Plant Cell” Design Process

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”

-Leonardo da Vinci

Keeping it simple. That’s pretty much my North Star when it comes to creating my watercolor pieces. The medium itself does such beautiful, natural things. Water and paint. The spidering effects. The bleeding and spreading of paint on water on textured paper. I don’t complicate things. The pressure of the painted line, color, and a killer composition.

The design process for my watercolor Plant Cell pieces pretty much goes like this…

1. There’s the gathering inspiration phase. This comes from books, trips, nature walks, fashion, music, film, and paying close attention to lines and texture everywhere I go.
2. Selecting colors, paints, brushes and paper, or canvas (in which case I would treat the canvas with absorbent ground).
3. Sketching many, many, many compositions with my brushes, paint and water.
4. Whittling down to a small few.
5. Picking the most interesting composition and painting it large.
6. Letting first layer dry.
7. Looking at piece for a while.
8. Adding second layer.
9. Looks at piece for a while.
10. Adding third layer or adding bits of saturated color to help add depth and help the eye travel with the movement of the piece.
11. Call it done.

I’ve learned time and time again that I need to stop before I think I’m done to avoid overworking a piece.

This is crucial. I think part of their beauty is the imperfect rawness in the strokes and the organic water marks.

p.s. This is a closeup of a big plant cell that is undeniably ocean inspired. Sometimes I see tiny landscapes within each line.

Do you have a process you use time and again? Is it simple or does it require many steps?

28 Jun Artist Travel Essentials

People are traveling again! The wanderlust is real after a year of very limited trip taking. Last weekend I visited the charming city of Charleston, where one of my childhood best friends hosted our 40th Birthday Girl’s Trip (postponed for Covid).

It was AMAZING. The culture, the food, the Spanish moss dripping from the trees and the warm water beaches, not to mention the crying laughter from friendship stories spanning 30 years.

I love packing small bags of art supplies when I travel. It adds a whole added layer of excitement to my trip…what inspiration will I see, hear, collect? What quotes or funny stories or new historical facts learned can I record as memories? You never know when inspiration may strike BUT you can be pretty darn sure it’ll strike on vacation when you are resting and consuming beauty and culture!

Here’s a list of things I always include:

1.) Canvas bag of  watercolor tube paints

2.) Striped pouch of mini palettes & brushes

3.) Journal

4.) Mini Sketchbook

5.) Verge de France paper

6.) Domino magazine

7.) An inspiring book on art, poetry, science, or psychology

8.) Camera

Do you travel with art supplies? What are your go-tos? I’d love to know!

21 Jun The Break You Need

“In the summer, the days were long, stretching into each other. Out of school, everything was on pause and yet happening at the same time, this collection of weeks when anything was possible.”⠀
-Sarah Dessen⠀

The Summer is a tricky time of year for artists. My sales reports have consistently shown that this is a slower time. People are traveling, enjoying their families…maybe less decorating gets done and buying art slips down on the priority list. ⠀
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It used to give me panic…

What’s happening, will anyone ever buy from me again? How do things come to such a screeching halt? ⠀
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I’ve come to realize that it’s a gift. A break. You said you needed one in April and May when your to do list was overwhelming and you felt like a robot churning out art. You made a promise in your heart to embrace the next opportunity where you had nothing on your plate. ⠀
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Know that you’re not alone. I’m finally realizing the gift that this is…the natural ebbs and flows of the market are allowing you to play more, experiment, gather inspiration, travel and prepare (for the fall!)⠀
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So take this time. Enjoy the sunshine. Have a slow morning. Take pictures and listen to music. It’s all creativity. It’s all feeding the back of your mind where your ideas will be birthed in the coming months. ⠀
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