Mary grew up in a small town in central Wisconsin surrounded by gently rolling hills, lush green cornfields and wide open spaces accompanied by hot, humid summers and cold, harsh winters.
Wanting a taste of the west she moved to Utah in 1979. She was so taken with clear skies, stars, gorgeous mountains, a dry climate and most of all the desert.
She never looked back, enjoying skiing, canoeing, snowshoeing, hiking, backpacking.
She had no art experience, never drew or painted a thing in her life (except maybe crayons and pencils when she was a kid). Especially disliked crafts.
But something changed her life in Moab. She discovered art. Moab, being a quirky, but very popular tourist town, had attracted a large community of artists. She began to enjoy and then collecting local art.
Then she retired. Now what? When local pastel artist JC Borders offered a beginning pastel class Mary decided to give painting a try partly because she wanted something to do and partly to see if she could learn to paint. That was 2011. She was terrified but kept at it and decided it was pretty interesting and even fun. JC offered private pastel lessons so she continued with lessons for the next two years.
Landscapes interest Mary the most. The grand vistas, the dazzling desert sun, deep blue skies, glowing sunsets. She likes painting with pastels. The colors are lush and rich and can be layered to provide a quality not found in other media. It takes time to decide what scene to paint and even longer to paint it. She says she can feel the colors. Some paintings are very dramatic with intense colors, some soft and subdued. She wants to continue to learn and will always be exploring the landscape for that next scene to paint.
Recently Mary decided to expand her painting experiences by learning to paint with another medium. Acrylics provide Mary with a totally different and very challenging (for her) approach for her art. She looks at her work differently now with an eye toward keeping her paintings loose and fluid yet keeping it fun with something new.
