Meet ARTsister Mary Kane, a painter of large abstracts, who works at her home studio. Sometimes her series are around a theme such as "Spirit of the Bear", Landscapes, My Piano, Gravity or the theme of "Falling" "Forests and Bird Songs"... sometimes just of color and shapes colliding.
She has loved to paint since childhood. She paints almost every day. She says she became an artist because she couldn't play the piano and paint, too...and the physically of the paint was too much of a temptation.
She explains, “I start by putting up several canvases on the wall..... not knowing what I'm about to do. Sometimes I sketch a rough idea first. But I begin by taking a loaded brush of color and make some random marks....and shapes form, reform and after several layers of color...and sometimes wiping away areas, I may see a composition emerge…as the painting leads me on.
"I like acrylic paints made by Golden. I stretch my own canvases after tacking them to the wall for the preliminary layering. I would love to know what the BEST brushes for acrylic painting are as many of mine twist or don't stay firm.”
Her great influences have been college art teachers who taught her the basics of color, line and composition...with the many layers of influence by looking at works by Van Gogh, Joan Mitchell, Mark Rothko, DeKooning and other abstract colorists. Their work excites her...as she can "feel" the motion of their hands as they painted.
She was delighted to be included in the ARTsisters group this year and already loves the camaraderie and sharing of ideas, the trips they've taken to look at art. The critiques are also a great way to explore new approaches. She hope to contribute what she can in obtaining places to exhibit work in the future.
She doesn’t blog or tweet, and find social media overwhelming....with 25 grandchildren all using Facebook along with their parents.
She looks forward to have more opportunities to learn different art processes and/or ways to advance her career through demonstrations and speakers.
Visit her website: www.marykane.com
