Featured Artist of the Month: Mary Walz
Every month we feature one artist participating in the Virtual Open Studio Figure Drawing. April’s featured artist is Mary Walz.
Artist Statement
I paint because I love everything about the doing of it. Which makes it a great way in to see things more clearly. I started painting when I was about 48. It is ridiculous that it took me so long as I had harbored a deep desire to paint for most of my life. The first big painting I made was on a 4’ by 6’ sheet of plywood that I had put aside years before thinking one day I would paint on it. It’s a scene of cows in a field which I based on a small black and white newspaper photo of the Amazon. Having got started, it turned out that I was really drawn to making portraits. I tend to work from images, though, because it takes me a long time to find my way to where I am going. And also the pleasure of the experience of making the painting is being alone with it, engaged in the struggle of its creation. This means that my practice of painting from life has so far been limited mainly to painting myself in a mirror or objects around me at home. The awesome landscape on my doorstep is a challenge that awaits: I see paintings everywhere I look. Thank you for taking the time to look at the work.