mac

"Let each man exercise the art he knows" Aristophanes I am a 74-year-old newborn baby when it comes to painting, I didn’t pick up a brush until the age of 69. For several years before I started painting I did Kiln Formed/Fused Glass Art, this medium gave me the opportunity to do quite a number of art shows, and during the years I had been fortunate enough to have won a few awards in various shows for my work. As I got older and because I worked alone, it became more and more of a struggle to meet the physical and mental requirements that were necessary for the number of shows I was doing. The production schedule, the travel, the display and tent setups, and teardowns, all factored in along with my age, to become the determining factor to shut down my kilns and end production of “Fused Glass by Mac”. The desire for me to stay creative forced me to look into other art forms that were perhaps more portable and comfortable, so I chose painting, My very first painting class was at the Pittsburgh Center of the Arts, It was an introduction to Acrylic painting. I loved the class but not the weekly drive to Pgh. In searching locally I came across my current instructor Sue Jacobs, of Cortland Ohio, and have been taking classes with her for several years. My biggest fear back then was the thought of starting a painting, looking at that blank canvas was very intimidating. Through Sue’s guidance, I began learning how to simplify the scene that I wanted to paint, and how composition made painting more presentable and interesting. Only by learning to use shape and value, color theory, the effects of brushwork, the power of emotions, and the lessons learned from mistakes, was I able to see this entire process come together in a complete painting...my painting. Mark (mac)