Mary Jane Alexander

Why do I paint?
I have an image of the world inside me which is personal and my very own. I paint what I ‘see’ but often it’s not what others see at all because the marks on the canvas or the page come from my inner world.
I was given a classical art education and was taught the tools of the trade but what I’ve done with those tools is my own. Every time you face a blank canvas - which is both exciting and terrifying - you have to know instinctively where your inner vision is going to take you.
I don’t paint realistically. I paint emotionally, interpreting what I see into what I feel. And yet it is realistic because it captures the scene in that moment, as I see and respond to it.
I paint because my pictures give meaning to my life.