It's Time for a Shindig Painting

Mary Ann Wakeley is a mixed media painter. She was born in Philadelphia. She currently lives and works in a suburb outside of Philadelphia. *** Each time I start a painting it feels like travelling through another dimension--a feeling dimension that is made up of colors and forms floating in space. I have always enjoyed moving things around and changing things up, in whatever space I inhabited or worked in. This restlessness is what prompts me to experiment with different forms of expression in my work. I have had minimal schooling in art and design choosing to paint because it is so freeing. I go through periods of painting abstracts and may switch off to explore nature or animals or faces or areas of a room and then return to abstracts. Sometimes I take long breaks and work creatively on the spaces of my home--rearranging furniture and art to change up the environment, finding new ways to use old things. I call it travelling at home because that is how it feels. Titles rarely apply to my work anymore. People enjoy relaying what they see in my work and no two people see the same thing. It is interesting how viewers project onto a painting. This is why I make no attempt to explain what my work is about. Really it comes down to what lies beneath the surface of every day life. Moods and music, patterns in nature (I spend a lot of time outdoors in all kinds of weather) all resurface in some form. I am contemplative and introspective, a lover of animals and plants, music, the beach, the elements.