Mary Pusey

Watercolor

8" x 10"

framed

Artist Statement - I love painting the outdoors. As I travel, I make quick sketches or paintings. If I am riding my Harley, I try to memorize certain vistas and paint them later in the room. I take these sketches and studies into my studio to work into larger paintings. I take photos, but the freshness of the plain air paintings allows me to remember the wonderful colors and light that no photograph can show. As a result, my paintings are representations of what I see and feel, not necessarily of what is actually there. I paint on traditional watercolor paper, but love to experiment with Yupo, a synthetic surface, and TerraSking, an organic paper made with rock dust. I am currently working on paintings from images taken at the Alhambra in Granada, Spain, and images taken in Rome, Naples and Pompeii, Italy. I always revisit my love of painting our National Parks.

Bio - Mary was born in Murray, Utah, and grew up in the neighboring city of Midvale. She loved to draw as a young child, usually horses. She asked her father if he would sell his car and get her an all-white horse to keep in the garage. Obviously, that didn't happen! But she didn't stop drawing those horses!

As an adult, she began painting in a class that taught watercolor techniques for the classroom. What started as a way to bring art into her classroom ended in a love of painting. She has worked with Carl Purcell at his Zion NP workshops and traveled to Devon, England, for his workshop. She studies with Timothy J. Clark and travels Europe to take part in his workshops each spring. She has attended Visual Art Institute's Figure Academy workshops and will be attending classes this fall.

Mary volunteers for the Utah Watercolor Society. She has been the exhibitions Chair, the Communications Chair, and is currently the Paint Spot newsletter editor. She is a signature member of UWS, Utah Watercolor Society, and a signature member of WFWS, the Western Federation of Watercolor Societies. She is a member of the Art at the Main, a co-op gallery in the Salt Lake City Main Library. She lives in Holladay, Utah, with her husband.