My Amaryllis in Full Morning Glory

My Amaryllis was given as a Christmas gift. When the time came to bloom it was placed in the studio’s north corner window receiving the east morning sun in perfect lighting conditions on a glass table. As the plant began to grow it was photographed almost every day starting with the bud. It grew beautifully through all its stages to full bloom, a magical process to witness nature at her best.

In this perfect light location, some of the blooms were backlit and others were seen in the direct sun. At the end of the bloom cycle, 3 photo images were selected to paint starting with the budding out stage, the 2nd open flower was backlit creating areas of direct sunlight, shadows, and translucent pedal colors. This oil painting represents capturing the light on a mature Amaryllis flower.

The series was a joy to paint. This one of 3 blooms at the time on the stock was in a perfect position for the last photo shoot. The best of all worlds was created for the artist; the direct sun, cast shadows, great highlights, strong contrast of lights and darks, red and greens complementary colors, some of the white area were in the direct sun with other white areas in the shadows.

This painting, of an Amaryllis in full bloom, was a painters gift of opportunities in design, layout, composition, emotion, enjoyment for the beauty of nature in her glory, craftsmanship, control of the oil painting media to express a concept to be enjoyed, and experienced.

Biography

Starting with her first adult drawing in the 2^nd grade, a rabbit drawn on her chalkboard, by the 9^th grade, Mary Dove was a portrait artist in drawing, oil paintings, and flowers in pastels. At this time, learning perspective was added to her art experience which influenced the decision to become a college architecture major. In this 9^th-grade art class, they went outside, sat on the curb, and selected a home across the street to draw in 2 point perspective.

With her college architectural experience, it was easy to fearless become engaged with all forms of architectural structures. As a high school art teacher, one aspect taught the students was to pay attention to the values (lights and darks) occupied within the first 4 boundary lines on their painting. Sunlit, for Mary Dove, is an important aspect of a painting. Sunlit provides the opportunity to contrast bright light against strong shadows. She feels, her paintings are at their best when expressing a kiss of sunlight in the artwork.

Visual arts are a significant part of Mary Dove’s life. Her greatest delight is to capture long remembered shared experiences. She loves telling a story through her creations which strike an emotional chord with the viewer. Her artwork is at its best when expressing a passion for the chosen subject. The artwork is a personal adventure that begins with the intellectual challenge of visual design resulting in the problem-solving aspects of each new project.

Growing up in Houston, Texas her dad made certain she was exposed early and often to a wide variety of life experiences, included all manner of wildlife, birds, nature, sports and even food. Such invaluable encounters have enabled her to breathe life and soul into each chosen subject to paint or draw. Diversification thus become, and remains today, the hallmark of her work. Mary Dove’s paintings range from landscapes and architectural structures too big game animals, pet portraits, and still life.

A resident of Sedona, Arizona, Mary Dove earned both a Bachelor and a Master of Education Degree from Texas Tech University. Her college education began as an architect major, she moved through commercial art, technical illustration to discover her artistic “voice”’ as an illustrator; graduated with a major in art education and fine art. She depicts in the artwork an understanding of structure, a keen eye for detail, and the comprehensive skill of execution. Virtually every media is on her pallet from pencil and charcoal to watercolors, oil pastels, acrylic and oil paintings, jewelry, sculpture, and ceramics. Each selected subject requires its own best medium presentation used to invoke a quality of super realism with a sprinkle of expressionism. Numerous awards and honors have been granted to Mary Dove.