I am an artist who enjoys working in acrylics, ink and pen, colored pencils, and mixed mediums. Some paintings take 30 to 40 hours to complete, others — painted in an Uber-Expressionistic style — less than an hour.
The subject and mood dictate the speed, emotion, color palette, and layers. I have only recently begun to paint in the liturgical arena, a practice I find spiritually as well as creatively fulfilling (though I often wonder if one can separate the two as they are intrinsic to each other).
I regularly practiced and exhibited until my late youth and had pieces exhibited in multiple shows in North Carolina and South Carolina, winning blue ribbons, being exhibited at the state fair and one of my paintings is even buried in a time capsule!
When I was 15, my parents pulled me out of art classes to focus on subjects they deemed, “more practical.”
I, more or less, stopped painting for over 30 years before finding great therapy and a deep solace by returning to painting a few years ago. At the urging of friends and colleagues, I mined the approach a bit closer and recently opened an online art gallery. I also have reproductions of my work hanging in homes throughout Georgia.
I generally paint in my study with a glass of wine, but want to explore plein air painting this winter, when, to paraphrase Wyeth, “you can see the bones of the earth.”
Click this image to visit my gallery:
Mark Wallace Maguire Gallery
Ash Wednesday -- I painted this one evening during a very turbulent phase of my life. The original title was, “My Soul is Ash.” However, I wanted it to be more inclusive and less confessional so I retitled it. I incorporated some watercolor techniques - such as wet-on-wet - to achieve some of the paler trees. It is acrylic painted on stretched canvas, 12 by 36.
The Trinity -- I created this painting in the summer of 2022. It took extreme patience. I like to paint in a rapid style by letting the brush and the subconscious take over and paint quickly to capture my emotion or the subject, but I wanted this piece to be very precise in the leaves and bark. The three trees represent the Trinity and the white leaves falling the grace we receive. This piece took more than 30 hours to create. It is 12 by 36 acrylic painted on stretched canvas.
Alone on the Lake -- This painting is inspired by the poem, "Lost," by Carl Sandburg. I painted this at Lake Santeetlah in extreme western N.C. in winter 2022. The lake at night and the powerful moonlight reminded me of the poem by Sandburg. This is acrylic painted on paper. I cut the painting out for the edges, but mounted it in a 8.5 by 11 frame on a white paper background.
Breaking The Plain-Part I -- I tend to utilize very strict extreme colors and contrasts in my work, often avoiding pastels. I had never painted in pink and do not use orange very often. I consciously decided to flip the script and go full 80s with this one. I have a Part II and Part III in progress.
Mark Wallace Maguire is also the author of eight books of fiction and nonfiction, including the Kindle best-seller, Alexandria Rising. He is also an award-winning journalist, columnist, and poet whose work has appeared in over 60 magazines, news sites, and literary reviews. He has received more than 20 awards from organizations including The Associated Press and Society of Professional Journalists.
Click on the collective image of Maguire’s books below to find where to purchase them:
I to love acrylic painting I have PTSD from Vietnam and have a lot of nightmares so I get up all hours at night paint until I have shaken off the nervous tensions I have to try and fall back asleep but most times doesn’t work except to paint but I try to focus on something not war torn don’t know if it makes sense to professional but I don’t want to see war torn areas in my work but you do good work I’ve followed Plein Aire painting and wish I was able to follow something like that thanks for a look at your artwork