Mary Jo Carew [RA 2018]

First name: Mary ;
Middle name: Jo ;
Last name: Carew ;

Member: Resident artist member ; 
Begin: May 29, 2018 ;
End: n/a ;

Biography:

Mary Jo Carew grew up in La Mesa, California, the eldest of twelve siblings. She started out as a fine arts major in college, but married, had two children, and became a teacher for 30 years. During those years she put her creative energy in the classroom, but after she retired, she could get down to the business of her first love, creating ART. She now divides her time between New York City and Southwest Harbor, Maine. She was trained as a Plein air painter in Southern California before moving to New York City where she took a variety of portrait painting classes at the famed Arts Student League. Some of her group exhibitions in California include: SOCALARTISTS “Point of View”and SOCALPAPA “Small is Beautiful”. In New York she has had multiple exhibitions at The Salmagundi Art Club; The National Association of Women Artists; and the Catherine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club. She has shown her artwork in the IVORY AND LEAD “Bimonthly Online National Competition”and the American Women Artists Online show. She has had two solo exhibitions: “Portrait Figures” and “Plein air Landscapes” at the Arts & Crafts Beer Parlor in Greenwich Village. She also shows her work at the Gallery at Sommes Sound, ME.

Mary Jo works with oil on canvas/linen. Her work focuses on Plein air landscapes, portraits, and figurative work within the natural environment. She seeks to capture that moment in time when the light on the landscape throws off a warm glow of intense contrast of color and value.

From her early days as an art student through the present day she has been inspired by The Impressionist movement. She also deeply admires the work of John Singer Sargent and Celia Beaux, among others. Her passion is experiencing nature’s wonders first hand, and then translating those experiences onto the canvas, while observing the changing light, color, and rhythms of the environment. Lately, she has also enjoyed painting larger landscapes in her studio, using her Plein air sketches and photos as inspiration.

Whether painting landscape or figure, she employs several stages in producing a finished painting: She first draws several small sketches to find a pleasing composition. Then she uses paint to draw the image on canvas. After that, she paints in the large shapes of dark and light, and continues to refine the shapes bringing in more and more detail until the painting feels complete. She paints what the image dictates. Sometimes the painting is more impressionistic, sometimes more photographic, but always there are areas of ‘lost’ and ‘found’ brushstrokes, which move the eye around the canvas. She is only satisfied when each part of the painting has a beauty in itself.

She feels truly fortunate to be able to tuck herself up in her barn/studio or stand at her easel by a mountain stream creating paintings everyday.

https://www.maryjocarew.com

Artworks: