Paint Party Friday: Week 4, Year 2 Check In Featured Artist: Mary C. Nasser

image courtesy of Mary C. Nasser

Welcome to Week 4 of Paint Party Friday (Year 2) and the next of our Featured Artist Series! (Would you like to be a PPF Featured Artist? Click here for details!) This week, we are featuring an artist who creates fascinating mixed-media paintings inspired by nature and lately by the islands of Hawaii.  She has an ambitious goal of creating a painting a week and we are always delighted that she shares those creations regularly at PPF. It is our pleasure to introduce you to Mary C. Nasser!

1) Please tell us a bit about your history with painting. (When did you start painting? How has your painting evolved since you first started?)

I started painting in high school, but my paintings continue to evolve. I think the small thread that has always run through my work is my interest in layers and textures. All of my art is inspired by nature: specifically, landscapes and geology. My love of landscape is revealed in mixed media paintings layered with maps and scientific illustrations. I study physical geology and the interconnectedness between surface and subterranean landscapes: exploring the relationships between developments underground and the evolution of the landscape that takes place on the surface – borrowing images from geological diagrams of land formations to incorporate into my paintings. I am captivated by the idea that geological shifts and transformations seem to parallel both individuals and their relationships: continually changing, varying, shifting and developing, too.

2) What are your favorite techniques, media, and tools to use in creating your paintings?

My favorite techniques are mixed media acrylic painting and encaustics. I also enjoy the technique of drawing onto paintings with micron pens.
As far as media, I love, love, love to use maps in my paintings! It is so much fun to layer maps and paint onto canvas! I sprinkle mica and olivine into my paintings sometimes, too. I also further embellish some paintings by adding text and creating patina word charms.

3) What is your favorite thing to paint? Why?

In 2007, I spent time living and painting in the southwest, examining desert landscapes, where the combination of aridity and erosion exposed the earth’s composition, structure, and layers, the relationships between them, and the deep time they represent. After visiting extinct volcanoes in New Mexico, I longed to see active volcanoes. As a result, I embarked on a residency at Red Cinder Creativity Center in 2008, located between the active and accessible volcanoes Kilauea and Mauna Loa, on the Big Island of Hawaii. Immersed in twelve of the world’s thirteen climate zones, I experienced and studied the various landscapes and dynamic geology of the island. I had the unique opportunities of watching landscape being created and standing on the newest land on earth: landscape created by lava hardening into rock, which, in time, will transform into soil where plants will sprout and grow. Consequently, the dramatic volcanic landscapes continue to inform and influence my work.

4) What is your proudest painting moment and/or greatest painting achievement so far?

One of my proudest art moments was in 2010, when a jury selected my sculpture proposal for Wings in the City – a project to raise funds for the Jennifer and Jim Koman Expressive Therapy Program at Wings, a BJC pediatric hospice and palliative care program. My 5-foot by 4-foot fiberglass butterfly sculpture is entitled Journey and was sponsored by Plaza Mercedes Benz. It is embellished with metallic acrylics and maps, just like my recent paintings. The butterflies were auctioned off May 21, 2011, at Wings in the City's Art Takes Flight auction. The public art project raised $1.3 million dollars for BJC's pediatric hospice program Wings.

image courtesy of Mary C. Nasser

5) What's next in your painting future?

What's in my painting future? I'm painting, painting, painting for forthcoming exhibitions! I continue to experiment with paint and mixed-media and look forward to every Paint Party Friday!

Thank you very much, Mary! We look forward to seeing you every Friday too!

To learn even more about Mary and see more of her art, please visit her at:

Her website is: www.marycnasser.com
Her blog is: http://www.marycnasser.com/blog.html
Twitter: www.twitter.com/marycnasser
Facebook: www.facebook.com/MaryNasserArt
Etsy Shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/marycnasser

**Would you like to be a PPF Featured Artist? Click here for details!**

And what another hopping party last week! Here is our check-in for this week's party:

Please make sure to use your post URL address NOT your blog home page URL address as there are many late visitors who get confused as to which post is for PPF when they arrive (after Friday) at your website. If you are unfamiliar with Mr. Linky, an explanation of how this tool works can be found on Week 1 and Week 2 Check-Ins.

Have a Happy Easter or Passover (if you celebrate) and  have a great time at the party!