Mary Chandler

Member since 2023

The inspiration for my work reflects my experience of light and atmosphere created by the coastal areas of New England. There is a poetry in the rambling wild textures and colors of surrounding moors and marshes that lead to the ocean. I work mainly in watercolor, and recently have been experimenting with gouache. My paintings are impressions of the harmony between light and shadow. Transcending that experience into paint on paper allows me to explore the relationships between color and value, creating an illusion of depth and interest in the composition of a painting.

I retired as an art director in educational publishing in 2022 to continue a full time career as a fine artist. I work out of my studio, in Connecticut, from photos I have taken on my travels. The Wyeth's paintings of mid-coast Maine motivated me to take a trip to Monhegan island in 2021. My painting from that trip, From the Porch, has been exhibited with the Copley Society of Boston and the New England Watercolor Society. I was inspired by the island's natural beauty and strong island light and color when I created the painting Monhegan Houses which won the Cynthia Shipp Goodgal Memorial Award with the Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club. This painting will also be featured as one of the finalists in Artist Magazine's July 2024 issue of Best in Watercolor Splash 25, along with my urban landscape, West Btoadway, TriBeCa.

Immediately after retirement in 2022, I was awarded a brief residency on Nantucket and commissioned by the White Elephant Hotel to create nine paintings for the renovation of the hotel's interior. A limited edition of gicleé prints were created to hang in the interiors of the hotel. 2023 kicked off the hotel's Gallery to sell the prints to their patrons and visitors. This venture and my previous gallery representation on island led me to become a juried member of the Artist Association of Nantucket.

Since 2023, I have been working on a body of work from locales around the Cape Ann area. As a contemporary realistic painter, I share Edward Hopper's fascination with the light and architecture characteristic of Cape Ann. After exhibiting in RAA&M's National Exhibit in 2020, 2021, in 2023 I became a juried member of this great community of very talented artists.

One of my goals for 2023 was to leave the comforts of my studio to practice painting plein air. On one of those outings I painted Weir Farm, September which won the Award of Merit with the New England Watercolor Society.

I am an artist member of Copley Society of Boston, RAA&M, Artist Association of Nantucket, Connecticut Women Artists, American Artist Professional League, and a award winning member of New England Watercolor Society, Philadelphia Watercolor Society, and Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club.