... ... Mandy Main | ART Elements Gallery

Mandy Main

Painter (oils)

Mandy Main paints luminous oil paintings of the Western landscape, informed by nature and capturing a personal sense of place rather than an exact representation. Mandy focuses on panoramic vistas and receding perspectives with a sense of depth and movement, and she pushes these elements to draw the viewer into the painting. The fleeting nature of light and clouds become dramatic subjects in her work. Mandy is an art historian and her passion is 19th Century American landscape painting, especially the Luminists, whose works remain an undying source of inspiration. Mandy alternates between representation and abstraction, using traditional forms and techniques but allowing them to be overshadowed by her own personal vision. The work is dreamy and atmospheric, a view into traditional art history with a modern sensibility. The paintings are rendered in oils on canvas or wood panels using a subdued palette of warm colors, applied in layers of glazes to achieve a luminous effect.

I work in series, usually six paintings at a time, executed in my studio where I paint in silence and total concentration. Before I begin a series, I envision where they will ultimately take me. The paintings are with me constantly; I even work on them while I am sleeping. I am continually coming up with ideas of what I want to say about nature and the world, and I never want to stop painting. I have to keep expressing these ideas. In this way the paintings are a spiritual outpouring. A part of my inner being is woven into every painting I create.