Mary Blake - Watercolors
"I have bachelors in math and economics from UC Berkeley, though I’ve forgotten all that I learned. After graduating from college, I worked as a programmer and then as a project manager. Throughout that time, I drew. For two decades, my job defined me – quitting was terrifying.
Now, I paint and do volunteer work. Most of my images come from wildlife and, as a volunteer at WildCare in San Rafael, I have a unique opportunity to see that wildlife up close.
When I begin a painting, I usually start with a photograph and an image in my head. Figuring out how to get that image onto paper, what colors to use, how to represent the textures, what to emphasize, what to ignore, is always a learning process and, though my paintings may look like I’m a control freak, I rarely end up where I expected to. The process of painting gives me a chance to see more of the subject than I could have in any other way. Because I usually spend a lot of time with one painting, I choose images that I want to spend time with, to get to know better."
