Mary Berry – Painter
Vibrant color and striking light and dark contrast are prominent techniques utilized in my portraits and figures. Going beyond a portrait, I strive to convey character in a look, a glint in the eye, a mood that compels the observer to speculate about the story behind the life portrayed. While my own inspirations create a piece, I want nothing to prohibit the viewer from entering in emotionally via their own stories and experiences.
My work is strongly influences by social injustices toward women the world over. My latest series ‘The Focus is on Her’ is intended to soothe, enlighten, encourage, celebrate and ultimately champion not only female beauty, but strength, bravery, resilience, everything that oppression attempts to dominate and extinguish. The cornerstone piece in this series, “Dreams Long Denied”, features a male in muted colors with a female in full color, her flowing tresses of hair imbued with mystical starlight, which hopefully leads the viewer in limitless speculation regarding her story.
Artists strive for a painting to turn out exactly as we see it in our mind’s eye. My “mind’s eye” is more like a camera: my gaze constantly stalls for a second as the shutter clicks in my head, framing a potential painting. Now after a career and family, I return to my passion — I feel that painting is a catalyst to bring my own world into existence, and I have so much I want to say.
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