Day 53/100: Molly Mansfield
Encouraging a Busy Mom Who Finds Time to Paint Her Heart Out in Texas
Today, for my 100 Days of Encouragement project, I am celebrating Molly Mansfield – a Texas-based artist who creates in scrumptious oils in her converted school bus studio (that is, when she isn’t busy raising & homeschooling her four vibrant little boys).
She always felt the need to create. As a child, she started making things as soon as she could get her hands on art & craft supplies. She took her first painting class when she was 16 as dual credit at the local Community College. It happened to be the only classroom with proper ventilation for oil painting, and Molly was immediately hooked. She knew she had found her medium.
The sensory experience of oil painting -- the smell of pigments and oils, the buttery consistency of the paint gliding across canvas, and the radiance of light playing off textures from the brushwork – these elements delight her. She finds the simple application of paint to canvas to be a source of freedom & an act of acceptance.
Her paintings often focus on objects that represent home, family, community, and hospitality. A Franciscan Desert Rose plate laden with pears and persimmons, a patchwork quilt over a field of flowers, a vase of posies – items that decorate and witness to our everyday experiences – these are frequently the subjects of her still lifes. Recently, she added a collection of whimsical portraits of Vincent Van Gogh to her oeuvre.
Her painting process is intuitive, and she frequently paints from both life and memory. She works wet in wet, laying down gestural brush strokes while leaving some areas less developed. She describes the unfinished quality of her work as “messy and beautiful, representing…the journey that we are on as humans.”
She uses contrast and repetition in her work to question our individual and collective fears. She believes that these fears, left unchallenged, keep us from becoming all that we were meant to be.
How You Can Be an Encouragement
Please check out Molly’s offerings on Instagram, follow her, and send her some encouragement today by commenting on one of her posts or sending her a direct message.
Instagram: @mollymansfieldartist
Galleries: www.mollymansfield.com
