About Maria Hathaway — Artist of Emotion and Life

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I specialize in colored pencil and watercolor but also enjoy working with oils and acrylics.

My work is vibrant with color and emotion. I love doing portraits and am passionate about the portrayal of emotion and life experience through my work. My portraits show who we are as humans. They explore the passion, the sadness, the fear, and hope that make us who we are. So many beautiful people walk among us, entirely unnoticed or forgotten. I bring attention to the invisible, the lonely, the joyful, and the heroic. I exhibit the beauty that exists in each of us.

I am fascinated by the natural world around me. Nature is art in and of itself and I love to try to capture the beauty that it resonates in my landscape paintings. Each little rock, tree, plant has a story to tell. Everything around us is full of life and has had experiences that we can’t even imagine.

When I create a piece using Prismacolor I use a very labor intensive layering technique. I start with a basic sketch of what I’m going to draw. Then I begin adding layer after layer of color, blending and shading as I go. I often add the darkest shadows early on and slowly work my way toward highlights of light using a white pencil in the end.

If a large area of one color is required, such as blue for a clear blue sky, I often use a turpenoid wash in order to achieve a smooth solid color without excessive effort. When I do a landscape painting I use a mixture of Prismacolor pencils and watercolor paint to achieve the look I desire.

My art is an ever changing process of growth and improvement. It is liquid. Nothing is permanent and every time I create a piece I learn something new and develop new methods and techniques. I am open to anything as long as the end result is vibrant in color and full of detail.

I often feel as though my paintings paint themselves. A character or subject in a painting has something to say and I am merely an instrument through which it is enabled to exist and therefore speak.

I am influenced by the world that I observe around me. I am fascinated by life itself which I consider to be the greatest work of art that has ever and will ever be achieved. I can only hope to dimly reflect the beauty of creation. I believe however that humanity has divine potential, unending and unfathomable. We have only as yet scratched the surface of that which we can and will become.

I am most content when I am with my family. I am influenced greatly by their unique and caring personalities. I have seen through them what it is to be truly good, and happy. I see the importance of love and truth and I share this perspective through my art.

Featured Artwork
Transitory Beauty
In The Green Summer Meadow
The First Journey
Seeking The Light
Shawl Dancer
Before The Dance
Little Dancing Boy
Rainbow Dancer
Eagle Dancer
Morning Prayer
His Prayer
Purple Ride
Searching for the Sun
Ancient Home
Daughter of the Sky
As Still as the Wind
Solo Journey
The One Who Remembers
Lamanite Woman
Dance Of The Undine
Spider Fairy
Under The Hunters Moon
Elf Queen
Elf Portrait
Treefairy
Everybody Needs a Hug
Blue Wolf
Fire Horses
Spirit Hawk
Saphire Sunset
The Horse
Horse in the Wind
White Stallion
Brown Horse
Little Red Squirrel
Lion in Training
The Raven
Snowfox
Silence and Light
Listening to the Wind
Father Abraham
Father Issac
Wishing
Life is Good
The Soldiers Father
Behold Your Little Ones
The Whisper
Praire Fire
Frosty Sunset