Meet Maria
mindfully celebrating the beauty and joy of everyday life through color and pattern
Maria is a fine artist, illustrator, and surface pattern designer. She translates a decade of experience as a painter with a flair for bold hues and carefully arranged composition into unique, one of a kind designs sure to catch the eye of joy seekers everywhere. Her favorite subjects are nature, food, and still lifes.
Maria lives and works from her midwestern home studio in St. Paul, Minnesota along with her bookish husband, free spirited toddler, and two mischievous cats, Mochi and Meeple.
For more of what inspires Maria, read on. You can also contact her directly and sign up to receive letters from the studio by clicking the button below.
When life and art are the same thing…
What fills my tea cup with creative inspiration?
mindfulness
I owe much gratitude to mindfulness, meditation, yoga, and therapy - all of which have contributed to a sense of peace and contentment after years of struggling with anxiety. The practice of tuning in to the present moment yields a rich, vibrant connection with life and the world around me. With an open heart and a clear mind, beauty can be found everywhere.
the art of celebration
Celebration is a mindset and a craft worth honing. Every day is a gift to unwrap and hold with gratitude. I treat seemingly insignificant moments as unique and worthy of celebration. One way I like to throw a party for life is by making colorful art about all the beautiful moments I experience. I’m not one to save treasured items or rituals for a “special occasion”. For me, that occasion is always right here, right now.
cook, eat, share, repeat
Food is a favorite subject to draw and paint - it contains near infinite variety and is a downright feast for the senses. One of my first self directed projects over a decade ago was to bring a snack to the studio, paint it, and then eat it - in that order only! I usually cook three meals a day because the act of preparing food provides a physically and mentally grounding creative outlet that I truly enjoy.
hopeful romanticism
I’ll just admit it: I’m in love with life, I wear my heart on my sleeve, and my head is in the clouds. I’m not cool or chill and I don’t keep my feelings hidden or my colors unsaturated. Interested in skipping the small talk and getting straight to the meaning of life? Did you just scoop a tiny bug out of the way of foot traffic? Are you eating cake for breakfast because it’s Tuesday? Let’s be friends.
nature and her four seasons
The drama of the midwestern seasons is better than anything you can find on your favorite streaming service. The yearly cycle of flowers, sunbeams, fiery maples, and falling snow makes the same short path around my neighborhood lake new every day. The wisdom of nature is deep in our bones and replicating its visual beauty through art is one way I work to tap into it.
I’m lucky enough to live in close proximity to the world’s largest freshwater lake - Lake Superior. It’s my happy place. The endless blue green waves and chilly water are a balm for my soul. A visit to this midwestern sea is enough to clear my busy mind, leaving space for boundless creativity. I dream of one day living in a house in the forest in Grand Marais, Minnesota.
childlike curiosity
The beginner’s mind, the mind of an artist, and that of a child all have one thing in common: more questions than answers. Education has always been important to me. I’m a first generation college student. I LOVE learning (see: “Hopeful Romanticism” above). If you don’t find me in the studio, there’s a good chance I’m at the library or a local bookstore. I chose to pursue art making as a career for the opportunity to make work about anything and everything that interests me. The creative life is a path paved with questions. The goal: to spend a lifetime being curious about the world, about each other, about ourselves, and about how it all fits together. Questions are infinitely more interesting than answers.
Speaking of questions, one of my favorites…
a “why not?” attitude
This perspective drives much of my life choices and my work. Why not choose joy? Why not love love? Why not see beauty? Why not celebrate? Why not be you? Life is too short. Why not?!
“Happiness is unattached. Always the same. It does not appear and disappear. It is not sometimes more and sometimes less. It is our awareness of happiness that goes up and down. Happiness is our real condition. It is reality. It is life."
— Agnes Martin, painter (1912-2014)
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