Mabe Collins Brown

Biography and Statement

I found my niche in oils after a career in varied business enterprises and in part time painting in acrylics and pastels. I have worked as a corporate and freelance graphic designer, a certified interior re-designer, and a licensed real estate broker.

After retirement, I turned my attention to learning the particulars of oil painting. I have set up a studio for this purpose in a cabin in the mountains of eastern Tennessee where I reside with my partner, a retired professor. The move into oils came easy for me because I have always loved color and shapes, and found the oils to be ideal for maximizing outcomes. I paint a wide range of subjects, including portrait and landscape, but my favorites remain still life.

Painting is about process, not necessarily outcome. The beauty is in the problem solving—getting the values and hues just right. Indeed, painting for me is as much an intellectual endeavor as a manual exercise. It is absorbing, and while contemplating a painting or constructing one, I am totally engrossed, almost totally shutting out the exterior world in order to glory in the creativity and sensual experience of the art.