Color is Number One

I want to talk a bit about my medium, a recent online exhibit, and covid doldrums (a new term I just learned).

New Painting, 11"x9.5", Maureen Maki

Besides the fact that I use and love paper, there is another strong element in my paintings. Color, color, color. I think I am instinctually good at color. I can spot a match really easily – for example, I can see that the red in your shirt is the exact match of a brush stroke of red in a painting. When I hold them close to each other I am usually dead on.

I always went for big, bright, bold colors. It is too much for some people, but I just can’t help myself – that’s where I go. In Detroit, where I lived for 10 years, the sky was grey and the landscape was grey – and guess what? I painted bright, bold, vibrant colors. A gallery owner commented that my colors went against the grain of Detroit and felt more like California. Eventually, I moved to southern California and was blown away by the plants, flowers and intense color everywhere. I continued to paint bold, vibrant colors.

I remember when I’d been in LA for a year or so, and it hadn’t rained at all. I started feeling beaten down by the sun, 70 degrees and sunny everyday – every damn day! It was almost too much for my grey Detroit eyes. I’ve gotten used to it now. But I am still amazed each day when I walk out my front door and see bluish icicle plants, purple artichoke-like succulents, and bursting warm green paddle cacti, all growing together in harmony. Somehow all that vibrance jumped into my paintings even when I lived 2,000 miles away.

My paintings are inspired by nature, growth, energy and life. Paper, color and texture are my tools.

Saturday Night Live Art Show, Maureen Maki

A couple weeks ago I did my first Facebook Live where I talked about one of my favorite paintings, Burn and Multiply. I was part of Saturday Night Live Art Shows. Artists from all over the world are joining in on Saturday nights between 6:00 and 9:00 pm in their various time zones, to do art shows. I did mine from my studio and I talked in detail about the painting.

If you have Facebook, you can see my show on my Facebook Art Page Maureen Maki Art. If you want to see more artists, link to Saturday Night Live Art Shows.

Golden Roads, 20"x16", Maureen Maki

Someone just told me she had the covid doldrums and I realized I too suffer from that. Lately, it's been hard to get excited about much of anything. I'm happy to have covid to blame. That's another silver lining. I have reached out to people via my instagram asking what are the positive results of covid for them. Now I ask the same of you. Email me and tell me about what good covid has done in your life - if any.