July Artist of the Month
Meet Mary Hunt
Mary Hunt grew up in Rockville Centre, New York. Her first recollection of making art was as a young child in the basement of her local recreation center standing at an easel with pots of red, blue, and yellow finger paints in front of her. She remembers putting on an apron, dipping her fingers into the velvety paints, and smooshing her hands in circular motions all over the big sheet of paper. “Oh, what fun!” she says. Later in life, artistic inspiration and encouragement came from her Aunt Winnie who was always busy sewing or painting.
Before moving to Massachusetts over 20 years ago, Hunt says “life was busy” having spent over 10 years working in New York, starting a family, and eventually moving to Massachusetts in 1999. It was not until Hunt was in her forties and her children were a little older that she pursued art, taking classes and workshops with several local instructors, joining the Needham Art Association and Wellesley Society of Artists, and voraciously perusing books, going to galleries, and watching YouTube videos, all in an effort to increase her art knowledge and to develop her skills and style.
Drawn to realism, Hunt began in watercolor, painting flowers, fruits, and everyday objects. Art is a way, Hunt says, “to connect with subjects and to create happy, familiar art.” Hunt paints mostly watercolor still lifes and local scenes using her own photographs, and recently began dabbling in acrylic painting as she says, “it is quicker and tends to be more forgiving.” She says she has been pleasantly surprised by the interest shown to her acrylics, however, she says her “first love will always be watercolor.”
Hunt is currently an Associate Member of the New England Watercolor Society, an exhibiting member of the Wellesley Society of Artists, and a member of the Falmouth Art Center. She says “It’s only within the last few years that I really started showing my art.” Her works can be seen at the Gallery on Main in Falmouth, on her Instagram page @ theunlimitedpalette and in her Etsy shop @maryhcreates. Her advice to other artists is “Try different media, develop your own style, and don’t be afraid to show your work.”
