![<em>Mark Rothko</em>[from a stock photo], ink/ card, 12x16 inches](https://paintingperceptions.com/wp-content/gallery/mariah-oneill/20.jpg "<em>Mark Rothko</em>[from a stock photo], ink/ card, 12x16 inches")
![<em>Mingus</em> [from a stock photo], pencil/p, 9x9 inches](https://paintingperceptions.com/wp-content/gallery/mariah-oneill/24.jpg "<em>Mingus</em> [from a stock photo], pencil/p, 9x9 inches")
![<em>Self</em> [ from an old photo], oil/card, 12x18 inches](https://paintingperceptions.com/wp-content/gallery/mariah-oneill/21.jpg "<em>Self</em> [ from an old photo], oil/card, 12x18 inches")
A while ago on Facebook, I started seeing a large number of posts of stunning portraits, landscapes, and more by many lesser-known European artists from the early to mid 20th century. Many of these artists were unfamiliar but there was a common thread of originality, intensity, and poetic vision that captivated me and inspired me to find out more about these painters. But first, I wanted to find out about this Facebook poster, Mariah ONeill. Someone with such a good eye for great paintings must also be an interesting artist to check out. I wasn’t disappointed. I was enchanted by her many expressive portrait drawings which capture some remarkable aspect of the sitter’s personality, while simultaneously celebrating the transformation from marks on paper into something visceral and alive.
I wrote to her hoping to learn more. She sent me a link to her Flickr page(see here www.flickr.com/photos/mariahoneill ) and stressed that she had little in the way of formal training and was largely self-taught, mainly by copying old masterworks by Rembrandt, Rubens, Caravaggio, etc. as well as spending much of her time growing up doodling. She said she did take some classes at her local art center and took one semester at PAFA but had to drop out due to needing to take care of her mother who was dying. Later, instead of art school, she went back to school to become a psychotherapist. She has had to struggle with serious chronic illness since 2005 and currently lives in the New England area.
She attributes her involvement with an online drawing group, “Julia Kay’s Portrait Party” as being a big influence as there were a lot of excellent artists there who enjoyed drawing each other from photos, where many of her portraits came from. She states that her biggest artistic influences are Bonnard, Vuillard, Van Gogh, and Matisse.
I asked her what was most important for her with regard to her artmaking? She replied,
“The most important thing for me is curiosity and having fun. I enjoy the process of making art and am less interested in the product. I never finished anything. I am not very verbal about art, although I enjoy it when artists have something to say. I love to watch what happens when I do this or that, it remains a great mystery to me how art happens.
Self [ from an old photo], oil/card, 12×18 inches
Painting Perceptions was started in 2009 by Larry Groff to promote the ideas, practice and experience of painters working from observation in a modernist vein from around the world through interviews, essays, videos and community. It later evolved to include imagination-based and abstract painting as well.
A well-deserved tribute to a most sensitive, talented artist. Just like a good writer must read like a fiend, a good visual artist must soak in and digest the greats and few fit that category better than Rembrandt and indeed Van Gogh. Thank you for shining the spotlight on Mariah.
Mariah is so good, and so humble. She has a seriously good eye for art as demonstrated by her Facebook posts of famous and not so famous artists’ works, and her infrequent posts of her own equisite work. Brava!
I met Mariah on Flickr over ten years ago. At that time she was posting her portrait drawings in JKPP, Julia Kay’s Portrait Party. Her portraits always shined with robustness and authority. Her craft and intensity always amazed me. I am happy to have a pencil portrait of me which Mariah so generously sent me. In more recent times Mariah has been searching for and posting artists’ works which have pretty much fallen out of the spotlight or, indeed, have never even been seen before online. Her findings inspire us daily and help us get our minds attuned to the beauty which can surround us if we take the time to look for it. Maria is kind, gentle, generous, self-effacing to a fault, open hearted and a unique and gifted artist. I am proud and happy to have her as a friend.
Mariah is one of the reasons why I draw and paint most days. Her constant and steady flow of works by unknown artists (or unknown to me at least) on Facebook as nourished my appetite for painting and educated my understanding of technique, light, colour and history. She is one of the most truly beautiful human beings I have had the privilege to know and am proud to have some of her works hanging on my wall at home here in England. Thank you Mariah for being in my life.
Mariah is one of my favorite artists among those I have discovered on Facebook or Flickr. She is amazingly perceptive visually and psychologically, and often produces the most compelling portraits. She appears to have sprung fully formed from nowhere; her earlier still lives and horse drawings and paintings are wonderfully accomplished. An extremely sensitive and kind artist. I don’t know how I missed this article when it was written last year.