Today we’d like to introduce you to Maureen Blackhall.
Maureen, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I love painting. As a child, I was lucky to have an accomplished artist as a father and a mother who could draw anything. I have always painted. For 25 years, would I paint in my classroom as an elementary school teacher to illustrate ideas and stories that my students created. My niece, Melanie Florio, a graduate of Laguna College of Art and Design (LCAD) now a professional painter and illustrator, encouraged me to paint with oils and my eyes were opened. I am in love with the thick paint, the darks, and lights in nature, and the impressions of the world around me. Art is a passion. I grew up surrounded by drawings and paintings. In our family of artists and art lovers, everyone painted. I found my true love in oil painting.
I paint in my home studio in Point Loma and continue to paint what makes me happy – scenes from old family photographs, landscapes from my life, and things that bring back the flood of family memories of growing up at the beach. I have studied with Lela Harty, Marjorie Taylor, Colley Whisson and have attended workshops with California artists Ray Roberts, Ron Goldman, Rita Pacheco, and Danny Griego and continue to study and learn.
I live in San Diego with my family, and am a member of the Point Loma Artists Association, The Laguna Plein Air Painters Association, and the California Art Club. Currently, you can see my work in local shows and at Rancho La Puerta in Tecate, B.C. Mexico, La Playa Gallery in La Jolla, and local shows in San Diego.
Has it been a smooth road?
I think my hardest challenge is knowing when to walk away from a painting. When I paint, I am calm, and when I finish, I am not. I always second guess myself later. I have some vision problems but the darks and lights seem to work themselves out. My clouded vision reacts differently to colors but I like the outcome!
Please tell us more about your art.
I am basically a “landscape painter at the beach”. I love figuring out how a landscape will settle and take hundreds of photographs for reference. I do paint figures, but most of my family.
My work is on display at Rancho la Puerta, in Tecate, B.C., Mexico and the La Playa Gallery in La Jolla Shores. I had a solo show “San Diego Inspired”, on February 2018 at the La Playa Gallery and I have an upcoming solo show in February 2020. I am happy that my paintings show the best things about my life.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
Art is an extraordinary business to be in. Sometimes you hit the mark completely with a collector and sometimes your work sits quietly in your studio. You never know. I have been fortunate to have good gallery representation and a supportive family.
I paint what I love. I paint where I live. And I love what I paint and where I live. San Diego is a small town dressed up like a big city. The neighborhoods are established; people know your family. I live in the same community where I grew up and raised my kids. My grandparents came to San Diego in 1934 with Reuben H Fleet to establish Consolidated Aircraft (later Convair). I am part of San Diego and love to paint my city.
Contact Info:
- Address: 1229 Scott St.
San Diego, CA 92106 - Website: www.maureenblackhall.com
- Phone: 619) 847-1654
- Email: maureenblackhall@gmail.com
- Instagram: @maureenblackhallartist.
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/maureenblackhallart/
Image Credit:
They are all my personal photographs. ©️Maureen Blackhall, Artist
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