Mark Mehaffey

Bio:

Internationally recognized artist Mark E Mehaffey is a signature member of the American Watercolor Society; Dolphin Fellow, the National Watercolor Society, Watercolor USA Honor Society, the Transparent Watercolor Society of America; Signature Life Member - and Distinguished Master, Watercolor West, the Rocky Mountain Watermedia Society, the Louisiana Watercolor Society; Signature Life Member, the International Society of Experimental Artists, Signature Life Member and the International Society of Acrylic Painters among others.

Mehaffey has won major awards in juried exhibitions internationally including the Silver Medal of Honor (twice) and the Arches Paper Co Award from the American Watercolor Society, the Beverly Green Memorial Purchase Award from the National Watercolor Society, M. Grumbacher Gold Medal from Allied Artists of America, the Skyledge Award from TWSA, Biennial Award from the 2010 Shanghai Zhoujiajiao International Biennial Watercolor Exhibition, Best of Show from the San Diego Watercolor Society and guest artist for the Salon De L’Aquarelle 2015, Antwerp, Belgium. In 2016 Mark was honored with the new designation of ‘Distinguished Master’ by the Transparent Watercolor Society of America for having over 20 total paintings accepted.

He wrote “Creative Watercolor Workshop”, published in 2005 and it was rereleased as “Creative Watercolor and Acrylic Workshop” in 2013 published by Northlight Publishing. Mark’s latest book, ‘En Plein Air Acrylic’, Walter Foster Publisher was released in 2019. Mark has also created twelve instructional videos. He has appeared in many publications. He was featured in “Masters of Watercolor” written by Konstantin Sterkhov and “Inspirations & Technical Breakthroughs: Secrets from the Contemporary International Watercolor Masters Volume 1” written by Zhou Tianya & Ruan Hoe.

Mehaffey’s paintings are included in corporate public and private collections including Blue Cross Blue Shield and The Arches Paper Co., USA. In 2018 Mark was invited to participate in the International Watercolor Masters Exhibition in Weston Park England. His work is included in the permanent collections of transparent watercolors at the Neville Public Museum, Green Bay, Wisconsin, the Muskegon Museum of Art, Muskegon, Michigan, the National Watercolor Museum of Mexico City, Mexico City, Mexico, Quanhua Watercolor Art Gallery, Zhoujiajiao, China and the Dachong Art Gallery, Zhongshan, China.

Artist Statement:
I’ve been drawing and painting my whole life.  I started painting with watercolor at the age of ten and never stopped.  My parents and my early teachers encouraged me to paint, I suspect to keep me out of trouble!  It worked…more or less.

Some of my earliest memories include trying to match the colors I saw while using a child’s set of watercolors.  Hours were spent in this endeavor.  After 60+ years of painting, I’m now more inclined to paint the colors I feel than the colors I see.  Paintings always take on a life of their own.  Sometimes a work requires a studied design approach, making a plan and following that plan, and at other times a more intuitive visceral approach is called for.  I let the idea and content of my work dictate the materials and techniques used – not the other way around.  Other ideas dictate and exploration of surface and textures, relying on the initial concept and intuition to bring the work to a conclusion.  Above all I value creativity and honesty.  And although I follow many paths and speak with more than One visual voice, I am on my own journey.  I have two wishes:  one is to live a few more hundred years, for I shall never have enough time to paint all the ideas I have.  I Probably won’t see that wish granted.  The second wish?  That somewhere along my journey I will communicate with fellow travelers who will see something of what I see and feel something of what I feel…