About Mare

I'm Mare. I'm retired, I live in Lehi, Utah, and in January 2026 I picked up a paintbrush for the first time in my life.

It started with wood. I'd been building cabinets for a family cabin and had boards left over, so I made a couple of pieces of wood art from the scraps. Then I thought, why don't I go buy paints? I went to Michaels, came home with paint and some canvas, watched a few YouTube videos on mixing color and painting shadows, and that was it. No classes. My first painting was a little 8×10 watercolor of a forest. I still have it.

Watercolor was fun, but I couldn't get the detail I wanted, so I switched to acrylics. They dry fast, so I can build layer on layer. I'm not a patient person, which is funny, because the part I love most is the slow part: tiny brushes, fur and feathers, the lines around an eye. I'd call myself a realistic, detailed painter.

Mostly I paint the West and the animals in it: cowboys, Native Americans, buffalo, moose, bear, and horses, even though I've never been a horse person and they about killed me. I paint landscapes too, the quiet places I love: mountains, a cabin in the trees, water at sunset. I like muted, earthy colors, and I work from reference photographs, a lot of them my own.

Eyes are my favorite thing to paint. They tell you everything: whether someone is sad, joyful, thoughtful or angry.

Needs a Hug is the painting where I fell in love with Western art. He's angry, and most people don't like him. I do.

I paint four or five hours a day in my studio, which is a teeny tiny bedroom. There's always music on, and it changes with whatever I'm painting. My inspiration comes from my family and from life. When I look at Michael Coleman's Western paintings, I think: that's what I'm reaching for.

I've tried a lot of things over the years: quilts, jewelry, dolls, sewing, rustic furniture for the cabin. Painting is the one that stuck.

I paint for relaxation and for joy. When you look at my work, I hope you feel a sense of beauty, and maybe a little of whatever is in those eyes.

If you're retired and you've never tried: go for it. Whatever you paint is your style, and that makes it good.