Margo Gleason is a graduate of Lindenwood University, earning a BA in Studio Art. Oil painting and black/white photography were her main focus. She contunues her education by taking workshops when possible.
How did I start:
While at Lindenwood, a professor suggested I use my Dutch ancestory and spell my name M a r g o g h to sign my work. It started as sort of a joke, but my friend and mentor, Carolyn Scott, has passed away, so as a tribute to her I will continue to do this.... Each time I sign a finished piece, I think of her and thank God she was part of my life for many years. It is because of her encouragement I am an artist.
I have two loves, black and white photography and oil painting.
Why I love photography
During my travels, which so far have been 10 times to Europe and once to Egypt gave me many interesting subjects to photgraph.
My photographs are called street photography. This is capturing people in everyday events while I am walking around exploring cities. I use a telephoto lens on a manual camera and a Nikon automatic with a zoom and can easily shoot 30 to 50 rolls of film on one trip and feel lucky when I get a few good photos.
One has to be constantly aware of what is going on around them and shoot fast...as many shots as one can get..there is no time to set up the camera. The satisfaction comes in the darkroom when you develope that one great shot of that split second in time that cannot be duplicated.
Photography has also trained me to "see" in a way that has helped me in my painting.
Why I love painting
I love oil painting, looking at it and doing it. As I traveled I visited every museum I could find. I had opportunities to visit musems in Holland that the average tourist does not see. I would study brush stroke along with color and grounds of the Masters.
I was taught to paint form the heart and the mind. To develope the painting through imagination. This is what happen when I painted "Flamenco". I wanted to convey how the hands are part of dance. That was my first thought. I knew I had to show the "emotion" of the dance so the colors red, yellow and black were chosen. I used the brush to fill the space with paint and I resorted to speading the paint around in circular motion with rags. This was truly a painting of love and I am very happy with the results. It took me about 6 weeks to become truly satified with the results.
Adam and Eve came to me as a result of figure drawing classes. I wanted to paint nudes, but in a contex that would be accepted by the general public. After both paintings where finished and hanging on my wall I found they were lacking something. The story didn't flow, even though I put the apple core in Adam's portrait. At some point while I was doing nothing, the idea came to me about the fig leafs, and those paintings too just develped as they are. To me they tell the whole story, and hopefull my audiance can understand this.
My style?
I'm not sure I have one a deffinite style or technique. I tend to paint mixing color on the canvas as I go. I like to explore different grounds, canvas, wood, masonite, either side. Mixing ground glass in the gesso.
I've painted landscapes and florels, but my true love is to let my mind conjure up an image that will have a story and try to capture it on canvas. Sometimes it works and sometimes it dosen't. But the real satisifaction is the journey my imagination takes me on.. and some of the results I can show you today... Dream with me and enjoy...
Margogh Gleason - currently a resident artist of The Mustard Seed, Manistique, MI 49854
