CHRISTINE MERRY
Christine Merry incorporates what she learned from years of graphic design work into her painting, as she always looks first for an interesting composition. Then she pays attention to light and mood. Many of Merry’s paintings convey a sense of melancholy. Perhaps everyone has just left, or the place has been forgotten. There might be interesting reflections, angles, or geometric shapes. Her goal for each painting is for it to evoke certain emotions or sense of place in the viewer.
Christine has always been passionate about art and painting, but her journey to become a full-time artist has been a roundabout odyssey. She started drawing as a child and fell in love with painting in high school, but for some reason thought that majoring in English in college would be more practical than majoring in art. So she studied English and French at Colby College, took a couple painting classes with Abott Meader, and promptly graduated during a recession.
Merry decided it might be more fun to be unemployed in California rather than in her native New York, so she moved to San Francisco and soon found a job at a Record Company doing copy-writing and editing.
After a couple years she left her job to travel through Southeast Asia, and upon her return, decided to try to do more with visual creativity. Still focused on practicality, she attended graduate school for design, worked in San Francisco, and began a small graphic and web design business that she eventually moved with her to Maryland.
Christine kept doing design work while raising her children, illustrated a couple children’s books, and became a published author. She never stopped painting, and as her kids got older she started taking painting classes with Walter Bartman. With him, she moved from still lives and figure painting to plein air painting. She has continued to refine her technique by studying with Glen Kessler, and will begin a Master Artist’s program at Compass Atelier in 2020. Christine Merry’s work has been featured in galleries in Frederick, Annapolis, and Bethesda.
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