"Gonna Move Into the Country" Expressionist Still Life Oil Painting by Molly Mansfield

Description

I am an Austin, Texas based artist exploring the spaces we inhabit and our relationship to them. My process is … more I am an Austin, Texas based artist exploring the spaces we inhabit and our relationship to them. My process is intuitive and I frequently paint from both life and memory. I paint wet in wet, laying down gestural brush strokes often leaving areas more developed than others. The unfinished quality of my paintings is a bit messy, rather like the journey that we are on as humans.

My practice is one of observation, but also imagination. I paint primarily from life, using my experiences, surroundings, and generational history as a starting point. My still lives are often centered on the table—a gathering place. A place for connection, sharing, and vulnerability. A place for belonging but also becoming. I typically set them up using family heirlooms: dishes, vintage fabrics, half finished quilts of women from past decades. The narrative that these objects bring and the memories they evoke interest me endlessly. The work is very personal to me in this way and acts like a diary. A record of my life and surroundings. less