Mary Jane D'Amico is a Westchester-based illustrator and graphic designer. Originally from the Bronx, Mary Jane's interests are a mixture of pop culture and a love of nature. Her handmade art is in watercolor and mixed media. She is also an avid user of Adobe software. Mary Jane started drawing at the age of three, and as a youth was influenced by the comic art of John Romita. She studied painting at SUNY Stony Brook, and has been an exhibiting artist for 40 years. She has artwork in the private collection of the Chairman of American Art at the Metropolitan Museum. Her commercial work includes creative product development in the Garment Industry. Starting as a character artist in Disney license, she has been a textile artist and now works in conceptual 3-D packaging.
Artist Statement
An artist needs to know a little bit about everything- science, philsophy, culture, and the world at large. All of these things add to the experience of creating art. For me, the prime influence is nature and its details. I use watercolors because of the control they allow combined with their random element of how the water and pigments behave. When I finish a painting, I never know exactly how it will look until it is completed. In that way, it gives something back to me with surprises that other media don't provide. I hope that my viewers will join me in an enjoyment of the natural world, and maybe some conservationism as well.