“I got started late in life with this,” says artist Rose Mahoney, indicating a feeling of playing catch up in the art world. A look at her achievements, however, belie any slow start for her. As one of the artists showing work at Artists’ Galleries de Juneau in Olde Towne Slidell, Louisiana, she offers a variety of charming images for the art loving public.
A native of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Mahoney moved with her family to San Antonio, Texas at a young age. Her father studied under famed Texas artist Warren Hunter for about five years, her first exposure to art. She discovered she liked what she saw.
“I had the bug from day one. I loved it,” she chuckles. Her love affair with art took a back seat to societal expectations. She married and reared a family, putting any serious pursuit of art on hold until her family was grown. She started deliberate delving into learning her craft in 2011.
When Mahoney gets ready to paint, she wants to “just do it,” she says, expressing the image on canvas or acrylic paper without too long a planning process. The resulting paintings display a power and immediacy which captures the viewer, sharing her emotional involvement with the subject.
Working primarily in acrylics, she creates stunning images of youthful innocence and vibrant beauty. Her favorite subjects include landscapes, jazz musicians, florals and children. She enjoys painting swamp scenes, something very familiar to her through her life. Her love of jazz music sparked her affection for the musicians as subjects, being drawn to their artistic spontaneity.
While Mahoney has won several competitions with her work, perhaps her greatest thrill comes from the upcoming artists in her family, a granddaughter who has sold several works and a young great grandson who has won several competitions.
“It’s fun to pass it on,” she says of her artistic heritage. Art lovers can revel in the possibility of her gift continuing through her descendants. Rose Mahoney’s expressive paintings will charm viewers and warm hearts.
Mahoney’s travels also took her to Baton Rouge and New Orleans. She now resides now in Picayune, Mississippi with her husband.
“I just want people to feel something when they look at my work,” she says. “I hope that it moves them, evokes an emotion. Then I feel like I accomplished what I was trying to do.”
Originally published 01/18/2016 at http://www.examiner.com/article/late-start-not-stopping-artist-rose-mahoney
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