Welcome back to our weekly artist profile! Today, we’re talking to Mandy Mann: a Lansing area artist and a regular around Capital City Reprographics since 2018.
(We didn’t have any pictures of her on file, so Mandy was kind enough to produce this sketch while we were chatting on the phone!)
For ten years now, Mandy has been a professional artist, taking commissions for individual pieces as well as producing and selling prints of her thoughtfully crafted illustrations and paintings.
Mandy has a distinct and well-defined style. She tends to combine sweetness with sharpness - her subjects are often playful and innocent, but the image as a whole tells a wider story than the character seems to perceive.
Her works are frequently feminine but interested in a range of forms. Sensual and sometimes sultry, many of her paintings present the viewer with the pain, injury, or threatening surroundings the subjects are unaware of.
We had a chance to chat with her recently and talk about her process, what inspires her, and how she fits her creative life, personal life, and professional life together.
Like many self-taught artists, Mandy’s creativity and imagination were sparked early in childhood. “It all began as a hairbrained idea in 4th grade. I bought a how-to-draw book and said, ‘this is going to be my thing.’
What is your process?
“I spend a lot of time in my head, and when given a prompt or idea I try to challenge myself not to go with my first thought. I usually sketch the idea out in my sketchbook (shout out to bookjournals.com out in Oregon, I get all my recycled sketchbooks from there). Then I will scan and project my concept onto a canvas. From there, I tend to start with the background and work forward. Acrylics dry fast so you need to work fast and with a lot of paint at times.”
Like you said, acrylics dry fast - but you can paint over what you’ve painted. Do you? Or is part of the thrill the tightrope walk of creating the image in your head before the paint dries?
“Yeah, you have to work kind of fast. I try to do sections at a time, especially if I’m going to be doing multiple weeks. If I’m working on a face, I try to get the whole face done, so if I have to go back and touch up, it’s a layer, rather than having to blend and blend. It’s like what Bob Ross said, ‘there’s no mistakes, only happy accidents.’ If something happens on the canvas, you work with it.”
Are you a professional full-time artist?
“Nope, I have a fulltime day job, and this is a side hustle. I love what I do currently as my day job - it’s challenging, it’s informational, it’s helping run a business - but I would love to have my art as a bigger part of my income. When I get home, I’m too tired to get anything done creatively. I usually only have time on the weekends to do creative things. I try to sketch at night and do lighthearted things, but I’m a big fan of stability - I have to pay the mortgage!”
“In 2014, I had just graduated from my bachelor program studying sign language and entrepreneurship. I thought I’d be an interpreter. But I never quite found the right part of that field. I got a job at a paint and sip business called Painting With a Twist - that got me into painting every single day, which was great practice. You aren’t emotionally attached to the outcome: just put the brush on the canvas. A lot of artists get stage fright - this allowed me to step around that and made me want to paint more.”
Do you have any exhibitions coming up where people can see (and purchase) your work?
“I will most likely be vending at Art Feast in Old Town on August 17th.”
Lastly, if you can say, what does art mean to you?
“That's a pretty extensive question… I think it means something different to everyone. People tend to think of art as a luxury, but they don't always stop to think about all the entertainment they enjoy solely because of artists. What would marketing look like without graphic designers or creative consultants? What would we wear without fashion designers? Art is more than just an expression. For me, it's feeling, and a point of view come to life in whatever form an artist prefers. There's room for all of us under the artistic umbrella because we all have a unique point of view. People who do not consider themselves artistic are fascinated by the mystery and mysticism that is "the artist." But really, I think those of us who practice art are just the ones who felt they needed a different way to connect with themselves and the world. One of my favorite quotes is from the painter Edward Hopper. "If you could say it in words, there would be no reason to paint."
Thank you, Mandy, for taking the time to talk with us!
If you’d like to check out more of Mandy’s work, visit her on Instagram at @manday25, and check out her Etsy Shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/MandyMannart
That’s all for today, see you next week when we highlight another Mid-Michigan artist! Have a great and creative weekend!
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