About....
British -born award winning artist Mags Hobbs is a graduate of the Royal Leamington Spa College of Art, UK. After graduation she took time to raise two sons and to support her husband’s race- driving career. Simultaneously, she created a successful, custom-designed quilt company.
Ten years ago, Mags and her husband moved to Vero Beach, Florida where she began to paint seriously. Today her colorful paintings explore mixed media, texture, and line in a sophisticated free style which disguises her finely honed drawing skills. She uses every tool in the box to create a range of paintings - from realistic to abstract - which reflect her sunny outlook on the world.
Having trekked extensively through the Himalayas, she wrote a book about her experiences titled “Better to Journey”.
She now teaches through the summers in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin where she hopes to teach her ‘ladies’ to draw “not necessarily with precision but with Imagination”.
Mags Hobbs has received awards for her paintings from Vero Beach Art Club, the A.E. Backus Museum, and the Marsh Island Art Show. She gladly accepts commissions.
The Art.....
My early roots in textile design taught me to look at all kinds of mark making, texture and line, positive and negative spaces, construct/destruct and collage.
I find inspiration in the creative energy of graffiti, soft clouds, sharp lines of buildings or even a postage stamp. Almost anything that attracts my attention can lead to a new painting. My inspiration is in almost anything and is everywhere.
My art ‘ism’ is Abstract Expressionism, and I also like to get what I jokingly call ‘some fun-light' into the painting. Thats an extra dollop of joy, energy and life that makes the work come alive. I am often told that my paintings are happy, and I hope so because making art should be FUN.
I begin every painting with a $2 house painters bush, working loosely straight out of my head I let the brush and paint do the work. The painting literally grows organically on the canvas. I am not seeking realism; I am seeking my own personal creativity.
Should a cow turn out to be lime green with orange pants then that’s just fine. It’s only a piece of canvas and a bit of paint and if Jackson Pollock could ride a bicycle over his paintings, what could possibly go wrong?’
Question is, is my cow a mistake or a serendipitous creation? Who can say?
1st Place, Art by the Sea, Vero Beach Art Club