The first time you see Mary Jane Ansell’s work, you’re drawn in by the extraordinary realism. But look a little longer, and something unexpected happens. Her portraits begin to feel like visual poetry, filled with symbolism, mystery, and quiet emotion that invite you to create your own narrative.

Whether you’re an aspiring artist searching for inspiration or simply someone who loves discovering the creative minds behind remarkable work, this conversation offers a rare glimpse into the journey of an artist who has mastered both technical excellence and imaginative storytelling. From her creative process and influences to the lessons she’s learned along the way, Mary Jane shares insights that are as inspiring as her paintings.

Grab your favorite beverage, settle in, and enjoy our conversation!

JLS: What is your painting style? For you, what does this style mean or represent?

MJA: My work could be described as contemporary figurative realism, or perhaps contemporary romanticism, though I’m not consciously trying to fit within any particular movement or category. It is rooted in observation, portraiture and the human figure, but the paintings are not usually portraits in the traditional sense. My characters become personal archetypes, and it’s through this kind of personal storytelling that I make sense of the world. I might be reflecting on social, cultural or gendered experiences, or drawing on the long history of images, literature, film, music, fashion and painting that has shaped my imagination. It’s all a kind of visual conversation, and hopefully that comes across to the viewer.

JLS: It definitely does! What is the story or inspiration behind your choice of subject matter? Do you create the paintings off the top of your head, on location, or look at personal photographs or live models?

MLA: I tend to work with a small group of models. They may be friends, occasionally professional models, or sometimes people I’ve simply noticed and asked to sit for me. The relationships I have with my sitters are incredibly important to me. They bring so much to the work, and their energy and personality feed into the ideas in ways that can deepen the paintings.

JLS: I can imagine. What is your process once you’ve selected a model?

MLA: When I’m preparing for a body of work, I’ll often begin collecting ideas weeks or months in advance. I build up sketches, mood boards, objects, costumes, imagery and written notes around the themes I’m exploring. I’ll then plan the shoots carefully, knowing what I’m looking for, but staying open to the flashes of inspiration that arrive in the moment. I take hundreds of photographs, then back in the studio, I filter those down, make drawings and studies, and gradually find the images that keep pulling me back.

JLS: Love that – capturing the model’s personality. Your skin tones…ah! We’re swooning. May we please ask, what is your secret to creating such luminous skin tones?

MJA: Thank you. I wish there were a single secret mixture, but I think luminous skin is much more
about value relationships rather than any particular color recipe.

People often assume luminosity comes from color, but you can create a real sense of light in monochrome if the values are working. The highlights tend to get all the credit, but really they’re the Johnny-come-lately show-offs of the painting, arriving at the end and getting all the applause! Most of the real work is done in the mid-values: those subtle transitions between light and shadow are what make the skin feel alive.

I do work with a fairly limited palette, but the important thing is not the individual colors so much as the relationships between them: warm against cool, light against dark, opaque against transparent, soft edges against sharper ones.

I tend to build skin slowly, using layers of full-bodied paint to give the painting depth, then glazing and scumbling to refine the lightest lights, saturated colors, and darkest darks, rather than necessarily trying to achieve everything in one pass.

For students, I’d really recommend practicing in monochrome. It teaches you so much about form, light, and contrast before color complicates everything. Even when working in color, photographing the painting and checking it in greyscale can be incredibly revealing. If the painting has luminosity in black and white, the color has something much stronger to build on.

JLS: Sound advice and good tips for our students! Thank you for sharing. For our students, what do you believe are the pros and cons of gallery representation? Are you represented by any other art galleries other than our fav, Arcadia Contemporary?

MJA: That’s a really good question because gallery representation can be incredibly valuable, but it has to be the right relationship.

I’ve always been very careful and selective about the galleries I’ve approached or worked with. I do a lot of research, and I think one of the most useful things an artist can do is speak to other artists already working with that gallery. At its best, it’s a genuine partnership. There needs to be mutual respect, trust and an understanding that you’re both working towards the same goal. It’s not passive on either side.

The obvious pro is that a good gallery can introduce your work to a new audience and bring it to collectors in a way that can be very hard to build alone. They also take on a huge amount of the work around sales, promotion, exhibitions, shipping, and the general business side of things, which allows you to put more of your energy back into the studio.

The possible downside is that it only works when the relationship is healthy and moving forwards, without becoming restrictive or controlling. You are giving up a significant percentage of the sale, often around 50%, so you need to feel that the gallery is genuinely supporting the work and understands where you’re trying to go. That isn’t always easy to find, so I think it’s important not to chase representation for its own sake. A poor fit can be more limiting than helpful, to say the least.

The art world has changed a lot with social media, and there are now many more ways for artists to build an audience and sell their own work directly. That’s fantastic, and it really suits some artists. For me personally, I’ve never felt very comfortable with the idea of constantly marketing my own work or trying to do a hard sell online. It doesn’t feel natural to me, and it can interrupt the kind of focus I need in the studio. So for me, working with galleries I trust has been an important part of building a sustainable career. I’m represented by Arcadia Contemporary in New York and Fairfax Gallery in the UK, both of whom I have long-standing relationships with. I’m also a member of Contemporary British Portrait Painters.

JLS: Thanks for the intel and your personal experience! Sounds like there are a lot of pros, especially when there is a good relationship between the artist and gallery. Our students are interested in the latest tools of the trade. May I please inquire what your preference is for paints and brushes? Do you use oils or acrylics? Do you paint on canvas board, panels, or…? Do you finish with a varnish or leave as is?

MJA: I paint in oils, and I’ve been working with them for over thirty years now. I still find them endlessly fascinating. They offer such a huge range of effects, with almost unlimited possibilities depending on the mediums or additives you use, the support you paint on, the brushes you choose, and so many other variables. They never quite give up all their secrets, and I think it’s through that long journey of exploring them that we find a way to paint that looks and feels uniquely our own.

The majority of my colors are Michael Harding, though I’ve tried many other brands and just about every color out there! I find they have the handling qualities I prefer. I now like to keep my palette quite focused, usually working around single pigments that cover a wide gamut: titanium white, yellow ochre, burnt umber, crimson lake, and ultramarine blue, plus an iron oxide such as Indian or English red (PR101), which is wonderful for heightening flesh tones.

JLS: I’m taking notes for our students. What about brushes?

MJA: I think my brush collection is even more ridiculous than my color drawer! I find that a brush in just about every stage of its life can be useful in some way, and the right brush can make a huge difference to your work. That’s not to say that the brush needs to be expensive. I use synthetic bristle brushes for texture and initial passages, soft wide brushes for blocking in, chisels, rounds and filberts for expressive mark-making, and then fans and softer brushes for knocking back edges, glazing, controlled transitions and details.

In terms of surface, it’s important to me to work with materials that are going to last for many generations to come, so after a lot of research, I found my way to working with an aluminum composite panel. I first began using it around twenty years ago, after being commissioned to paint a portrait for a family living in a very humid climate, and I needed a support that would be as stable as possible, resisting warping and degradation from changes in atmosphere and humidity. I spoke to the conservation department at Tate at the time, and aluminum composite panel was one of the supports they recommended. Initially I mounted linen onto the panel, but I found I really enjoyed painting directly onto the prepared surface, so that became part of my process.

JLS: My boss, Linda Wehrli, has seen works on aluminum composite panel at local art festivals and even on copper. We’ll have to experiment with that ground at some point. What about varnish? Do you use it?

MJA: Yes, I always varnish my paintings. I use a Regalrez-based varnish because it evens out any differences in saturation and gloss and, just as importantly, remains easily removable if the painting ever needs cleaning or repair in the future.

Regalrez can be applied sooner than traditional resin varnishes that require the painting to cure for much longer. I know some artists use alkyd mediums to add a finishing glossy effect, but I’d caution against it – that layer yellows over time but as it becomes part of the paint film rather than sitting above it as a removable final layer would the painting can’t easily be repaired without damaging the upper layers.

JLS: So cool! At what age did you realize you wanted to be a professional artist?

MJA: I don’t think there was one lightning-bolt moment. It was there as early as I can remember. I was always making images and constructing little scenes as soon as I could hold a pencil or a pair of scissors, and the stories that went with them were just as important as the pictures themselves.

I was lucky to grow up around a few creative people, including musicians, writers and my grandmother, who studied at the Slade and worked as an illustrator and portrait painter, so the idea of making a life as an artist didn’t feel impossible to me.

JLS: That’s so lovely being surrounded by a supportive, creative family. Did anyone try to talk you out of an art career?

MJA: Not really, no. I’m sure there were well-meaning people along the way who made the odd careful
comment, but I’ve always been very determined, and I don’t think anyone else’s opinion was ever going to hold too much sway with me.

I do feel quite strongly about this, because it genuinely upsets me when I hear young artists, musicians or writers say that people they love have encouraged them to keep their creativity as a sideline and choose something safer. I understand that usually comes from concern, but I also think it can be heartbreaking. There is one absolutely certain route to failure, and that is not really trying.

Of course, not everyone “makes it” in the conventional sense, and an art career can be incredibly hard. But I would so much rather have tried and failed than never truly tried at all. If you really love something, and you have that need to express yourself creatively, then I think you have to take that seriously. You have to believe it is worth giving everything to.

JLS: Absolutely! Sound advice. I understand you were born in the UK — how did you end up on the Welsh borders, and how has it impacted your art?

MJA: I was born in Shropshire, England, very close to the Welsh borders, so in some ways moving here felt like a return. I grew up in the countryside, with cows, sheep, foxes, ducks, trees to climb and a lot of space for the imagination. I studied for my degree in Brighton, an amazingly creative and inspiring city on the south coast, and part of my heart is still there, but eventually I felt a real pull back towards my family, and to the quiet and beauty of the rolling hills and rural landscape on the borders of North Wales.

The move has definitely affected the work. Not necessarily in a literal landscape-painting way, but in atmosphere. There is a sense of drama, isolation, weather, history and old stories here that really feeds my imagination.

I think being here has given the work more room to breathe. The quiet helps me go deeper into the paintings, and the landscape, with all its ancient myth and wildness, seems to find its way into the mood of the work, even when the painting itself is centered on a figure.

JLS: That makes total sense. More atmosphere! Did you study art in college, attend masterclasses or are you self-taught? What are the pros and cons of studying at a university vs. self-taught? Were any masterclasses memorable? With whom did you study?

MJA: As a painter in oils, though, I would describe myself as largely self-taught. I’ve always taken classes alongside that, particularly life drawing, printmaking and photography, and I’ve continued to seek out ways to keep learning. One especially lovely full-circle moment was spending a summer painting from life at the Slade, working with life models there, given that my grandmother had studied at the Slade and worked as an illustrator and portrait painter.

I think the great benefit of formal art education is that it gives you time, space, structure and exposure to many different ways of thinking. You are surrounded by other artists, you are challenged, and you have access to materials, processes and criticism that can really open things up. The possible downside is that it can sometimes make artists too aware of external voices before they’ve had time to develop their own.

Being self-taught, or largely self-directed, can be incredibly valuable because it forces you to question everything and find your own solutions. That can help you develop something more personal and particular. The downside is that you have to be very disciplined, and you can waste a lot of time reinventing the wheel when a good teacher could have helped you through a problem much more quickly.

I don’t think an artist’s education ever really ends, nor should it. When you stop learning, you stop growing. I’m always testing materials and processes in the studio, and I’ve also learnt an enormous amount through teaching, not least because trying to explain something clearly to another artist often makes you understand your own process more deeply.

JLS: For sure! My boss, Linda Wehrli always quotes Robert Heinlein to her students, “When one teaches, two learn.”

JLS: Do you teach workshops via Zoom or in person?

MJA: Yes, I do teach, depending on my exhibition and studio schedule.

At the moment I tend to work with students more through one-to-one mentoring, usually over Zoom with email correspondence in between sessions. I’ve found that format really valuable because every artist is at a different point and needs slightly different things. Working one-to-one means I can really dig into the specific issues that might be holding someone back.

Those issues might be technical and materials-based, or more conceptual. They might be in the reference, the drawing, the paint handling, the medium, colour mixing, or simply in how the artist is thinking about the work. Very often they are problems I’ve wrestled with in my own studio, and sometimes just a few focused adjustments can make a huge difference.

I also love teaching in person when I can. Most recently I taught with Art Escape Italy in 2022, and hopefully there will be another workshop on the cards next year.

“Animalia”, 2020 Oil on Aluminum, 21″ diameter

JLS:  Awesome! I’ve always wanted to go to a retreat at Art Escape Italy. What is some advice you can give the young artists studying at Pastimes?

MJA: Find out what it is about your work that is absolutely yours, and trust it, no matter what knocks, rejections or well-intentioned advice come your way.

Be selective about whose opinion you listen to. Advice can be useful, but not all of it is meant for you. You don’t need to share everything on social media either, if that interrupts the work. Sometimes the best thing you can do is leave your phone outside the studio and give the painting your full attention.

Ask yourself honestly: Am I excited to paint this? Is it challenging me? Is it asking something new of me? Is it answering something I need or want to say? A painting takes so much time and energy that it needs to feel worth that commitment.

I rarely think in terms of “practice pieces”, because whatever I’m working on, I want to bring the best of myself to it. I’m always trying to learn, refine, solve problems and reach for something I haven’t quite managed before. That, to me, is a huge part of what painting is. If you are too much on autopilot, or staying too safely within your comfort zone, it can lose that sense of discovery and stop evolving.

So take the work seriously. Protect the time and focus it needs. Keep challenging yourself with each painting or body of work, even if the breakthrough is only in one tiny passage. Those small moments, when you achieve something you’ve been reaching for, are often what keep you moving forward. And don’t forget to enjoy it. The process is difficult, but it is also wonderful.

JLS:  Such insightful advice, thank you! Art can touch people’s lives, bringing happiness and hope. For example, my boss Linda Wehrli, partners with CoachArt to provide free art classes for families impacted by childhood chronic illness. Is there a charity you are fond of or support, that you might like our readers to
learn more about?

MJA: That sounds like a wonderful initiative spending time expressing yourself creatively can be incredibly healing and important for everyone I think never more so when the stresses and worries in life overwhelm us.

I’ve been really happy to support Heart Research UK’s work for the last few years by participating in their anonymous heART project. Artists donate original artworks, which are then auctioned to raise money for the charity.

Heart Research UK is very close to my heart. My partner had a heart attack several years ago, so I know how vital this kind of research and awareness really is. It means a lot to me to be able to support that in any way.

The Cure’s Robert Smith is a patron of Heart Research UK and has also supported the anonymous heART project, alongside a wonderful group of artists, writers and musicians.

JLS: What a great cause, thank you for sharing. Do you have a favorite quote or mantra you turn to for inspiration?

MJA: As I mentioned before, I think it is so important to make sure it is yourself you are trying to impress with your work. That doesn’t mean ignoring other people completely. Trusted voices can be incredibly valuable at the right moments. But I think the deepest drive has to come from internal validation. If you are constantly chasing external approval, it’s very easy to lose direction, or to keep shifting the work in response to people who may not, and really can’t, know what the best version of your work might become. So listen carefully, stay open, but learn to trust your own inner voice. It is your connection to your source, your intuition, your inner well of creativity and your guide.

Thanks again to Mary Jane for this insightful interview!

Want to learn more about this fantastic artist? Check out her website and Instagram.

We hope you enjoyed this month’s Artist Interview blog! Curious to learn how to draw? Pastimes offers an Intro to Drawing with Graphite Course. Set up a free consultation today!

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