Mary Lou Hall
Growing up in Elizabethtown gave Mary Lou Hall the material for her first solo exhibit called “Elizabethtown Remembered”. Since then she has gone on to win the Watercolor division of the Kentucky State Fair as well as the Grand Purchase Prize. Both of these paintings were portraits. Faces and figures of people are a recurrent image in Mary Lou’s work. Often they are children.
Since her own childhood when she took lessons in oil painting, interest in children has motivated her. She got a degree in elementary education at Peabody College, taught grade school, raised four children and now enjoys four grandchildren. Mary Lou returned to college to take all of U of L’s art foundation classes. She has also studied under many nationally known artists.
Hall has traveled extensively with her husband and paints many of the places they have visited.
Kentucky Commission on Women selected Hall to paint the three honorees for 2006, 2007 and 2008. These nine watercolor portraits are in their collection and hang in the state capitol.
Hall belongs to Kentucky Watercolor Society and Central Kentucky Art Guild of which she is a founding member, past president and former artist of the year.
Protective Veil SOLD
The intriguing pattern of light and shadow falling across this
woman’s face was the motivation for this painting. That pattern
was caused by a dual light source. I felt that the shadow
concealing the woman’s eyes represented the many ways in
which we hide ourselves from others. I posed my granddaughter with my husband’s hat and moved the lights until I had the shadow shape that I wanted. Then I took photos and painted from them.