Mary Montague Sikes

While studying in the art department at the College of William and Mary, Mary Montague Sikes was introduced to acrylic paints by Professor Thomas E. Thorne. She fell in love with the brilliant colors and fast-drying qualities of these paints and soon was using them to create bold and colorful canvasses. Sikes was greatly influenced by both Thorne and sculptor Carl Roseburg who developed her admiration for form in artwork. At Virginia Commonwealth University, where she earned a MFA in painting, Sikes had the opportunity to study figurative imagery with painter Bernard Martin.

In some of her most recent works, she is exploring the use of intense watercolor pigments developed by Robert Doak as well as Golden liquid acrylic paints. Created on canvas, traditional watercolor paper, or Yupo, a synthetic, non-traditional surface, these pictures allow viewers to make their own interpretations of her dynamic imagery. From the early days of her journey into the world of art, Sikes has enjoyed drawing with soft pastels. Many of her large canvasses were created using pastel working drawings as source materials. All the paintings in her coffee table book, Hotels to Remember, were produced with pastels. Her whimsical “Monti Just for Fun” paintings are loosely-created works using bright liquid acrylics.

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