Mary Lewis Sheehan — falling in love with her paintings, one piece at a time
Mary Lewis Sheehan has been on Pine Island for 8 years. Although she is now retired, Sheehan was an advanced practice psychiatric nurse for almost 50 years. She began painting watercolors in 2012, describing the medium as difficult to reign in.
“Watercolors are hard to start with, because they’re so fussy and I’m not a fussy person,” Sheehan said.
Sheehan said she has begun to feel confidence in her painting in the last 5 years, explaining that when she begins a project she generally feels it will go well, where that was not the case in her earlier experience as a painter.
She describes the process of painting as grounding in her retirement.
“I write a lot of poems to go with my paintings. Sometimes those things go hand in hand, but not always,” Sheehan said.
From her original paintings, she said she often produces 5×7 greeting cards complete with poetry on the back. In addition to watercolor, Sheehan said she has also worked with pastels and oils, eventually making her way back to watercolor and now works with all three.
She credits advanced portraiture teacher Robert Pavon, from Pine Island Art Association, for teaching her much of what she’s learned.
“He was one of my favorite teachers. I hope to go back and study with him,” Sheehan said.
When it comes to deciding on a subject for her artwork, Sheehan said she has found it easy to simply fall in love with each piece.
“This way, my house is filled with places and people that I have just fallen so in love with. Every little cow I do, I fall in love with — Pine Island cows, fish houses — now I’m fascinated by stars, night scenes and herons,” Sheehan said.
Sheehan not only has a fascination with great blue herons, but also admits she believes they are her spirit animal, saying she sees and paints them everywhere.
“They visit me regularly and I paint them regularly. It’s a spiritual journey that we’re on,” Sheehan said.
Her artwork, writing and yoga studies are all integrated, she said, bringing her soul into the whole of her island life, which she describes as a wonderfully spiritual artist retreat.
“I would tell anyone who feels led artistically to take a class. My husband Frank Lowry taught me that it’s not about talent, it’s about practice. You get better over time. The first paintings I did were not good and that was true for years. Because I could see improvement I just loved the process of painting, not the product. Over time, there were some things that I started to like and then I started to love all of it — the bad pieces, the good pieces. I’ll go back over a bad piece after a couple of years and say, that wasn’t so bad.
“I would encourage everybody to go down to the art center and take a class, because there’s something there for everybody who has any interest at all,” Sheehan said.
For now, Sheehan said she finds herself answering her deepest questions in her artwork. For example, she said, at this stage in her life, the star-filled night sky and planets have captivated her and fittingly, her paintings have followed her into the darkness with them.
“We should treasure this spiritual journey on this shared beautiful island,” Sheehan said.