Medium of Choice: Oil
"I am the worst brush mom. I'm not kidding. The WORST. I do this nifty thing where I paint 16 hours a day (pretty much till I pass out) and then completely forget my poor brushes and leave them sulking in water or with headfulls of paint. Discovering Trekell was a godsend.
Not only are their brushes incredibly priced (for brush destroyers like me) but the quality is SO great. They clean right up and with a little brush shampoo and a dip in the Trekell Brush Restorer, my brushes are right back to their sassy selves. I also LOVE the Cat's Tongue line - they are the perfect shape and resistance for everything I do! The Cat's Tongue and Golden Taklon make up about 90% of the brushes I use."
Mab Graves is a Contemporary Pop-Surrealist artist living and painting in a converted 1800’s tavern in a small corner of the dusty American Midwest. Born in August 1986, Mab’s passion for creation has been an overwhelming obsession since she could grip a crayon.
Mab is completely self-taught, but she began painting professionally in 2009 after retiring from a whirlwind career spree as a barista, a private nanny, a server, a florist, a bartender, a martial arts instructor, a receptionist, a bookshop clerk, and a hookah bar waitress. Mab's work is highly focused on storytelling and symbolism and she often spends months researching for her pieces before she ever picks up a brush.
Her work is deeply inspired by science, dinosaurs, natural history, 60’s space culture, fairy tales and old classic literature. When she's not painting, she is chasing around her little nephew or making teeny tiny things for her latest passion project: a 1/12 scale miniature Natural History Museum.
"I had always heard that if you make your passion your profession, you will eventually stop loving it. Making art was the most important part of me and I knew I would never risk losing that.
For years I was a secret artist. I’d carry a little sketchbook in my pocket and work in it every moment that was “mine”, but I never really showed it to people. The catalyst for me was in 2009 when I discovered painting. It was like I had been waiting and practicing for it my whole life. Suddenly, being an artist wasn’t something I could keep secret. It took over my every waking moment, and I couldn’t hold it in."
Artist Links: Instagram, Facebook, Website
MAB'S PICKS:
