Margaret Stewart

I use my art to figure out the world around me and my reactions to it, both good and bad.  I’ve always been creative and early in my artmaking would often gravitate toward the most technically challenging medium, such as printmaking or working with steel, but recently have tried to simplify and focus on painting so that I can bring my artmaking tools with me wherever I go.   

I began as an abstract painter and continue painting abstraction, but during the pandemic, I discovered the joy of plein air painting.  Painting en plein air gave me a way to be out in the world in a relatively safe way, and now it’s a habit and a joy.  I also began to explore painting with oil and cold wax mediums during the pandemic. In both abstract and figurative, I look for contrasts and a little tension, light, and color. I love layers and history in my paintings as well.

I have had the fantastic fortune to study painting at the Art League School with Bethanne Cople and Bryan Jernigan, and online Jennifer Balkan at Atelier Dojo as well as the Cold Wax Academy. I have studied other media with many others at the Art League and elsewhere, including printmaking at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art and at Bryn Mawr College.  I often show my work at Falls Church Arts, Artists in Middleburg, and the Maryland Federation of Art.