mary singleton

NOLA-based artist Mary Singleton calls her color-happy paintings “botanical abstractions.”

The artist: Born in Baton Rouge, Singleton started painting as a child, disappearing into her art for hours. After taking a bohemian approach to college and life in her early 20s, she graduated with a BFA from Louisiana State University. She moved to New Orleans six years ago.

The studio: Singleton’s studio started as the corner of a guest bedroom. Then it took over the entire house. She eventually sought a new space and is now restoring a 120-year old shotgun house in the Algiers Point that was converted into a single residence in the 1980s.

While she paints, her two dachshunds, Peanut and Squiggy, nap nearby in her studio.

The art & materials: Colorful abstract paintings in acrylic and mixed media on canvas and paper ($200 to $3,600). Her main series focuses on different leaves: palmettos, figs and philodendrons.

What’s popular: Paintings based on her fiddle-leaf fig drawings, which are heavy on line work with a clean, white background. “They have been a fan and designer favorite.”

Inspirations:

Environment: Living in a colorful, sub-tropical environment.
Other artists, including: Kehinde Wiley, Wayne Thiebaud, Xenia Hausner, Andy Dixon, Sarah Awad, Helen Frankenthaler and Walter Anderson.

Fun, special or unusual commissions:

Watercolor washes to be used as wallpaper in a children’s hospital.
An eight-foot- long canvas for a corporate setting in Houston.

What’s new: Developing a series of limited screen prints with a local artist at New Orleans-based Four Finger Press.

What’s next:

New, small framed works. The “Warm Frost” works, 20 inches by 20 inches. Available May 26 at her website.
Releasing 20 new works through The Campbell Collective, an online marketplace, June 28. (campbellcollective.co)

Where to buy: marysingletonstudio.com. Also at galleries, including: