“I paint to capture a mood or emotion, something that draws the viewer into a place that resonates with me and communicates the intimacy of nature.”
Marita is a contemporary American Landscape Painter. She attributes her love of landscape painting to her mother, who enrolled her in the children’s program at the Portland Art Museum at the age of eleven, where she learned to appreciate and draw the spectacular Oregon vistas. After college and a successful career in business, (she retired from The Neiman Marcus Group as Senior Vice President, Chief Human Resource Officer), she realized that the enjoyment she felt during her early years could be the beginning of a full-time passion.
Marita’s painting style is reminiscent of the American Tonalism period. She is inspired by the ethereal possibilities of landscape painting. Her work is infused with subtle color effects and close values, creating atmosphere, mystery and a soft interpretation of what she sees and draws in nature and then visualizes in her studio.
She paints in oil, landscapes near her homes in the Berkshires of Massachusetts and Texas. Marita is an Associate Artist with Distinction of American Women Artists (AWA) and a member of Oil Painters of America and the National Oil and Acrylic Painters Society. Her Avian Art is available through Expedition Club and Supply in Bend, Oregon: (541) 316-3761. Her landscapes are available through her studio by contacting her directly.
Marita is a graduate of the University of Portland, where she earned a B.A. degree. Over the years, she has studied art with LaVerne Krause, Robert U. Taylor, Lucy MacGillis, Nancy Bush and T. Allen Lawson. In 2013, Marita completed The Landscape Atelier, a 2-year Fine Arts Program with prominent tonalist landscape painter, Deborah Paris.
Marita served as President of the Board of Trustees of the Barrington Stage Company, a professional theatre in Pittsfield, MA for eleven years. She remains a member of its board and Executive Committee. She is a former member of the Board of Trustees of the Moores School Society of the University of Houston, founding board member of the Bayou City Symphony and former board President of the American Festival of the Arts (AFA) in Houston.