“Besides painting, I don’t really have any other hobbies. I don’t do anything besides painting,” says Chicago oil painter Mary Qian, when asked what sorts of things she likes to do in her spare time. She seems honestly a little bewildered by the question. Why would she not be painting? Why would she have spare time? What is spare time?

Qian leads a clean, streamlined, art-centric existence, spending many of her waking hours at Chicago’s Palette & Chisel Academy of Fine Arts, an art space where she makes extensive use of the studios and the models the organization makes available to its members. Although she has a rudimentary studio space in her home, she finds she becomes bored quickly with its familiar contours and contents: “I don’t have much furniture at home; I don’t have space,” she says. “I have a couple of couches I’ve painted so many times. I want something new. I wish I could rent.”

Mary Qian (Illinois)

Pondering
Oil
13″x11″

“She was pondering on what pose she should do, and this became the pose.”

Mary Qian (Illinois)

Rose
Oil
16″x12″

“Besides figures, florals are my second favorite subject, mostly because they resemble humans in many ways. The colors in this particular painting are very similar to skin tones. Capturing their essence early into the painting is very important.”