Mark E Mehaffey is an iconic member of the American Watercolor Society. He wrote "Creative Watercolor Workshop", published in 2005, which was reissued as Creative Watercolor and Acrylic Workshop in 2013, published by Northlight Publishing. Mark has also created a dozen instructional videos.

Can the elements of Art: line, shape, texture, value, color and form within a space BECOME the subject? I think so. These paintings are the most difficult for me to resolve and at the same time so much fun to do. It is intuitive painting, but intuition based on almost 50 years of painting experience. I add paint, subtract paint (most of these paintings are executed on Yupo a plastic paper that makes the addition and especially the subtraction of paint very easy) and make an evaluation of the whole and go again.

Some of my earliest memories include trying to match the colors I saw while using a child’s set of watercolors. Hours were spent in this endeavor. After 55 years of painting I’m now more inclined to paint the colors I feel than the colors I see. Paintings always take on a life of their own.

Above all I value creativity and honesty. And although I follow many paths and speak with more than one voice, I am on my own journey. I have two wishes…one is to live a few more hundred years, for I shall never have enough time to paint all the ideas in my head. Probably won't see that wish granted. That second wish? That somewhere along my journey I will communicate with fellow travelers who will see something of what I see and feel something of what I feel…

Mark Mehaffey