Mary Whyte’s 4 Tips for Unlocking Creative Expression

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Award-winning watercolor artist Mary Whyte has created impact well beyond the canvas, as her portraits not only capture the individual’s personality but the broader human experience. Whyte’s new book, An Artist’s Life, includes 70 of her acclaimed portraits, along with an exclusive look at never-before-seen works and the life, passion and encounters that inspired them. 

“Being an artist is a joyful way of moving through the world and transcribing our experience for others to see and feel,” Whyte says. “Knowing what’s essential to one’s soul and finding one’s true artistic voice is the catalyst and gateway to producing one’s most meaningful works of art.”

During her 50 years as an artist and teacher, Whyte has discovered that learning how to tap into one’s personal well of creativity and passion is the most important lesson. She offers the following key pieces of advice for unlocking creative expression.

Four Tips for Creative Success

Always Evolving

Over the past few years, Whyte has become more intrigued using other art forms, like music and video, and finding out how they can affect the experience of visual art. In planning for her “Salt of the Earth” exhibition at the Gibbes Museum of Art, in Charleston, S.C., on view through September 27th, the artist conceived of another opportunity for experimentation—and her biggest blank canvas yet. She realized the gallery walls would be painted white before her paintings were hung for the show, so why not use the space to make a statement? “I asked if I could draw on one of the walls with charcoal, and the museum gave me permission,” she explains. “So, I drew seedlings that progress into full-bloom sunflowers and then wither.” 

Over these wall drawings hangs Whyte’s “Life” series (shown above), a group of five paintings made to look like collage. It’s a new style for the artist, but one that uses her tried-and-true watercolor techniques. “We remember things in pieces and parts, almost like a collage put together,” she says. “I painted these works to look like they’re separate pieces of paper that are torn and pasted together, but it’s all one watercolor.” 

The combination of the fragmented compositions set against the full life cycle of the sunflower is meant to evoke the different stages of human life. To tie it all together, a looping video plays—showing Whyte at work on the charcoal drawings and artfully hanging the paintings—to form a cohesive story. 

Whyte has become more adventurous in her painting approach over time—and more fearless, too. “When I was younger, I painted more for the viewer than myself,” she says. The artist has since moved beyond some of the creative constraints she felt previously. “There’s more abstraction in my work now,” she continues. “The objects in my paintings are more suggested than they used to be, and I think they’re stronger because of it. When you suggest rather than tell, the viewer participates more.” 

About the Artist

Mary Whyte is an internationally renowned watercolor artist and the author of numerous books, including We the People: Portraits of Veterans in America. Her works are part of private, corporate, university and public collections nationwide and have been featured by several media outlets. She’s the recipient of many awards, including the Portrait Society of America’s Gold Medal and the South Carolina Governor’s Award for the Arts. In 2019, Whyte founded The Patriot Art Foundation to honor and inspire veterans through the arts. In 2022, she received the Annie Oakley Society Award for her role as a leader in the artistic community and inspirational work through The Patriot Art Foundation.

About the Author

Christina Richards is Managing Editor of the Artists Network group of magazines.