M.J. Benson is a fine artist, living on the coast of Maine, her abstract landscapes inspired by the wild and moody edges of the ocean, land and sky. She has a BFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston & Tufts University, and an EdM from Harvard University. She exhibits her work nationally, and is in many private and corporate collections.
"As a painter, I love the horizon, its ever steady line of delineation between the spaces of land, sky, sea. It’s the first stroke I make on the surface, and often the last. In between are layers and layers of light and color, sprung from my memory but unbound by realism. I start with a framework, a few rules around composition or color, but it’s the tension between what I expect and what the painting is telling me that dictates the flow and finish. I work, and wait, until the ever fickle shifting between place and memory stills itself harmoniously on the canvas."