((Left) Freedom in Paris book page spread (right) Mary Marquiss| Photos courtesy of Mary Marquiss)

Mary Marquiss has been an art teacher and artist for 30 years and is the forthcoming author of Behind the Painting – An Artist’s Memoir.

Through serious life challenges, including divorce, family suicide and cancer, Marquiss discovered a relationship with her art in the form of a circular language. If you have ever faced what felt like insurmountable life challenges, her stories and paintings will inspire you.

With a degree in psychology, and both an artist and writer, the most provocative element to her paintings is their personal content.

In this intimate memoir, Marquiss tells the personal stories that inspired her paintings. Created across three decades, each work is in response to both the light side of life and the serious challenges she navigated, including divorce, family suicide, a stroke and cancer. Her art and stories are interwoven – they chart the course of a woman on the road to adventure and deeper self-discovery.

Behind the Painting shines a light on the artist’s process and is a testament to the transformative power of creativity, revealing how the deepest emotions can be forged into lasting beauty.

Marquiss developed her interest in art as a child, surrounded by the lush beauty of Oregon. Originally from Corvallis, she is a fifth-generation Oregonian and has lived in Bend for 34 years. She attended both the University of Oregon and UCLA, earning her bachelor of science degree in psychology. After graduating, she became the admissions director for a private psychiatric hospital in Reno, Nevada, owned by HCA with 500 hospitals worldwide. After two years as the hospital admissions director, she was promoted to marketing director and then became a marketing consultant for HCA.

In 1995 she moved to HCA’s corporate offices in Nashville to become the product manager for Seniority – a benefit that only comes with age – which was franchised in hospitals across the country. When her daughter was born 38 years ago, she left her corporate career and returned to her love of art and writing. “I focused primarily on watercolor because it can be playful, has a beautiful transparency and teaches me about the challenge of controlling this medium – when to take it and when to let go – as in life,” she explains.

Marquiss has written and illustrated two cookbooks and taught art and design classes to both adults and children in Bend for over 30 years. Combining her art and writing, Behind the Painting holds ten of her paintings with a story interwoven behind each one. This book takes the reader on an adventure with both the high notes in Paris and finding love late in life through the challenges she faced.

Her original art and book information can be seen at marymarquiss.com.