Reproducing or using any of the artwork on these pages for any purpose is strictly forbidden.

Thank you for allowing me to share my work using this platform. Technology does not replace real life, but it is nonetheless a gift to have connection, especially now. 

I am going into my junior year at Gordon College on the north shore of Boston, double majoring in Studio Art (Painting) and English. I’m pursuing going into illustration.  I have been drawing since I was very young and have been blessed throughout my life to have people encouraging me to pursue art and helping me grow in my work. Along with creating individual pieces, I have enjoyed painting and designing the sets for the August musical for the past five  years. My grandfather, Tad Mahan, loved PLP and passed that love on to my family and I. 

This body of work, my third  show at PLP, is done mostly in gouache, an opaque watercolor, but a few pieces are done in pen and watercolor. When I’m creating a piece, I try to capture the realness– the texture, the movement, the line– but also the “whimsical”–the part of a scene that is surprising. For example, if we look closer, there might be a color in front of us that doesn’t “make sense” to our brain, and yet, there it is. Water can be a thousand colors because it is both reflective and transparent; tree bark is often not brown as we assume. It is these kinds of details in the endless genius in nature that intrigue me and give me joy to attempt to capture. 

Thank you to everyone who has supported my  work in the past. Your encouragement and expressed enjoyment of my art  is the best thing a young artist can hear. This has been a unique year, a difficult year,  but it is wonderful to have a means of expression that speaks into every aspect of life, including our present moment.

203.895.4925 | bellachristian3@gmail.com