Rosemary Machado is a San Francisco Bay Area based mixed-media artist and jewelry maker.
A native of California's Central Coast, San Francisco Bay Area resident Rosemary Machado is a mixed-media artist and maker of hand-crafted jewelry. Machado wanted to be an artist for as long as she can remember and began painting in acrylics at the age of 10 and oils at the age of 11. Machado's artwork consists primarily of mixed media shadow boxes, mixed media and oil on canvas, and mixed media and watercolor on paper. Redwoods, oaks, and willows are depicted in various settings: at dusk, at the height of autumn, alongside sections of topographic maps. She uses recycled fabric and glass, as well as natural found objects to create a variety of textures that gives each work a unique, captivating quality. Machado's works are striking and unusual and reveal something new each time one looks at them.
A painting usually begins with one central theme: how the moon set the night before or how the light looked through the clouds that morning. Often it's just a feeling, mood, or atmosphere left over from a dream I've just had. When I face the bare canvas with these "almost" ideas, a conversation begins—free association that ends when the painting is done. I rarely plan paintings. I don't sketch out what I want to do. If I draw something, the idea ends with the drawing. Essentially, I want to create paintings that invite the viewer to enter and linger; paintings that provide a place for the eye to rest, a refuge apart from the day-to-day rush; paintings that let the viewer experience something new with each encounter; paintings that are beautiful without being merely pretty.