Mary works from a studio in the garden of her Suffolk farmhouse, interrupted only by a flash of azure from the resident kingfisher or the cluck of a passing chicken. With her eye for detail and pattern, Mary excels when painting natural subjects. She works mainly in watercolour, but also enjoys the added flexibility that photoshop can give to her design work.
Mary attended Canterbury Art College after School for Foundation Art Studies, Textile Design at Manchester Metropolitan University and Ceramic Design at the Royal College of Art. Since graduating she has worked with The Artworks illustration agency on a wide range of projects, including book publishing, greetings cards, packaging and advertising, as well as exhibiting original artwork.
A move to the country, and the creation of a vegetable plot was the inspiration for her latest book, The Painted Garden Cookbook, published by Running Press. Following on from the success of The Painted Garden, a diary of her London garden, it is a collection of illustrated recipes Mary has created using the fruit and vegetables from her own plot.
With her husband, Andrew Martindale she also publishes a delightful range of greetings cards featuring musicians.