Fran McNeely is an Agave Signature member of the Contemporary Artists of Southern Arizona and a Saguaro Fellow member of the Southern Arizona Watercolor Guild. Fran paints both abstract and representational pieces that strive to engage the viewer to spend time looking at a painting. Often a viewer will react immediately to a painting based on color preferences or familiarity with a subject. But a painting is much more than a viewer saying “I like the colors or I like seascapes.” A painting will engage the viewer with seeking to analyze the shape, form, design, and color of a piece, and also the feelings that might arise---all part of the elements used to create a unique work of abstract art. Georgia O’Keeffe said it best----“Nothing is less real than realism.”
Artist Statement: I paint what I see in the world around me. Bright colors, abstract shapes and forms, images I am never completely sure are exactly what I am seeing. Art, writing, life---can all be shape shifters. I strive to communicate these changing ideas and images to convey to the viewer that additional thought and effort can reveal different images, a range of ideas and multiple interpretations.