Some say that paintings reveal an artist’s soul.  A brief study of Athena Mantle’s work will reveal her affinity for nature and enthusiastic vision. 

Statuesque agave plants – exotic species of succulents – rich landscapes.  All of her subjects convey a sense of beauty and subtlety that is often overlooked by the naked eye.  Athena’s use of color creates a sense of a kid in a candy shop.  Her work conveys her love of color and it’s infectious.  It is clear in her work the passion she feels for each subject. 

Athena’s artistic journey began when she was a child.  She studied perspective and figure drawing from books and often spent her free time sketching animals and faces from magazines with pencil and paper.  She always had a supportive approving audience in her family.  She took a summer job as a teenager hand painting t-shirts, a time which she remembers with fondness. 

In her 20’s she decided to make a career out of what she always loved, art.  She became an instructor at Mission:Renaissance, and began teaching children to draw and paint.  She trained under world-renowned painter, Larry Gluck.  Under his tutelage she further developed her skills in drawing and painting.

Athena went on to teach other instructors in the Gluck method and became an executive at the school.  But alas the world of administration was not for her.  She loved teaching, she loved art, but she did not love paperwork.  Following the death of her father she left the school to focus on family. 

During her time away she had become very interested in gardening and spent much of her free time cultivating her own garden while learning about succulents and cactus and experimenting with growing them in her own yard.  She frequently visited specialty cactus nurseries and public gardens to get inspiration and ideas for her own garden.  Living in Southern California she also found interesting specimens in the most unexpected places like street medians, in restaurant planters, and abandoned lots.  “No matter where I was it seemed I would find something so beautiful that I found it delicious!  I would study its colors and imagine it as a beautiful painting,” Athena says.

After five years away, she returned to the arts and set out to be a professional painter.  With her passion for gardening as a driving force she began experimenting with different subject matter and styles to find her voice.  “There is nothing more satisfying than being able to spend my time creating beauty that others can enjoy,” Athena says. 

Athena works from photographs that she takes of her subjects which she collects in her travels in and out of town as well as her own garden.  She then injects her own splash of enthusiasm into the subject and relays that on the canvas.  While oil is her primary medium she also enjoys working with pastel, pencil and watercolor.  “I use the medium that I feel will best create the effect I’m going for,” the artist says, “the ultimate goal for me as an artist is to convey the subject in a realistic but fun and lively way and uplift the viewer.”