Mary Ann Runciman’s skilled oil painting techniques are evident in her recent tropically inspired artwork.Mary Ann Runciman’s superb oil painting techniques are used to good effect in her boat paintings, landscapes, oil portrait painting and male and female figure drawing.
Most mornings, at first light, she can be found at the inlet or marina in Port Douglas in North Queensland, working on boat paintings before her subjects ‘up anchor’ and sail away for a day on the Great Barrier Reef. It is natural that she would meet many of Port’s seafarers, Port Douglas characters, who work on the boats that she paints. Her paints and canvases are never far away so it is a logical step that oil portrait paintings of these engaging subjects, as well as their boats, form the basis of her tropical paintings. In fact, when she is in Port Douglas, Mary Ann lives on a boat moored in the inlet, just a short walk away from her studio hideaway. She divides her time between her home-town of Adelaide in South Australia, a studio in Paris and her latest love, Port Douglas in Tropical North Queensland.
Speaking recently about her art practice, Mary Ann told me – “I prefer oil for it's body, richness and truth of colour when dry or wet. I use pastel, ink and charcoal too when drawing. Drawing has always been important to me since childhood; it was my favourite pastime." The PortraitsAlthough speed is not usually thought of as being important to oil painting techniques, Mary Ann's portrait innovations mean that, for her, it is of the essence.As she says, "All my paintings are drawn direct from life, usually with charcoal guidelines, including measurements (by eye). The very quick oil portraits will usually start with a few charcoal lines. I like to work as quickly as possible on portraits to keep them and the sitter fresh and alive - and the sitter awake! Tuckerbox Steve fell asleep early on and I mostly just had a view of the top of his head!" 
Life drawing has been a constant part of Mary Ann's art practice. For many years her studio in Rundle Steet, Adelaide, was open to anyone who would share the cost of a model. This way she could afford many hours of drawing, painting and clay sculpture from life. 
The Confinement SeriesThe Confinement Series was entirely based on the numerous figure sketches she had accumulated over the years. One day when she could no longer close the map drawers, stuffed full of drawings, she decided to put all this work to use.
It was only after this experience that she felt confident to paint from sketches. While composing these large paintings, a very time consuming occupation, she always has the drawings before her for reference. That way she can see that the painting progresses according to the truth of her initial pencil or charcoal drawings. With practice and growing confidence, these days she often adapts sketches to suit the composition of her painting. The Escape SeriesMary Ann considers that the marina, boat, industrial landscapes and landscapes in general owe a lot to her brief architectural training and time spent drafting in architects’ offices in university holidays. She has always enjoyed the challenge of geometry and of spatial problems.
She comments that "The boat and marina paintings offer the delightful perspective problem of no (or few) straight lines. The marinas are a chaos of clutter and spatial overlapping. It is always more interesting to attempt the seemingly impossible."
The boat paintings are part of the Escape Series - escape from the confinement of the square of the Confinement series and, of course, symbolic of escape, travel and freedom. The Confinement Series was done during a period of restriction in her life. 
Determined to develop as an artist, Mary Ann went to Paris specifically to undertake a course in anatomy for artists, not available elsewhere at the time. Her aim was also to copy masters' paintings in the Louvre and to visit and learn as much as possible about drawing and oil painting techniques in art museums. The old masters teach figure drawing and oil painting techniquesA well recognised, traditional, method of learning painting is to copy the old masters, discovering in the process something of their figure drawing skills and wonderful oil painting techniques that one could not learn in any other way.Mary Ann’s first choice was Leonardo da Vinci’s "Mary with Anne and the Infant Jesus" but the painting was being restored so she worked on copying "The Death of Sardanapolis" by Delacroix, a very difficult task, then the "Concert Champetre" by Titian/Giorgione. She was better pleased with her efforts this time and learned an enormous amount. Lastly she copied "Le Mise au Tombeau" or "Descent into the Tomb" by Titian, grateful that other copyists at the Louvre helped her enormously. HeroesMary Ann's artist heroes are difficult to choose but she has great admiration for the innovative work of Cezanne in particular and for Scottish/Australian, Ian Fairweather. This now famous artist, who spent his latter solitary years on Bribie Island in Queensland, struggled all his life to paint essential truths about life in Asia and Australia, having adventured there and in most other countries of the world.It is interesting to see the dedication with which Mary Ann has pursued her own art training and continued practice. If you would like to find out more about her work for sale check out her
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