This month we are featuring Steve Mabley for the Capitol Hill Art League’s Mind of the Artist blog. Read Steve’s story and check out his artwork below.

My mother was creative throughout her life, working as a fashion artist as a young woman and later painting with oils. She encouraged my creativeness as a youth, but her encouragement ended when I chose to be an art major as a college freshman. My art professor/advisor had similar advice for me, bluntly stating I didn’t have what it takes to be an Art Major.  After two quarters, I switched to Biology and Chemistry, and reserved creativity as passtime only.  

Forty-five years later, as I approached retirement from a career in public health, I knew I wanted to do something to keep myself challenged during the next phase.  I had been exploring painting over the preceding 5 years.  Perfect! I would paint in retirement and maybe see whether I could ever have made it as a professional artist, despite what my mother and my freshman advisor thought.  I could test the proposition risk-free knowing I have a retirement income. Or shall I say “practically risk-free” since sharing creative work presents potential risks to the ego if it is under-appreciated.  

My painting practice has evolved along the way. Approaching retirement, I took a slew of art classes. I started painting  abstract or semi-abstract landscapes in acrylic, but found the quick drying limiting, and transitioned to the longer working time of oils. Landscape painting instructors recommended I paint plein air (“open air”, outside) as an exercise to develop a more nuanced seeing and decisiveness. I tried it, and they were right. I shifted surfaces from stretched canvas to more durable and thinner panels.

Then in 2019, I stopped working, registered a domain, got a website hosting service, and launched Steve Mabley Art.  The experiment has been encouraging and discouraging, at times successful and at others, less so.  Overall the past 5 years have been satisfying and challenging, a journey bearing unforeseen fruits, and only recently have I felt getting glimpses of my evolving painting voice.  

For the past year, I worked as an artist-in-residence at Palette22, a restaurant-bar-gallery-live-art venue. My plein air methods worked well in the festive restaurant scene and I found its buzz and vibe energizing.  Technically, it can’t be called plein air if it is indoors; live-painting is the term for painting a scene or event for the entertainment of those present as I did at Palette22. I love the immediacy and urgency of plein air and live-painting. Time is short, and I have to get my ideas down quickly while you’re there. My subject matter has now shifted from landscapes to street scenes and ‘social vibe’ scenes. I am honored and pleased to be scheduled for a solo show at The Art League Gallery of Alexandria in November 2026 on this very theme: The Social Vibe.

I think I’ve proven my mother right and my art professor wrong. My Public Health education and career have supported me well, enabling me to be an artist now.  I doubt my life situation could have been as good had I pursued an art career from the start. My artist pursuits now are enriching my life more than I imagined they would. I’ve confirmed my belief that fulfillment and financial success are both accessible to artists of all stripes and skills, and finding your unique voice and style are key ingredients to that success. 

Insta: @stevemabley

web: www.stevemabley.art