About the Artist, 
 Mark Mullino

My story....

I started painting as a child with paint by number sets and drawing everything in sight. While other kids wanted to play neighborhood sports outside, I was drawing horses and birds. In addition, I was an aspiring musician taking piano lessons. It wasn't till Junior High when I took my first art class and fell deeper in love with art. I continued through my sophomore year of high school where my attention started to move to theater. I made the difficult choice to stop my art courses to take theater class. I was already in band and choir, and musical theater was calling me strongly. That was it. I didn't paint or draw again till I was 38 years old.

I pursued music and theater solely. I got my degree in music in 1989. Started acting professionally at 22. I lived all over; Florida (Naples, Orlando, Boca Raton), Utah (Ogden),Texas (Dallas, Houston), and even New York City. I came back to Dallas in 1996 and by 2000 I had started musical directing for musical theater productions. Clearly music, specifically musical theater, is going to play a significant role in my life. In 2004 I met an artist named Jim Frederick. Jim would host backyard wine and paint gatherings on Sunday afternoons. I bought 2 small 12x12 canvases, grabbed some leftover house paint I had and headed to Jim's. I didn't know the affect that day would have on me. Jim insisted I should start painting again. I couldn't stop thinking about painting. I was teaching private voice at a high school then. I couldn't concentrate. I wanted to go home and paint. I resigned my teaching position in 2005. 

It would be nice to say I became a full time artist then but how could I? I had barely produced any paintings yet. Over the next 15 years, I developed my style and began exhibiting my work while taking on a few musical theater teaching positions and accompanying jobs at Dallas colleges. Today, I am a full time artist by day and do musical theater music direction in the evenings. 

My Style:

I use music in every painting I do. You'll find the music notation in the background of my paintings. The music compliments the image of the painting. I also use heavy outlining to create a sort-of stained glass effect. Some of my greatest influence here are Gustav Klimt and his use of canvas decoration and use of metallic gold. I'm also a great admirer of Tiffany stained glass.

I always start each painting with a sketch. Then I add the color to the subject and background. After it dries, I add the outlines. Lastly, I add the music and the metallic gold dry brush effect that makes the outlines and music look metal. 

I am sometimes asked if I would do a painting without the music, or the outlines, or the metallic gold. My answer is always no. These are the earmarks of my style, so I must insist on keeping them . 

My Passion:

Painting is my passion! I get stir crazy if I don't get to paint in a day. Obviously, music is my passion too. Marrying the two art forms together is my greatest joy.

Although a large majority of my work is musical theater based, I have done many paintings of pets, families, weddings and anniversaries, children, Sacred, sports, school mascots even! Anything that has music involved, I'm in! Music and art both evoke passion, and sentiment in all of us. I choose to honor that sentiment and love in my work.

So... what do YOU love?