Mernie Buchanan, a local artist with a downtown studio for twenty five years, is best known for her fine art painting series, the ‘Faux Louvre’. Buchanan travels to fine art museums in Europe and the United States and sketches original masterpieces, then paints watercolor interpretations and glazes colorful ornate frames to complement each piece. This series and other studio paintings, says Buchanan, allow her to express her own artistic ideas.
Buchanan also paints large and small-scale murals. When doing commercial work her philosophy is entirely different. “Painting murals is about service,” she says. “My time is divided between studio work and commercial projects. The two keep me balanced.”
Buchanan recently completed a large-scale, three-walled mural of Monument Valley in a home in Green Valley. The room had sixteenfoot ceilings and angled walls that presented a challenge and called for something special. How do you fit the 90,000 acre sandstone splendor of Monument Valley into a three-walled room? Buchanan specializes in adapting to difficult spaces, and has a long background
theatrical set painting. Rather than attempting to distract from the odd angle or curve, she uses it to embellish the scene. Buchanan’s studio is located adjacent to the Avant Garden downtown, at 117 East D Street. It is open to the public by appointment or by happenstance. mernie.com.
