I am Mande Gaffney, a peace-seeking painter living in Johns Island, SC. My story is a little unique compared to traditional artists in that during art school, I got a lot of “you aren’t doing that right” and “don’t mix that with that,” and honestly, I gave up on traditional painting and started making digital art instead.
Over the next ten years, I grew my digital art practice and became a Creative Director, working in digital agencies. I did not touch a brush again until I began to wish for the absence of screens. My love of nature and peace are what drove me back into the arms of painting.
Fast forward a few years: I grew my hobby into a small business, Mande Calhoun Art, LLC (mandecalhounart, LLC) while forming partnerships with Minted.com, Juniper Print Shop, Pulp Print Shop, and others. My work has been featured on Apartment Therapy, HGTV, and Vogue. I mostly paint on scraps of paper that I hand rip, and because of my digital background, I can scan, scale, crop, and edit them into 60x40 prints. I use whatever medium I want, often mixing pastels with watercolors and acrylics, and if I am feeling it - sand, tea and pencils. I paint to find peace, usually on the floor with loud music playing in the background (leading to the occasional dance break).
I am Mande Gaffney, a peace-seeking painter living in Johns Island, SC. My story is a little unique compared to traditional artists in that during art school, I got a lot of “you aren’t doing that right” and “don’t mix that with that,” and honestly, I gave up on traditional painting and started making digital art instead.
Over the next ten years, I grew my digital art practice and became a Creative Director, working in digital agencies. I did not touch a brush again until I began to wish for the absence of screens. My love of nature and peace are what drove me back into the arms of painting.
Fast forward a few years: I grew my hobby into a small business, Mande Calhoun Art, LLC (mandecalhounart, LLC) while forming partnerships with Minted.com, Juniper Print Shop, Pulp Print Shop, and others. My work has been featured on Apartment Therapy, HGTV, and Vogue. I mostly paint on scraps of paper that I hand rip, and because of my digital background, I can scan, scale, crop, and edit them into 60x40 prints. I use whatever medium I want, often mixing pastels with watercolors and acrylics, and if I am feeling it - sand, tea and pencils. I paint to find peace, usually on the floor with loud music playing in the background (leading to the occasional dance break).
Having the opportunity to have a small business allows me to give back. Throughout the years I have supported fundraising campaigns, donated art and given a portion of all my profits to causes.
I believe in shopping with your values (as much as you can). Who I am, what I believe in, will never be something I will hide.
Partnered with a local bottle shop, Odyssey Bottle Shop, to auction off this 40x30 framed commissioned print for Breast Cancer.
I donated this handmade framed lil original to be auctioned for the Seol Ahs fam after dealing with a devastating house fire. The event was with Yelp Charleston & The Odyssey Bottle Shop as part of the For Trucks Sake series.
While in Vancouver Island there was evidence of previous fires and some ongoing. It was an easy yes to donate 1% of the profits from the Sprawling Island collection to the United for BC Wildfire Recovery Fund.
My work begins in quiet
a shift in light
a breath caught in memory
the raw edge of something true
I paint in layers
pastel over acrylic
soft beside strong
muddy greens, worn whites
blues that rise like water
and fade like old denim
familiar, reflective, deep
My palette is a song I know by heart
like a white tee
like bare feet on old wood
like the way salt lingers after the tide pulls back
These pieces drift between abstraction and land
some break open
some hold the line
all of them shaped by what stays
and what slips away
I don’t paint to explain
I paint to remember
to return
to feel something I forgot I knew
I want the work to hum
like a lyric you didn’t know you knew
soft and steady
something that stays with you
long after you’ve walked away
Your cart is currently empty.
