Work samples

  • Midsummer in Ellicott City
    Midsummer in Ellicott City

    acrylic, 22"x30", 2022

  • 1. Ellicott City Cyclist.jpg
    1. Ellicott City Cyclist.jpg

    Ellicott City Cyclist, oil, 30"x30", 2013

  • 2. Ellicott City From Westchester Avenue.jpg
    2. Ellicott City From Westchester Avenue.jpg

    Ellicott City From Westchester Avenue, oil, 30"x36", 2012

  • 4. St Paul's Steps.JPG
    4. St Paul's Steps.JPG
    St. Paul's Steps, oil, 18"x24"

About Mary Jo

Howard County

BIOGRAPHY

Mary Jo Tydlacka is a resident artist at the Howard County Center for the Arts. She was born and educated in the Chicago area and did her art studies at the University of Maryland, College Park, and at MICA. Collectors of her work include the Folger Shakespeare Library, Michael Kahn, founder of the Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, D. C., and Theresa Colvin, former Director of the Maryland State Arts Council. She participated in an 2 artist exchanges in Cergy-Pontoise… more

Performances

I enjoy the gathering of people for plays and performances. I like to witness it and record it. A librarian friend of mine called me an archivist. That's fine.

  • Piano Recital
    Piano Recital

    acrylic, 22"x30", 1995

  • Macbeth
    Macbeth

    acrylic, 16"x12", 2023

  • Pericles
    Pericles

    acrylic, 18"x24", 2023, this play was performed during the pandemic

  • West Lawn of the Capitol.jpg
    West Lawn of the Capitol.jpg
    West Lawn of the Capitol, acrylic, 36"x48", 2018,
  • National Symphony Rehearsal.jpg
    National Symphony Rehearsal.jpg
    National Symphony Rehearsal, acrylic, 18"x24", 2018
  • Columbia Lakefront.jpg
    Columbia Lakefront.jpg
    , Wedding pictures, a scene from a play, picnics, and walking the dog are all happening at the lakefront.
  • Midsummer at Evergreen Meadow
    Midsummer at Evergreen Meadow
    acrylic, 24"x30", 2015 During this play two owls were hooting to each other in the woods so I put them in the play. A female Puck is to the far right and I have her looking over all my following projects. All this took place in the heart of Baltimore.
  • Hans Zimmer Concert.jpg
    Hans Zimmer Concert.jpg
    Hans Zimmer Concert, watercolor, 9"x12",2017
  • Uppity Blues Women
    Uppity Blues Women
    oil, 16"x20", 2000 Performance at the Columbia Festival of the Arts
  • Trio at Evergreen House
    Trio at Evergreen House
    acrylic, 30"x24", 2016 The Glenmont Trio performed at Evergreen House a few years ago. I made a tiny sketch and finally made a painting of the group.

Ellicott City

I have been fascinated with Ellicott City  since I first saw it and the city has been the subject matter of many of my paintings. Its historic buildings and hilly quality were so different from the flat Midwest where I grew up. Since 2010 I have participated in Paint It Ellicott City, a pleine air event. The Patapsco Female Institute Ruins sit at the top of the highest hill in the city, and that is the site of the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company's  summer plays. The last two floods have been a shock to all of us closely involved with historic Ellicott City.
  • St. Pauls Steps
    St. Pauls Steps
    St. Paul's Steps, oil, 18"x24", 2010
  • Ellicott City From Westchester Avenue
    Ellicott City From Westchester Avenue
    Ellicott City From Westchester Avenue, oil, 30"x36", 2012
  • The Patapsco Female Institute Ruins
    The Patapsco Female Institute Ruins
    The Patapsco Female Institute Ruins, oil, 20"x20", 2003
  • Ellicott City Train Station From Above
    Ellicott City Train Station From Above
    Ellicott City Train Station From Above, oil, 40"x30", 2003
  • Ellicott City Train Station
    Ellicott City Train Station
    Ellicott City Train Station, acrylic, 18"x24", 2013
  • Ellicott City From St. Paul's
    Ellicott City From St. Paul's
    Ellicott City From St. Paul's, acrylic, 30"x30", 2001
  • Ellicott City
    Ellicott City
    Ellicott City, acrylic, 30"x24", 2008
  • The National Road, Ellicott City
    The National Road, Ellicott City
    The National Road, Ellicott City, acrylic, 16"x20", 2012
  • The Ruins In The Morning
    The Ruins In The Morning
    The Ruins In The Morning, acrylic, 18"x24", 2013
  • Spring In Ellicott City
    Spring In Ellicott City
    Spring In Ellicott City, watercolor, 15"x20", 2004

France

 I participated in two artist exchanges with Cergy-Pontoise, France, and Columbia, Maryland. These were in 1999 and 2018. American artists lived with French families and exhibited with French artists at nearby Chateau Grouchy in Osny, France. These are my paintings from the 2018 trip.
  • French Village.jpg
    French Village.jpg
    French Village, watercolor, 12"x16", 2020
  • French Home.jpg
    French Home.jpg
    French Home, acrylic, 12"x16", 2020
  • Monet's Garden.jpg
    Monet's Garden.jpg
    acrylic, 24"x30", 2019
  • Monet's Garden study.jpg
    Monet's Garden study.jpg
    Monet's Garden study, watercolor, 8"x10", 2019
  • Water Garden at Giverny.jpg
    Water Garden at Giverny.jpg
    Water Garden At Giverny, acrylic, 18"x24", 2019
  • Monet's WillowTree.JPG
    Monet's WillowTree.JPG
    Monet's Willow Tree, acrylic, 12"x16", 2020
  • View From The Japanese Bridge.jpg
    View From The Japanese Bridge.jpg
    acrylic, 12"x16", 2019
  • Bright Day At Monet's Garden.jpg
    Bright Day At Monet's Garden.jpg
    Bright Day At Monet's Garden, acrylic, 24"x30", 2019

Outdoor Shakespeare

The next few projects are one big project. In 2003 I attended Chesapeake Shakespeare Company's Romeo and Juliet at the Patapsco Female Institute Ruins in Ellicott City. I have been painting the plays performed there every summer since. I was already interested in the historic building, an 1830's girls' boarding school. The ruins are perched on a hill overlooking Ellicott City, the river and the railroad. I was an English teacher a few years and the rich subject matter is endless. There are trees, night skies, old stone walls, ruins, costumes, drama, picnics, families and Shakespeare's words.

  • Midsummer Night's Dream in Ellicott City
    Midsummer Night's Dream in Ellicott City

    acrylic, 18"x24", 2022

  • Romeo and Juliet
    Romeo and Juliet

    acrylic, 22"x30", 2020

  • The Tempest at the Patapsco Female Institute.jpg
    The Tempest at the Patapsco Female Institute.jpg
    The Tempest at the Patapsco Female Institute, acrylic, 12"x16", 2017
  • We are such stuff as dreams are made on.jpg
    We are such stuff as dreams are made on.jpg
    watercolor, 16'X12", 2017
  • Comedy Of Errors, The End
    Comedy Of Errors, The End
    Comedy Of Errors, The End, watercolor, 12"x16", 2016
  • Comedy of Errors Exorcism
    Comedy of Errors Exorcism
    watercolor, 9"x12", 2015
  • Antony And Cleopatra
    Antony And Cleopatra
    acrylic, 18"x24", 2014
  • As You Like It Serenade
    As You Like It Serenade
    watercolor, 9"x12", 2014 Painted on site during the play with super moon above.
  • The Three Musketeers.jpg
    The Three Musketeers.jpg
    The Three Musketeers, watercolor, 12"x16", 2016
  • Midsummer.jpg
    Midsummer.jpg
    Midsummer, watercolor, 12"x16", 2018

Outdoor Shakespeare

This is a continuation of the above project.  In this group I depict a scene from the Tempest as a real storm is brewing in the sky. The group did Macbeth as a Movable Shakespeare where the audience followed the actors around the site for different scenes. Macbeth meets the witches on the steps and they dance in the woods. Lady Macbeth goes crazy in the chapel basement, and the play ends with a sword fight on the hill with cars driving below. I found these real scene changes very effective.
  • Comedy Of Errors
    Comedy Of Errors
    oil, 24"x30", 2010
  • The Tempest
    The Tempest
    watercolor, 22"x30", 2009 The scene in the play was a tempest and a real storm came up.
  • All Hail Macbeth
    All Hail Macbeth
    watercolor, 16"x12", 2009 This was the first moveable Shakespeare where the audience followed the actors around the ruins. It was cold, dark and spooky in October. It felt as if we were following this menacing family around their house and witnessing their descent into tragedy.
  • Witches In The Woods
    Witches In The Woods
    watercolor, 16"x12", 2009 I pulled on all my previous paintings of trees to get this result.
  • Lady Macbeth Goes Mad
    Lady Macbeth Goes Mad
    watercolor,16"X12", 2009 Lady Macbeth is in the basement of the chapel of the ruins.
  • The Sword Fight In Macbeth
    The Sword Fight In Macbeth
    watercolor, 12"X16", 2009 The back lawn of the ruins, high on a hill with a road below.
  • The Serenade in Twelfth Night
    The Serenade in Twelfth Night
    watercolor, 12"x16", 2011 I like the way the action was moved around on the grounds so the audience had to look backwards. Erin Blake, the art curator of the Folger, said that the audience was an important element in my paintings.
  • Twelfth Night
    Twelfth Night
    watercolor, 12"x16", 2011
  • Cyrano De Bergerac
    Cyrano De Bergerac
    12"x16"', 2010
  • Cyrano, The Balcony Scene
    Cyrano, The Balcony Scene
    watercolor, 16"x12", 2010

Outdoor Shakespeare

A continuation of the Shakespeare project. Details are in above projects. Much Ado About Nothing and Midsummer Night's Dream 2005 are in the permanent collection of the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington. Much Ado About Nothing was in the exhibit Shakespeare in American Life at the Folger in 2007. The curators thought it was a good example of American outdoor Shakespeare. It is in the catalog.
  • The Folger's Much Ado About Nothing
    The Folger's Much Ado About Nothing
    watercolor and acrylic, 20"x24", 2005 This piece is in the permanent collection of the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. and it was on exhibit there in the show Shakespeare in American Life. The show was part of a citywide Shakespeare Festival in 2007.
  • Romeo And Juliet
    Romeo And Juliet
    watercolor, 22"x30", 2004 This was the first play done at the ruins and it hooked me.
  • King Lear
    King Lear
    watercolor, 22"x30", 2007
  • The Taming Of The Shrew
    The Taming Of The Shrew
    watercolor, 22"x30", 2007
  • As You Like It
    As You Like It
    As You Like It, watercolor, 12"x16", 2014, A happy ending under the super moon.
  • Macbeth's Witches
    Macbeth's Witches
    watercolor, 11"x14", 2008 This was their first production of Macbeth. It was in a black box theater.
  • Henry V
    Henry V
    watercolor, 22"x30", 2008 Amazing lighting casts Henry V as a looming giant at the battle of at Agincourt.
  • Henry V The Night Before The Battle
    Henry V The Night Before The Battle
    watercolor, 12"x16", 2008, This production had to be moved under a tent because of weather. The actors were right in front of me.
  • The Folger's Midsummer Night's Dream
    The Folger's Midsummer Night's Dream
    watercolor, 22"x30", 2006 This piece is in the permanent collection of the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C.
  • Pyramus And Thisbe
    Pyramus And Thisbe
    watercolor, 18"x24", 2006

Italy

While I was a student at Loyola University's Rome Center I would sit in the cafeteria and look out the window at a villa up on Monte Mario. In the spring I finally got to go up there and visit. It is Villa Madoma, a Renaissance structure designed in part by Rafael. It has majestic arches, gardens, fountains, and terraces. That year of living among ancient, Renaissance and baroque art greatly impressed me and I think it influenced me to become an artist. In 2010 I was able to go back and revisit many familiar sites.
  • Michelangelo's Campidoglio
    Michelangelo's Campidoglio
    watercolor, 12"x16"
  • Roman Forum
    Roman Forum
    watercolor, 9"x12"
  • Forum Of Augustus
    Forum Of Augustus
    watercolor, 16"x12"
  • Dinner in Florence
    Dinner in Florence
    watercolor, 12"X16"
  • Rome from the Quirinale Hill I
    Rome from the Quirinale Hill I
    watercolor, 12"x9"
  • Rome from the Quirinale Hill II
    Rome from the Quirinale Hill II
    oil, 30"x24"
  • Arch Leading to Forum of Augustus
    Arch Leading to Forum of Augustus
    watercolor, 16"x12"
  • Orvieto Cathedral
    Orvieto Cathedral
    watercolor, 24"x18"
  • Orvieto Cathedral detail
    Orvieto Cathedral detail
    watercolor, 24"x18"
  • Constantine's Basilica
    Constantine's Basilica
    watercolor, 12"x16", 2010 Getting a history lesson on site.

The Eastern Shore

I began painting the Eastern Shore about ten years ago. I try to get there once each year. It is so inviting with its different sights, sounds, color, and light. The air and mood are a change. In my art I try to feel that difference and put it in the painting. Sometimes I am able to do on site painting there and it always adds a liveliness and immediacy to the work.
  • Cape May
    Cape May
    acrylic, 22"x28", 2014
  • Cape May Sunrise
    Cape May Sunrise
    acrylic, 18"x24", Empty benches, a little snow on the beach.
  • Lunch on the Eastern Shore
    Lunch on the Eastern Shore
    watercolor, 7"x10", 2015 A slower, nature-filled life.
  • Beach House Interior
    Beach House Interior
    Oil, 24"x36", 2010 A view of the ocean.
  • Clouds at the Beach
    Clouds at the Beach
    watercolor, 9"x12", 2010 The richness of the colors in the weathered siding of the beach houses. Painted on site.
  • Beach Houses First Year
    Beach Houses First Year
    watercolor, 15"x20", 2006 Dune grasses are not so full.
  • Moon Over Beach Houses
    Moon Over Beach Houses
    watercolor, 12"x16", 2010 Dune grasses are thicker this year.
  • Bethany Lights
    Bethany Lights
    Bethany Lights, watercolor, 12"x16", 2010
  • Historic Beach House
    Historic Beach House
    watercolor, 11"x14", 2008
  • Rock Hall, Maryland
    Rock Hall, Maryland
    Rock Hall, Maryland, watercolor, 12"x16", 2012

Ireland

I traveled to Ireland with a group of artists and hammer dulcimer players. The artists painted during the day and we all went to the pubs in the evening to hear the musicians.
  • Kylemore Flowers
    Kylemore Flowers
    acrylic, 11"x14", 2015
  • Inisheer Island
    Inisheer Island
    acrylic, 6"x8", 2016 The smallest of the Aran Islands is crowned with a 14th Century castle ruins and walled plots. The large stones at the bottom are the remains of an Iron Age stone fort.
  • Cliffs of Moher
    Cliffs of Moher
    watercolor, 9"x12', 2015
  • Doolin
    Doolin
    acrylic, 12"x16", 2016
  • Doolin, Bay and Inisheer Island
    Doolin, Bay and Inisheer Island
    acrylic, 12'x16", 2015 Cool and overcast but beautiful.
  • Inisheer, O'Brien's Castle.jpg
    Inisheer, O'Brien's Castle.jpg
    Inisheer, O'Brien's Castle, acrylic, 24"x30", 2016
  • Inisheer And Inishmaan.jpg
    Inisheer And Inishmaan.jpg
    Inisheer And Inishmaan, acrylic, 24"x30", 2016
  • Carna Cemetery.jpg
    Carna Cemetery.jpg
    Carna Cemetery, acrylic, 12"x16", 2017 An active cemetery with a ruined church and more ruins in the distance.
  • Carna Beach.jpg
    Carna Beach.jpg
    Carna Beach, watercolor, 9"x12", 2015 This was painted on site.
  • Carna Ruins.jpg
    Carna Ruins.jpg
    Carna Ruins, watercolor, 12"x16", 2015

Ink Drawings

I enjoy doing the ink drawings. They can feel like playing compared to painting because there are fewer decisions to make. At times I do them very fast even without a pencil drawing. That was the case with Midsummer With Owls which I did after the big painting in project 1, Performances.
On a very different note I made this series on Richard lll only as ink drawings, not colorful paintings, and I included text for the first time. Chesapeake Shakespeare Company's 2012 production was a Moveable Shakespeare performed at the Patapsco Female Institute Ruins. The actors moved around the setting and the audience followed. It was performed in the dark in October. Around the same time Richard lll's bones were excavated and identified in England. I have worked on this series since then.
  • Midsummer With Owls At Evergreen House
    Midsummer With Owls At Evergreen House
    Midsummer With Owls At Evergreen House, ink on clayboard, 9"x12", 2015 I had to include my background image.
  • Richard lll, The Winter Of Our Discontent
    Richard lll, The Winter Of Our Discontent
    Richard lll, The Winter Of Our Discontent, ink, 8"x6", 2013
  • Richard lll Courts Ann Over Ellicott City
    Richard lll Courts Ann Over Ellicott City
    Richard lll Courts Ann Over Ellicott City, ink, 6"x8", 2013
  • Clarence In The Tower
    Clarence In The Tower
    Clarence In The Tower, ink, 6"x8", 2017
  • You Peers
    You Peers
    You Peers, ink, 6"x8", 2017
  • Buckingham And Richard
    Buckingham And Richard
    Buckingham And Richard, ink, 6"x8", 2017
  • Richard III And  Nephews In The Tower
    Richard III And Nephews In The Tower
    Richard lll And Nephews In The Tower, ink, 8"x6", 2015
  • Richard And Elizabeth
    Richard And Elizabeth
    Richard And Elizabeth, ink, 6"x8", 2017
  • We Are Up In Arms
    We Are Up In Arms
    We Are Up In Arms, ink, 6"x8", 2014
  • My Kingdom For A Horse
    My Kingdom For A Horse
    My Kingdom For A Horse, ink, 6"x8", 2013