Mardell Schuster

Art has always been a part of Mardell Schuster's life. She majored in illustration and graphic design at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design.  Most of all, Schuster likes to draw realistic still lifes, although her cats appeared in some cameo roles in her drawings of still lifes. She has been working on a series of tea party drawings for the past few years. She usually chooses a lot of different subjects a week or two before the photo shoot. Some of the items she uses were donated to her.  Schuster's goal is to constantly learn and improve each new drawing. She challenges herself by trying out different objects, surfaces and textures. Her favorite artists are Dutch still lifes from the 1600s. Her main goal is to imitate their paintings with colored pencils. At this stage of her life, she just enjoys the fact that she now has time to do what she loves most, namely to draw.