Art Brokerage: Born and raised in Maryland, Mark Lovett began playing guitar and singing professionally at the age of 14 and continued doing so into his thirties. His passion for visual arts did not take root until early mid-life, when he discovered his interest in visual arts. After struggling for years with alcohol dependence, Mark discovered that his passion for art helped the healing process in recovery, and led to a spiritual connection to every painting he creates. While Mark's music can still be heard on his website or in infrequent live performances, his band and Vintage Guitar business became avocations, while art became his vocation and passion. Mark, a graduate of the University of Maryland, studied figurative and portrait painting at Nelson Shanks Studio Incamminati in Pennsylvania, The Art League School in Alexandria, VA., and he attended several master artist workshops throughout the country, honing his skills depicting human form and painting live models regularly. Mark loves the old masters, such as Bouguereau, Schengel, Tissot, Harlamoff, DuBlaas, Andriotti, and Enjolras, among many others, and he strives to merge their techniques with his own style and vision. Mark strives to create beautiful color harmony with a tasteful but vibrant-color palette, and to fuse same into carefully conceived compositions, using bold strokes, and impasto, yet creating a delicate rendering of the human face and form to capture the essence of his subjects on canvas. Mark travels throughout Europe and America have provided inspiration for his images. He works with local models, including one who has been used in many of the famous Pino's portraits. Mark has won numerous awards including: 2006 Portrait Society of America Children's Portrait Competition; 2007 Women's Club of Chevy Chase, MD Annual Art Show; 2005 Rockville Art League Art Show Winner and his art has been featured in magazines including: Gulf Connoisseur Magazine 2010, Capitol File Magazine 2008; Washington Spaces Magazine 2007 and 2006; Who's Who of Strathmore Worldwide 2007-2008; Preview Magazine Art Expo, NY 2007; Strathmore Applause Magazine cover 2006; Art Business News Magazine 2006 and 2005. Mark's memberships include the American Artist - www.askart.com, Montgomery Gazette 2005; Oil Painters of America OPA; Portrait Artist Society of America; and the International Guild of Realism, Scottsdale, AZ. In 2008, Mark was voted into the prestigious Art Renewal Center's Living Masters group as a "Living Artist".