When M.J. Hinson sees a blank wall, she sees an opportunity.
That’s because she is, among other things, a painter of murals. While many of them are at Naval Air Station Jacksonville and thus not accessible to the public and others have been painted over to accommodate new building owners, Hinson’s largest mural to date can be found in the St. Nicholas neighborhood of Jacksonville.
“Shorebirds of Florida,” measuring 125 by 17 feet, is at 2624 Atlantic Blvd. She painted it in three weeks in 2021, using about 135 cans of paint.
So, how does one create something that large and in proper proportion while standing just inches from its surface? The secret is in the planning.
“I draw it to scale, and then I put it on a grid,” the Jacksonville artist said. “So, my quarter of an inch on the grid might be two feet on the wall.”
In fact, her studio work tends to be quite large, as well. “Life Underlying,” painted across four canvases, is assembled and displayed as an 8-by-16-foot work.
Because she wants the best results, Hinson does not skimp on the materials. Brick is very difficult to work with, so she primes the surface well and then applies the colors with Montana Gold Spray Paint, an acrylic medium. When finished, she sprays it with a sealer.
Even then, murals on exterior surfaces fade in about 10 years.
Hinson’s other work spans a number of genres.
“Afternoon Ride,” depicts a bicycle beside a field of lavender and sunflowers and was executed during a visit to France. Like her other studio pieces, it was painted in oil. What the trained eye will notice with this and other works by Hinson is the close attention to proportion and the placement of elements.
“There are rules of design and of composition and of color relationships, and I think those should be followed,” she said. In fact, she designs her works according to the theories of perfect proportion established by 13th-century mathematician Fibonacci.
“I’m a math person, which is not what an artist often is,” she admits and says she is not a fan of the “banana taped to the wall” style of art.
“Somewhere in my mind, I still believe art should be beautiful,” she said.
Another example of her diverse talents is an astoundingly realistic graphite drawing of her beloved horse, Bismarck, which was used on a wine bottle for Quantum Leap Winery in Orlando.
She exhibits her works four to five times a year, and recently had one at the Jacksonville airport titled “Earth Power.” She also does commissions.
But her talents don’t stop there. She also does sculpture and has written five books. She is taking lessons in piano and jiu jitsu. She has ridden jumping horses and once was a roller figure skater while living in Virginia.
Her friends call her a Renaissance person, with good reason.
Hinson is a First Coast native. As a small child, she took painting lessons and developed a love of art.
“I have some of my abstracts from second grade that I still look at and I think, ‘These are pretty good,’” she said.
She continued her studies into her adult years, traveling to places around the world and immersing herself in the various cultures.
She earned a Ph.D from Capella University in Minneapolis in 2005 and went on to teach, first at Laureate University in Baltimore and then at Florida State College at Jacksonville from 1995 to 2020. She left that position to pursue painting full time, though she still teaches at Reddi-Arts and the Ronan School of Music, both in Jacksonville.
Those interested in her work can contact her at brushandoil@gmail.com or by calling 904-315-2777. Her website is brushandoil.com. Her Facebook page is Brush and Oil, and her Instagram is Brushandoil2109.
