MAGGIE O'NEILL
Maggie O’Neill is a Washington, DC based fine artist and the Creative Director of O’Neill Studios, the decorative painting company she founded in 2001. Maggie attended the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA and pursued a Masters Degree of Fine Art at the University of Georgia, enrolling in their Cortona, Italy program. “In Italy, I was moved by the rich art history of the Renaissance and the integration of commissioned fine art during this period,” she says. Maggie focused on drawing and painting (concentrating on portraiture) and the decorative arts, with her studies also including Fresco painting.
After Italy, Maggie continued to travel, eventually living and working in Tamarindo, Costa Rica, where she completed her first commercial exterior mural. “It was at this point that I fell in love with the creation of utilitarian and public artwork that the surrounding community could enjoy.”
Returning to DC, she decided to continue working in the vein of commissioned artistry and opened O’Neill Studios in 2001. In the time since, Maggie has built O’Neill Studios into one of the most well-respected decorative finishing companies in the Washington area. The team’s productions can be seen in some of the city’s most notable private residences, embassies, churches and commercial spaces, including acclaimed restaurants like SEI, Panache, OYA, Lincoln and Sax.
Maggie enjoys the collaboration with designers, contractors, craftsmen and other artists in order to produce a high-quality, truly custom work. Maggie and the O’Neill Studios team keep familiarized with new trends, techniques and products by participating in continuing education classes across the country.
I am a “reactionary” painter and I rely on colors and textures to push me in one direction or the other. I usually have an idea that becomes a roadmap for the painting. However, I am as impulsive as one brush stroke. I am drawn to literal compositions with an expressive and colorful approach. I believe that color affects us in ways we’re not even conscious of most of the time. People react to and experience color much like music. I hope to create a visual language of felt experience, memory and emotion. I paint quickly with layers of colors and quick gestures, using paint brushes, trowels and spray bottles. I drip, scrape, brush and splatter. I react to what is left on the canvas pushing or instigating the next action in the painting process. I can tell that one of my paintings is finished when I stand back and squint my eyes. If all the colors work with or even against each other to keep my eyes searching for the next “great moment”, then I know I’m done. Maggie O'Neill Fine Art
After Italy, Maggie continued to travel, eventually living and working in Tamarindo, Costa Rica, where she completed her first commercial exterior mural. “It was at this point that I fell in love with the creation of utilitarian and public artwork that the surrounding community could enjoy.”
Returning to DC, she decided to continue working in the vein of commissioned artistry and opened O’Neill Studios in 2001. In the time since, Maggie has built O’Neill Studios into one of the most well-respected decorative finishing companies in the Washington area. The team’s productions can be seen in some of the city’s most notable private residences, embassies, churches and commercial spaces, including acclaimed restaurants like SEI, Panache, OYA, Lincoln and Sax.
Maggie enjoys the collaboration with designers, contractors, craftsmen and other artists in order to produce a high-quality, truly custom work. Maggie and the O’Neill Studios team keep familiarized with new trends, techniques and products by participating in continuing education classes across the country.
I am a “reactionary” painter and I rely on colors and textures to push me in one direction or the other. I usually have an idea that becomes a roadmap for the painting. However, I am as impulsive as one brush stroke. I am drawn to literal compositions with an expressive and colorful approach. I believe that color affects us in ways we’re not even conscious of most of the time. People react to and experience color much like music. I hope to create a visual language of felt experience, memory and emotion. I paint quickly with layers of colors and quick gestures, using paint brushes, trowels and spray bottles. I drip, scrape, brush and splatter. I react to what is left on the canvas pushing or instigating the next action in the painting process. I can tell that one of my paintings is finished when I stand back and squint my eyes. If all the colors work with or even against each other to keep my eyes searching for the next “great moment”, then I know I’m done. Maggie O'Neill Fine Art
