Marie has a remarkable talent for observation and a technical facility for drawing
These coupled with her ability to immerse herself in dedicated hard work, determined the road she was to follow, away from the medical pursuits of her family into the world of art.
She was born on 7 May 1954 in Pretoria, South Africa. After completing her school career with a distinction in art she went on to acquire a B.A. Fine Art at the University of South Africa with a distinction in painting.
She also completed a course in portraiture at the Royal Academy in London in 1976. Studying under tutors as George Israels and Kingsley Sutton.
Today, she is a highly successful artist whose work is in constant demand. Her work is represented in many private and corporate collections here, in Britain, Europe and the United States of America.
With technical virtuosity and a keen sense of line and colour she explored still life, landscape and portraiture, yet in the end, it was the human face and figure that fascinated her most. Her painting reflects a spirit of Romanticism while her per-occupation with light infuses her style with shades of impressionism. Her canvases create a theater for the dance of light where all kinds of objects become chunks of colour modeled by light. She succeeds in capturing the romance and poetry, light and shadow, the tenderness and vulnerability of youth in her portraits of young people and children, but can also render with accuracy incisiveness.She did portraits of prominent figures in commercial, political and educational arenas.