"Solitude" 8x10, acrylic on panel.

   Mark Cook grew up between the Rock and Mississippi rivers in Rock Island, Illinois. He thrived in this Quad City that brought together urban and rural, history and mystery.  For him, the region held the beauty of the natural world and the possibilities of heavy industry manufacturing a new one. His earliest memories involve time spent 

   Mark Cook grew up between the Rock and Mississippi rivers in Rock Island, Illinois. He thrived in this Quad City that brought together urban and rural, history and mystery.  For him, the region held the beauty of the natural world and the possibilities of heavy industry manufacturing a new one. His earliest memories involve time spent in nature and sitting on his Grandmother’s kitchen floor drawing and making things.
 He received a scholarship to study Fine Art at the University of Illinois. Ultimately he chose to leave the university to train at the American Academy of Art in Chicago. After graduating he began a fourty-year career as an illustrator, designer and fine artist. 

 In his luminous landscapes he uses color, shape and texture to convey emotion and explore the sumptuous beauty of the ordinary. 

  When I go into my tiny nine by eleven  foot studio, I experience an almost monastic kind of solitude. As a "Creative Contemplative", my time in the studio begins with reflection. 

 Most often I find myself reflecting on both nature and the nature of things. My mind and heart  go to those places and stay long enough to feel  sun and sky, 

  When I go into my tiny nine by eleven  foot studio, I experience an almost monastic kind of solitude. As a "Creative Contemplative", my time in the studio begins with reflection. 

 Most often I find myself reflecting on both nature and the nature of things. My mind and heart  go to those places and stay long enough to feel  sun and sky, the soil and grasses. Vision comes. 

 It tells a story of the farm passed a hundred times, a certain bend in a road,  a particular stand of trees. A memory from the past.   

 Making art is a discipline, a choice to stay with the creative process through all its stages, even when the outcome is uncertain. 

For me, painting is a language. Throughout history people have used art, literature, math and music to convey information and emotion. 

 Sincere efforts in our work  help us to understand ourselves and others better. My desire is to share essential truths with line, shape and color in a way that is visually eloquent.

 Painting is my path. M

For me, painting is a language. Throughout history people have used art, literature, math and music to convey information and emotion. 

 Sincere efforts in our work  help us to understand ourselves and others better. My desire is to share essential truths with line, shape and color in a way that is visually eloquent.

 Painting is my path. My  journey. At times I’ve lost my way, but painting has always led me back to these places where I’ve found myself again and again.