About

Artist Statement:

      In my abstract paintings, I like to evoke feelings of freedom, liveliness and transformation.

 Through hyper color contrast and dynamic composition, I try to create movement and instability on my canvas. I thrive on spontaneity, and value adaptability and flexibility. I have developed two styles of painting: impressionistic and non-representational abstract. I almost never use a paint brush and work almost solely with painting knives and other tools like squeegees. Armed with my fancy squeegee and various painting knives, I like to create colorful imaginary landscapes in oil, acrylic or watercolor.

      I was born and raised in France but my father was from Nicaragua, a country I have visited numerous times. I presently live in Washington, DC.

      I started painting in May 2018. I had never painted before. I learned to work with oils, acrylic and watercolors mostly by watching youtube tutorials and reading about color theory and experimenting with different media and styles. I painted part time while teaching math at American University and Montgomery College until December 2021.

     January 2022 is when I started my journey as full time professional painter. I believe that since the beginning of 2022, because of the ability to paint every single day, I have made tremendous progress in my painting skills. I look forward to continuing and sharing this journey of inward and outward exploration.

 

    Some recent achievements:

  • The French embassy through its local organization, Washington Accueil, has invited me to show 10 paintings at their location on Reservoir Rd in Washington, DC.  Article here.

  • The international fashion retailer SHEIN's sub luxury brand MOTF has created CHECA ART designed dresses. The beautiful collection contains a variety of garments with CHECA a ART florals taken from the four paintings: Coquelicots, Purple Range, Flowers by the Sea and Blue Irises.

          This a video of the 2024 Maria-Victoria Checa Art Collection: 

 

 

 

  •  The painting Fairy's Cove was commissioned by Kevin Barry Art Advisory for the living room of the Chicago Waldorf Astoria Hotel. 

 

  • Grayson Living is distributing the painting Red Poppy throughout the United States as a 40" x 40" framed print on canvas.  Grayson Living, based in Beverly Hills, CA, is "The Best Place To Shop For Luxury Home Furnishings".

  •  TJ MAX is currently distributing throughout the US the paintings Wild Flowers Meadow and Poppy Field as framed prints on canvas. 

 

Media:

  • Rozee.living wrote up a beautiful blog about my journey as an artist here.

 

  • I was featured in a new initiative called BoldJourney designed to help get the word out about great local businesses, artists and creatives. Here is the article:

 

  • I was featured along with the painting Blue Lily River in the December issue of DC Modern Luxury Magazine: This is the link.      

 

 

  • I was featured as Artist of the Month in the April 2022 issue of Kensington Neighbors Magazine: Article (on page 14).

 

  • I was interviewed in the Fall of 2021 in preparation for the McLean Project for the Arts Artfest in which I participated: Interview

 

 

 My favorite quotes:

For my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream. Van Gogh

 

​It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child. Picasso

 

​Everything you can imagine is real. Picasso

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Since there is no such thing as absolute rightness and truth, we always pursue the artificial, leading, human truth. We judge and make a truth that excludes other truths. Art plays a formative part in this manufacture of truth. Gerhard Richter

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The Arc of the Moral Universe is Long, but it Bends Toward Justice. Martin Luther King

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Les tableaux sont des miroirs magiques, dans lesquels, si l'on sait, en s'éloignant un peu, bien les regarder, d'importes parties de la réalité sont dévoilées. Marcel Proust

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Each color lives by its mysterious life. Kandinsky

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There is no must in art, because art is free. Kandinsky