Mary Ann Farley

Mary Ann Farley says her strongest influences are images of religious icons depicting female saints and the Virgin Mary, which, she says, "often convey women in strong, direct poses, as if they're carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders, yet are quite capable of doing so. It's the mixture of love and pathos that moves me, and what I try to convey in my own work, whether my character is a bold aviator or a cutesy child."

Farley's artwork has appeared in the smallest of venues, like local bookstore exhibits, to international coffee-table books like Beatles Art: Fantastic New Artwork of the Fab Four (Boxigami Books), which features her painting "Eleanor Rigby" along with the works of 150 other artists from around the globe.

For a long time, Farley's art existed side-by-side with her music, which flourished in the 1990s and early 2000s, culminating in the release of two seminal CDs -- the much-lauded Daddy's Little Girl (1997) and the acclaimed follow-up My Life of Crime (2002), both of which established her as one of the better-known and respected performers in New York's East Village.

Find out more about her whimsical art at maryannfarley.com. There you can check out a gallery of work and even order some of your own. Plus, Like Mary Ann Farley on Facebook too!