welcome to NW Arts & Recreation

Hey there! I'm Mary Buell, the artist and your fellow adventurer. Living the PNW lifestyle means I'm a mountain biker, toddler wrangler, canine companion, high school soccer coach, and yes, a serious coffee connoisseur! ☕️

My passion is to inspire exploration through art, capturing the magic of the Pacific Northwest in every digital illustration, painting, and graphic design. Think majestic mountains, trails begging to be shredded, and cozy nights by the fire.

I'm also thrilled to be pursuing my dream of becoming a tattoo artist and plan to open my own studio in Summer 2025. Stay tuned for updates!

what I do

NW Arts & Recreation captures the magic of the outdoors for you. Let's create stunning visuals that resonate with YOUR adventurers!

  • Illustration & Design
    (including Book Illustration)

  • Logo & Branding

  • Creative Project Management

  • Hand painted Skateboards

  • Murals

  • Tattoo Services

Didn’t skip a beat! 🎨⚽️ Even though I put NW Arts & Recreation on hold during the soccer season, I did do a few designs for @cchscowgirlsoccer. Here are a few new designs: 1. Gary Gruner Truck x Crook County 2. Faith to Grow Heart 3.
Yesterday we had our first Adult Soccer Sunday since 2019… anyone that knows us knows that this is a big deal for us. Today we had our very first Outdoor Adventure Monday - we both are off on Mondays while both boys are in school. We chose to
Today is Scott’s 2nd Birthday!!! While we’ve faced countless hurdles the last few years, our love for each other has grown stronger than ever. I’m absolutely thrilled that we’re starting our Monday outdoor adventures next we
Sharing my love of the game with my family…makes my heart so incredibly full. This time is always very busy. I put so much myself into what I do as a coach. Last year that meant I was away from my family a lot. This year, Scott is my JV co
Time to be better at posting regularly. Each year since I’ve put time into growing @nwartsrecreation from a hobby to a business, I’ve gained a new clients and seen SLOW but steady growth. Thats with being crazy inconsistent with posting

FOLLOW NWARTSRECREATION & NWARTSINK on insta

Work in progress with my feet… not going to be done before class today, but I still “nailed it.”
Working on some realism today. No pressure, but I am drawing my mentor’s OG machine. Feeling anxious about getting things rolling with fake skins and practicals. Trying to trust the process. But with some fun things happening, more skin in t
Homework 11: a geometric design on a specific body part. I chose to use Scott’s calf as inspiration and incorporated our honeycomb. It’s just missing some bees. 🐝 🍯 Just printed the outline on stencil and will transfer it to face sk
Homework 10: A Celtic Knot inspired design. Added Viking Runes that held similar meanings to the Celtic Knot I chose. Imagine this as an arm wraparound piece.
Homework 9: Basic WG tattoo design…but I elevated it with my own abstract/geometric style. My high school students wanted me to incorporate butterflies when I told them about the prompt. So her you go 🌼🦋☯️
Homework 8: A little neotraditional fun for my @usmarinecorps friends and hubby. #semperfidelis I’m going to make a part two to this with more detail and realism…Marine themed. Stay tuned.
Fun little classroom activity where we had to draw a “zoomed” in or micro view of something random in any style. 🖊️ Decided a geometric key would be fun. 🔑
Homework 7: Realistic Fruit… 🐉🤘
Weekend progress… baby steps. A few technical difficulties with my paper type not loving my pencils, but pushing through it and crossing my fingers it comes together in the end. No tracing allowed. No eraser after the initial blue sketch.
Shared this in my story yesterday, but we are channeling our inner Bob Ross and playing with oil paint 🎨 This is my first time using oil paint and it has been frustrating in ways, but ultimately fun to learn. Learning about light, contrast, color
Fun homework assignment playing around neotraditional with my own spin on it. Obsessed with the cactus and excited to practice these lines on fake skin.