Mary Griffin was born in Birmingham in 1954. She decided at an early age to pursue a career in art and trained at Birmingham Art College.

Mary began painting seriously whilst raising a family. Periods of time were spent teaching art in local colleges before she decided to teach independently to allow more time to focus on her own paintings.

Although Mary Griffin works in all media, because of their immediacy, she finds pastels are ideal.She combines pastels with acrylics, or watercolours to provide interesting surface contrasts and atmospheric effects. These are especially suited to figure and interior compositions which is a recurring theme to her work. Apart from the never-ending challenge of drawing people, Mary finds the whole aspect of body language fascinating. Many of her paintings are a glimpse of a moment in time.Her chief concern is to make a statement about life which most people will relate to from their own experience, but everyone's interpretation will be different.Narratives are left to be interpreted by the viewer. The people who feature within Mary's paintings often remain isolated in their own company, left to contemplate their lives. She aims to create art works that depict life - as it really is, but to discover new ways of expressing this.

In addition to figure compositions Mary is also known for her paintings of landscapes and garden scenes. She uses the same mixed media approach, combining acrylic or watercolour underpainting with a more direct pastel drawing.

Artists who have influenced or inspired Mary Griffin's work include: Degas and Mary Cassatt, Bonnard, the Camden Town artists, Scottish colourists. She also hugely admires the work of Bernard Dunston.

Mary Griffin is an elected member of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists (RBSA) and the Birmingham and Midland Pastel Society. Her work has been shown at numerous exhibitions and 2006 she was awarded First Prize at the RBSA Prize Exhibition.