Donna L. Martin Fine Art

"Humble Beginnings"     This piece was created because of my Brother.  He's followed me along on this "journey" and has seen and commented on many of my pieces.  He told me that I should paint "BIG".  This painting is a result of that effort!  It seemed like it took me forever.  I stressed over it, then enjoyed it, then questioned everything about it.  This is the end result.    I thought about this painting as a "beginning" of sorts.  By that I thought about symbolizing a young couple starting their own family.  In another new beginning of sorts, It could  symbolize a new beginning as an "empty nester".  Both of those scenarios are big, huge, sometimes scary, unknown adventures.  Both are humbling, full of learning and experiencing a new season in life.  For a new family, it's full of anticipation and expectation.  For a family with children leaving home, it could be gr...

  "Fly"         "Flying" and being brave seems to be my "theme" for the year.  This whole new adventure, painting in mixed media, has been born out of a tragedy.  It has evolved out of trying to heal and explore what works for me in the healing process.    In this new journey, I have been trying to push myself and my art.  I've been finding my voice, for the first time, through my art and what it says.  I seem to be connecting to people through my art...and no words seem to be necessary.  All of the emotions in my heart and soul spill out on to the canvas.     This piece has several layers in it.  I used stencils at the very beginning and then began layering torn and painted pieces of paper over the stenciled areas.  I used a stencil and molding paste to add more texture.  I then added a photo transfer of the butterfly and painted over her body and wings.  In t...

"Learning, Changing, Growing"     This is an original encaustic piece that I completed recently.  I had a really strong desire to experiment with encaustics and believe me, this piece and two other small pieces took me the better part of a whole day!  I felt like a crazy person, trying to get beautiful, luminous colors and textures into the layers.  At one point, I melted all of the layers off and started all over again.  The text on this piece reads, "While it may alternately sting or soothe, everyday is different, and there is always something new to learn...".  I truly believe that.  I think all experiences, good or bad, are learning experiences and are put in our paths to get us to where we need to be.  I'm still not where I want to be with this medium, but I am working on it ~ and playing with it has been so much fun.  I hope when the weather cools down a bit more, that I can do a few more of t...