Donna L. Martin Fine Art

"Beauty from the Brokenness" This little painting is the newest one to be completed.  It is an original mixed media piece done with acrylics, inks, painted papers, and broken windshield glass.   I know so many people who are having such difficulty and loss in their lives right now. This was my attempt at expressing how beauty can come after our brokenness and loss. The size on this piee is 12 X 12.  It will be finished with resin and will be available during an online Handmade Holiday Auction I am participating in. Check it out to see the amazing artwork that will be available! www.donnamartinfineart.com https://www.facebook.com/donnamartinfineart/

"Explore" This painting was inspired after a trip up to our family cabin.  We went with my daughter and little granddaughter.  During our time together, my granddaughter and I explored the woods, went up into the tree house, looked for fish in the creek, and took a whirl on the swings while we howled like wolves!  It was fun exploring life through her eyes and discovering new things.   Being up at the cabin was also a sober reminder of how short life is.  I was remembering everyone who loved the cabin so much and now they are no longer with us.  Still, you could feel their presence...in the soft, warm breeze that came in through the front door.  The beautiful, bright sunshine that cast shadows through the golden aspen leaves.  We will never forget the impact they had on our lives and the memories they left behind. And so, I wanted to make new memories with my sweet Adaleigh.  I want her to always remember this specia...

"Colorado Autumn Aspen" This was a commissioned mixed media piece that I recently completed.  My client lives in Arizona but grew up in Monte Vista, CO.  On the bottom portion of the piece, I added pieces of a 1964 Colorado Road Map.  I placed the town of Monte Vista in the upper center  portion  of the map .  This made it unique and very special to my client.  The trees were constructed of paper, paint, ink, and modeling paste. The leaves were done with hand-painted paper - each one torn individually from the paper.  I loved working on this piece and the client told me she will always treasure this piece.  There is nothing more rewarding! For questions, comments, or to commission your original piece of artwork, please contact me at: saltlightwatercolors@yahoo.com Follow me on Facebook at:   facebook.com/donnamartinfineart/ www.donnamartinfineart.com

"Dreaming of a Blue Moon" This little piece started as a demo piece for a mixed media class I was teaching/leading (I think the students teach me as much as I do them).  I started out using acrylic paint in blues and golds.  I added stencils and texture paste to create the flowers in the background.  I still wasn't sure what my subject was going to be, but that is becoming the norm for me! Pretty soon, I noticed some of the patterning on the piece and thought it looked like feathering and wings.  I decided to take a chance and see if an owl would come to life in this piece.  (This was the patterning I brought forward in her chest and wings) I decided to make her look very fluffy and sleepy.  I accented her shape with a sharpie paint pen and made the branch out of painted vintage sheet music.  The leaves were made with painted rice paper.   She is peacefully sleeping, dreaming of the blue moon! This piece meas...

"Humble Beginnings" This piece was created because of my Brother.  He's followed me along on this "journey".  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 grieving and figuring out how to parent in a different way.  It's ...

"Wild and Precious Life" This is an original mixed media painting I created, fresh off the easel.  The inspiration for this piece was to strive every day to live an authentic life and find joy in the chaos of a very ordinary life.  The quote on the piece is from one of my favorite poets, Mary Oliver, and reads, "Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?"  This piece was created with acrylics, inks, and painted papers. This one is available.  Please feel free to email me with questions or comments. saltlightwatercolors@yahoo.com donnamartinfineart.com Follow me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/donnamartinfineart

"I Love You Truly" This little painting is fresh off the easel.  It is heavily textured, has many layers, and the cross is made out of metal.  Everything came together for this one and I feel the title of the piece says it all,  "I Love You Truly". This painting is 12 X 12 X 1.5, done on a cradle board.  It will be finished with a resin coat and comes ready to hang. Feel free to send me an email with questions, comments, or if you are interested in purchasing. saltlightwatercolors@yahoo.com donnamartinfineart.com Follow me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/donnamartinfineart

Artist Appreciation Month Did you know that August is "Artist Appreciation Month"?  In honor of this month, I was encouraged by Patience Brewster to write a blog about the artist that has inspired my work .  I jumped at the opportunity because I know who "my" artist is.  I couldn't wait to tell the story. In July, 2011, I resumed a friendship that I thought was long lost.  My friend and I had not spoken in a few years.  We had just both been busy, trying to live our lives and deal with the day-to-day.  My friend emailed to say hello and that he had found my website and spent a couple hours looking at my paintings.  At the time, all I did was watercolors.  I felt like that was the work I was supposed to do and couldn't really do anything else.  We began corresponding through email and picked up our friendship, just like we had last spoken yesterday.  We had always been able to talk to each other and open up to each other withou...

"Take Heart Through the Fire" I thought it would be fun to take you through the creation of this piece, from the very beginning to the finished version! This is how it started out - a big, white, intimidating canvas.  I added some texture with a cool stencil that I have and some molding paste.  I then started filling in some color with alcohol ink around the divets in the stencil. I started adding more color with alcohol inks.  I also had some really cool textured cardboard that I painted with metallic bronze paint and then "rusted" with a rusting solution.  Thanks to Carol Nelson again for teaching me that trick!  I also picked up some paper from the shooting range (that is what is sitting on top and bottom of the stenciled part).  It had all these cool holes in it.  Once again, I painted it bronze and then rusted it.  I started attaching in randomly to the piece. For this middle portion, I painted...

"Circle of Life" "Circle of Life" This is my latest painting, fresh off the easel.  Let me tell you, this one was difficult and I feel like there were some painting and life lessons learned with this one! In Progress I liked the way it started out, but I felt it needed more texture, something to make it "pop".  So I added some molding paste and let it dry. Still....in Progress Then I started adding paint and painted foil.  I still feel like the bird faded into the background.  That little bird kept wanting to say "look at me, look at me"!! No matter how hard I tried, she faded and faded into the background.  Isn't that how we all feel sometimes...no matter how hard we try to be seen, we just fade into the background.  We yell, we scream, we ruffle our feathers, but we are not seen or heard. Then, all got quiet.  Both the bird and I quit trying so hard.  I went back to working on the bird, as well as darkening ...

Happy in Bloom This is one of my latest pieces.  It was done on a recycled wood pallet with inks, acrylics, and painted papers.  This was so much fun to do!  It was all about letting go and letting in the "happy".  I love the way the wood grain shows through portions of the paint and ink. This one is sold, but commissions are welcome.  Feel free to email me with questions or comments! saltlightwatercolors@yahoo.com donnamartinfineart.com

"Sunshine Day" I feel like I'm "painting happy" again!  This is another fun, whimsical poppy painting, fresh off the easel.  It was done with acrylic inks, paint, and hand-painted paper.  It measures 12 X 12 X 1.5 and is painted on a birch cradle board canvas.  It is finished with resin and comes ready to hang.   If you need a little sunshine, this painting is available!  Please feel free to email me with any questions, comments, or if you are interested in purchasing. saltlightwatercolors@yahoo.com donnamartinfineart.com Follow me on Facebook www.facebook.com/donnamartinfineart

"Sweet Dreams" Mom and her baby are sleeping among the trees.  This was done when I was thinking about Mother's Day.  Thinking about my sweet children and how fast time went by.  I regret now that I always felt so busy raising the kids that I didn't savor every single moment.  People always told me to enjoy the time because it goes so fast.  Some days, when I was in the thick of things and the chaos of raising three children, I thought they were crazy.  But time did pass quickly.  My children grew up and moved away.  It was so hard to get used to an awkward, empty house.  Now I am enjoying my grandchildren - enjoying the moments and making memories.  It's ok if we paint pictures, play dress up, and the house is a mess...we are creating memories while we still have time.  This painting has many layers and was done with paint and acrylic inks.  It was an intuitive painting inspired by the painting styles of ...

"Poppy Love Letters" This painting sure didn't end up like it started out!  In the beginning, it had bright pink flowers at the top and bright green grass at the bottom.  I toned down the flowers and the grass and decided I wanted poppies as the focal point. I added some painted, torn paper and some twine.  This one sat on the easel for months before I decided what to do with it.  Sometimes you just have to sit with something until you figure out where it wants to go! This piece measures 12 X 12 and was done on a 1.5" cradle board.  It is available.  Please feel free to send me an email with questions, comments, or if you are interested in purchasing. saltlightwatercolors@yahoo.com donnamartinfineart.com Follow me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/donnamartinfineart

"Transformation" Lately, there have been alot of changes and "transformations" in my life.  This latest painting symbolizes the changes and the beauty that can eventually come from the "mess" of life. I started this painting, probably a good 3 years ago.  I threw paint on the canvas very randomly and then got "stuck".  I didn't know where to go with the brush strokes or what to do next.  This is how I felt also in my life.  I had a "day job" that I absolutely hated, but I felt so stuck.  The money was wonderful, but the trade off was that I felt like I was losing my soul.  The job dealt with negative, angry people and terrible situations every minute of every day.  It took a toll and I did not feel like myself anymore.  I became very dark, cynical, and did not trust anything anyone would tell me.  I think this carried over into some of my artwork life as well.  When someone would give me a compliment on a paint...

"It's a Beautiful Day" This tree and little bird emerged as I was attempting to do some "intuitive" painting.  I took a class a few months ago from the fabulous artist, Tracy Verdugo, to learn how to do this style and technique of painting.  Boy, has is been challenging for me!  I truly, truly love it though ~ you never know where you are going when you start out or where you will finish.  Below are some pictures of the evolution of this piece. To start out, I divided the canvas up into squares and chose some colors I wanted to use.  Some squares were dark, some lighter.  The images and marks I made are symbolic to me.  I had just returned from a trip to the ocean and had never seen water that beautiful.  It totally inspired me! In this step, I added acrylic inks over the entire piece.  Cool colors on one side, warmer colors on the opposite side.  You can see how some of the marks still show through. ...