Donna L. Martin Fine Art

"Butterflies Are Free" This piece is a result of an online workshop called "Animalitos" by artist, Tracy Verdugo.  These types of paintings are really a challenge for me.  Usually I have an idea of where I'm going when I start a painting, but these are really intuitive paintings.  It starts out with bright colors of inks and paints, using symbols and marks that have meaning.  You can see below how this started out.   Then the idea is to pick out some shapes or forms in the piece....turn it upside down, sideways, etc. to "see" what might be there.  When I was making my marks and symbols, I used a wing stencil.  I began to think that it might make for a pretty butterfly wing.  I honestly couldn't see anything else, which is a major challenge for me in doing this type of work! So I began blocking out the form of the butterfly.  As soon as I started that, I knew it needed some kind of flower to land ...

Blossom This is one of my first Mixed Media pieces titled "Blossom". This piece means alot to me - a whirlwind of emotions were poured in and and came out of this one! I didn't want her to be "realistic", but more "whimsical".  I had a great time creating her.  I used alot of different items to create texture and depth in this piece. Her hair is made out of twine. I glued each individual piece on and painted each strand. Her wings are made out of broken glass. At first, she had dark brown eyes, but they just didn't give the viewer the effect I wanted, so I glazed green iridescent paint over the brown. Her eyes change colors between green and brown, depending on the viewers angle. I used molding paste and painted various papers to add into the composition. Broken glass added to make "wings". I decided I needed to add some text to complete my thoughts about this one.  I found some vintage sheet music and tor...