Donna L. Martin Fine Art

Dragons Soar This is the latest little painting I completed.  It's the time of the year I've been thinking about family, getting out in the warm sunshine, planting flowers, breathing in the fresh air.  I named it "Dragons Soar" because I have a little sign in my garden that says "In my garden, hearts soar and dragons fly."  In thinking about the dragonfly and creating this piece, I found this interesting symbolism.  The dragonfly normally lives most of its life as a nymph or an immature. It flies only for a fraction of its life and usually not more than a few months. This adult dragonfly does it all in these few months and leaves nothing to be desired. This style of life symbolizes and exemplifies the virtue of living IN the moment and living life to the fullest. By living in the moment you are aware of who you are, where you are, what you are doing, what you want, what you don’t and are able to make informed choices on a moment-to-moment b...

"Free to Dream" Thought I'd give you a sneak peak into the process of creating this piece.  It was so much fun and so much heart and soul went into it.  I hope you enjoy! This is the beginning of this painting...just an ol' gray background on a cradle board. I stenciled some turquoise paint on to the gray background...'cause I just love turquoise! I added layers of paper -  they just have the most gorgeous papers out there these days! Adding more blue and a little white acrylic paint just to tone it down a bit. I got this cool stencil from Etsy and just had to try it.  I used patching paste...the kind you use to patch holes in your wall.  (tip ~ clean it off of your stencils right away and clean it in a bucket of water you can dump outside ~ you don't want that stuff clogging up your pipes) Both sides of the painting in progress.  I try to work on both sides at the same time in order to get a cohesive feel...

"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 ...

"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...

Chihuly Exhibit - Seattle, WA  We were fortunate enough recently to go to Seattle Washington.  My husband had a conference and of course, I just "had" to tag along.  As an artist, this was a wonderful city, full of sensory sights, sounds, smells.  It was a such a contrast of cultures and environments.  We stayed downtown and we walked everywhere.  One minute we would see high-end stores such as Nordstom, Ben Bridge Jewelers, many others that I'm sure I can't even remember the names of.  Executives making their way through the busy streets and on with their day.  A couple of blocks away, we saw homeless people, disabled people, sitting on the streets with signs asking for money.  I wanted to just sit down and talk to each and every one of them.  I wanted to ask them what their story was and how they had gotten to that place.  I myself, think that personally, I am only one or two moves away from being in that very same plac...