Donna L. Martin Fine Art

Go Your Own Way Everyone said, “Follow me”.  It was expected, and for a while, she did what she was told.  This was not the path she wanted to take.  She did not want to fly in conformity with all the others.  There were mysteries to be solved and adventures to be had.  And then it happened, like a dream that whispered her name in the middle of the night.  She noticed that not only were her own wings beautiful, but they were strong.  They were not like everyone else’s.  A still small voice inside of her nudged her to try out her own unique and beautiful wings.  That voice told her it was a good thing to go her own way.  So she did.  And she never looked back.   This piece began with fabric from a vintage napkin.  I loved this photo that I had taken of a tree in Oregon and decided to embed it in the piece.  I also added bits of paper and paint.  At the last minute, I decided I wanted to ad...

"Magic in the Mess" It's hard to believe that January is already over and another month has begun.   What a month January was.  My son got married in December and they announced that they are having a baby boy, due to make his appearance the first part of June.  He will be our first Grandson and we are so excited.  At the same time, my Father-in-Law became extremely ill and recently passed away.  It's so hard to believe he is gone.  My husband still feels like he needs to pick up the phone every week and check on him.  My daughter struggles...every day.  She is a single mom raising my granddaughter on her own.  I worry about my aging parents and I wish we lived closer so we could help more.  I constantly wonder what will happen next and how will we get through it.  I thought things would be easier at this stage of life.   I guess my point is, there always seems to be some mess, some drama going on in life. ...

"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 ...