Donna L. Martin Fine Art

"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...

"Beyond Words" The photo above shows the finished piece, titled "Beyond Words".  The photos below show how it started out and the progression of this piece.  I got a wild hair and decided I needed to move out of my comfort zone and use some different colors.  To tell you the truth, I almost scrapped the whole painting.  It was REALLY out of my comfort zone! I painted with grays, burgundy, and threw in a little Van Dyke brown for good measure.  I added tissue paper, collage papers, and modeling paste with a stencil. I began to tone it down and soften it up by adding white.  I like how the other colors and patterns still show through.  There are alot of layers going on here!  At this point, I still don't know what is happening with this piece and I'm still not real happy with it, but I'm forging on. I used a wing stencil with some modeling paste over the top of these layers.  I painted the wings iridescen...

     Fly Free I shared this last year, but thought it would be worth sharing again.  I have always been one of those people who is naturally shy.  It may have a little to do with the way we were raised, we were always told that children "are to be seen and not heard".  Growing up in that culture, I've always had trouble expressing what I'm feeling or saying what I wanted to say.  Why would I have anything worth saying?  I always felt that when I finally was able to say something, was anyone really listening?  To add to this, I grew up feeling like I really didn't fit in anywhere, that I was usually the odd one out.  I was the one who got picked last for the team, didn't stand up for myself...I didn't know how, didn't have " permission ".  I couldn't really find my place, or my voice.  I attended Columbine High School for one semester before we moved to a wonderful little small Texas ...