HOW OUR LIVES EFFECT OUR ART
series 2

Here is a partial list from wikipedia on artist who suffer from major depression.  It is a huge list of people that is alphabetized.

Edgar Degas Suffered From Major Depression
google image

1. William Faulkner: Battles against depression and alcoholism did not prevent the quintessential Southern Gothic, modernist writer from winning the Nobel Prize in Literature. While a tragic figure, William Faulkner's successes dispel the myth that depression equals incompetence.
2. Michel Foucault: The heavily influential French philosopher's depression likely stemmed from his homosexuality at a time when such things were even more stigmatized than they are today. However, it likely led to his intensive studies in the fields of psychology and sociology as well.
3. Stephen Fry: Because society listens to celebrities much, much more than they ever will to psychological professionals, Stephen Fry has been an invaluable asset to the destigmatization mental illness in the world. He uses his position as a beloved writer and performer to encourage others with depressive disorders to seek therapy. Diagnosed with bipolar disorder (formerly manic depression), Fry has experienced suicidal behaviors, fugue states and reckless behavior as a result.
4. Paul Gauguin: Suicide attempts and overall mental and physical malaise plagued this popular painter's adult life, so much so he eventually abandoned his family and fled to French Polynesia when the stresses of poverty and artistic failure grew too overwhelming. Even there, though, he drank too much, contracted syphilis and ran afoul of the law and the church.
5. Vincent van Gogh: Perhaps unsurprisingly, Paul Gauguin and Vincent van Gogh formed a tumultuous friendship over their mutual creativity and mental illnesses. Theories abound from epilepsy to schizophrenia to bipolar disorder, but regardless of the source he still grappled with severe depression.
6. Francisco de Goya y Lucientes: Francisco de Goya's artwork reflected his bouts of depression, revolving around themes of absurdity, meaninglessness, physical torment, growing old, death and other common fears and anxieties.
7. Ernest Hemingway: During Ernest Hemingway's famous stint in Cuba, his lifetime of depression and alcoholism began wreaking havoc on his mind, which rendered him paranoid and disoriented until his eventual suicide.

HOW OUR LIVES EFFECT OUR ART
Series 2 

 Artist with disabilities
Steven Wiltshire/British Autistic Artist

Steven is an amazing artist. His visual memory is astounding.  He flew over London in a helicopter and then proceeded to draw the entire city by memory!!! Watch the you tube video included below.

OUR LIVES ARE NOT SEPARATE FROM OUR ART!

OUR LIVES BECOME ART AND VICE VERSA
A discussion            

  Part 1

Yayoi Kasama                                                             google image

This morning I was watching a national news morning show which highlighted an artist I have been interested in since becoming aware of her fantastic long career.  She is Japanese, she is in her 80's, she has voluntarily lived in a mental facility for the last 30 years, and she is obsessive about dots.  Her name is Yayoi Kusama(click).  She is one of the most important artist of our time and one of the most pioneering women artist of our time.  It calls to mind something about the creative nature of our minds, imagination, and the healing nature of the arts.  I think there are people who think all artists are mad, or border or mental illness and there are some famous ones:  Van Gogh is an example.  He also struggled with his mental health and turned to the arts.  Caravaggio was another, a man obsessed with violence and pain; he also turned to the arts.  I think what we must see in this path is that people turn to the arts to heal and to survive.  The arts also offer an avenue to  self expression that is denied in other parts of our society.  Jackson Pollack drank and smoked to much, 

de kooning            google  image

de Kooning painted very scary looking women, and so on. Are there happy artist with life without drama...of course.  But I would say we reach to the arts for many reasons, to express ourselves in a way we can not in any other way.  We are the sensitives of society, we absorb and we reflect our times.  Those sensitivities drives people to the arts, to express or to heal or to communicate.

Now I will talk about my life personally and how it influences my art.  I was born in Mississippi in a time of great prejudice against African Americans...it drove me to express the need for all people to be treated equally.  I grew up in Florida on the Gulf Coast in a city of Cuban and Italian Immigrants.  I grew up want to learn and to express what I learned about various cultures.  I lived in Asia and the Philippines, I learned to respect all cultures and become a citizen of the world, not one place.  I learned how my country could effect other countries for good and for bad.  I learned other people may have better ideas than my own country and that we are not the center of the universe.  I taught mentally handicapped children, mentally disturbed children.  I learned what prejudice existed against children and adults who had no choice in how they were born.  I learned no matter what intelligence level you are you can be an artist, you can be creative.  I lived in the  Middle East and learned not one religion or faith is better than another.  It all began to come out in my art...cultures, the world, rights for all peoples, peace, prejudice, the horrors of hatred and war, my travels, my friendships of other people in other cultures...and now for the last 10 years plus the struggle of watching my Mother struggle with the effects of massive stroke, caretaking, nursing homes, how age and dementia and alzheimers destroys people we love.  And now I find a need to express that in my art...I look to art to heal and to help me as I go through this journey with my Mother.  As I write this I realize I need to break it into sections of interest.  Our first subject is creativity, madness, and art as the healer.  Secondly a close up look at artist who are artists struggling with mental and physical health.
Thirdly I will take you on my personal journey with my art and life...showing you where the experience crosses over into the art....and I would say, we as artists are not always aware when or how that happens.  It is like when you dream a dream...the symbols in the dream may not make since to you, but a friend will point something out...and you think-how did I not see that!

ART IN THE 21ST CENTURY
this is a wonderful series on contemporary art

The series started in early 2000, so you can subscribe  or find many of the episodes on you tube.  Enjoy world of art lovers if you are just discovering this-it is rich!

Without poets, without artists, men would soon weary of nature's monotony. The sublime idea men have of the universe would collapse with dizzying speed. The order which we find in nature, and which is only an effect of art, would at once vanish. Everything would break up in chaos. There would be no seasons, no civilization, no thought, no humanity; even life would give way, and the impotent void would reign everywhere. -Guillaume Apollinaire

Caos by Miro                                             google image

Growth is an erratic forward movement: two steps forward, one step back. Remember that and be very gentle with yourself.
Julia Cameron 

Monica throwing with more and more confidence

NEW BENCHMARK FOR RABBIT'S MOON STUDIO!

Benchmark up three thousand hits!!! 33,010!
Thank you world, thank you artists and art lovers and art advocates!  Your support is what makes us successful.  It is our pleasure to serve you and join hands in the name of art and peace and understanding across this big planet of ours!!

GOOGLE IMAGE

MAY THERE BE PEACE IN THE WORLD
MAY THERE BE BEAUTY IN THE WORLD
MAY THERE BE LOVE IN THE WORLD
AND MAY ART HELP TO HEAL AND BUILD BRIDGES OF UNDERSTANDING. 

New Artist Series

Javier T. Jones

How we make a difference in the arts, Makes a difference din peoples lives. 
Muy Bueno Por Todas El Mundo.

Javier T. Jones  Copper Artist

Javier honors a past copper artist Jack Lebow
Jack worked with my students on a public art project.

Javier is an artist I met recently that impressed me in his life and his art.  He has a studio loft above the Florida Craftsmen Guild in St. Petersburg Florida.  He is originally from Puerto Rico where he taught elementary art.  So, right away we had something in common, both being art educators.  He taught in a very rough area where he had 5th graders who were already prostitutes and boys who were rapists.  He worked hard in the community to make a difference. He did a mural program in the neighborhood to cover up gang graffiti with the kids.  I can not tell you how much I admire people like Javier who work a hard day of teaching art, pushing a cart, begging for art supplies, and trying to survive financially in teaching...but still go out after hours and on weekends to help kids.  The sacrifice is enormous, it takes away from your own kids and family time, it takes your own money and resources, it takes your heart and soul.  
Javier's art work demands duel attention with his work as a Physical therapist and a Father.  He gets up early, goes to the studio, mixes his chemicals to make a patina for his metal, then heads out to work.  He is an amazing person, and has such a positive outlook for his art and art for others.  

CAN SOMEONE BE A CRAPPY PERSON, BUT A GREAT ARTIST?

Caravaggio

Caravaggio died in a mysterious death at a young age
google image

The Sacrifice Of Issac by  Carivaggio                 google image

The answer is yes!  Sometimes we are elevated beyond ourselves.  In the case of Caravaggio, it is possibly very true.  Here is a synopsis of his life from Wikipedia below.  It appears he was difficult to get along with, always looking for a fight to get into, and killed a young man in a brawl.  But his work was brilliant, he can show emotion and suffering so dramatically in his work.  We can easily be moved by his paintings and his evident empathy with those suffering. It is hard to wrap our minds around that.  Van Gogh was a difficult man, found it hard to interrelate to people, and often psychotic.  He could be violent and angry.  But he is now one of the most famous of artist...his work is colorful and delightful.
So how did these men and other artist work on such a high level and their work become brilliant inspite of themselves?  Is there another level we reach when we open ourselves to the ideas and visions that come to us when we approach our art?  Are we elevated in above our own nature?  It is a question worth pondering and worth discussion.  

"An early published notice on him, dating from 1604 and describing his lifestyle three years previously, tells how "after a fortnight's work he will swagger about for a month or two with a sword at his side and a servant following him, from one ball-court to the next, ever ready to engage in a fight or an argument, so that it is most awkward to get along with him."^[3] In 1606 he killed a young man in a brawl and fled from Rome with a price on his head. He was involved in a brawl in Malta in 1608, and another in Naples in 1609, possibly a deliberate attempt on his life by unidentified enemies. This encounter left him severely injured. A year later, at the age of 38, he died under mysterious circumstances in Porto Ercole, reportedly from a fever while on his way to Rome to receive a pardon.

Famous while he lived, Caravaggio was forgotten almost immediately after his death, and it was only in the 20th century that his importance to the development of Western art was rediscovered. Despite this, his influence on the new Baroque style that eventually emerged from the ruins of Mannerism was profound. It can be seen directly or indirectly in the work of Rubens, Jusepe de Ribera, Bernini, and Rembrandt, and artists in the following generation heavily under his influence were called the "Caravaggisti" or "Caravagesques", as well as Tenebrists or "Tenebrosi" ("shadowists"). Andre Berne-Joffroy, Paul Valéry's secretary, said of him: "What begins in the work of Caravaggio is, quite simply, modern painting."^[4]"

Van Gogh with Bandaged Ear

^{Van Gogh}

^{quote from Wikipedia on Van Gogh's} struggles
In January 1879, he took a temporary post as a missionary in the village of Petit Wasmes^{[note 5]} in the coal-mining district of Borinage in Belgium. Taking Christianity to what he saw as its logical conclusion, van Gogh lived like those he preached to, sleeping on straw in a small hut at the back of the baker's house where he was staying. The baker's wife reported hearing van Gogh sobbing at night in the hut. His choice of squalid living conditions did not endear him to the appalled church authorities, who dismissed him for "undermining the dignity of the priesthood." He then walked to Brussels,^[30] returned briefly to the village of Cuesmes in the Borinage, but gave in to pressure from his parents to return home to Etten. He stayed there until around March the following year,^{[note 6]} a cause of increasing concern and frustration for his parents. There was particular conflict between Vincent and his father; Theodorus made inquiries about having his son committed to the lunatic asylum at Geel.^{[31][note 7]}

Candy Chang

    

NEW ORLEANS ARTIST

I first saw CANDY Chang's work in a New Orleans publication.  It showed a house boarded up since Katrina painted with chalk board paint and the phrase "Before I die" painted line after line repeatedly living room for an answer. Candy's desire to connect others to each other in a positive way that pitches art and social environmentalism in a new light.  Her ideas are touching, visionary and needed.  As we disconnect from our world with technology, we more than ever need to be connected  personally in an ever challenging world.  Watch the ted event movie and you will be touched.  I am ever interested in young artist who see our world and interactions to it so differently.

Meeting Martin Stynes(click)

Have you ever met someones art before you met them?  That was the case with Martin.  We have corresponded on line and facebook for a good long time.  We have talked art, about his shows and exhibitions, we have talked of other artists, we have talked of philosophy and science.  I have read Martin's poetry, and time traveled with him to the future and back.  I have introduced other artists to him and him to me.  And now he sent his work to a gallery in Florida near where I live.  So I hurried over to see it and there it was hung in the front room, the same lovely abstract landscape paintings I knew so well.  I would have bought that tryptic, but someone beat me to it, it had a little red dot...sold! I think it happened the first day, lucky person!   So now I must get Martin to come to Florida or North Carolina when I can actually get to meet this fine painter and good hearted friend in person!

" Welcome Martin, I thought, so nice to finally meet you!"

Me meeting Martins' Painting            photo by Ann Suggs

photo by Elizabeth Gordon

"All of us do this: Experiment, play, move things around, juxtapose stuff, re-invent and re name. Sometimes something happens and we stop and stare. We didn't know we were going to do this. And then it might wind up in the editing page and make its way to an album on facebook, pinned to the wall and stared at. And again some of this becomes a piece of work to finish. It might end up in the blog or listed on the website. Occasionally it is selected for a show. A group exhibition or a solo show. People come and look. Stop and stare again. The title intrigues them, it begins a train of thought they were not expecting. I visit and see this thing with words and begin to wonder if I knew what I was doing. It is often the case that I conclude, no, I didn't know. This is why I and we are in awe of what we do and what we bring into this world. In awe because I do not think it is us who are in charge." a quote by Martin Stynes

Close up detail of Martin's tryptic 

note the red dot...SOLD!

Morean Art Gallery and Center Members Show

Hi Martin Stynes, so nice to meet you!

A Man Who Does Good in the Name of Art

Duncan McClellan
hero of the arts

Duncan McClellan, glass artist                         from google image

DON'T ASK WHAT THE ARTS CAN DO FOR YOU, ASK WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR THE ARTS! 

Glass Art of Duncan McClellan                                                                from google image

That is Duncan's philosophy. It is Kennedyesque, but it is also all Duncan, a one man rocking machine!  He is a glass blower, and he etches his glass in amazing ways.  He is a charming engaging man.  He is a successful artist who has made his way.  The story could end there, if he were a man who only focused on himself and his success.  But what makes this story unique is he did not choose to focus on himself only.  He chose to help a community, a neighborhood, fellow artists, schools, and a city along the way!  

Duncan's Art Studio, Gallery, home and organic fruit garders                  photo by elizabeth gordon

He single handily turned an old dying warehouse district into a district of the arts and active studios.  He took an old warehouse in a very iffy area, sunk a huge bunch of money to turn it into his studio, galleries for himself and visiting artists and now a huge hot shop.  Every Saturday on the first day of the month he opens he studio to every one, and it is quite an event.  He also reconditioned an old trailer into a traveling art trailer for the local schools. 

with $6000 dollars Duncan reconditioned this old trailer with a sand blaster, and glass art tools to take to the local schools to teach them about glass blowing and etching.  photo by elizabeth gordon

 For he knows something I know as a teacher of the arts, if you teach children to love and appreciate the arts they will the future buyers of art, and visitors of galleries!  But he does if because he cares about kids and the arts.  He is a man with a big heart and a huge smile. 

Maryanne(art therapist and author)  and my with the handsome new manager of the new hot shop
Jake Stout

First Saturday Art Opening at Duncan's Gallery and Studio

Side patio at Duncan's Gallery with another artists sculptures

Mediterraneo by Sergio Daveri and Italian Artist

Sergio Daveri

Duncan's Art Openings are a popular event

The point is we can all chose to do art for ourselves and our needs or our bank account...Duncan chose to bring others along with him in his success and to be inclusive rather than excluding.  To me that makes him a hero...a hero of the arts! 

ADDENDUM FOR THE UNLIKELY ARTIST
Jim and Andrew the bankers turned Quilters

FROM GOOGLE

CHECK IT OUT!!!  MC CALL'S QUILTING MAGAZINE HIGHLIGHTS OUR ARTISTS!!!!
AND PORTLAND QUILTING SHOW!!!

 http://quiltsb.blogspot.com/.....BOOKMARK THIS SITE...THESE GUYS ARE SMOKING HOT!!!

An Unlikely Pair/Bankers to Artists

How Do We Get Called To The Arts?

google image

That is the Photo now go to the blog and see the quilt!!!!

Jim and Andrew were an unlikely pair to enter the arts.  They were bankers by trade, successful bankers at that.  But a call that whispered on the wind, as life changed and circumstances the call became louder.  Life is funny like that Jim always loved the arts and Andy's family background were craftsmen in the world of tailoring and fabric.  Quilting became a hobby they enjoyed that relieved the stress of the day. Then as illness and a life altering auto accident injury changed Jim and Andrew's life, banking was no longer there world.  Their hobby became more and more important and they spent more of their time at home ramping up their quilting.  They began experimenting more, and expanding for traditional patterns to more modern ones.. 

They also began exhibiting and selling their quilts.  This went on for a few years and then all of sudden they were "discovered"! Funny how you can work years at something and become found by others.  Now it has been a round of acceptance in to national exhibitions, awards, and sales beyond their dreams.  And as of late an art museum is interested in their quilts for a show.   It is a wonderful quilt about Lucy, from the I love Lucy Show.  You can find all their quilts on their blog....http://quiltsb.blogspot.com
Give them a look....you will love these guys!!!

Colored Windows to the World   from google image

ART AND FEAR AND IN LIFE   

google image

As I was researching David Bayles' book on Art and Fear I ran into Nathan Sage's blog which had the following review of the book.  I can see he loves the book as much as I do and I think you will also.  Do check out the book.  We highly recommend it here at Rabbits Moon Studio's.  It is wonderful for artist of all disciplines, but it speaks to living itself.  Here is the review from Nathan's blog.  I decided to include the whole page because Nathan said it so well.

"

Art and Fear: If I could quote the whole book, I would.

I read a lot of books, a lot of blogs, a lot of email, and I follow a lot of people on Twitter. But it’s been a long time since I’ve read anything, in any format, that’s as good as David Bayles’ and Ted Orland’s book, Art and Fear. I’ve certainly never read a book about making art this good, and I doubt I ever will again.

Concise (120 pages, in print), informative, exhaustive, and potent, this book needs no commentary. So, instead of giving you my thoughts on the book, I’m just going to give you my three favorite quotes¹:

When you act out of fear, your fears come true. Fears about art making fall into two families: fears about yourself, and fears about others. In a general way, fears about yourself prevent you from doing your best work, while fears about your reception by others prevent you from doing your own work. [p. 23]

At any point along that path, your job as an artist is to push craft to its limits—without being trapped by it. The trap is perfection: unless your work continually generates new and unresolved issue, there’s no reason for your next work to be any different from the last. The difference between art and craft list not in the tools you hold in your hands, but in the mental set that guides them. For the artisan, craft is an end in itself. For you, the artist, craft is the vehicle for expressing your vision. Craft is the visible edge of art. [p. 99]

Van Gogh's Work Was highly Influenced by Japanese Artist 

Many people first respond deeply to art—indeed, respond deeply to the world—upon finding works of art that seem to speak directly to them. Small surprise, then, if upon setting out to make art themselves, they begin by emulating the art or artist that brought this revelation. Beethoven’s early compositions, for instance, show the unmistakable influence of his teacher, Franz Joseph Haydn. Most early work, in fact, only hints at the themes and gestures that will—if the potential isn’t squandered—emerge as the artist’s characteristic signature in later, mature work. At the outset, however, chances are that whatever theme and technique attract you, someone has already experimented in the same direction. This is unavoidable: making any art piece inevitably engages the larger themes and basic techniques that artists have used for centuries. Finding your own work is a process of distilling from each of those traces that ring true to your own spirit. [p. 103]

I would assume that, for the authors, this book was a work of both art and fear, itself; it’s obvious. But what strikes me about this book—and what has always struck me about art—is that it is such an accurate metaphor for life.

To reinforce what I’m saying, I’ll run back over the major themes from those three quotes, and add “life” to each summary:

1. Fear is paralyzing, in life and in art-making.
2. There is simultaneously a huge difference, and a fine line, between “perfection” (craft) and never being satisfied (art), in life and in art-making.
3. What you produce reflects how you react to your surroundings, in life and in art-making."

It is Time For Women Artists to Rule

There is a wonderful article I read in the Huffington Post about Women in the Arts. (<CLICK)  I thought you might like a link to the article and about the importance of Women Artists.  

Woman Artist of History             google image   

The Creative Process Does Not Belong To Artists Alone
The Kahn Academy 

Salman Kahn of Salman Kahn Academy            google image

Though we as artists often feel that is the case, all we need to do is look at visionaries, inventor's, and scientist who have led the way in their innovative thinking skills.  From Leonardo Da Vinci to Einstein to Buckminster Fuller to Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, there is plenty of evidence of a wealth of creative thinking in other 

Leonardo Da Vinci              google image

fields.  So today I wanted to highlight an innovative thinker of today.  His story is one of those that seems happenstance and unlikely, but altogether true.  Salman Kahn was a hedgefund manager on Wall Street, when his niece was having trouble with algebra.  He happened to be very good in math, so he offered his help.  The only problem was he was in New York, and she was in New Orleans.  So he decided to do a you tube video to help her out, explain in fully, and make her feel like he was there with him. As unlikely as it seems, someone else needed help and happened on it, and another and another...then people started e-mailing him asking him for help with other math problems, the science and other fields.  Salman made video after video for people and refused to charge and fees for his work.  Then it all became viral and he soon discovered Bill Gates was using his videos to teach his children with Kahn's lessons.  It seems Kahn has a knack of explaining really difficult things in the most simple way.  So then the story goes Bill Gates contacts Salmon and now he has started the Kahn academy that is still refusing to take money.  He started his business as a non-profit so anyone can access his free education on line.  His idea are being looked at to revolutionize how we teach math to students in the United States and world wide. I admire people who care more about helping others than making profit for themselves.  To me Salman Kahn is a hero and a creative thinker.  Please join me in celebrating the life of someone who makes others lives better.

If you know anyone world wide that needs a free education and can access on line lessons please educate them about the Kahn academyhttp://www.khanacademy.org...It may make a difference in a persons' life.

“Look at your work and it tells you how it is when you hold back or when you embrace. When you are lazy, your art is lazy; when you hold back, it holds back; when you hesitate, it stands there staring, hands in its pockets. But when you commit, it comes on like blazes.” by david bayles author of the book Art and Fear

by Melissa from google image

I have always found it difficult to know when to stop working on a piece of art.  I want to add more and do more.  At some point I decided I would have to go with a gut feeling when everything clicked and seemed to say "I AM DONE".  That seems to work for me, but there are times I still will ponder to add or take away...if I am not sure, I take a break and come back to it later.  But the commitment is essential, is facing and overcoming self doubt and fear of failure.  Art is a process, one must move through the learning steps and flow of ideas...if an idea changes or moves to another that is not a failure, it is merely a part of the artistic process that tells you where to go next.  Some people stop and doubt themselves at that point...quit, sure they are a failure or not a real artist and walk away. If you go to a gallery or art show you will see artists of all kinds and all levels of talent and skill.  And some people will show their work at any level, and I have come to admire that...it is because they have faith that they will grow, they will change, and their art will reach higher levels.  They are committed.  I have seen many a talented artist decide not to show, because in their mind, their work is not good enough...they are just not realizing it is a step of self destruction and self doubt.  The seeking of perfectionism is one of the most destructive of self sabotaging inner critics.  To seek perfection is to set yourself up for sure failure and paralysis.  It to set up the impossible to insure failure, then you can say to yourself.....see I am not an artist, or see I do not have enough talent...it is pure self destruction.

photo by elizabeth gordon teacher of the arts

It is like jumping off a high diving board in a ice cold pool...you just close your eyes and do it!  And amazingly you survive, and the diving board wasn't as high as you thought, and the pool wasn't so cold.  I wish you all the courage to not seek perfection, to accept yourself where you are in your journey and take that jump.  I can guarantee you will survive and you will grow as an artist and a person. That guarantee comes from 37 years of being an art teacher and watching people grow and a life time as an artist and having to learn to trust the process.

THE ART OF MARTIN STYNES

Martin Stynes                       Abstract Landscape         google image

"Martin Stynes’ paintings speak for themselves.  Every human being notices the sky and earth. When John Constable went out with his easel and paints he called it going out skying. He was trying to capture the infinite.

Men have probably been around as thinking beings for 500 000 years. Logged into our basic primeval memory are all those impressions of the sky we live under. These paintings give viewers a link to the past and future in their own lives and also the past and future of humanity.

And yet they might not know why. These paintings are a hidden link between past, present and future they surpass the concrete and allow the viewer to access emotions they were not aware they had.

"Somewhere, we are acquainted with Joy" 2011

Because the form is abstract the viewer cannot tie the image directly to experience  and the brain instinctively searches for the emotions which correlate to the image.  Some of these emotions are extremely intense and powerful, they may be beauty and peace or love or hate or even fear and terror.  In the split seconds after the realisation the brain makes the connection that this is an image and not reality. Those who feel love and peace are grateful for the experience those who feel fear or terror are relieved that it is just an image and not reality. Intense experiences in life are remembered much better than the ordinary run of the mill events. When the viewer sees these paintings he or she may be projected back in time by the emotion they experience to an experience in their own lives which is lurking deep in their conscious or unconscious mind and may have been buried for years until they see these paintings. Best of all they may only experience the emotion rather than exact recall of an event, and be mesmerised by the experience."  from an article on Martins Work

 Martin's work takes me to another time and place, here on Earth and in other dimensions.  When I was a child of four and five I had dreams of living in another time and space.  My Mother, rather than correct me listening patiently, which allowed me to honor my memories. I was a child already with a great imagination, but these dreams were so real.  I knew it was England and in the late 1800's, I could sense I had walked the streets of London in a long grey wool skirt that swept the ground and I could see high granite curbs I stepped upon to enter stores....who knows about memories and a child, but it made me believe in Einstein's theory of relativity and the string theory of coexisting times and worlds.  Martin's work brings alive in me primal feelings of other worlds and places and deep feelings of longing and of stunning beauty of a universe we can rarely explain even to ourselves.  Get to know Martin's work and it will take you on an unexpected journey into your deepest primordial self!