Martha's Artist Statement

A combination of landscape, figurative, interior, and completely imaginary, the focus of my work rests on a drive for exploration and experimentation. All subject matter offers unique aspects of creating to learn from; my hope is that by pursuing a variety of interests, I may develop my skills in a more holistic manner. In terms of medium, however, I have slightly narrowed myself down, primarily working with oil paint and charcoal and often in an additive/subtractive method, wiping down my surface just as frequently as building material up. This prevents locking into any placement too early, resulting in a piece that is highly observational and responsive to the motif. I am attracted to the ways in which I can work heavily into the oil paint before it dries, as well as wipe away charcoal as I am working, continually searching for the best work. As for size, I return to experimentation, choosing to work large, small, and everywhere in between.

Lately my focus has been on placing the human figure into a space, attempting to capture the atmosphere of the light over and around them and suggest a narrative, often with emotional resonance. I look for dynamic shapes in my field of vision when creating a composition, trying not to focus entirely on the negative or positive shapes too entirely. I want a representation both that is visually accurate to the subject and that embodies that which is more felt (the weight, temperature, and depth). Rather than mimicking photography, I want my work to be a window into the emotional reality of the motif. In life, our brains sort through all the information we receive in a room to inform our conception of it. When presenting a painting or drawing, I only have control of the visual, thus I use heightened saturation in neutrals, selective detail/focus, and specific application techniques to infuse the image with the remaining gap of information, resulting in a fully immersive image. In short, I want the viewer to stop and appreciate the beauty in the mundane.