One of my favorites from the Mini Murals to Go!

I got the idea for this little Mini Mural to Go from the garden shed in my back yard. There was a weird sort of opening that looked about the right size for a small animal that had been cut in one side of the shed. So I just let my imagination run wild! I showed it to my landlord's husband as i was working on it and he laughed at my wide use use of artistic liscense. Then he told me that one of the children was a farmer and had just taken some of the chickens they raised to the 4-H show. Funny art imitating life telepathicly(?) Ok that is a stretch. Anyway the painting turned out really cool. Its on masonite in acrylic polymer with a semi gloss polymer finish that glares a little too much for me to photo graph it streight on. It has holes drilled in the top for easy hanging. It can also be framed. The largest of these Mini Murals To Go is 6' by 3'. This one is about 18" by 12". I say about because we had the guy at Lowes cut the board for us. Amazing the way they do that. Then my trusty assistant, Mary, primes the surface and drills the holes( not necessarily in that order) and I plan it, draw it and paint it. I have one I am working on now that is 4' by 2' of a Dairy landscape over near Brandy Station, Virginia.

We had hoped to have it finished by our July 19th event but I stopped being super human at about 25 years old. Anyway I will post that one too when Its ready.

If you are in the area please stop in at the Country Shoppes of Culpeper located at 10046 James Monroe Hwy on 29 south of Culpeper,Va If you need better directions, google maps works nicely. Email me at contact@llmartin if you are going to be in the area and let me know how you liked the work.

www.llmartin.com

Also Available at the Country Shoppes of Culpeper Fine Art Reproductions by LLMartin

There are a variety of reproductions of artist Linda Martin's originals, priced for collectors, in wide price ranges starting at $3.oo for Art Trading Cards. Included on display are framed and ready to frame prints of watercolors and other works on Canvas and paper and graphite drawings of a variety of popular pets. Currently we are limited in size to 8.5 by 11 as the largest print we can offer.
New this year LLMartin Artistic services is offering Blank note cards. Each package contains 8 blank cards of the image of an original work of art by the artist and 8 envelops. Currently we are offering them for an introductory price of $12.49 a set. We also hope to sell them through our on line Gift store. Watch this space to see when they will be available.

www.llmartin.com

Paintings on Display At The Country Shoppes of Culpeper by LLMartin

Here are two views of our Center Display. There is a variety of Original Art work for Sale in the LLMartin Artistic Services Space Ranging in Prices from $45 for original Drawings to $2500.00 for a Highly Collectible Equine Painting. Artist Linda Martin also has offers affordable commissioned paintings in small formats that start at $10.00 or 2.5" to 3.5" and range to $125.00 for a 9 ' by 12" Watercolor.

You can check out more of her prices and terms of sale on her website: www.llmartin.com under pet portraits or landscape commissions.

Views From The Country Shoppes of Culpeper July 19th event

Among other things offered at the Country Shoppes of Culpeper, the Space occupied by LLMartin Artistic Services has original paintings, Such as Mini Murals to Go , note cards from originial paintings and Fine art reproductions of original work. This grouping is of the non partisan Vote series celebrating the rights of all US citizens to participate in the political process.

The Country Shoppes of Culpeper are located about 5 minutes South of Culpeper, Virigina on Rt. 29

www.llmartin.com

Whew!!! Im Glad for a Breather!

This month has been a real whirlwind! We had to move out of Fox Den Antiques and into The Country Shoppes of Culpeper. The Economy has been a real challenge.

Thankfully, I have a grant for some of what I am doing or I never would have survived this long. I do see that I need another grant and/or some very large commissions to take me trough the rest of this year and next year. Nothing is certain in this world and especially in this economy. Nothing expect the knowledge that God is faithful.

Several Months ago when faced with the challenges and uncertainty of moving from Warrenton to Remington I remember crying out to God for Mercy because at times the stress was unbearable. There were so many people pulling at me, so many people making decisions about my life and I had no control. And God comforted me with his Spirit. He said in his still small voice speaking to my intuition, "I will remove every obstacle in your path so that it will be as though the obstacle was never there".

I stood on that promise each time Some disaster struck to prevent me from moving forward with the process. I am still standing on that promise. God Challenged me again this month with :" Watch how I will provide for you!" Each wonderful promise he gives me I cling to like a spiritual adornment spoken like his words of love for me. I look forward to the day when I can paint those worship paintings, too.

But for this month I've lost track of how many paintings I had to accomplish. An 8 foot by 6 foot mural which I hope to finish tomorrow morning and provide pictures here. The lighting isn't very good for photography there. Hopefully later this week I will have posted the pictures of the mural.

The lion painting is waiting for approval and hopefully will also be shipped by the end of the week. We had a lot of delays trying to complete it because I had to move three times in the last three months ( my home, my studio, and my public gallery venue) and because its an oil painting it took each layer twice as long to dry because of the humidity. We had a tremendous number of rainy days and storms up until last week.

Its one of the reasons I try to allow 6 to nine months for oils. I don't like to use all those fancy driers or new fangled water base oil paints simply because no one knows how long they last or if the drying will be uneven and cause the entire painting to separate from the canvas. Some people have no problems with them. I've seen some real nightmares too ,when work by other artists was totally destroyed several months after the painting was delivered. I painted him the old fashioned and slower way.

If you would like to see the Lion : go to www.llmartin.com and scroll down to the works in progress link under the international counter. All of the stages from the approved drawing to the nearly finish product are there.