Nikki from Life

This painting is one of the quick studies that I did. It came about because I was photographing fruit and reflections of color for a project for my art students at the time. Nikki just came over and sat down in the middle of everything. This study was from 2004.

"Kitten With Pear" (detail)
Oil on Gessoed Paper
9 by 11 inches
by LindaLMartin Artist
Original is $300.00
If you would like to make an offer on this painting please email info@llmartin.com

 In 2000 I moved to an apartment in a small town in the horse country of Virginia. It was a beautiful big apartment. I didn't have a lot of furniture, just a few pieces that people had given me. I was photographing my apartment one day and suddenly noticed that Nikki was very carefully  walking into each shot and posing.

When I suddenly got a clue I started taking his photo. He really liked it. And being part of the creative process, I think helped him adjust from being a cat that had the fields, pastures, hedgerows and fence-lines of rural life to living in town and not being allowed to go out side. It wasn't long until Nikki was posing for me when I painted. 

My Brilliant Attempt at the New Cheesy Potatoes

Here are the images of Before and after. You might want to cook those spuds for a while before you put the cheese in. Just sayin.

Three Small Idaho Spuds at 375F for 45 minutes in a Convection Oven

Help me name this project, please!

Ok, I need your help. I need name suggestions for one of the projects that I am working on. I'm trying to come up with a name that will brand  the project. 

Watercolor Pet Portraits
starting at $35.00 each
info@llmartin.com

Here is the purpose of the project:

My idea is that this project will provide and train people to provide, special services for the elderly, disabled and terminally ill, to help them keep their pets at home when they can no longer look after them, will foster their pets to be available for visits while the client is in a nursing home or in long term rehab after illness or operations, and will act to help place the animal upon the death of the client.

This is a really important service because almost every agency available to people cannot provide basic care for companion and service animals. Families usually are not equipped  to take on pets of family members  leaving the pet owners with additional worry and stress at a time when they need their companion animals the most.  
 

Once the program is in place persons trained in this as volunteers or micro businesses will also be an additional source of contact for those needing the service.

 
Services that can be provided from those certified through the program:
Vet visits
Grooming Nursing home and hospital visits
Basic care and feeding in home
Daily walks

Also  training in how to assess if special funding for basic care, feeding and annual shots is needed and setting up provider sources for that.

I would love to hear your ideas on what we can name this project.
I'm working on a basic Curriculum out line now. Once we get approval for the program and its budget,  We will begin fund raising. If you have any ideas  on that I would love to hear from you as well. Post here or email me through info@llmartin.com with your ideas.

Los Lonely Girls.. What I would love to do with the Ladies!

The year was 2004 and I was recovering from the loss of my dad and a long illness. I decided that I was tired of  the media portraying woman as this unrealistic toothpicks that never aged. I wanted to let woman see that they were beautiful, aged beautifully and celebrate their inner strength. So I painted 20 paintings. Oils on paper.

See the online exhibit at this link:
Los Lonely Girls

I choose Oils because traditionally it is the medium that lasts the longest in doors (next to stone sculpture). However, I choose heavy watercolor paper because of its fragile state that actually mimics the historic significance of the contributions of woman and the frailness of their daily lives. 

I also made an important choice as to how to portray them. I choose to show them in intimate private moments where they were hiding away from the drama and demands of daily life. Alone with their thoughts trying to figure out this survival. I had actually wanted to do more than Hispanic, Native and White women in this portrayal,  however none of the women of  African-American decent would agree. This is important too because it also documents the self-image and lack of confidence that so many woman have. Especially women who have been fighting the fight of raising children alone, acting as sole caregiver for aging family members, as well as acting breadwinner and head of household for a number of family members who have chosen not to work or who are plagued with addictions.

There are a number of women who contributed to my own understanding of what it is like to be poor and working class in America with little opportunity to make good choices and yet they persevere. I thank them for their tolerance and patience with me and their friendship.

What I would love to do with the series is to show it and sell it to develop a mentoring program to help women find their way, to make not only good choices, but even better choices so they can find their voices, and use their talents to shine.

If you or your company is interested in sponsoring this exhibit please contact me at  info@llmartin.com for more details. Just type "Los Lonely Girls" in the subject line. The entire collection is available for sale  or it can be sold separately.