The World Through My Eyes, Paintings by Lila Martin
ARTIST INFORMATION
I try to catch an emotional pull in each painting. Sometimes it's the way the light catches a hay field, someitmes it's the angle of rolling hills, and sometimes it's the energy of a city street at twilight. I am fascinated by people and I like to paint them in their surroundings so I will paint them in parks, at festivities and at their place of work.
I have been painting for over 25 years and don't ever want to be stuck in a box as a painter so I'm constantly trying to find a better way to convey my feelings about a scene. Recently I have been working with water mixable oils as an attempt to better deal with the toxic fumes from some oil paints. I also have been working with Adobe Photoshop as a way to simplify some scenes.
As I continue to read, go to great museums and travel, I am refining my style and sensibility and getting looser and looser as a painter. That is the direction I am headed, but only my paint brush and my travel itenerary will determine the destinations I travel through.
I live in the central portion of California and paint from my travels throughout the state as well as in Europe and Mexico.
About the Artist
As I moved into high school I became fascinated by being able to express emotion through catching people in motion and drawing and painting them in the midst of movement. Several of my drawings, collages and woodcuts were in shows in high school.
After college I became a teacher for 13 years and then an educational administrator, working at a county office of education administrating a large program for 9 years, and then as a school principal for 6 years. Now that I'm retired I can go back to my first love-painting.
As an adult I tried to be able to reproduce exactly what I saw in photographs and for many years I painted in isolation, without any art instruction. Recently I have been working in a group and painting again from my photographs, but focusing on composition and emotional content.
I currently show and sell my work in three galleries and have been juried into several shows, winning best of show and gaining many ribbons over the past few years.
Lila Martin
INFORMATION ABOUT MY ART
I'm an oil painter and all of my paintings are in the new water mixable oil medium. My paintings range from 16X20 to 22X27, with most of them in the 24x30 size, with a few at the 18X24 size.
All of my original paintings come with frames, except for some which are gallery wrapped. My giclee prints are matted to 16X20 and are printed with archival inks on watercolor paper and are numbered. They range from $50 unframed to $125 with a frame. I also have some giclee prints on canvas which are 16X20 and some that are 18X24. They are $250 each.
My prices start at $350 for the 16X20 original paintings and range upwards from there.
I will accept checks, or pay-pall and can securely ship my paintings within a week of receipt of your payment.
LOCAL SHOWS
I am showing my work at regional as well as national shows throughout California. As I live in Bakersfield, I also show my paintings at our local symphony five times a year and at joint collaborative shows with other arts organizations in the central valley. I am now branching out and showing my paintings at several galleries on the central coast.
I just finished a show on Memorial Day at the Morro Bay Art in the Park show and sold two paintings there. I will also come to that show on the 4th of July weekend and the Labor Day weekend.
They got rhythm!
I painted these people at a Puerto Rican fesitval of San Juan. The lady in front was having so much fun I had to paint her. My favorite part of this painting is the interaction between the people dancing up front, the two girls starting to dance, and the guys in the back watching.
