Sea Life with Dramatic Tones!

"Sea Life", 24" x 24", Oil on canvas

I am lucky to be able to drive to the ocean and be inspired by expected things I find.  I travel to and from the beach throughout the year and find the best shell collecting is during the winter and spring seasons.  Building my collection, I have found a huge spectrum of shell varieties in all colors and sizes. 

My shell collection inspired me to create this painting in rich tones and subtle colors.  I let the drama of the sea life be the center of attention!

If your summer travels take you to Rehoboth, Delaware, please be plan to visit these inspiring locations where my art is displayed:

Aerie Art Gallery

45-1/2 Lake Avenue

Rehoboth Beach, DE

Jeff West Home

413 Rehoboth Avenue
Rehoboth Beach, DE

Summer Time in Nantucket

There is something in the air ~ must be summer!  
With summer brings inspiration for new paintings in happy color palettes with whimsical subjects and the unexpected.  Several of my summer beach paintings will at the Vanderbilt Gallery in Nantucket this summer.  If you are planning on a visit to beautiful Nantucket this summer, please stop in the gallery to view my newest works.

Vanderbilt Gallery
18 Federal Street
Nantucket, MA
Vanderbilt Gallery

Leading Artists Gallery Announcement

 I am pleased to announce the launch of my newest division Leading Artists Gallery, an online gallery offering themed monthly art competitions, exhibitions and artist profiles. 

Leading Artists Gallery is an international online art gallery established to provide emerging and professional artists art competitions to showcase their talent, to gain valuable exhibition opportunities and to advance professionally.  

Each monthly competition is themed and has a juror who exemplifies the special expertise for the theme.  Leading Artists Gallery also promotes the winning artists through targeted online media placement, social media exposure and art sales opportunities.

I look forward to attracting high quality artists and providing outstanding exhibitions for viewers.   Please visit Leading Artists Gallery and learn the benefits of participating in Leading Artists Gallery competitions.  Tap your potential and consider applying for the upcoming competitions!

The first competition ~ Still Life ~ closes June 30.  The winner will be announced and the online exhibition will open July 15.  An exciting way to celebrate summer!

Meet Me at the Azalea Festival

Find colorful inspiration in everything!

The annual spring Azalea Festival is here!  Come view colorful new art -miniatures, limited edition prints, and dreamy photography— something for everyone...

The Azalea festival runs Friday through Sunday 10am-5pm, Landon School, 6101 Wilson Lane, Bethesda.

Hope to see you at the festival,

                                         Martha

My Visit to the Corcoran Gallery of Art - Senior Project Exhibition

Graphic Designs

Discover what's happening at the Corcoran Gallery of Art --

This morning, I attended a "Behind the Scenes" tour of the senior art student's exhibition and critique at the Corcoran Gallery of Art/ College of Art + Design.  The tour was lead by Catherine Armour, Dean of the College as well as others instrumental in making this exhibition happen.  The exhibition runs April -May.

The exhibition installation was continuing as we made our way through the show.  This dynamic, interactive, and innovative exhibition features the thesis work of the senior students in the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree program at the Corcoran.  These 45 students were participating in a group critique on the installed art.  We were proverbial `fly on the wall' learning from the artists' their intentions when they created their art, and fascinated by the questions and comments posed by their peers.

This exhibition included photography, drawings, video, interactive exchange and paintings-- the most surprising to me was the idea of "take away art".  One artist had what appeared to be a random pile of white, broken ceramic pieces.  We were told the the artists' intention is for viewers to take a piece from the pile as a souvenir-hoping that there is nothing left at the end of the show and that her art will be spread far and away.   

Another artist created large organic looking images from soot and (red) dye, photographed and printed them large.  They were beautiful --the unexpected element of these pieces was that each one included the artists' fingerprints.  Now that is a unique way to sign a piece!

The Corcoran Ball is April 29th and it is a wonderful celebration that provides scholarships for the College and underwrites the Corcoran's award-winning community outreach and education programs that benefit the metropolitan area.  Hope to see you there!

Feature Article in the Potomac Patch online newspaper

I am happy to share this feature article by Nancy Gibson of the Potomac Patch online newspaper.  A few weeks ago, I mentioned my meeting with Nancy and this article.   It came out today and I thought I would share it with you.  Please follow the link to read the quotes from two local companies and see images of my studio. 

Feature Article - Light and Color Driven Paintings


Nancy also has a fabulous business that you may find interesting.   She is an antiques dealer under the name Gabriel Gibson Decorative Arts and sells on VandM.com.  Please take a look at her unique items at http://www.vandm.com/gabrielgibson you may find something that you can't live without!

Solo Exhibition: Wake Forest University Medical Center

"Star Spangled Skies"

Fine Art in Heath Care
Solo Exhibition (Photography): "Capture A Cloud"
Wake Forest University Medical Center, NC
April 1 - June 1, 2011

"A Silver Lining"

I am very excited about my upcoming photography exhibition at the Wake Forest University Medical Center in Winston-Salem, NC.   This is a collection of fifteen colorful photographs of pleasing and unexpected cloud images.  Fine art and photography in health care facilities requires entertainment value and universal appeal for patients and visitors.  I was thrilled to have my proposal chosen and look forward to my visit to Winston-Salem next week. 

If you would like to see all fifteen images, I will be happy to send you the link--just email at, marthaspak@gmail.com. 
http://www.marthaspak.com