Mary Martin Galleries of Fine Art

It all begins with observation. By looking at the natural world one can get a feeling for how things appear, whether it be how a bird acts, how an animal moves or how a plant grows. This action moves me to the second step.

This second step is the most difficult, getting what I observe in nature and making a painting out of it; the copy of the reality. I don’t want it to look too perfect...every leaf in place, etc....but I endeavor to capture the feeling as I see it.

The technique I use is “drybrush watercolor”. This is a process by which most of the pigment is removed from the brush, then when applied is more like drawing than painting.

I paint in my studio in my home that has natural light. If I can I’ll bring in stuff that I am working on, branches or plants, etc. I once even brought in a large section of old wooden fence for one of my pieces. Not all things are so cooperative so on occasion I will work from photographs, which I take with my digital camera.

My wife Linda and I enjoy watching the interaction of birds and animals that occur in the world around all of us. In this hectic and fast-paced world we all at times fail to really see. As an artist I look for things others may not notice and then render them into a watercolor, a frozen moment in time that can be enjoyed for a lifetime.

dry-brush, this combined with keen observation allows the beholder to get a glimpse of the intrinsic world as the artist perceives it. He currently resides in Florida, with his wife and dog.