Welcome to my art network here at MySpace! You may call me Martha. To find out more about me and why I am here on MySpace keep reading, or add me and take the PICTURE journey through the many hundreds of photos in my albums. I am here on an artistic journey trying to reconnect to my Martha in me. Having been a daughter, sister, wife, mother for so long now, I seem to have lost the MARTHA in there. I'm at a place in time when I want to reconnect to being "Martha" and not "Mom", "Honey", "Mrs. Ramirez". Like most women, I fell into a pattern of doing for others first and as time went by the more you do for others the less time you take for the "ME" in you. It's never too late to go after your dream or at least try to reconnect with being an individual and not a part of a whole. I thought it was the right time to be what I always dreamed of being, an ARTIST! And as such, I am expressive so I feel I must warn you now, I am what you might call a bit off-center when it comes to a sense of humor, so avoid my EYEBALL POETRY if you are easily offended! Art is offensive at times, that way it shakes you up and startles you back into action by having an offended REACTION to the art. Don't always assume the initial response to the art is the driving force behind the creation, the artist may not even hold the belief that the art is trying to convey. I refuse to be told that things have to be as they are. I believe that things can be as you dream if you just work at it. You should never have to compromise on your dreams. There are always going to be people that will tell you that you don't have what it takes, don't listen to them. If becoming friends with me can serve a purpose of being the little force that pushes you along towards going for your dreams, then my purpose for being here is valid. I'm looking to network with other artistic persons here on MySpace, new or established, that want to share creative and inspiring thoughts, ideas, and wisdom. I don't claim to be an expert on anything art or otherwise. I just enjoy expressing myself artistically and I love hearing the reasoning behind my friend's creations, I like to try to see if my interpretation matches up with what inspired them in the first place. Art is a journey into discovering what makes you happy. I am glad you have stumbled upon my journey and I hope to see what the path you are on has to offer. Don't forget to check out my blogs, I am trying to keep the information I gather along my arty marty journey that might be useful to other artists and creative souls. What are the requirements to be called an "artist" anyways? Isn't it just someone who creates art? But what about being a "successful" artist. Depends on your goals I suppose. I am struggling with the term "successful" more than I am with that of "artist". As an artist I believe my definition of being a success at it is in making quality art. Creating a strong body of that quality art. Then as an artist I could feel I was successful. But I think those around me, even though they are supportive of this dream to become an artist, might view being successful at it differently. Like say, selling enough work over the internet to live comfortably defines being a success. So after creating all these quality works that I feel make me an artist, I would have to go the step farther and promote my art like it is a business to be successful in their eyes. Thus I began researching sales opportunities and trying to select appropriate venues to sell my art, and with that notion I leaned towards online venues because that would be less invasive to family life. I just want to paint and share the love of nature, I don't want to be all bogged down in marketing my art, if you stumble across me at an art festival or on the internet galleries and like my art, I would be honored if you took a work home with you. Currently I am getting more into FOUND ART, using things you have lying around the house to recyle them into works of art. I like adding OLD to new pieces. Life is like that, you bring old memories into your new situations. I'm trying to find balance with this nostalgia and dreamchasing. I love creative approaches to situations and MySpace is my creative approach to promoting my art. As well as over at FACEBOOK, I like both social networkings sites, MySpace is more inspiring with the VISUALS you can send but FACEBOOK is more inspiring with the status updates on what fellow artist have coming up as in shows and venues. I just like collecting you artful friends on both places. I love people, and making new artful friends, especially those that are open enough to be free with their expressive ideas and I hope you will express feedback on my art and suggestive approaches to being even more "successful". I have always loved doodling, crafting, and colors. So I see myself as an "artist"!
All my original artworks featured here are painted in acrylic because it has no fumes, nor odors, and I can paint with my chihuahua sitting in my lap. I only use Liquitex professional grade acrylic paints because I love the mixability and consistency in ease and quality. I paint on triple primed 100% cotton duck canvas stretched over traditional wood frames and back stapled. The 1" depth sides are painted black so the painting can be hung framed or unframed. Each painting is sealed with gloss medium protective varnish for durability and brilliance enhancement. I hope you take the time to browse my albums of one of a kind acrylics. When asked about why I paint as I do, I simply say my "style" is one of meridians. I paint with the body's yin yang meridian positive and negative energy of the day that inspired me to pick up a brush and put down a chihuahua. The effect is almost stained glassed and "yang" heavily directed. Focused, logical, and action oriented energy flows from the sun and runs from the fingers to the face but can be obstructed or partitioned and compartmentalized by daily life occurrences, situations, and encounters causing imbalances and increased yin (negative energy) flow. This can lead to becoming upset, angry, anxious, fearful, hurt by increased yin. The yang (positive energy) will become shut off, composite, compartmentalized, and constricted. I have been able to increase the yang flow by creating my meridianed paintings. Well that's just how I see it. Think about this the next time you sit down to create or are having a "blocked" day and just having a hard time getting motivated, you need more "yang" to balance out all that "yin" that is holding you back. Do this to obtain equilibrium - take a seat first (1)start off by gently tapping the top of your head with the flat palm of your hand, do this about seven times to stimulate your YANG and force it downward throughout your body. (2)then with three fingers slap sharply the inner wrist forearm seven or so times (start with your dominate side, if you are right handed start with right arm, then repeat the process with other arm) this stimulates your YIN flow back upward to be released. (3)finally slap sharply with four fingers the inner ankle seven times on one leg then repeat on the other to force all remaining YIN energy upward to finish balanced polarity in your system. You can start with either leg you want, doesn't make a difference. This works for me and I hope you will try it. I'm ready to paint now. There's a "mood" behind each of my meridianed paintings and I hope they inspire you to open your energy paths and embrace your move towards wholeness. I have enjoyed sharing my art with you and browsing through your creations. I wish to find more art oriented friends here on MySpace with the hopes they can advise me on what to do now that I am making strives to create, produce, and share my art. I hope you find my style intriguing and pleasing. Now tap your head three times and quack like a duck. Just seeing if you are reading this! Excuse me while I shift Tito on my lap, my legs went numb painting. My primary style of artwork features abstract figurative paintings with the eyes CLOSED because if you close your eyes, you then see with your heart. You can feel the energy and beauty of life in all things if you open your heart to something outside your own personal happiness. Life really isn't all ABOUT YOU! We are all just distant worm food for future ROBINS! Thank you again for the artful friendship and ways to network that help fellow artist organize and conquer the market to become successful. Success is not measured in dollars of art sold but in how well your journey has enlightened you about WHO YOUR ARE AS A PERSON! Who among us REALLY knows our self? If you are one of the artful souls I have welcomed as friend here then you probably understand what I mean by trying to get in touch with your hearts emotions and life goals through your art. Being an artist, we are always trying to discover and project thoughts, emotions, memories, and dreams about ourselves into our work. We would like our work to speak for itself but sometimes it is nice to add meaning to the piece, hence the reason why I share a few videographic thoughts on some of my works, to let the viewer know what compelled me to make that piece. But since we are being honest here, no artist really ever reveals the FULL meaning behind a work of art because the reason we produce art is often to drive out demons, to answer the unanswerable, to quiet fears, to explore fantasies, to just free ourselves of some puzzlement to now be viewed outside our own heart and mind, taking on a new meaning once it spreads to others, once it is viewed, heard, and experienced it then rises new questions in others to be dealt with. Art is therapeutic. Everyone whether they call themselves an "artist" or not, have many layers of intricacies to themselves that go beyond the black and white "definites". We mostly all learned early on in life how to hold a pencil and write the letters to spell our name in our native tongue, we learned certain universalties like the sky is blue and the sun is yellow. In art, you can create unlimited possibilities beyond what those universalties that were told you. You can question how things are and create how things COULD be, you can alter the world with the stroke of a brush and create inspiring beauty or surreal moments that push the limitation taught you. My love of art comes from Sailor Bob who was my hero growing up in Virginia in the 60's. He hosted a kids TV show out of Richmond, VA. I would grab my paper and crayons to draw along with him! I'd love to meet anyone that loves to draw, paint, create, anyone that has an appreciation of art. Some of my favorite artists include Escher, Mondriaan, Frankenthaler, Kadinsky, Dali, Picasso, Hokusai, Takashi Murakami, and Peter Max! I also admire the everyday artist, the grandmom that knits her new grandbaby booties, the mom that decorates her three year old's birthday cake with little dinosaurs, the husband that prunes the hedges to look like little topiary geese, the grandfather that carves intricate tulip designs atop a hope chest for his new grand baby, and of course the YOUTH of the NATION that are always amazing me with their colorful textured fashion sense! I love art and it is all around me, free for the LOOKING! My choice of art form happens to be painting, the whole process of seeing the blank canvas and deciding what to do with it well it gives birth to creation. It gives hope to change. It gives opportunity to explore. I suddenly feel so insignificant after finding and browsing all the marvelously talented artists here on MySpace. I really appreciate all the encouragement from my artful peers in here and I always try to give back more than I receive. I'm honored you included me as a friend. I hope you enjoy my albums of my paintings and photography. I sure did enjoy browsing among your sights and sounds to draw motivation and inspiration when I visited your page. I love checking your blogs when you give insight into your creative process and what INSPIRES you to create! I love the story behind your art, when you don't give me one, it's OKAY, because I will make one up. I love finding something hidden in your art that speaks to me. I might view your work entirely differently from how you meant it to be perceived, that's the true beauty in art, it changes from person to person and within each person day to day. It feeds the mind and soothes the soul. Art is powerful and I hope no child is even denied the chance to have a full tummy, a warm dry bed, and a box of crayons to inspire the artist within. Got to teach them young that whatever the limits shown them do not have to always exist, that they can CHANGE things. Got to inspire their minds to become strong enough to have a voice. Got to reach the inner child in everyone no matter their age and remind them that it is never too late to create a better world. There's more going on than I am even conscious of at times when I sit down to paint, emotions that seem to have been buried surface when facing a blank canvas. My mind is always clicking and processing images and thinking well "that's a nice image to paint" but I'm no Georgia O'Keeffe so I take a photo for true representation, and I tool around with the image in my head until I find a way to express it, may not be realistic representation but it works for me, it releases the emotion I want to share! I draw most of my inspiration for my paintings from nature. And if I get bored with what I have in my own backyard, I grab Tito and hit the parks. When that doesn't do it for me anymore, I grab my digital camera and head off to the local nurseries or garden centers and snap away. I have been known to always travel with my camera in my purse and even interrupt a romantic dinner out to step out and photograph an egret landing on the bay, trouble with that is my little canon powershot digital camera doesn't do so well with motion captures. If I can't capture the movement then I look for colors playing off one another for my palette to use when I get back home. I also look for light and shadows dancing but mostly I look for lines and texture patterns. Roses are a great source of inspiration for me, both artistically and spiritually. If I didn't paint with acrylics, I think I would love to learn to do fractal art. I love digital art as much as traditional art. I just am sort of computer illiterate. But I dabble a bit with it. Aside from traditional art and digital art, I really love photography, and I would love to invest in all those fancy cameras and lenses to become a nature photographer traveling the wilds of the Serengeti. Wonder if they have Five Guys Burger and Fries over there, I'd die without french fries, well maybe I could get along without fries but never without PEPSI! I know the world's rainforests have some of the most gorgeous flora on the planet and I would love to visit there, but not relocate to the tropics because I would miss growing my roses. I hope you take a few moments and visit my photography albums because I am always updating them with something unique that I find crawling around. Nature is of infinite inspiration for me. When not dabbling in acrylics, I can be found getting up close and personal with nature, please check out my photo albums and my posted videos. That is unless you suffer from Apiphobia, Melissophobia, or Spheksophobia, well maybe even if you do have an extreme fear of bees it might be helpful to view the bee in a pleasant light, like in some of the videos I shot and shared here. I couldn't enjoy my roses as much as I do were it not for the aid of my kindred spirit, the BEE! Nature is full of inspiration for me, just take a look at all the energy I invested in documenting the feathered architect series. Nature doesn't just inspire photography for me, it inspires my paintings. The creative process for painting comes from a vibe I get when I face a blank canvas, it's an emotion inspired from some moment or visionary experience out in nature. It's deeper than just "should I put a flick some cobalt blue over there and maybe swirl in a curl here or even dab some cadmium red driplets there" to abstractly project some emotion. It's always a good day to throw paint, but on especially pleasant sunny days Tito will want to hit the park. It's okay, I will take my camera with us. Currently I am just concentrating on being "possessed and prolific" with my painting. Talking with my husband about getting one of those TENTS to start the festival circuit but it's awful hot down at the boardwalk to sit out there all day, would have to leave Tito back home in the air conditioning, and of course would need endless supplies of PEPSI. For now, painting in my den suits me fine! I would love to see my art hanging on the walls of your den!
Don't miss checking out my FEATHERED ARCHITECT series in photo albums, currently working on a children's book from the experience. I am presently switching to a LITE VIEW on the profile to reduce the lag for friends. I moved off a lot of information, you can still find it by checking out my albums and blogs for updates on my art and photography.
Who I'd like to meet: I'd like to meet the future offspring from my robins that leave this nest and I hope that they stay in my yard for many generations to come!
Thanks for having accepted my friendship request. I like your page and I'll try to come back on it as soon as possible. I really hope you do like my paintings !
Sandrine French painter (Nice, French Riviera, France)
Happy Thanksgiving Day mom, daddy, and both of my sisters who are all in heaven....i lost them all tragically, so holidays for me help me remember the marvels of being together with my family, friends, and relatives. Needless to say, it was a rather colorful day....My mother and daddy use to make the VERY best stuffing.....(especially my daddy) and of course mine is just as good.... :O)~ I miss you diane, and sandra.....my sisters left me much too young....as did my parents....i know I am walking up this path to be with you all in heaven in due time....and we can all be together again and argue about who's going to taste the stuffing the most times! lol Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.....miss you mom, daddy, diane, and sandra....love, jackie
1944-45. Oil on canvas, 66 x 51 cm. Fundación Gala - Salvador - Dali, Figueras
Gala has often been depicted in Dali's works. One might even say that she is the only woman whose face and silouette appear there incessantly; the painter says, "She is the rarest being to see, the superstar who cannot in any case be compared with La Callas or Grete Garbo, because one may see them often, whereas Gala is an invisible being, the antiexhibitionist par excellence. At Salvador Dali's home, there are two prime ministers; one is my wife, Gala, and the other is Salvador Dali. Salvador Dali and Gala are the two unique beings capable of mathematically moderating and exalting my divine madness."
Wow mi I's pOppinK out haPPy to C u greaT stYle! ya mamma Ramirez. and you rock too. Lovin' da groove babee. Bring it back! Love you like crazee, alison mackie x
In the spirit of humility we give thanks for all that is. We thank the great spiritual beings who have shared their wisdom. We thank our ancestors who brought us to where we are now.
We are grateful for the opportunity to walk this planet, to breathe the air, to taste the food, to experience sensations of a human body/mind, to share in this wonder that is life.
We are grateful for the natural world that supports us, for the community of humankind that enables us to do many wondrous things.
We are grateful that we are conscious, that as intelligent beings we can reflect upon the many gifts we have been given.
be mindful of the joy and bliss your friendship brings to those you love this Thanksgiving Day Johann
