My Dear Neighbor, Martin reading a paperback fiction
Here is Martin. We all love him. Martin is originally from New Zealand. He first came over to America to attend college at Berkley. He is a seismic engineer, and a structural engineer. At the present time, he is working on Building No. 7 (WTC), the Chinese Ferris Wheel (largest in the world), and many other projects – but I would have to ask him about those.
Martin is truly a “man without guile”. His “mate”, Christine says that she has only seen him mad twice in 25 years. He is a jewel here in Austin, and I hope that you will get the opportunity to know him.
I Stare At People 
3 Comments
Between your painting and your description I feel I know Martin. Beautiful job!
I love your paintings! Please come paint at Jade Leaves soon. I have some drawings of people on my site (in the “drawings” section) – stephaniebonham.com
Hi, Stephanie.
I haven’t made it over to Jade Leaves, yet. Maybe next week!
I always try to look at the work of those artists that leave comments. Here is what I would like to say, if you don’t mind…
Keep in mind that we all need critique to grow, and I don’t think that my work is better (not at all.
I see a lot here, and you should continue and not grow discouraged. I’m going to start out with what I see as your weakness, because the strengths will certainly take more time to cover (there are many!)
I see so much of this amorphous androgyny/fantastic animal/medievalism in work from kids your age.Ditch it. It’s not you, and it’s getting in your way. Instead, I see a lot of fragility that needs to be expressed. Explore this, and find the strength in it.
Your contour work is superior, and you should be doing more inks since your line work is excellent. I was never good at this. I can’t say enough good about your carefree but expertly handled treatment of the contour method. I particularly like that you know when to stop. You say just enough, and your compositions are uncluttered and direct. Continue! I Love your treatment of the man in the hat. Bravo!
Oh, my, we have us a graphic designer! Your printwork, oh, the Japanese bow to you! I have 5 volumes of Japanese graphic design from the 80’s that you must see some day. You are so creative! They are playful, and I would like to see more of this innocent play. The compositions are interesting, polished, and I want to know more, but you know when to stop. I love everything about the musical-influenced print: the color choices, the design, the tinker-toy motif. I don’t care about it’s meaning; it is so sound graphically.
There are so many ways that you could go professionally, and I certainly think that you should pursue this. Here is a suggestion:
Combine both your line/contour work, and your printmaking (as in the example sited above), and put it to action in a simple, kinetic/animated film clip. It wouldn’t be too difficult. You could put a book together, and I am sure that you would dazzle any audience.
Good luck, and don’t get discouraged.
~Lavanna