It's all most August!
Well, hello, ola, bonjour, et al.  Lovely weather here on the Pacific coast. Cool but not wet.
       Gardening has been my latest media.  Herbs, flowers and lettuce!  Fresh garden lettuce is unbelievable!  Strawberry plants are a real bargain because they send out runners and set down roots for new plants.  In this biome, rosemary bushes florish.  Corn does not do so well.  Best flowers for me are nasturtiums and the huge purple bell-shapped flowers of the campanula.  My borage gave up the ghost but my neighbor has a whole field of the heavenly blue thistles.  Artichokes need a lot of room because it is a huge stickerbush with fist-shaped globes appearing on top. Shades of childhood endeavors.

In addition to painting portraits for friends & family, dabbling in abstractions, I pass the time same as other elderly fat ladies of my class making stuffed animals by hand.  Great to sew away while listening to television. Keeps me out of the kitchen making savory stacks of  crepes filled with chopped mushrooms, onions spinach & cheese.

  These are the days of bonnie Prince Georgie, a chili-dog named Weiner, Boewing embarrassed, the Pope mobbed by waves of the faithful (fearing armageddon?) in Brazil and the prosecution of sleezy G.Z. for violating the civil rights of one of us Martins. (minorities may be welcome in politics, but the courtroom is still vintage Fifties). Besides falling asleep to the white-noise of the news, I'll read a paperback or two.

It feels like an early fall.  We usually have a gorgeous Indian Summer on the southwest coast of Washington state.  Good luck with the vicissitudes of weather in the rest of the country (Tipis have a lot going for them).
to whom it may concern, Barbara Martin

Ah, Spring 2013

Wonderful day in April on the Pacific Coast.  Since our weather is regulated by the Pacific Ocean, there is much less unexpected.  I continue to paint.  Am glad to say a small picture of oyster shells sold at the Rotary benefit Silent Auction held this year at the heritage museum in Ilwaco, WA. 
     Lace is a big thing in fashion these days and not the least reason is the fascination of Pablo Picasso with the French lacemakers who undoubtedly held their own in the creation of prodigious works of beauty during his heyday.  His fractured drawings full of lace maker pins (i.e.The Judgement of Paris) attest to that. Never fails to be of interest. Perennial relevance.
     Native American Elroy Martin, (indeed related) has taken up the Flemish Creuse tapestry weaving where he is lodged in Pine Knot, Kentucky. Op painter Chuck Close dabbled in it. Martin has promised to send me examples.  Can't wait.
     Gave a couple watercolor classes to a friend in January.  Always fun to do.
     Since I am enamored with my tablet and cell fone these days, I am not uploading photos. No USB cord.  Possibly getting shy?  Why not.  But who knows: I may be typing to myself.  More later.  B. Martin

March 2013

Aloha, y'all.  Currently no longer on display in Astoria, OR, at the Rio Cafe.  Getting too old to schlep paintings across the Columbia River on the bus to keep the show updated.
      However am participating in the Oysters and Art silent auction being held this year at the Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum in Ilwaco, WA on March 23, 2013 I believe, a Saturday evening. Tickets are $30 each and available thru the Peninsula Rotary Foundation, PO Box 752, Ocean Park, WA 98640, for whom it is a benefit. 
     There  will  be 3  of my paintings there in acrylic with rose and oyster shell theme.  Thanx.  Please attend!