From muralist to gallery-featured artist, Laurie Martin brings small treasures

REDLANDS, Calif. – After 30 years as a successful muralist primarily in private homes, businesses, and schools, artist Laurie Martin has pivoted to smaller and smaller canvases, culminating in a featured art show at the Redlands Art Association. Martin brings a variety of acrylic, alcohol ink, collage, and watercolor works to the show, which runs from March 15 to April 11. An open house event is set for this Saturday.

“Watercolor is actually fairly new to me,” Martin said. Since shifting to smaller pieces, she has experimented extensively. “I’ve always wanted to do watercolor and never really had time.” At first, she played around with the medium. “What I like to do is start out abstract and see where it goes,” she said. “I usually do some organic shapes, and when it starts to look like something—a mountain or a flower—I turn that into a painting.”

The organic, go-with-the-flow approach reflects how Martin became a muralist. With no experience, training, or knowledge of what supplies she needed, she took on a mural project when the opportunity arose. “I believe it had to be a nudge from God because that has led to many opportunities for me to bring my art to people who enjoy and appreciate it,” she said.

Martin earned a college degree in interior design and worked in the field for a few years. “I kind of fell into [painting murals] by accident, and I’ve done that for 30 years,” she said with a chuckle.

It all began more than 30 years ago when Martin painted mailboxes and brought them to Market Night in Downtown Redlands. That led to her first mural client. “I thought in the back of my mind, it’s just paint.” Each mural gave her more confidence and led to more work.

Her work can be seen at the office of Children’s Dentistry in Redlands, where she painted an elaborate undersea world, and at Kingsbury Elementary School, where she created a large American flag mural. “It’s been fun because every client is different.”

The freedom to come up with her own artwork is the whole reason she made the change. “When I wanted to do my own stuff, it was hard because I’ve always had some direction [from a client],” she said. She finds inspiration from artists like Andrew Wyeth, as well as from walks in local parks such as Caroline Park and Prospect Park. “The foliage looks so different each season,” she said, describing her love of noticing the little details.

The four different mediums Martin works with rotate in her home studio in Redlands. Currently, she is focused on watercolor. “I work a couple of hours a day, sometimes a lot more,” she said.

Martin enjoys working between realism and abstraction. “I like to get a little bit more loose, and abstract is more fun because you don’t know where it’s going to go,” she said.

A member of the Redlands Art Association for several years, Martin has been more active recently. This led to her artwork being accepted into the 6 Inch Show, where it won second place, and to having three pieces accepted into the recent juried Multi-Media Mini Show at the gallery.

“I’m excited for it,” she said of the upcoming featured show. “It’s motivated me to finish a lot of paintings I had stopped working on.”

Martin grew up as an “Air Force brat,” but her family settled in Redlands when she was 11. She has lived here most of her life, except for attending college in San Diego. She has family in Alabama, which inspired some of the pieces in her upcoming show. She also incorporates nature motifs, flowers, birds, and abstract alcohol ink landscapes.

The best part of working on her own art is the ability to focus on details. “If I want to paint a bird, I can really focus on it and get the details right,” she said. Gone are the days when she needed to complete a mural in a couple of weeks with no time to linger.

Meet the Artist

You have a chance to meet Laurie Martin at the open house event on Saturday, March 21, from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Redlands Art Association.

About Laurie Martin

Find Martin’s artwork on her website: www.lmart.studio

About the Redlands Art Association

Address: 215 E. State St., Redlands, CA 92373
Website: redlands-art.org
Social media: facebook.com/RedlandsArtAssociation and @redlandsartassociation on Instagram
Hours: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., closed Sundays