Being a Bee

I made a honeycomb with my bare hands! I welded metal with care, one by one all the shapes came together. When the shape I wanted was achieved, I spray painted it gold. It came to life instantly! I then cut and glued mylar to add the finishing touches. I was a worker bee making honeycomb!

Come In!

Have a seat, take out a blank canvas and start painting! This is a peek at my painting class at PNCA. I had to wait until the nude model had stepped away to take the photo! It's so amazing to be surrounded by so much talent!

Make Something Out Of Cardboard

Exactly that! Make a sculpture out of cardboard. What?! Ok... Let me think. Ah! A stag head! Here it is: 100% cardboard and glue!

Drawing from Life

Life drawing is fun and challenging thing to do. It's almost a race against the clock and an intense yet fascinating task. This is an example of some of my life drawings!

Three D

In 3D we had to choose an object and build something using only that object. I chose yellow straws. I picked only the yellow ones out of packs of multi colored straws. The tips were cut diagonally from small to large. I glued and glued until I could not glue anymore. This swirly, twirly, hanging piece is the end result. It is over eight feet tall and hangs from the ceiling with clear fishing wire.

The Real Homegirls

My Time Arts class had us do a project that involved two things we had learned. We had looked at animation, performance, sound and film. I wanted to do something fun that involved mexican female gang members. This is my project, enjoy!

Photoshop Dream

We are learning Photoshop in my Digital Arts class. It's so fun to be able to manipulate and distort images to create new ones. This assignment consisted of creating a utopia. These pugs are having such a great 'ol time!

PNCA 5th Annual Benefit Art Auction

What a lucky girl! I volunteered for the PNCA 5th Annual Art Auction on February 22, 2013. It was so exciting to be involved in such a big event. There were so many beautiful pieces up for auction and so many bidders! The who's who of Portland was there and they emptied their wallets to benefit PNCA's scholarship program. Delicious food and cocktails were abundant. I met so many wonderful people. It was such a great night!

New Beginnings

One of the biggest regrets I had in life was not going to art school. It was a dark cloud looming over my head. Sometimes that cloud could get pretty stormy. One day I decided to go for it! That was the beginning of a wonderful adventure of self exploration and discovery. I started in the fall and am now navigating my second term. What a journey! I have been let loose in a world of imagination, creativity and magic.

ASkate Foundation Entry

Here she is in all her pink glory. It's called "A Little Bird Told Me". Look at her! What did that bird just say?! Is it true? Oh my gawd!

All The Beautiful Girls

I am drawing women that I know, respect and love. I have started with my Mom, aunts and BFF. I will continue with my sisters and girlfriends. They are all so beautiful that they inspire me. Here go the first four.

Feel Like Doing Some Shopping?

Screaming Sky Gallery has put the Sugar And Spice Show Artwork online, if you're curious, take a peek, if you're loaded, buy yourself something nice... (copy and paste the link)

http://screamingskygallery.myshopify.com/collections/sugar-and-spice-an-all-girls-group-show?page=1

The Show! The Show!

It was a lovely October evening in Portland. The Halloween spirit was in the air. There was a slight chill in the air. Want to see shots of the show? It was such a fun experience.

Sugar And Spice and Everything Nice

You are cordially invited to attend my next art show on October 27th, Sugar And Spice And Everything Nice, from 5pm-9pm at Screaming Sky Gallery, 1416 NE Alberta Street Portland, OR 97211.

Celebrate a stellar line up of female artists and join us for the opening of Sugar & Spice and Everything Nice!

DJ Tommy Tank will provide the music and Jenelle will keep the refreshments flowing!

Show runs October 27th through November 20th

Commission for Charity

Started working on this very pink and girly piece. There will be so many parts to this puzzle, words, a dog, birds, hearts, and love! All proceeds of this piece go to St. Jude's Children's hospital. This is just the beginning.

Art Show to Benefit Los Angeles Children's Hospital

I am excited and honored to participate in this show in Los Angeles to raise funds for the Los Angeles Children's Hospital.

Art Show in Venice Beach

This weekend, I am participating in this great Art Show in Venice Beach, California! If you're close by, go check it out, it's for a great cause!

Strawberry Surprise, Here she is!

My sister, Stella, was such a huge Strawberry Shortcake fan growing up, she had the dolls, sheets, pj's, everything! I bet she never thought Strawberry Shortcake could get herself into so much trouble! I loved painting her, it was such a fun painting!

Work in Progress

Here's a shot of my work in progress. There is still a lot to do until this little lady is finished. Maybe a couple more days work and she'll be ready to go.

Once Upon A Time...

There was a little girl who wanted to be an artist. She drew and painted everyday, she did it with joy and love.

MY WEBSITE IS LIVE!

Dear Friends,

I am excited to share with you that my website is live! I am so excited to have a proper place for all of my work. Please visit and tell me what you think.

Please click on link or copy and paste:

http://www.marybelmartin.com

xoxo,

Marybel

I Can't Stop

I am obsessed with this pregnant girl in my head. I drew her before. I drew her again, then again. Tonight I'm painting her. HUGE canvas, she's trying to tell me something so I want to really see her. The painting will be called LIFEBOAT an ode to a time when I thought I was dying and I survived and lived. Really lived.

Strawberry Surprise

I have had this drawing in mind since I completed the Hello Titty painting. I don't know if she will ever make it to a painting but she was fun to draw. What a surprise for Strawberry Shortcake when she gives birth to her cat, Custard!

The Original

I have drawn these big headed, pregnant dolls for as long as I can remember. Last night as I was looking through old letters and photos I came across one of the originals. Thank goodness my Mom kept everything! This was drawn when I was four years old. If you look closely, the baby, in the womb, is wearing heels!

Lifeboat

I am very inspired. I feel like a new creative channel has opened up for me. I am excited and energized. This is a sketch that I worked on today. This will be part of a bigger picture. She is pregnant and scared. In her belly there is a squid. She needs to save herself.

Little Winter

Come visit Tokketok this weekend!

Let's Collaborate!

The wonderful people over at Tokketok have asked me to do a collaboration with them! I am so excited since I am a big fan of their hand printed letterpress cards. Click on the link to take a peek!
http://tokketok.com/2010/10/cards-for-tots/

Happy Halloween!

I have been exhausted and super busy. I have had visitors from out of town and have been away myself. Just wanted to check in and tell you that I have tons of ideas that have been brewing in my head, just must get past this holiday first. I hope your halloween is wicked! I am going to dress up as Princess Peach and my two boys will be Mario and Luigi, my husband, Toad.

The Bird Bowl

These birds perched themselves on an off white bowl I had. Someone built these cute little birdhouses for them too. Blues and neon green work perfectly together. All glazed and shiny. Take a look!

Thanks Tokketok!

Thank you Tokketok for featuring me on your blog today! I am a huge fan of yours. This is a great honor. Please check out their lovely letterpress cards and blog.

http://www.tokketok.com/

Hello, Titty!

I haven't done anything in a very long time. I've had visitors for weeks now and I find it hard to paint. I finally got around to starting and finishing Hello Titty. Here she is!

Hello Titty

I've loved Hello Kitty since I can remember. I am always inspired by anything Sanrio. I wanted to do something erotic and I came up with this sketch.

Done! Done! Done?

Okay, so I feel like it's done, but maybe not. I'll post it even though I'm not totally sure. I have a ton of new ideas for new paintings. I need to move on from this and get on with it.

The Outcasts

I started this a while ago, and I can't get myself to finish it. It's about being different, acceptance and wanting to belong. It brought back a lot of painful memories. I went to eleven schools in twelve years. I was always the "new kid". It was hard to try to fit in when you didn't even know who you were yourself. My sisters and I became masters of transformation and observation. We would come into a new school and bam, we transformed our clothing, language, accent, whatever it took. Maybe I'll complete this soon, maybe not.

I Told You So

New painting, no girls this time. I've been wanting to paint a fawn for a while, I was going to add one to my previous painting, "So So Tired", but in the end I didn't feel it needed it. This one is all about the fawn. The bird told the fawn something a long time ago, the fawn didn't listen, it happened. The bird came back to tell the fawn, "I told you so". You should always listen when a little bird tells you something, really.

New Items!

Prints have officially arrived at my Etsy shop. I am so excited. They look great! Why don't you take a look? http://marybelm.etsy.com

Take a Peek

If you were to wander around a solitary forest you may run into this sleeping beauty. She was so tired that she laid down and took a snooze. She's laying on a bed of her own hair only to be bothered by a fluttering butterfly. She's done! "So, So Tired". It took me a while but I like the end result. Take a peek.