ly the problem-solving aspect of equations, and this interest led to her pursuing a career as a computer science professor at Sheridan and Seneca college. Martin moved to Guelph in 1988 with her husband David Martin. It was a few years later that she was told by a doctor that her sight would never be the same. She couldn’t do her regular activities, and her vision loss left her career in ruin. “I had a really hard time dealing with the fact I was losing my vision the way I did,” Martin said. “It was so sudden and it takes a while for you to handle that. I ended up trying to take my own life.” Shortly after, Martin found herself with a tear-stained face, drawn into Wyndham Art Supplies. She started taking painting lessons and eventually opened her own studio in 2004. Her artistic style is a textural eye-popping experience. Martin uses various colours and mediums, such as moulding paste and granulated gel, to create pieces that provoke one’s inner-self to
interpret the individual piece’s meaning. “I started using all these different mediums, so I ended up really having a fascination about texture and with building my canvases,” Martin said. Martin has two different styles of painting. Her signature work is more abstract and built on colour-blocking and texturalized canvas-building. Her representational work is a more literal painting style of recognizable objects like a forest or flowers. However, both artistic styles come from the same source of inspiration – Martin’s inner self. “When I’m creating a piece, I can see the finished painting in my head,” Martin said. “So before I even start I already know what that painting is going to look like… It’s not what I actually see outside with my eyes, but it’s what I see and feel inside.” Martin said she gets the visions for her finished paintings through dreams and meditation. “I started noticing these paintings I was dreaming about were appearing on paper,” Martin said. “I started believing that
and trusting that intuition. As I started trusting that more, it became more vivid in terms of what was happening and what I was doing so I really just went with it.” Martin enjoys giving back to the community. In the past she’s often offered up her works to various organizations to either display in their spaces, or auction off the pieces to raise funds for their individual causes. Martin has donated artwork to: Wellington Hospice, Arc Industries, HIV/AIDS Resources & Community Health (ARCH), Kiwanis Club of Guelph, Stonehenge Therapeutic Community, and the Women of Distinction Awards. “I always felt that if you give back, you may help somebody out,” Martin said. “When people see paintings it can be a very healing thing.” Martin said her abstract works are often more colourful to provoke feelings of happiness. “It’s just part of me. I like colour. When I look at a painting with a lot of beautiful colours
Representational piece: Land of the Magic Birches
it uplifts my spirit,” Martin said. “So I think that’s just part of my signature… I like the clarity of it and you have to learn how to create that. Every artist has their own colour palette.” Everything Martin does all leads back to one thing — exploration. “I always think that painting is a sort of exploration,” Martin said. “I always think of it like a journey… It’s just learning to be adventurous and there should be some playfulness. Art should be fun and you have to have the passion. If you don’t have the passion, you can’t wake up every day and do it.” Representational piece: My Garden in Memory of My Mom
An abstract painting inspired by Quebecois artist Jean-Paul Riopelle.
Martin uses texture to speak about a forgotten language in this ancientEgyptian inspired piece.
A close up of a painting done as part of a series inspired by the work of Jean-Paul Riopelle. The painting is done entirely with a palette knife.
To see more work by Vickie Martin, visit vickiemartinoriginals.com Martin was inspired to create this piece after a trip to Egypt with her husband.
