Marta Crawford considers herself a portrait painter, "not because portraits are all I paint, but because everything I paint is a portrait-whether it's a portrait of a person or a portrait of a flower. It is the essence of people and things that interests me the most. Everything and everyone is worthy of being immortalized in a painting." One of Marta's greatest gifts as an artist is her ability to show beauty in simplicity, and create extraordinary paintings out of ordinary objects.
Born in Madrid, Spain, Marta learned to draw at the age of four. She was taught by her mother who was an excellent artist herself. In her youth, Marta took many trips and spent countless hours at the Prado Museum. Her passion for drawing eventually led to painting in 2000. After studying Art History and Mass Media Communications with a full scholarship in one of Spain's best universities, she decided that Journalism was not for her. That is when she came to the United States and began to pursue her true vocation as an artist.
She took art classes at the Daytona Beach Community College and learned from the painters she admired most. She also taught herself from tapes, magazines and books, as well as live demonstrations. Marta studied the works of her favorite contemporary masters, including Morgan Weistling, Richard Schmid, Dan Gerhartz, Scott Burdick, David Leffel, Howard Sanden and Daniel Green, as well as old masters like Sargent, Rembrandt, Nicolai Fechin and, of course, Diego De Silva Velazquez.
"My working procedure, though simple, requires time. I first play with an idea for a while. As the idea begins to take shape, I take time to find the objects or people that will support it best. Then, I shoot numerous frames of them and store as much visual information as I can. Having good visual memory, I don't find it essential to paint from life, although I have painted from life successfully as well. Before proceeding with the selected picture, I first prepare the canvas, which I stretch myself, and I give it the desired texture and then tone it. When the canvas dries, I draw the picture with a brush or with vine charcoal. Once the drawing is completed, I select my color palette and begin painting. I like to paint Alla Prima or wet into wet."
Marta has won numerous awards, and her work has been shown in many fine art festivals in Florida. Some of her extraordinary portraits are now in private collections in Spain, Canada and the United States. She is a member of The American Portrait Society and she currently teaches two painting classes per week at her private studio and a weekly portrait class at The Art League in Daytona Beach. Marta lives in Florida with her husband and three children.
For more information, contact Marta Crawford at (386) 423-9145 or e-mail martacrawford@bellsouth.net, or visit her website at www.martacrawford.com.
EXHIBITIONS
Images in New Smyrna Beach
Space Coast in Cocoa Beach
Art Fest in Port Orange
The Delray Art Festival
The Boca Raton Art Festival
The Deland Art Festival
Halifax Art Festival
The Mount Dora Art Festival
Winterpark Festival of the Arts
Deland Museum of Art
The Art League in Daytona Beach
The Mount Dora Center for the Arts (solo exhibit)
The Historical Museum in Edgewater(Solo exhibit)
Disney Festival of the Masters
Lake Mary Heathrow Festival of the Arts
Wintersprings Festival of the Arts
Comma Gallery in Orlando