Rather than capturing individual leaves or blades of grass, Armstrong focuses on the dynamic fluctuations of color and light she observes in her landscapes. She also likes to paint a subject over and over, noting, “I paint what is available. I don’t think of past paintings when I begin a new painting. I look at the landscape as it is that day. It is enough to concentrate on that and it will be different in the afternoon––and the next day––and next week or whenever I get back to it.” This patient approach can span days, weeks, or longer, and as the landscape itself changes, she updates the painting to reflect newly observed visual relationships. She builds up layers of paint and scrapes them away, continuing this pattern until every fragmented, richly detailed part relates to the whole. Colors and forms shift, reflecting a series of complex movements and rhythms, until the painting comes together. Through this process, she deftly conjures familiar, dynamic moments such as swirling leaves in the wind, flickering sunlight on branches, and the vivid hues that emanate from the setting desert sun.

Martha Armstrong has exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions in galleries and museums across the United States. Her exhibitions have received press coverage in Art in America, The New York Times, The New Yorker and Philadelphia Inquirer as well as many magazines, blogs, books, and catalogs. Many prestigious public institutions have acquired her works including The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, the State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg, The Free Library of Philadelphia, Allentown Art Museum and colleges, banks, schools, and offices across the country. She is a visiting instructor and critic, most recently teaching at Mt. Gretna School of Art in Mt. Gretna, Pennsylvania, and the International Center for the Arts in Montecastello di Vibio, Italy. She lives and works between West Dummerston, Vermont and Tucson, Arizona.

Image Right: Morning Study - Vermont, 8″ x 10″, Oil On Board