DPNM: Martha, when did you first identify yourself professionally as an artist?
MK: I was 29, so it was mid-1979. I actually began making professional quality work in 1984, after a breakthrough in a pastel workshop.
DPNM: What life experiences let to your making the decision to become an artist?
MK: Early exposure to great art at the Art Institute of Chicago, hearing of my mother's thwarted dream of being an artist, observing a playmate's mother, a student artist at work. Also, my parents always told me I could and I believed them.
DPNM: What famous artists, past and present, are your greatest influences?
MK: Carravaggio, Titian, Chardin, Velasquez, Rubens, Rembrandt, N.C. Wyeth, Degas, Whistler, Vermeer, Frans Hals, Hovsep Pushman to name just a few of the greats I have tried to emulate; and today, my great teachers David Leffel, Sherrie McGraw, and Albert Handell.
DPNM: Describe for us your unique approach to painting.
MK: I am so obsessed with still life, have been since the mid-1980's , but my approach is the same for other genres as well. It's not particularly unique, I must say. I find something I think is extremely beautiful, some object or some light, and I try to paint that as a little universe, where only that beauty is important.
DPNM: How have you created a workspace that stimulates or invites the art process ?
MK: In 1998 I built my studio, a space of about 16 by 26 feet. It has a sitting area, which I am now using for exercise equipment, and a work space of about 16 by 16 feet. The walls are painted a deep soft green-gray, and the light in the workspace comes from two north facing 6 by 6 foot windows, seven feet up on the wall. The ceiling height is about 13 to 14 feet. The light is beautiful, really enchanting; the shadows are warm and mysterious. Just to walk into my studio makes me want to paint.
DPNM: Does it include music and, if so, who are your favorite musical artists or selections ?
MK: I usually listen to music while I paint. My current favorite is Chopin on piano. I like lots of classical, some jazz, some opera, some standards?some country and western.
DPNM: How do you balance family, home and work?
MK: I don't balance well. When my family needs help, I abandon all else.
DPNM: What hobbies or activities do you enjoy?
MK: I love antiquing, reading, visiting with friends, traveling when I can.
DPNM: What is your favorite art quote?
MK: "Let the beauty we love be what we do; there are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground". - Rumi
DPNM: What business strategies have worked best for you as an artist?
MK: Saying "Yes".
DPNM: How has the disciplinary practice of daily painting effected your work?
MK: The more I paint, the more I can paint. As I have heard in a different context, "I still have problems, but they're classier problems than I used to have."
DPNM: What advice would you give an artist just starting out in today's world ?
MK: Find a good teacher, one whose own work will challenge your own ability; read and study art history; go look at beautiful paintings in museums and galleries, really study them to see how they were done. Accept disappointments and successes as two sides of the same coin.