Martina O'Brien

Elemental yet impressionistic, Irish artist Martina O'Brien artfully captures the essence of a place; her body of work is born of breathtaking beauty and the elemental power of the sea. Along with oil paints, she may add a variety of mixed media, including hemp, sand and beeswax to achieve a wide range of effects. The textural quality adds a dazzling sense of motion, as light refracting off the surface a viewer’s eyes move rapidly around the composition.

O’Brien places the seas within our own emotional landscape, the tide becoming a metaphor for life’s fluctuation between tranquility and turbulence. In this sense, the art takes on an immediacy that speaks to our imagination while the colors, light and textures appeal to the senses. “As the sea is an ever- changing subject, I am constantly drawn to capture its vitality and uplifting mood-altering presence in my work,” she explains. In recent years O’Brien has been on a rigorous exhibition agenda throughout Ireland, with works held in public and private collections.