MOONRISE

This lyrical moonlit scene is a variation of the artist's signature Sun/Moon paintings of the series "ASPIRING TO SOLACE" in which the Sun and the Moon seem to have become organs of sentiment, pulsating with the artist's fleeting states-of-mind. The radiance of the full Moon dominates this vivid work and serves as a vehicle of Martine's poetic sensitivity waiting to find full expression, and indeed as the main source of illumination of the painting, supplemented by the light that is embedded in the color itself. Thus, Martine’s “MOONRISE” is less about recording a moonlit view in all its details, in the pure tradition of romanticism, than of expressing the artist's sentiment and philosophy of life through color, line or shape, and light as an independent factor, rather than about portraying the early evening sky. Yet the key to the aura of peace and serenity conveyed by this scene of a Mediterranean “Moonrise” lies in its spatial divide into fields of color representing sea, red sky, yellow sky, blue sky, making the moon appear to levitate effortlessly out of the sea into the coming of night... The colour scheme is light, bright, uplifting. The horizon elicits tranquillity, peace; the fullness of the moon evokes integrity, generosity, warmth, solace.Technique:

Martine Martel has adopted oil, applied in a smooth texture, as if to soften the rough edges of the human drama that constitutes her daily fare.
The colour glazes may be gossamer-thin, but stratified in multiple coats they alternately evoke the infinite depth of the universe or the rich translucency of stained glass. Indeed, much in the manner of a stained glass window, light seems to infuse the color from behind. In effect, the bright light of the Cote d’Azur is IN the color and dominates her work, impacting the viewer's senses and emotions.