I am a native Oregonian, and have lived in the Willamette Valley most of my life. My principal goal as an artist is to convey the beauty of what I see on a daily basis. I currently paint almost exclusively from nature, in watercolor, sometimes making a deliberate expedition to a noted beauty spot but more commonly keeping my painting supplies in the car and combining a couple of hours of painting with some other activity. I call my paintings "unremarkable landscapes" because so many of them depict fairly commonplace vistas. Capturing lighting effects and the subtle colors of vegetation is important to the effect I want to achieve.

The only formal artistic training I received after high school was a course in botanical illustration I took in graduate school. By training I am a mycologist - a specialist in fungi. I have done many highly technical pen-and-ink drawings of microscopic plant structures, both for my own work and for other scientists. I also do more artistic renditions of individual plants, and the botanical training carries over into my landscape painting as well. For me, trees are individuals, having an architecture characteristic, not only of the species, but of a particular tree.

I've created art most of my life. For a few years I painted and sold Ukrainian-style eggs at Saturday market, something I still do for friends, though the art form is too labor-intensive to be commercially viable. It has only been in the last eight years that I have pursued one art form - watercolor landscape painting - with sufficient focus to exhibit and market my work. I have had a solo show at the Eugene Blood Bank and a joint show at the Tamarack Wellness Center, and have had pieces in the Springfield Mayor's Art Show, the Salon de Refuses, and the Lane County Fair.

I have included one example of a technical illustration in pen and ink, depicting 18 million year old fossil fungus spores from an ancient Bald Cypress swamp in northern Idaho. The lichens were painted as an art piece, but this illustration resembles plates from 19th century botanical books and could also be used as a scientific illustration. The mushrooms, while faithful to the species, are more purely decorative.

The pieces depicted are a small fraction of the number of originals I have available for sale. Feel free to contact me for a private viewing. I also produce paintings of specific subjects to order and can work from photographs, although I prefer to work from nature.

(541) 687-9569

Martha Sherwood

Mushrooms - artist at work, 11x15, watercolor	Lichens - Lobaria & Stitca - from the Oregon Coast, 13x17, watercolor
Ford in Repose, 13x17, watercolor	Fern Ridge, October 11x15, watercolor
Fern Ridge Wetlands, October 11x15, watercolor	Fern Ridge Wetlands, January 11x15, watercolor
Spencer Creek, 13x17, watercolor	Spencer Butte from Logging Site, 13x17, watercolor
Fog, Tugman Park, December 11x15, watercolor	Barn near Jasper, Fall Creek Area, 13x17, watercolor
Spencer's Butte through the Trees, 11x15, watercolor	Spencer's Butte from the West, 11x15, watercolor
Bridge over the Willamette at Island Park 11x15, watercolor	Clarkia Spores at 1000x magnification