Marti Cilley: Blue Mist

16" x 20"

Acrylic on Canvas

As a youth in my native Argentina, I found art to be a fun and playful antidote to my strict upbringing and formal education. As an adult, I have rediscovered this love of creating, painting simple forms that evoke nature and the elements. In my work, I welcome the viewer to find peace and serenity.

As a full-time mother of three, I found painting to be a needed respite. When my partner and I discovered that our youngest child must overcome enormous medical challenges, I threw myself into a new level of caregiving, dedicating myself to my son’s therapy, which was intensive, both physically and emotionally draining. Sometimes my world seemed to be only about the worries and stresses and striving for my child. But when I could enter the art studio and pick up my paintbrush, I reconnected with an inner calm. The studio became my escape, painting my refuge. It is this sense of restoration that I wish to impart through my work. I want my paintings to become a shelter from the stimuli of modern life, a place of simplicity. I often paint using tones of white, gray, and black because this express simplicity and for me they are warm and inspiring. I am also inspired by the landscapes of the Bay Area, the poetic qualities of fog, the quiet of the water, the tranquility of trees, horizons, and organic forms. I fold all the different parts of myself into my work – from my South American background to my current family life here in El Cerrito, California.