Lucy Martin has been drawing and painting most of her life. The work shown here is in gouache and watercolor, with occasional use of colored pencil. She has studied with the well known artist and illustrator Maryjo Koch, who lives in Bonny Doon, California. Lucy's work reflects her lifelong habit of observing details in the natural world. She has always loved finding small hidden things—coming upon an unexpected sight in the forest. Her artistic goal is to convey this feeling of mystery and delight at what we can discover when we look closely.

Lucy Martin lives and paints in Felton, California, in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The mixed forests of redwood, fir, pines, bay laurel, madrone and manzanita are the setting for her work. There is great diversity here, many different environments and microclimates. The forests are full of surprising and delightful discoveries: moss, lichen, fallen leaves, bark, ferns, and especially mushrooms. The abundant rainfall in the late fall, winter and spring makes for exuberant growth of many kinds of fungi. Since moving to the area in 2006 these have become a major interest and focus for Lucy's work. The mushrooms of the Santa Cruz Mountains are amazingly diverse, fascinating in structure and full of beauty.

Some of the mushroom paintings were also done on San Juan Island, in Washington.

The many and severe fires of 2008 provided another source of inspiration. The Martin Fire burned large areas of Bonny Doon, near Santa Cruz, including the Bonny Doon Ecological Reserve, which is a unique ecosystem with some rare species of plants and animals. At first glance the landscape appears bleak—a scene of devastation compared with its former richness and diversity. However there is interest and beauty to be found in the burned landscape, and excitement in watching the forest's recovery. Only a few months after the fire, bracken ferns were already springing up, and many trees and shrubs such as tanoaks and manzanitas had shoots coming up from the roots. One of Lucy's current projects is chronicling the regrowth of this lovely and interesting region. These paintings are found on the After the Fire page.