Check out her Project 365 paintings at the Art & Soul Gallery Nov. 15-16<\/p>\n
Sudbury artist Carmen Martorella has been painting since grade school, but she\u2019s always looking to improve her skills.<\/p>\n
So when a friend of hers started a 365-day project, committing to completing one painting a day for a full year, Martorella figured that was a great idea.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought, \u2018What better way to become a better artist than to apply yourself daily and make a commitment to yourself that you’re going to do it and follow through?\u2019\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo that’s when I started. I said, \u2018Yeah, I think I can spare an hour a day\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
Martorella, the owner of the Art & Soul Gallery in Sudbury\u2019s Uptown neighbourhood, began her Project 365 journey exactly a year ago, Nov. 5, 2024, having shared her daily paintings with followers on Instagram, Facebook, Linkedin and Tik Tok.<\/p>\n
She said she thinks she did improve techniques and explore her creativity through the project.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019d like to check out the paintings Martorella produced over the past year, she invites you to a celebratory art exhibition Nov. 15-16 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at her gallery, located at 6 Baker St., to view all 365 paintings.<\/p>\n
Project 365 was a long journey for her, as she painted during her travels to Florida, Nashville, Italy and London. She\u2019s painted on buses, planes and in cars.<\/p>\n
Martorella also painted close to home, in Sudbury or at her cottage at Mattagami Lake near Timmins.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s painted with pool water and sea water \u2014 that \u201cworked OK, but it was granular,\u201d she said \u2014 with limited brushes and paint palette. Most of the pieces are watercolour, but some are acrylics, and one piece is even tile art with a sand technique.<\/p>\n
Some days Martorella found herself painting at 10 p.m. when she didn\u2019t have enough time during the day. \u201cThis was manageable, as long as you plan your day well,\u201d she said. \u201cYou have to incorporate it in your day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Because large paintings would take too long to complete, all of her Project 365 paintings are five-by-seven inches.<\/p>\n
In some cases, Martorella did plein air paintings, while in other cases, she painted from photos \u2014 she was always on the lookout for likely subjects.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was more out there with my phone and taking pictures of what I saw so I was more aware of my nature and surroundings to see what I could paint,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Subjects vary, but her very first and one of the latest images are both fall scenes, fittingly, given the time of year she began and is finishing her project. She painted the Blue Jays logo, given the Toronto team\u2019s recent run for the World Series.<\/p>\n
Several patriotic images, including not only the Canadian flag, but also maple leaves with a cardinal, deer and loon painted inside, made it into her project.<\/p>\n
A couple of winter scenes she painted for Project 365 have actually been selected for the Sudbury Food Bank\u2019s Christmas card fundraiser, which she\u2019s excited about.<\/p>\n
Martorella also captured a couple of iconic Sudbury structures under demolition this year \u2014 the \u201crainbow\u201d hospital (the former General) on Paris Street, which was demolished earlier this fall, and the Superstack as it used to appear before a piece was lopped off the top in 2025.<\/p>\n
Her favourite painting is of something many of us would consider decidedly unpretty \u2014 a rock cut on the Maley Drive extension.<\/p>\n
On Boxing Day of 2024, Martorella was in the car with her husband on Maley, and the sunset hit the rock, so she snapped a photo, and later painted the rock using copper acrylic. \u201cIt was just beautiful, spectacular,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Martorella said she wants to challenge other people to do daily painting as well. \u201cMaybe start with a seven-day challenge,\u201d she said. \u201cI find it really is a good exercise in learning, in discipline, in following your passion.\u201d<\/p>\n
If you\u2019d like to learn more about Martorella\u2019s art, you can visit her Facebook page<\/a> or website<\/a>.<\/p>\n Heidi Ulrichsen is Sudbury.com\u2019s assistant editor. She also covers education and the arts scene.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Check out her Project 365 paintings at the Art & Soul Gallery Nov. 15-16 Sudbury artist Carmen Martorella…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":264020,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[121972,76,354,355,49,48,121970,356,75,121973,121971],"class_list":{"0":"post-264019","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-art-and-soul-gallerycarmen-martorella","9":"tag-arts","10":"tag-arts-and-design","11":"tag-artsanddesign","12":"tag-ca","13":"tag-canada","14":"tag-carmen-martorellacarmen-martorella","15":"tag-design","16":"tag-entertainment","17":"tag-project-365","18":"tag-sudbury-artistcarmen-martorella"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=264019"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264019\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/264020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=264019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=264019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=264019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}