Marla Olmstead continues to delight…

Marla’s website is continually being updated with new work. It now includes a video of her painting an entire piece from start to finish. There is a short excerpt of this video, Making of Ocean, on the site and it was captivating.

Watching this tiny artist applying paint with swift, sure movements is quite an experience. There is an absorption and a focus to her actions that is at odds with her age. It is quite evident when she is done with a particular action. She does what she intends to do and moves on.

I have received an invitation from Mark and Laura Olmstead to attend Marla’s upcoming exhibition this July and August in Binghamton, NY and I am going to do whatever it takes to get there and meet Marla and her family.. Th exhibition opens on July 1st, with a reception at Anthony Brunelli Fine Arts at 186 State Street, Binghamton, NY. It will feature her latest works and a showing of the DVD, "Making of Ocean"

I can readily see why certain critics and reporters have difficulty believing that Marla is capable of the work she turns out. As I wrote in my post, How do you get someone to listen to you?,  people often cannot accept data from someone who does not fit their pre-conceived notions of the "proper source" for that kind of data.

If Marla was a fifty-year-old painter with a scruffy beard and an attitude, some critics would have no trouble  falling all over themselves with significant comments and knowing remarks. When it is a four-year-old who is producing the work, their thinking locks up and they keep looking under the table for the man in charge.

Fortunately, Marla just keeps on painting, serenely unaware of the fact that CBS has doubts about who is holding the paintbrush. But then, CBS is skeptical of anything they didn’t make up themselves. There is an object lesson here. If you have unusual ability or talent, don’t rely on mainstream media to publicize it. Use media that you can trust.

Just to end this on a positive note, here is a painting that I find stunning.