I am excited to exhibit, for the first time, my new series “Healing Garden” at the Chesapeake Framing Company in Kensington, MD, during the month of July 2025. Together with my three students, Rose, Ruth, and Blu, you are invited to enjoy a lovely variety of artworks.
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What is “Healing Garden”? Paintings in this series are done in acrylics on different surfaces (Yupo, watercolor paper, canvas, black cardboard) and are on ode to gardens. A broad topic, one could say, that started with a particular garden: that of my grandmother’s in Prague, Czech Republic. I grew up in a multi-generational home and my grandmother’s garden, adjacent to the house, was the perfect place to spend my childhood. Freshly grown fruits and vegetables filled up my belly and lovely flowers filled up vases around the house. Afternoon naps under a walnut tree, games of hide and seek with my brother and cousins, dirt on fingers that snapped strawberries my grandparents claimed were not ready for picking. The list could go on. This garden, as inspiration for my artwork, has quickly metamorphosed into any and all gardens and spots in nature that bring about a sense of joy and safety. Friends now send me photos of flowers from a local farmer’s market with notes on how much joy these bring to them. Others share images from their gardens: showing off their hard work and years in the making. We all, it seems to me, seek spaces of beauty and respite.  

 Now that you know about the garden, let’s look at the healing part of the series title. With twists and turns in my personal life and what is going on in our world, I am creating this series to heal whatever may be healed: to journey through thoughts and hurts and joys and to keep living in a more conscious way. I focus on nature as it fills me up with hope and excitement. I focus on healing because it is crucial for a healthier way of living. I create and think of my grandmother, family, friends, and loved ones. I open space for processing of my inner life and I always, upon finishing each Healing Garden artwork, come out stronger and with a gentler heart. No matter what your story is, we can find ways to each other through beauty and pausing to heal.

The Healing Garden series looks different from my other artworks (check out my Visual Insights into Life’s Beauty and Embodiment Series): these new works can be achieved only through a slow and detail-oriented process. I reference photos and capture generic floral shapes and filling them up with bright colors and then adding lines and circles and more flowers. I am not entirely sure where this style came from. A combination of visual sights? Hand-painted eggs, Moroccan tiles, abstract art, Art Nouveau architecture in Prague, and many more things imprinted themselves in my brain. I am also playing with sizes and shapes: some paintings are on Yupo, others live on a large round canvas.
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I hope you enjoy “Artistic Bonds” at the Chesapeake Framing Company in Kensington, MD. Tuesday through Sunday, 10am to 6pm. July 1-31, 2025. Come see the artworks!

I am proud to be showing my artworks with my students in “Artistic Bonds” at the Chesapeake Framing Company in Kensington, MD, during the month of July 2025. I have been fortunate to lead art workshops at the Ring House in Rockville, MD, for years. And thus, for years, I have had the pleasure of spending time with Rose, Ruth, and Blu. These women inspire me: their life experiences, gumption for life, and love of creating. I am deeply moved by their knowing me and trusting me. While we work diligently during our art workshops, we always find time to share personal stories. Moments from our lives, thoughts on living a good life, and navigating life’s ups and down, fill up the time.

As art educator, I bring a combination of art history and technique to my students. I love researching lives of artists (past and current) and sharing my findings. What does a workshop at the Ring House look like? We start by looking at images of artworks – these may be by the same painter or they may be on a topic several artists have engaged in. For instance, we have looked at intimate portraits of women by Berthe Morisot and studied how a variety of painters capture pears (indeed, many did). We then grab our tools – watercolors or acrylics – and select a work as inspiration. The workshops are not about copying an existing artwork. They are about learning what made a particular artist interesting and using the theme to bring out own unique skills. Some students merge the inspirations, others form a brand new idea. We work quietly at time; we laugh at others. The hour and a half together brings us closer together as creators and as human beings. There is much vulnerability and strength to be creating in a group.  

Artists (from left): Rose Grossman, Ruth Birnbaum, Charlotte Blu Berman

Who are Rose, Ruth, and Blu? While age does not matter, it is of note: Rose is 101, Ruth is 92, and Blu is 96. Hence, they are all at least double my age. If they mention they learn from me, let’s just be hones: I learn much more from them. They mark their daily activities calendars and often beat me to the art room awaiting the next topic eagerly asking: what are we working on today? While Rose often jokes that she likes to “patchke”, these workshops are taken seriously. There is no lowering of stardards as one ages, there is eagerness to create well and beautifully. Rose, Ruth, and Blu ask questions: often putting my level of researching to shame. They want quality in all respects.
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Over the years, they have developed unique styles. Rose works in watercolors with lightness and in soft colors. Her artworks carry a subtle sense of humor. When she finishes her painting, she sits back and holds it up admiring her achievement. Blu brings art to life through amazing brushstrokes: I feel like I can see Henri Matisse’s aesthetic in her works. She has a keen sense of space and when her work is completed, she looks up and says: “Well, thank you for today.” It’s lunch time and she goes off to her next activity. Ruth, who prefers working in acrylics, is a meticulously attentive artist: she looks deeply at her inspiration, sketches with attention to detail, and then she delves into bright and intense colors. When she asks: “when will we see you next?” I smile: what could be a better compliment?  

Ruth Birnbaum (b. 1933, Haifa, Israel) grew up with an artist father and was always surrounded by art.  In the 1960s, she moved with her family to the U.S. where she went back to school and got a doctorate in Jewish studies. Family, work, and other matters stopped her from creating for a bit but she started painting again upon retirement. She has lived at the Ring House for 7 years: she brought along her own desk to work at and to have “her corner.” She find art to be the best vehicle for emotional relief, thus a unique expression of feelings. She paints a variety of topics: moments from her travels, photographs from her family, aspects of Jewish life. When times feel hard, she “goes downstairs to the studio and paints.”

Charlotte Blu Berman (b. 1929, New York City, NY) has been doing art work since high school and recently sold one of her paintings at a senior art show at the Bender JCC of Greater Washington. Having lived in New York and Connecticut, she moved to the Ring House 7 years ago. To her, “art is part of her identity. It’s a joy.” Blu is immersed in the art group in addition to being a life-long writer of stories. When asked why she creates, she said “it’s like asking me: why do you breathe?” She enjoys portraiture.
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​Rose Grossman (b. 1923, Cincinnati, OH) fell in love with art in high school and has been an avid art museum goer all of her life. While busy with life and her nursing career, she tested out a variety of media: pottery, collage, paper beading (jewelry), embroidery – the list could go on. She lived in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and Florida, and moved to the Ring House 18 years ago. She loves to create – or as she labels it: she “loves to patchke. It’s a joyous expression.”

As people, we hold similar values: connection to family, curiosity about the world around us, and unwavering belief that creating art is essential to quality life. We all come from different backgrounds, yet our conversations have brought us together. Rose, Ruth, and Blu have lead lives that would make for wonderful books, and what’s more, they keep living in ways that makes these books unfinished and thus endlessly interesting.
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I hope you enjoy our art exhibition “Artistic Bonds” at the Chesapeake Framing Company in Kensington, MD. Tuesday through Sunday, 10am to 6pm. Come see our works, ask questions, and meet these fascinating women!

In March 2025, I taught a workshop at the IDB Art Club in Bethesda, MD. Enjoy this wonderful online art exhibition of the completed works! 

Having worked together for years at the art studio at the Ring House in Rockville, MD, Martina, Ruth, Blu, and Rose, present “Artistic Bonds”. Enjoy a selection of their artworks that celebrate their creative time, love of art history, and joy they find in each others’ company. Through their varying life experiences, backgrounds, and ages (44-101), these women show the unifying quality of curiosity and artistic expression at the Chesapeake Framing Company in Kensington, MD.  

 When?
July 1 through July 31, 2025

Where?
 The Chesapeake Framing Company
10507 Metropolitan Ave, Kensington, MD 20895
Opening hours: Monday through Saturday - 10am- 6pm; Sunday - Closed

Tuesday, Oct 14 at 2 pm - Self-Discovery in Collage: You As Landscape
Join art educator Martina Sestakova for a workshop, during which you will be guided to create a paper collage of a landscape that reflects who you are at this stage of your life. As humans, we seek safe and joyful spaces and you get to assemble one in magazine cutouts on a 9”x12” board. No experience needed; all skill levels welcome. All supplies provided. OASIS in Bethesda, MD.

Tuesday, Nov 18 at 2 pm - Self-Discovery in Collage: You As Archetype
Join art educator Martina Sestakova for a workshop, during which you will be guided to create a paper collage of a being that showcases what makes you a unique self. You get to assemble a collage in magazine cutouts on a 9”x12” board. No experience needed; all skill levels welcome. All supplies provided. OASIS in Bethesda, MD.

An avid nature lover, I am fortunate to spend time outdoors in parks, near brooks, deep in the woods, or on beaches. This new Healing Garden #28 was created outdoors: from the first sketch or the last brushstroke. A recent camping trip took me to the Savage River State Forest and staying at a camp site turned out to be the perfect inspiration for another artwork. I was sitting with a blank canvas on my knees thinking of inspiration. I looked up at the nearby creek and took into boulders pushing away rushing water, trunks laying across the water, waterfall bubbling in the background, and trees growing towards the sky. I had my inspiration right there and then.

As I am leaving my hometown of Prague after a 3-week visit, I am grateful for all of these wonderful family moments. My brother has a lovely family and my sister-in-law is like a sister to me. They hosted me at their home and I spent such fun times with my niece and nephew. As a reminder of their hospitality and my joy, I created my biggest work in the Healing Series yet (#20). 

To make it a meaningful painting, I took the canvas into their garden and on a sunny day traced shadows of four little scenes: flowers and shrubbery. This process easily filled up the canvas with a variety of interesting shapes and made it really fun for me to delve into colors and textures. Read on to see the final artwork!

And I had a helper! The family dog patiently watched over me as I added colors into the outlined shapes. We spent an afternoon in the sun and warmth. The work progressed and gave me an opportunity to feel my gratitude, think of the role of my family in my life, and how much I am already looking forward to spending time with then over the summer. 

And here we go! The work is complete and ready for display in the family home. It is indeed a custom artwork as it reflects their garden and its prospering greenery. It's filled with sunshine and good times and a reminder to be outside and soak up the beauty of nature. Enjoy!

Interested in commissioning a work of your garden? I am around! Or, check out my paintings in the Healing Series garden on my website HERE. 

My newsletter - Your RADOST News - goes out on the 1st day of each month. Want to receive your electronic copy? Sign up on my website or send me an email and I will add you to the mailing list. Thanks for all of your support of my work!

I am from Prague and visiting the city is always just such a treat. I love history and architecture and let's just say, this city overflows with both. But, I also love nature, and a recent visit to the Botanical Gardens with my nephew and niece was amazing! One of the best botanical gardens I have ever visited, it inspired this artwork. I snapped a photo of water lilies and turned into into a colorful Healing Garden #14 piece in acrylics on canvas. What do you think? Let me know! 

My Healing Garden series focuses on gardens as symbols of joy and safety. Having grown up in a wonderful garden in Prague, I pay close attention to flowers and how much beauty they bring into our lives. On a recent trip to New York City, my friend and I enjoyed visiting art museums and eating yummy food, but, of course, I had to snap photos of stunning bouquets in flowers shops. This Healing Garden (#9) artwork is inspired by one of my photos. Enjoy the process: from a sketch, to coloring the background, to a finished painting with intricate patterns. 

This artwork is available for purchase HERE. Acrylics on watercolor paper. 8x10" matted and framed in white to 11x14". $195. Enjoy!

My new series - The Healing Garden - is taking shape. I am delving into colors, textures, and patterns in a new way: referencing flowers and emotionally and mentally transporting myself to my grandmother's garden in Prague (or any other blooming garden that feels both inspiring and safe). In this blog, I am sharing my process: from photo to the finished product. Follow along! 

My cousin who lives in Prague and grew up with me in our grandmother's garden sent me several photos of flowers my grandmother tended to with her own hands. These flowers filled my childhood (and that of my brother and cousins) with colors and beauty. In my art practice, I am not interested in copying reality: rather, I use the shapes and composition to create a new interpretation conveying joy and vibrancy of life. 

I have many memories of my grandfather mowing the lawn in the garden so that my grandmother's flowers could stand out. Running around in bare feet and smelling the blooms and later finding fresh flowers in the house: it's the little things I now cherish. My grandmother would mix flowers and create lovely bouquets for birthdays, celebrations, and everyday life. Below, you can see that I reference the photo for some identifiable shapes. I create a sketch in pencil on Yupo (my favorite medium) and then I work in acrylic markers to build the background. 

The colors quickly become those of my imagination: I feel no pressure to stick to nature's choices. Rather, I grab a marker and let the colors contrast each other or create a sense of flow. When the background layer is finished, I add an immense amount of marks! It's a slow process but funnily enough, I feel the same way about weeding a garden. Do you, too, have a sense of monumental accomplishment when weeds are gone? And the clear space opens up? Adding of the patterns is so satisfying as I cover the larger color blocks with thin lines in repetitive shapes. It's like weeding but in reverse! 

Et voila! Here is the finished artwork (8x10"). Hours of work that are healing: focus and quiet and rest throughout the process. I am so grateful to be able to create, to take myself to a safe space inside in my memories, and to bring back to the world a sense of joy and restfulness. What do you think? Let me know: I would love to hear from you. Check out the collection HERE. 

A friend recently mentioned that our bodies renew our cells completely every 7 years. Not sure if this relates to one's artistic practice, but here I am with a brand new series. There have been all kinds of developments in my personal and professional life and I can tell you: I am excited! Let me introduce the "Healing Garden" series to you. 

I am known for my abstract watercolors on Yupo. I love working in acrylic inks exploring the power of color, form, and textures through movement on the paper. Hundreds of paintings later, I have a body of work to my name. Yet, one wouldn't really be an artist without exploring new ideas, right? A fellow artist has inspired me to play: grab a piece of paper and see what happens. Well, here we go: these colorful imaginary paintings with hundreds of marks took shape with confidence. I would even say, I am a little surprised how powerfully they came into my life. 

Introducing flowers and marks into my practice may be coming out of nowhere but there is a story to all of this. I grew up in Prague in a beautiful garden my grandparents tended to. My grandmother, in particular, was a great gardener: her flowers were all over the garden and in vases in every room of the house. My grandmother was a great grandma: I have such vivid memories of her eyes looking at me, asking me to tell her about my day, making tea, sitting down, and truly being there for me. Her arms were always open to all of her grandchildren. She passed away 3 years ago and is dearly missed. But she lives on in my art and Healing Garden is an ode to her green thumb and love for her family. 

I am an avid walker (and sometimes a hiker) and snap photos of flowers all over the place. Memories come up so promptly: taking me back to the garden of my childhood but also to feeling safe in the world in gardens and other beautiful places. We all have the need to feel safe and gardens to me are often places of rest and respite. In this blog, I am sharing two examples of how I use a photo as inspiration and turned in into an intricate artwork filed with lines and patterns. Sometimes I reference the overall shape of a flower or just look at the composition of the photo to create a new set up on my paper. 

So, now you know about why flowers and gardens. What about the healing part of the name of this series? Gardens are inspiring to me. They are also restful to me: places to pause, to admire flowers and trees, to soak up the colors and aromas of the blooms. In my personal experience of taking care of my mental health, a sense of safety has been a huge theme and I am using these series to further my understanding of life while feeling safe inside in the world. I hope you find energy in these artworks: one that's exciting but also one, that is, indeed healing. 

Decorative Pillow Cover – Rain Drops - Turns out there is a world of magic in each rain droplet. After a rain storm not too long ago, I snapped a photo of rain drops resting on top of a table cover. They shimmered against the black surface and I was mesmerized by the texture and volume as I moved closer in with my camera. And then a few computer touches later, here we are with a pillow that celebrates the moment a rain drop has finished its trip from the sky and made our earth even more splendid. Shop HERE.

Breath-taking sculptures by Lisa Battle and mind-provoking photographs by the Studio Gallery members are highlighted at this gallery in Washington, DC (Oct  30 - Nov 23, 2024). I am honored to have curated these two exhibitions. What a delightful experience working with these artists and exploring ways to best showcase their artworks at 2108 R St. NW, Washington, DC 20008 (Wed, Th, and Fr - 1pm-6pm * Sat - 11am-6pm). 

Interconnections 
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Lisa Battle presents a collection of sculptures, wall installations, and vases, in her Interconnections show. Lisa shares, "All living beings are connected and depend on each other and their environment to survive. In Greek philosophy, this idea was expressed as anima mundi -- an intrinsic connection between all living beings. In modern times, the Gaia hypothesis describes the Earth as a complex, self-regulating system where living organisms have a synergistic relationship with their environment. Being intertwined has profound implications in human relationships, on the international political stage, and for the survival of our planet. It is imperative for us to learn to coexist and to find balance. Installations in this exhibition highlight interactions between elements, evoking the extraordinary ecosystems that give us life and bind us together. The ceramic sculptures celebrate connectedness as a vision for a future in which the interdependence of humans and the natural world is prioritized."

Lisa and I arranged her sculptures in the show rooms to communicate a sense of ease. I hope you feel welcome in the gallery as you stroll through the space and experience the connections between the pieces and you as a viewer of these artworks. We worked together to highlight how pausing and a sense of motion coexist in Lisa's works. While working to best communicate the artist's message, I also observe my personal reactions to the works: there is so much beauty in Lisa's creations. I imagine her hands working on these pieces and her heart and mind diving deep into the theme. Her personal journey has allowed me to feel connected too: images of oceans, winds, and water came to mind. I thought of the need for rest as I observed light browns, blues, and greens. The textures in the glazes took me to sunlit paths in the woods. Lisa's theme and its execution are powerful and I hope you enjoy the show! Below: photos by Martina Sestakova.​

Something Old, Something New 
Photographic Art from Members of the Studio Gallery

Gallery member Jo Levine (shown with her photographs below), who organized this show, shared this group statement: "This show features photographic art created by members of the Studio Gallery. The theme challenged gallery members to try out new ideas. Artists took diverse approaches to the theme, such as using photo software to alter reality; switching to a different color palette or to black-and-white; choosing subjects new to them; creating photo collages; or combining digital technology with traditional media. However, language and art can be open to many interpretations. In this case, some members interpreted the theme to encompass photographic subjects that were themselves old or new (or both), such as colorful weathered sandstone, or old roots and new leaves." 

Participating artists: Bob Burgess, Judy Bonderman, Lynda Andrews-Barry, Amity Chan, Suzanne Goldberg, Suliman Abdullah, Gary Anthes, Beverly Logan, Leslie Kiefer, Jo Levine, Lisa Battle, Iwan Bagus, Susan Raines, Langley Spurlock, and Steven Marks.

While Lisa's exhibit focuses on diving deep into a theme, this photography show demonstrates the wonderful variety of human creativity. The photographers, as the group statement suggests, present many ways to interpret the topic. As a curator and an art viewer, I am impressed by this variety: it made me think of photography in new ways. Here are some of the innovative explorations the artists shared in their personal statements or while talking to me in terms of "something new, something old": decay and renewal, going new places, weathered natural surfaces, being inspired by an Emily Dickinson poem, focusing on black-and-white imagery, tearing up photos and incorporating them into paintings, highlighting social (in)justices and human rights, using old technology: hand gilding, using overlay, distortion, and composite imagery, focusing on light, delving into documentary photos, documenting struggle and peace, and building new artifacts out of old images. So many approaches! Each artist's display is accompanied by their statement and you will be able to appreciate their unique point of view. 

Check out the events related to these shows! I hope you feel moved, connected, and richer in mind and heart after seeing the works. Below: photos by Martina Sestakova.

Interested in working with me? I would love to learn about you and your art and assist in curating your upcoming art exhibition. Contact me for details.