The time has come to present the work in our next online project: WTF?! This week we'll start posting the amazing work artists created based on random stuff they received in the mail. I'm really amazed with what people came up with and there's some really creative solutions to a really challenging project. Be on the look out!

The participating artists are: Sondra N Arkin Melissa Burley Mei Mei Chang Anne Cherubim Erica Jo Clarke Rose O’Donnell Sarah J Hull Rula J B AnaMarie King P D Klein Jonathan Ottke Scott Pennington Renee Regan Kristy Saunders Martina Sestakova Krista Steinke Ira Tattlman Britten Traughber Aliza Tucker Tom Wendt Angela White.

I am so excited to have my art workshops listed on the Town of Kensington website and promoted through @explorekensington on Instagram. Interested in no-experience-needed art workshops? Sign up here. 

Thanks to all supporting my work! It's always so nice to stroll to the post office and drop off packages with my artworks and scarves. For each shipment, I make sure to protect my products and to add good info: my flyers! You get to learn more about my work and learn a few tips and tricks on how to best style my RADOST scarves. 

I am so grateful for notes like these... "Hi Martina, My scarf just arrived and it’s even more gorgeous than I thought. I have a couple of Zoom group meetings tomorrow and I will show it off then!" Thank you all so much for your kind support of my work.

In the midst of creating and teaching and attending countless events, I rushed through so many things. A great life with many important moments gone unnoticed. Then, in a day I lost all of my teaching opportunities and hundreds of cancelled classes followed. Craft festivals got cancelled. Covid-19 turned gatherings into nightmares. Shops and art galleries closed their doors. Losses and changes in my personal life ensued. This makes one pause and realize that self love can’t be tied to achievements when the world stops and there is no where to go to “achieve.” My heart hardened for a bit; a reasonable reaction to the shocks of the year.

But one of my strongest values is to keep my heart soft no matter what life brings my way. Oh my, it’s so easy to board up and close our minds and bodies in self defense. I am a believer in that life is always on my side. I adore being alive and 2020 showed me many things I would never have seen before.

As days passed, my clients reached out. I got hand written notes about my designs’ impact on their lives. Turns out a scarf filled with positive messages indeed makes one feel good. I got cash in an envelope with a note: for my favorite artist. I cried. I sat down in my home studio and I painted and designed new textiles. They are filled with more hope than ever before. Huge art and craft fairs turned into small driveway-type of gatherings and I had interesting masked-up conversations with my fellow creators.

Zoom facilitated teaching and learning from the comfort of our homes. I met so many lovely humans through the computer screen. We created together and there was laughter and crying too. I did private art classes and families and work teams came together across states for a few moments of pause and sharing. While I could mostly only see people’s heads, I could tell art has made an impact. Complete strangers shared deeply and with much compassion for each other.

My artworks deepened in meaning: I aim to capture life’s beauty in my abstracts and this year I went beyond scraping the surface. Online shows became the new norm and my paintings reached new collectors. The art community went from competition to asking how can we remain strong by supporting each other?

You know how on the plane they tell you to put the oxygen mask on first? Well, 2020 made me actually do it. I paused - after being forced to do so - and I started actively taking care of my mental and physical health. It’s not always a pretty journey but healing (and an occasional hot foot bath) is at the core of love and being able to be there for others.

When I dropped off shipments at the post office, I would feel so much gratitude for being able to do what I love. Upon logging into a workshop, I could be there for my students in a more meaningful way. And in my studio, I created with more openness. My finding: fear is overrated and curiosity about the world inside and outside of us rocks. So, here I am today. Vulnerable. Yet, courageous. And definitely, happier. 

Please know that anything you purchase from me - be it a scarf, a ticket to an art class, a painting - is filled with joy, deeply felt and explored from many angles. Five years ago, it started as a cute idea; I would name my company RADOST, the Czech word for joy. Today, it’s the pillar of my creative practice that arrives at your doorstep wrapped in a pretty magenta tissue paper. In this note, I wish to convey a deep THANK YOU for coming along and your kind support of my work. Stay safe.

I am excited to reveal four new artworks inspired by Mary Oliver's poetry. I find Oliver's works so moving and healing and often refer to them for inspiration. I take her words or snippets of text and turn them into the titles of my abstract paintings. Scroll through for a lovely variety of large pieces for your home. They are $315 each (matted and framed in white), ready to put on the wall or to gift to a loved one. Contact me for details. 

I had the pleasure of painting this watercolor on yupo for Nikki and this is what she says of her experience and new artwork for her home: "Our wedding date is the 27th - but I couldn’t wait any longer and showed him your incredible painting this morning! He loves it. I love it. We can’t wait to hang it on our wall! We’re thinking right over our bed or on the wall of our dining room. We’ve already discussed commissioning more from you to add to our collection. Thank you again for such a perfect and unique expression of this moment in time for us. This will be an heirloom we pass down for generations to come."  Contact me so we can together create a unique piece of art for your home. 

​New work: “Notice More and More” inspired by Mary Oliver’s poem “Moths”. I painted it as a landscape but am liking the portrait setup too. When thinking of the act and process of “noticing”, I am drawn to “active” colors (whatever that means in my mind ): oranges and purples. I hope the energy comes through. Watercolors and acrylics on yupo. 26” x 20”. Contact me if interested.

There is a cool video about the SYMBOLISM art exhibition (organized by Capitol Hill Art League) at Frame of Mine in Washington, DC. Watch it here! I am grateful for the judge's - Delna Dastur - remarks about my watercolor on yupo titled "Such Silence." You can stop by the show in person or view it online. 

Always so happy to log into my website and find reviews like these from my kind clients.

"My scarf was just exactly as pictured, a beautiful watercolor design with gorgeous colors. It looks great on and I get a lot of compliments when I wear it. LOVE." (Fran)

"The picture does not give this beautiful scarf justice! The detail on this soft luminous fabric is amazing. The artist includes a statement of her inspiration for the print. I will certainly check her website, especially when seeking a very special gift." (Mary)