Inspired by the movie "Eat, Pray, Love" Julian Martin, a deep-souled, sparkly-eyed prolific artist from Nashville, TN decided to "hit the road." She contacted her galleries (Nashville, Santa Fe, etc.) to announce a sudden sale -40% off - all her artworks, raised $10,000 in two weeks, had a buddy build a custom painting rack in the back of her Jeep Liberty, packed a tent and art supplies and TOOK OFF!

After a month of adventures, her GPS and gumption brought her here last night to my little cabin at the end of the road near the top of a mountain in Montana. We drank wine while sitting next to a campfire on my deck under the stars and swapped stories. We had never met before but my dear friend Wynn introduced me to images of Julia's delicate, bold and beautiful paintings more than a year ago.

I'm tickled and honored to have her up here on the mountain. She slept "like a baby" in Granny's cabin last night. While drinking my tea outside this morning, Julia and "Miss Liberty" showed up. She stomped across my deck wearing short shorts, a flowing white blouse, red cowboy boots, and a grin.

We're both off to make art...

"Communion" (the painting above) can be seen along with other paintings on her website http://julia-martin.com