Hardy Martin (b. 1942), "Cactus in Bloom", oil on canvas, 36 x 24", frame: 43 x 31"

Provenance: A Dallas, Texas collection

Hardy Martin was raised in rural West Texas working and growing up on his family ranch. Dusty soil, cactus, and barbed wire were part of everyday life then. Today he still enjoys drawing and painting those rustic Southwest images he grew up with. He later completed his degree in Advertising Art at North Texas State University in the late '60s. After college, he moved to the city and worked for three advertising agencies and two graphic design firms before starting his own art/design studio in Dallas in 1973. Art talent has always been an integral part of the advertising art business, and Hardy used his talents with much success for 30 years. His fine painting style is now characterized by broad, colorful, loose strokes, in traditional or contemporary subject matter. He has displayed and sold his paintings in several Dallas, Texas area galleries over the last two decades, and now he concentrates much of his time on Southwest subject matters.