Marta Dorton

A visual artist and writer residing in Lexington, Ky, Marta E Dorton creates vibrant, textured acrylic paintings and colorful printmaking pieces. When she paints or prints, her focus is on color and texture, form and negative space; she blends these values into her writing. Writing has become an important part of sharing her experiences and emotions. Marta states "My husband's death in 2001 sent me into a deep depression. My feelings of hopelessness and loneliness were overwhelming. Writing and creating art have aided my grief journey and served as outlets for expressing a wide range of feelings".

Articles:

Happy Birthday to a Husband Gone

I wonder how your Retire-at-55 plan would be going by now? Would we be Florida-bound? Or woefully far from the dream? That seems to be how life goes. We smugly think our plans are well-made, well-plotted, that hard work and diligence paid. Or we think God had other plans or we missed the mark, failure at our backs. Our dreams become what we have at hand. A widow’s work is never done. I’m sitting outside on my London-green park bench, a Mother’s Day gift from long ago, another life, and I am wishing, crying, that I could personally wish you […]

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Sorting Out Life: Remembering a Mother by Her Scent

I sat on the dusty wide-planked floor of my attic and sorted through stored memories. I struggled with the final decisions of how much attraction, or need, that I truly held for each item. Dozens, sometimes hundreds, of decisions waited in every box. Piles expanded for things to keep and for things that needed to go. A stack to sell, another for Goodwill or giveaway to family and friends. As I added to the get-rid-of section, I noticed Mom’s walker folded and laying on the pink insulation. She passed away five years ago. I walked across the wooden floorboards, stooped […]

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Widow’s Wedding Anniversary Brings Flood of Memories

The anniversary of our anniversary is the hardest of all. We would be married 29 years by now. I think we would have made it through all that life still had to throw at us. But life had other plans. I looked at our wedding photos today, our faces bright with youth, hope, love; family and friends wishing us a great future; the expectation of growing old together taken for granted. We politely placed a slice of fresh, creamy cake into the other’s mouth, reflecting the respect and admiration we would hold for each other in the years to come. […]

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Private Drive: Visiting the Home Where Husband Died

Today, I took a short cut through a long memory.  At the last minute I turned left at the light, thinking I would avoid the heavy afternoon traffic and face a piece of my past. I drove down the hill, Southland Park and the swimming pool to my right. The hot, humid day brought out the summer vacation crowds.  Bright towels and small swimsuits dotted the chain-link pool area.  SUVs and vans packed the parking lot and lined the narrow side streets.  My family and I used to walk to the pool to cool off, and then reheat on the way […]

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