Marianne Burton
Marianne Burton, like many Martumili Artists, started painting through the natural, organic process of learning from her family. Her father was senior Martu artist Pukina Burton, and Marianne would sit down with him as he painted stories about his Country. Eventually she was encouraged to paint ‘a little canvas’, and since then she has continued to develop her own unique and striking style.
Depicting the country around Punmu and Kunawarritji, Marianne typically begins her paintings with underlayers of loose brushstrokes in harmonious, subdued palettes, indicating geographical formations, water sources, and broad sections of country. These are painted over in shimmering, sunset hues, with delicate and refined dotting suggestive of the trees, vegetation) sparsely covering the desert terrains.