Jean Elizabeth Martin

[alfreda89]

Okay—I just wanted to double-check things, before I stated facts, because it’s very sad. Jean killed herself. She took a triple hit in a short period of time, and apparently started talking about suicide. Then, it wasn’t talk anymore. I haven’t seen her for several years—she was living in Denton last I knew, working a captive artist job for a corporation and starting to do fantasy work again.

She’s always been very big on her cats. In fact, she went to the trouble to have her calico isolated and vaccinated to a breeder’s specs so she could have an Abyssinian stud introduced to her furry girl. The kittens were gorgeous, and she kept several. I don’t know how many cats she’d added to the pack over the years, but one of the strikes was a communicable disease killing all her cats. Then, black mold was discovered on a lot of her originals, and they had to be destroyed. Finally, this was all happening while she was having serious hormone problems, a dangerous mix. A mix Jean couldn’t get beyond.

Jean Elizabeth Martin was a talented artist who loved what fantasy brought to real life, and tried to create it for her fans. She was Artist GoH at ArmadilloCon 12, and it was richly deserved. She was heavily into Egyptian motifs, which is why I don’t own a single one of her prints (not being into Egyptian). I hope she would be pleased to see what they’re going for on Ebay right now. I was waiting for the throne of butterflies she’d promised me. It was one of her ideas for making demo covers for book publishers. I liked the ideas a lot, and encouraged her—told her I’d buy a print. But as far as I know, she never did them. I think depression nipped at her heels. She needed a man who appreciated what a little fantasy meant to her, but she took a hit when her husband and best friend fell in love. I always wondered if she recovered from it, although we all did our best to encourage her. Jean sparkled when she was in love, but the last time I saw her, she wasn’t sparkling. She looked defeated, and it was hard to turn her mind to positive things. I hear she was fascinated with Titanic history, the last few years, and even went to England in her quest for information. I choose to remember her as the gentle, lovely woman who adored the fashions of another time, and always took the trouble to dress with elegance and flair for conventions. She could turn heads as she passed, which touched and amused her.

Jean enjoyed doing fan art, and did it better than anyone. She would give pictures to the actors and actresses involved, and as you can see from this link, did charity projects with the performers as well. I still remember how excited she was when she discovered her “perfect woman” lived. She’d been dragged to BATTLESTAR: GALACTICA, and while watching the movie, saw Jane Seymour for the first time. This was the face she’d tried to create from composites for so many years—and now, her work had been simplified for her! She took pleasure in giving the actress several of her works, and Seymour seemed delighted with them.

http://www.sfstuff.com/artwkjem.htm#aw-jem

I did commission a work from her—I wanted an author work that was different, and so I decided to get a pastel drawing done, and then make photos from it. It had all the fun lushness of Jean’s favorite drawings, and gave me a chance to support her work. She did talk me into the preliminary photo using her blouse, so she could draw lace! I used that picture for twelve years.

Her prints brought a lot of pleasure to many SF and Fantasy fans. It’s tragic that she didn’t get back to her own artwork. I hope she accomplished some of her dreams.


I will dream of the butterfly throne.