After living in London and having hundreds of art galleries at her disposal for inspiration, Martin now uses Wairarapa, which has been her home for four years, as inspiration for her abstract paintings.
"I've always loved art and I've always loved going to galleries and looking at the paintings, and Wairarapa has some great artists and galleries - we're really lucky to have Aratoi and whenever I go into a gallery, I feel like all my birthdays have come at once.
"It is an amazing privilege to live and work here in Wairarapa - the countryside is so inspiring, and even when it's muddy, it's still inspiring."
As well as painting, Martin has also dipped her toes into drawing, printmaking and documentary making, the latter a subject she hopes to find useful in her job.
"Being a speech-language therapist and an artist may seem like two completely different things, but they are actually very similar.
"They're both about communication and about expressing yourself, and I work with people who have lost their speech, so art is a good medium to have because there are no words with art, it's another way to express yourself.
"I've seen a bit of a move in the healthcare industry towards video, so I think learning documentary making will be very useful in the future."
Her day job is a passion, and once she finishes her diploma in January next year, she plans to continue painting in her spare time and become a well-known artist in Wairarapa.
"I love studying art, so I might go back and do honours, but I just want to continue learning and get better at mixing colours and developing my abstract paintings inspired by Wairarapa. I'm working on a series at the moment, where each painting is inspired by a certain part of the Wairarapa like Castlepoint and Martinborough.
"I also want to make some documentaries about Wairarapa and its people."
