Imagine a world where you could cross real chickens with Pomeranians without raising eyebrows at the FDA. Imagine a world where you could move an entire ski resort to the edge of the sea or build Peruvian ruins in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado. Imagine a world where you could put briefs on the pelican or make a cowboy ride a giraffe or place an entire herd of giraffes in a high mountain village.

If you can imagine it, MaryJoy Martin, also known in the art world as MerryJoy, can create it. Before Digital (B.D.) Martin was manipulating photos by the cut-and-paste method, creating art, logos, cartoons, and surreal locations. With the dawn of the Digital Age (D.A.) the possibilities expanded like the Milky Way and Martin's digital work went global.

She calls this work Pixelations, a word that ties the pixel with elation. As she explains: “Pixelations are the celebration of imagination, a magic melding of art and photography in this age of the Megapixel.”

Millions of people create art photos, cartoons, and other works this way, each person generating images unique to his or her imagination. Martin's weird and fantastical imagination spawns compositions and designs from the ridiculous to the sublime, the glorious to the sinister, the magical to the monstrous, the totally madcap to the impossibly absurd.

Martin's Pixelations have been published in a number of periodicals, most frequently in the San Juan Horseshoe since 1986 (B.D.) and online. Since 1999 (D.A.) she has designed digital logos and advertising art for businesses, covers for books, greeting cards, cartoons, music labels, story illustrations and digital wall art. Now and then she tosses a few digital manipulations in for the government… without permission: political cartooning in the Digital Age is a feast for the creator.

—Terry Carlson

Samples of Martin's Pixelations follow. All work is copyrighted by the artist. Please obtain written permission from the artist or her representatives before using images.

Martin's unique dancing women featured in the San Juan Horseshoe story, Benefit Dance Performance Reaps Millions under one of her pseudonyms, Julio Hamish Gonzalez y MacPerez, Summer 2013 issue, might give one pause, but these ladies can deliver... nightmares!

ROCK SQUIRRELS

MOONLIGHT SONATA

“I want my food dead. Not sick, not dying. Dead.” — Oscar Wilde

SUMMER SOLSTICE

SUMMER SOLSTICE II

ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERY IN THE SAN JUANS

ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE IN THE SAN JUANS

MOUSE PIANO BAR

MUSICAL RODENT GREETING CARD

RUSTICATION

\ ROMAN UMPIRE

HALLOWEEN GREETING CARD—FOUR BROTHERS

THE CRYPT

HORSESHOE HAM–MOCK

BLIND MICE POLITICAL ADVISERS

MORNING FLIGHT

DRAGONFLY MAGIC

CRESTED BUTTE BY THE SEA For more Pixelations from this San Juan Horshoe story in which MerryJoy moved the entire mountain ski resort to the seaside click here

ROMAN DIG AT CRESTED BUTTE For more Pixelations from this San Juan Horseshoe story click here. To read the full story click here.

CHOG—A GENETIC CROSS BETWEEN A CHICKEN AND A DOG For more CHOG Pixelations click here.

THE BUSH DAVID STATUE Featured in the Horseshoe November 2005: Heroic Statues Erected In San Juan Cities

FIRE DANCER—ADVERT

TALKING GOURDS—PERFORMANCE POETS' GROUP

HERON KING MAGIC

SAN JUAN HORSESHOE COVER FOR SEPTEMBER 2008

DO NOT CLIMB BRIDGE—PUTTING PEOPLE WHERE THEY DON'T BELONG

SQUIRRELS CAN SCREW—GIVING RODENTS TOOLS FOR LIFE

ALEX THE RAT—MAKING MEN INTO RODENTS

HOVENWEEP SPIRITS

RODENT HOT TUB—WHEN YOU ARE AWAY THE MICE WILL PLAY

THE WEE FOLK

CAPT. GUNNISON AND HIS UTE GUIDE To read the story click here.

GIRAFFES AT CRESTED BUTTE To read the story click here.

DEODORANT–THIEVING WEE FOLK

WEE FOLK IN DISGUISE

MAGIC ICE

ON-TSOH IN HAWK FORM Read the story here.

WAN-WAN-ER WITH ON-TSOH Read the story here.

For earlier Pixelations, click here

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