Marty Spence pivoted from a career in psychiatry to painting full-time. Since she retired, she has had multiple solo exhibits in the Baltimore area. Photo courtesy of Marty Spence

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After working full-time for 50 years, Marty Spence stood in her office alone on her last day of work, staring at the closed door and thinking, “I wonder what I’ll be when I grow up?”

So Spence, a retired nurse with a master’s degree in clinical psychiatric social work, transitioned into a full-time artist.

Before fully committing to art, Spence had a fulfilling career focused on child psychiatry. Even after leaving that field, her extensive study of child and human development still influences her creative process.

“I threw myself into studying art just as intensively, and one intersects the other. They really cannot be separated,” Spence, 79, said in an interview with the Beacon.

Spence’s paintings have appeared in solo exhibitions at the Reeves Art Gallery in Baltimore, Atwater’s Restaurant in Towson, the Engineer’s Club in Baltimore and the Baltimore County Public Library. Her work hangs on the walls of Sheppard Pratt, too, where she used to work. This fall, she’ll be part of the exhibit “A Brush with Creativity,” which opens on Sept. 15 at Gallery Unicorn in Lutherville.

One drawing class started it all

Spence’s art journey began at 50, when she invited a friend to take a drawing course with her at the local community college.

After completing the Drawing 101 course, Spence initially was hesitant to continue her art education at the Maryland Institute College of Art. When she told her drawing teacher that she didn’t have enough nerve to attend classes with artists, he laughed and said, “They’re not any different than you are. Just go.” So she did. And she kept going for the next seven years.

Spence worked during the day and spent her evenings attending art classes at MICA. She began to get involved in boards of groups related to art until she realized that what she really wanted to pursue was art.

“I did that for about two years and realized what I really wanted was to do art myself. So, I resigned from the boards, and I jumped in,” she said.

Local history focus

Spence’s current projects include depicting the town of Relay, Maryland, where she grew up. It’s located between Baltimore and Ellicott City and is now part of Halethorpe.

“The town has a huge history, and I’m trying to capture what it was for myself and my brothers and sisters when we grew up,” she said.

Spence uses her canvas to document her memories of growing up on 65 acres with animals like pigs, horses, cows and chickens. She painted a rooster, then the barn, and before she knew it, she had begun to document her life, supplementing paintings with writing about her memories.

The project then expanded from the property she grew up on to the entire town, including streets, houses, markets and schools. In a way, Spence brings “old Relay” back to life as she immortalizes it in her art.

Despite its many changes over the years, the emotional and physical landscapes of Relay remain familiar to her. When her project is completed, perhaps next year, she said, “I hope the exhibit will be in the Relay Town Hall, which is beautifully preserved.”

Spence paints from memory and loss. Her childhood home was destroyed by a fire, so she painted the back of it from memory.

“I drew it 17 times before I began to apply any paint to it,” she said. “I expected [my siblings] to say to me, ‘Wait a minute, this window is not right’ or ‘That column’s not right’ or something. But they didn’t. They said it was perfectly fine.”

While painting from memory was difficult, Spence used nature as an anchor to make it easier. Sunrises, sunsets and rural landscapes recur in her work.

“It’s not easy to paint the sky, but the sunrises and sunsets are just the most exquisite things,” she said. “It’s free to all of us, and it’s there every day.”

Time to finish projects

Spence finds magic in the mundane of daily life, even when it takes time. One of her paintings took 14 years to complete.

When she started painting the image, which was of forsythia, Spence was still working full-time at her demanding job.

One spring, as she was coming home from work, she spotted a neighbor’s row of forsythia and brought some home to paint. However, by the time she got back to them, the plants she cut were spent, and so were the bushes in the neighbor’s yard.

So Spence stashed the painting in the basement, and it survived many cleanouts and a major move. One day in retirement, she glimpsed another forsythia in bloom. Her husband cut her some, and she rushed to her studio and got to work.

“I finished the painting I had begun 14 years prior. It now hangs in our kitchen,” Spence said — a symbol of patience, memory and perseverance.

Inspiration for others

This year, Spence patiently continues to work on the series of paintings of the hometown she left when she was 26 years old.

“These things are not something that can be, nor should they be, rushed. It takes its own time, has its own life, and results in its own entity all by itself,” she said.

Some older adults may be afraid to start a new chapter in life. They may think that time passes, and so do chances. For these folks, Spence has some advice:

“If they have a passion, they need to pursue the passion and let themselves breathe, experience it and not look for perfection. It’s not a perfect world, and if we look for perfection, it’s going to get in our way and be a big stop sign,” she said. “Just put the wind in your sails and go sailing!”

Correction: The print version of this article states that Spence retired at around age 50. In fact, she retired after a 50-year career. We regret the error.