Charlotte Martin

Charlotte Martin was born as Catherine Martin in Paris, France, and had an extremely structured, confined childhood. In that world there was no room for space, color, freedom or excitement. She initially escaped through physically changing her environment by moving to London; through modeling in Paris, Milan and London she changed her name from Catherine to Charlotte, creating a new identity for herself and she embarked on a lifestyle of no boundaries... out of control, in the hedonistic world of living with the cream of 1960s London's music and fashion world. Her name has been linked to Eric Clapton, The Beatles, Jimmy Page and Martin Sharp, Australia's most famous pop artist. From 1965 until 1968 Charlotte Martin was Eric Clapton's girlfriend, until she hooked-up with George Harrison, who then was married to Pattie Boyd, who eventually would marry Clapton. She was introduced to Led Zeppelin's guitarist Jimmy Page on his 26th birthday on January 9th 1970 by Roger Daltrey and his girlfriend Heather Daltrey after the Royal Albert Hall gig. That night was the beginning of a long and stormy relationship of Jimmy and Charlotte. They had one daughter, Scarlet Page, born in March 24th 1971, who is now a photographer. They separated around 1983. Martin has been married to Ernest D. Riall since 2005, and has two grand-children from her only daughter Scarlet. Today Charlotte is an artist and painter. Through her painting she is exploring philosophically her escape from her dark childhood world, and the links she has with the 1960s pop culture remain strongly with her in her present search for the balance of chaos and structure, as well as a need for looking through "frames within frames". She frequently uses nature as well as urban jungles as filters. She has exhibited in many venues in and around Maidenhead, Berkshire (England), where her studio is located. Martin has accepted various freelance commissions, and her art is represented in collections both local and further afield.