The Sequim Farmers & Artisans Market has a new splash of color this season thanks to local artist and author Mary B. Truly.

Vibrant, colorful landscapes, dreamscapes and more hang around her booth, displaying different styles and different ideas, Truly’s booth evokes feelings of wonder and adventure as you take in all the art.

Truly said she’s proud of the work she has on display, especially how approachable it is for viewers of all ages and understandings of art.

“I want my work to be relatable,” Truly said. “That feeling of not just understanding, but being able to say ‘wow, I want to do something like that.’ That’s really important to me.”

That relatability is key to Truly because she’s seen so much art that hasn’t necessarily felt relatable to her in her time – pieces that feel almost unattainable to work towards because of the sheer skill and time put into them.

“Eventually I realized, though, that any art can be relatable for anyone,” she said. “I want to help inspire people to have something to work towards like that.”

Truly’s work comes from a place of wanting to share the experience and joy of art, and she hopes that she can nurture that spark of inspiration in other artists as well.

“I love getting to talk to people about art,” she said. “Almost everyone is some kind of artist — it doesn’t have to be painting or drawing, but woodworking, writing, cooking, sewing are all art too. Getting people inspired to work on whatever their art is is so important to me.”

That inspiration has been a major source of joy for Truly at the Sequim Farmers & Artisans Market since she joined this season. Talking to people who tell her about wanting to get back to their own art lifts her spirits in a major way, she says, and hearing from them again later that they’ve been working on a new piece “makes my whole weekend,” she said with a laugh.

Truly joined the market this year at the recommendation of one of her friends who thought she would enjoy the environment, which she says she very much has.

“Seeing what farmer’s markets do for their communities has been wonderful,” she said. “I wish I could do markets every day.”

In fact, her fourth book — “Pacific Northwest Daydreams and Paintings” — came together because of her work to get ready for this market season.

“I wasn’t sure that I had enough art ready to open a booth,” Truly said. “So I pulled together everything I had made since I moved here last year, everything that this area had inspired me to make. That and some writing that felt right for it, and I realized I had another book ready.”

Truly has written and illustrated three other self-published books, including “The Adventures of Captain Bentley,” “Vortex Magic,” and “Alien on the Stoop.”

According to Truly, her books come from things that are going on around her in her life. For example, “Alien on the Stoop” was about imaginings on a neighborhood cat that wandered around enough that various neighbors would swear it was in three places at once.

Truly has another book, a follow-up to “Pacific Northwest Daydreams and Paintings,” and is working on a sixth book now.

In the meantime, she’s always finding new inspirations and new ways of conveying her art to share with the market and with Sequim in general.

Conor Dowley is a member of the Sequim Farmers & Artisans Market board of directors, and a former staff member of the Sequim Gazette and Peninsula Daily News.

Mary B. Truly displays some of her artwork, available each Saturday through the summer and early fall at the Sequim Farmers & Artisans Market. Photo courtesy of Mary B. Truly