Fresh, homemade food isn't the only thing important to Dinah Brinson, owner of Seasonings in Oakland Township. She also wants the artwork on her cafe's walls to be be fresh and locally made.

"I want to rotate the art and it will be a way for everyone to meet local artists," Brinson said. "That way there is always something new and interesting."

Mary Marple of Lake Orion is the first local artist to display her work at Seasonings. Her watercolor paintings will be scattered around the cafe through March, at which time Brinson will ask another local artist to display his or her work.

"I love painting birds, animals, landscapes, still lifes ..." 74-year-old Marple said. "I don't like to paint the same thing all the time. I like to vary it."

Customers can purchase the artwork, which starts at $30 a painting. Brinson asks that every artist showcasing his or her work contribute to charity, so Marple will be donating 10 percent of every purchase to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Marple's son, David, was just 14 years old when he died from leukemia in 1979. 

"That's when I started painting," Marple said of her son's death. "It helped me focus my mind on something else."

Marple also has two pieces of artwork on display at the Orion Art Center and is a member of the Thursday Brushes, the Michigan Water Color Society, Romeo Guild of Art and the Detroit Society of Women Painters & Sculptors.