An Artist's Journal:Paintings by Felicia Marshall

5"x7" acrylic on hardboard I get lost in the grandness of cathedrals. I was amazed by the detailed work on the front of this cathedral in Europe. I grew up southern baptist so a church with such elaborate art decorating the exterior or for that matter the interior was just something you didn't see. I sometimes shy away from white objects. I find that you have to think and plan out the painting a little bit more than when your pallet is not as limited. It is however a great accomplishment when I am able to pull it off. SOLD

6"X6" acrylic on hardboard "Happy Halloween" This is Zora as a fairy. I never got to go trick or treating as a kid, so I never appreciated Halloween until I became a mother. In my house Halloween marks the beginning of the holidays. This image is from a past Halloween. This year everyone went for the darker costumes. My little princess was determined to be a vampire this year complete with makeup. I managed to talk the others down from their original grim reaper costumes into ninjas. I already miss the good old days when girls were princesses and boys were superheros. SOLD

5"x7" acrylic on hardboard This is my grandmother in her youth she turned one hundred years old today. Wow one hundred years old. I can barely get my head around the number. As young children my siblings and I called her Two Mama because she was like our second mother. Most family members call her Mama Sissy, and to everyone else she’s known as Miss Sissy. Everybody in her small town knows her, and I guess they should considering she is 100 years old. Her real name is T.C. which simply stands for T.C. She is history. She lost her two sisters to Tuberculosis in their twenties at the height of the TB epidemic in the US. I asked her once about The Great Depression. Her response was, “We called it the panic but it didn’t mean much to us because we were poor already so nothing really changed.” Her father was a moon shiner during prohibition, which I assume is how he was able to own land and a farm when everyone else were sharecroppers. She saw her husband drafted into WWII and re...

5"x7" acrylic on hardboard I am always fascinated with old family photographs. I guess I’m like a kid in the since that I can’t imagine many of my relatives as a younger version of themselves. When I looked at Aunt Matilda as this very young woman, I can’t help but wonder what her ambitions were, her hopes, and dreams. I am very pleased at the way this painting turned out. It was a treat to paint from start to finish. SOLD

"5x7" acrylic on hardboard I have been working on this painting for sometime now. I am glad I can finally post it tonight. How adorable if I may say so myself. I can never resist a cute kid with a great smile. Kenya has what my husband calls a whole face smile. I love the way I was able to capture the bronze glow of her face. I always say sunlight makes the best lighting. This painting is a perfect example of great lighting. I was really happy to get the high contrast in so many areas of the portrait. SOLD

8”x10” acrylic on hardboard I wanted to work on a portrait with extreme contrasting light. I can’t be accused of being terribly original with the subject matter, but what can I say Zora is my muse and those of you who have followed my work have noticed that I have taken some time off so I needed to paint something inspirational. This started as an interesting play on extreme lighting situations. Then I thought I’d get a little more expressive and creative with the way I handled the hair. Instead of trying to paint in each strand I decided to scratch out the white highlights, different approach still just as affective.

8”x10” acrylic on hardboard This car sat abandoned in a field for years when I was growing up. My grandmother’s cows would pass by it as they grassed on grass. It had no significance to me until I took my first photography class. It has been an image that I have come back to several times as an artist. SOLD

8”x10” acrylic on hardboard I’m trying to get in all of my summer paintings before summer ends. This painting took many different turns before I considered it complete. First I had a sandy beach on the right side of the deck, and then I turned the entire deck in the foreground into sand. The only thing I was sure about in the entire process of painting was that I wanted the bright colors to really stand out in the towel. $120.00 + $5.00 shipping

5"x7" acrylic on hardboard The end of summer is quickly approaching. I haven't painted any of my green lake paintings until last night. The kids always get a kick out of finding clams ( mussels ) in the lake. This was one of the biggest found this year. I really loved the shoreline tilted at an angle, it gave the painting a lot of movement. $75.oo +$5.00 shipping

“6”x6” acrylic on hardboard This painting is of two lovely ladies sitting at the Metropolitan Museum. I would have to meet there several times throughout one of my art history classes when I was in school. I was always more interested in people watching than the actually paintings or sculptures we were meeting to see. I imagined the two figures that I painted were regulars meeting at the museum at a certain time on a certain day just like clock work. They seemed like regulars. They were there for the culture, I was there for the credit, in my head at least. SOLD

8”x10” acrylic on hardboard I had already drawn a picture and was actually looking forward to painting today but everything went down hill. I just couldn’t get excited about putting the paint on the surface. I gave myself a fresh start with this little gem, Zora, the quintessential little girl. I guess you can say Zora is my muse. Who could be bummed out after painting a smile like this one? Needless to say, I had a lot of fun when I started over. Dutch Art Gallery

5”x7” acrylic on hardboard I fell in love with a little painting called "Corn Poppy"at the Houston Museum of Art when I was in high school. Every trip to the museum ended with a visit to this painting. I hadn’t realized how influential that this painting, “Corn Poppy” by Kees Van Dongen had been to me until I sat "Color Me Red” next to my journal which had a print of "Corn Poppy" glued to it's cover. I gave this painting as a gift to my wonderful Art Education Directer that recently retired.

8”x10” acrylic on hardboard I bought these flowers some time ago and couldn’t wait to paint them. Well painting these lovely sunflowers was much harder than I could have imagined. I liken it to putting a puzzle together. The red color which I was drawn to actually became my worst enemy when I began mixing the paints. I originally envisioned a series of three or four paintings of these flowers in different vases but having gone through the fire I think I can only muster about one more attempt. Even with all of my griping, I am incredibly pleased at the finished painting. The vivid colors jump off of the canvas and I feel so accomplished having mastered painting transparent glass which has originally been a subject that I avoid. I am also happy that I got another chance to work with my favorite color red. SOLD

5”x7” acrylic on hardboard This is one of the smaller missions in San Antonio. I was lucky enough to be at the mission on a bright day, which paid off when another tourist walked out of the door and left it open just a bit letting sunlight into the very dark and small space. It was so beautiful the way the light danced across the tiled floor and filled the room. SOLD

5”x7” acrylic on hardboard I have very fond memories of college. I was lucky enough to attend a really great art school, Pratt Institute. The experience really helped shape me into the person and artist I am today, above all Pratt gave me confidence. This painting is one of the studio classrooms in the Design Communication Arts Building. All of the classrooms were white but not in a clinical sterile way. Our studios were white in the empty canvas sort a way. I got the sense that every several years it was standard to paint yet another layer of flat white paint over all the walls and windows. I became fond of the huge windows that were over ten feet tall and let in natural light. I missed them when I left, I knew I would. I also missed the squeaking wood floors from the hundred year old buildings. SOLD

5”x7” acrylic on hardboard This is yet another painting that I’ve had sitting around and painting on for way too long. So here she is standing tall. SOLD

I wanted to celebrate my most recent book entitled “The Night the Chimneys Fell”. The book is about a French family’s ordeal in the town of New Madrid, Missouri during the earthquake of 1811. This earthquake was the largest earth quake in the United States history and it was not in California, but Missouri. This quake was so powerful that it changed the course of the Mississippi River. The story illustrates some of the natural signs experienced before the quake, and the destruction of homes and displacement of many families in its aftermath. My family takes a trip through this area every summer passing through Missouri and by New Madrid, and St Louis as we travel from Texas to Illinois. While working on the book last year, the area experienced a quake that my mother and father in law actually felt in Illinois. This project was fascinating for me and I hope just as fascinating for all of the children that read this book.

6"x 6" acrylic on canvas Grandmothers are so awesome. Grandma made this costume by hand for each of our boys. Just for fun. They wear the costumes often around the house. Here we have something called "Go Western Day" in honor of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. All of the schools in the area participate in it so I was pleased as peaches when I didn’t have to buy anything for this year's "Go Western Day" at school. This never happens. I was up until two in the morning finding, washing and yes, ironing this outfit so that my son could wear it the next day. The last thing I did that night was iron his vest. My husband informed me during dinner the following evening that he'd decided not to dress in his western outfit that day. That’s the thanks I get for being a supermom, I can’t complain, I got a great painting out of it. SOLD

8”x10” acrylic on hardboard I couldn't make up my mind when it came to the perspective I was going to take painting my chocolate cake, so I decided not to decide at all. This is why I made two paintings. Indecisiveness runs in my family. Why should I paint one tasty treat when I could paint two. Through out this experience I have noticed that frosting looks and feels a lot like paint. $120.00 + $5.00 shipping

8”x10” acrylic on hardboard I think I mentioned before that I love dessert. I purchased this tasty treat at or local grocery store during a moment of weakness. I am not a chocoholic but I can appreciate all things sweet and beautiful.  This little painting was sold in an auction for the Arts in Education. SOLD

6"x 6" acrylic on canvas This painting is really about my grandmother. This was one of her many hats. She always wore hats, big hats, small hats, ugly hats, and beautiful hats. You never knew which one you were going to get until she showed up to the function. Her hats were much better than her wigs, which in the seventies was probably fashionable. I remember waking up at her house as a child and trying on wigs from her wig draw. My brother, cousins, and I would take turns trying on all of her wigs before she got up in the mornings. This is one of the many hats we found as we put her house in order. We thought it a little odd that the little lady that owned the hat boutique had come to pay her respects. But after coming across some of the elaborate hats with the equally elaborate price tags it made a lot more sense. I can naturally assume my grandmother was a loyal and constant customer. When we went through her hat boxes some of her hats had not even been worn, I guess she ...

5"x7" acrylic on masonite At one of the festivals we attended I captured this scene of the young lady resting in the heat of the day. I loved this little umbrella that she had blocking the sun. I’d seen them all day long dotting the crowded street. They came in assorted colors of blue, purple, red, and orange. I had never seen these before and became obsessed with the way the bright color of the umbrella filtered through the fabric and turned everything under its canopy. I wonder if anyone else was as impressed by this. Dutch Art Gallery

5”x7” acrylic on masonite I have been working on this picture for way too long. I paint a little and put it to the side, a little more and complete a different painting. It’s been nearly completed for several months. Finally I have decided to complete what I have started and here it is….Zora in the backyard in the afternoon in the afternoon light. $75.00 + $5.00 shipping

6”x6” acrylic on masonite This is my first painting of one of my favorite things, dessert. I rewarded myself with this lovely piece of pie on my very last day of school. Let us just say I really deserved it. Some people have a drink, I have a dessert. I still have a little way to go when it comes to capturing the perfection of whip cream, but I consider my painting a success. Actually I was completely intimidated by the glass plate more than anything else. Like many things in life, it is the small things that I fell in love with in this painting, like the way the light hits the chocolate loops at the top and how I was able to create the lime with a few simple brush strokes. SOLD

5"x7" acrylic on masonite I just finished this one. I began this painting several weeks back, painting a little here and there as I worked on other stuff. Finally it is completed. I wasn't sure that would ever happen. I still love those daisies. $75.00 + 5.00 shipping and handling

5"x7 acrylic on masonite You can't fake a sunny personality (she's not at all camera shy). I envy people that can maintain their youthful characteristics through out their lives. Usually life has a way of tapping down the charisma you exuded as a child. I actually painting this image from black and white. I think painting "Aunt Tip " gave me the courage to try this one. I remember having great difficulty working like this in my previous attempts. I guess I've just gotten better at choosing color. $75.00 + 5.00 shipping and handling

5"x7" acrylic on masonite I couldn't wait to paint this one. I just loved the way the light filtered through and around the little girl. SOLD

6"x6" acrylic on masonite The end of all great outings are followed by one or all kids asleep on or in something. This little darling is fast asleep on top of all of her stuffed animals inside of a prized Sea World push cart. I really enjoyed painting all of the colors in this one. $75.00 + 5.00 shipping and handling

6"x 6" acrylic on canvas My aunt tip was the kind of woman that was always well put together. She was a “hair dresser” or at least that’s what she called it. I think her occupation is obvious when you view the care that was put into her hair in this painting. I remember when I first came across this image of her as a young lady. What a gem. I had really never thought that she, my Aunt Tip was ever a young lady, and wow how stunning she was. As I look back at her through adult eyes I can describe her as both a simple and complicated woman. Simple in the way she navigated through her world with very few material things. And complex in the fact that she did it so well without any projection of poverty. This was a very easy painting to paint from the drawing to the finish. SOLD

5"x 7" acrylic on hardboard These two little boys had just sent a third in to ask one of their parents a question. This scene played out over and over again in my childhood, except I was always the person that was designated to go to the adult with the question, usually the question was one that had little chances of receiving a “Yes.” They’d always say something like, “You ask, they like you the most.” Then they’d fall behind and wait for me to return with the answer. This was an easy painting for me from start to finish. When I completed it, I couldn’t help but see the resemblance of some of the characters from the Ezra Jack Keats books I grew up reading. “The Snowy Day” was one of my favorites. SOLD

5"x 7" acrylic on hardboard This year after a not so lovely birthday. I was presented with a bouquet of leaves, which became the highlight of my day. I placed each one of them in a sandwich bag and preserved them between the pages of a book when we returned home. I got to play around with different textures with this painting. It all came together rather nicely. Bad birthday, great painting! $75.00 + $5.00 shipping and handling