An Artist's Journal:Paintings by Felicia Marshall

5"x7" acrylic on hardboard I worked really hard at getting the lighting to show in just the right way so you could see the heart at first glance.  Ever since I finished the first I heart you painting, which was a male, I knew I would eventually paint the female version. So here she is. SOLD

5"x7" acrylic on hardboard I am still playing around with masks and pattern.  I've had this mask for awhile now.  I was always going to make something out of it, I guess I did.... a painting.  $100

5"x7" acrylic on hardboard In this painting I get to use my favorite color, red.  I have been playing around with lighting and decided to back light the figure, which seemed appropriate since the portrait seems staged.  I painted most of the sequence during a long conversation with my mother in law. (Who says I  can't multitask?) I had a teacher in high school that was passionate about pattern.  I guess this piece would make her proud. SOLD

5"x7" acrylic on hardboard I played around with the colors on this one.  I thought I should try something different, I didn't push but I did add a little purple to my palette. $100

5x7 acrylic on hardboard This is a great painting but all I can think about writing about is bricks.  I was so intimidated by the brick wall behind the little girl.  Brick walls are one of those things that you have to handle in a subtle way or that's all you will notice.  I am so proud of myself.  I even pulled off the texture which was almost by accident.  Now I'll talk about the little girl in the painting.  I wanted to make her glow, so I added a very bright highlight to her left shoulder as you can tell, but I am beginning to play around with making my edges softer.  I haven't been able to totally let go of my need to have sharp edges yet, but I'm gonna keep on trying.  $100

5"x7" acrylic on hardboard I debated completing this painting.  I had committed so many hours to it already and I just needed that little push to put the finishing touches on it.  It is about a week into fall and I don't have the patients to wait until next summer to post it so here it is "All Smiles". Some will love the strings of hair, some will hate it, like my sister (who has developed a knack for critiquing my work even when I'm not looking for her opinion.)  I decided I wanted to add something big to the portrait.  Something different.  Something crazy. I'm glad I didn't play it safe, I have a lot of safe portraits already. This was a great way to end my summer paintings. SOLD

5"x7" acrylic on hardboard I had a teacher in high school that preached the importance of pattern.  I think she would have loved this painting.  I  was excited about painting the sequence until half way through the painting.  I kept thinking why did I do this to myself.  I wasn't even sure if I was going to pull it off until the very end, there are a lot of dots in that mask.  In the end I love everything about this painting and I'm very pleased with the perspective of the portrait. SOLD

6"x6" acrylic on hardboard Finally I have a reason for finishing this painting. I thought I should complete the remainder of my summer images before we are officially into a new season.  Summer was pretty hot and dry this year for us so I am very much looking forward to the fall.  I am ready for the change.  $100 

8"x10 acrylic hardboard I completed this painting a long time ago but just realized I never posted it.  I thought I should post it before my style of painting completely changed.  I recently looked over my body of work for the last three years and realized how much I have grown as a painter.  I was pleasently surprised but I shouldn't have been, you do something long enough, you naturally get better at it.   These two are twin brothers.  I painted their portraits for a colleague (their father) who wanted to give the portrait as Christmas gift.  He loved the painting so much after I finished it that I'm not sure he parted with it.  I never thought of the two brothers as anything but identical twins until I painted them.  I could see so many difference's between the two's appearance when I was forced to take a closer look. 

5x7 acrylic on hardboard I wanted to work with softer edges in this portrait.   Parts of this painting where a lot of fun to work on but just as I thought, this is too easy to pull off I was thrown for a loop and had to rework her mouth for a couple of hours.  I'm finished and happy at last. $100

5"x7" acrylic on hardboard I found the figure before I found the painting.  Real woman have curves!  I could have called this one most women have curves or big bones.  I actually like big bones most, but I was afraid some people would be offended.  Some of you may have noticed this painting has changed a little bit from the original post earlier today.  This is because I am one of those people that never seems to finish a painting even when it's finished.  I completely repainted the wall which was a bluish white on my original post and the floor is now brown instead of white.  I hope my obsession works.  Something that looks great to me may seem off to others. (I know this works both ways).  In the end, four hours of painting later I am glad I made the changes. SOLD

6"x6" acrylic on hardboard I had a professor that said you can always tell if someone can draw or not by just looking at how they handle hands.  I really never seriously took on the challenge of drawing hands until now.  I am feeling pretty good about myself right now.  I think the heart is more obviously in my latest attempt of this painting.  SOLD

6"x6" acrylic on hardboard One evening we were playing around with light and shadows. We had lots of fun manipulating our shadows on the deck, which then moved onto a loose form of shadow puppets, followed by making interesting shapes and symbols with our hands.  With some guidance from me and patience from this cutie pie I was able to create just the right light hitting in just the right places to create this heart. SOLD

 5"x7" acrylic on hardboard We have created many family traditions with the kids for summer, one seems to be their favorite.  Like most things with kids, it's not the most expensive or the most creative thing that gets them excited, but the complete opposite.  Of all the things we do and places we go their all time favorite is "the pool party" at their aunt's house.  They explain it to others like it's some lavish, unique, experience.  In reality the pool party takes place in a treeless backyard enclosed by three walls of  the standard six foot neighborhood fence.  The pool is a simple plastic blow up pool.  The pool party is always topped off with a smoke out on the patio where we cook hot dogs and make smores.  They go crazy over this.  This is the experience that gave me this finished painting. SOLD

5"x7" acrylic on hardboard This is one of the missions in San Antonio. I wanted to paint the mission from a different angle.

5"x7" acrylic on hardboard This is part two of my of my green inter tube paintings.  I love them so much, they look like giant life saviors. $100

5"x7" acrylic on hardboard While attempting to organize my life.  I came across this image of my sister.  It was a long forgotten photo that I took of her when we were both much younger and thinner.  She seems so serious which shouldn't surprise me because it's how I often describe her to others, after I mention how much we resemble one another.  She's not just any woman, shes' my best friend and always has been.  I guess I could have titled this one a couple of things like...study of a younger woman, or best friend, or sister, but when I look at it I think of how young we were, just about to make the monumental decisions that would shape our lives into the woman we are today.  $100 

5"x7" acrylic on hardboard I couldn't resist painting the reflected light on and across the intertube. At just the right time of the evening I noticed the light would pass threw the the garage windows and create the neatest reflections and highlights across the swimming toys.  After a little persuasion and a dollar I was able to get my daughter to stand inside of one of the tubes and hold it up to the light.  This made the painting. $100

6"x6" acrylic on hardboard This is a painting of a relative.  She and my daughter played in the lake for hours.  This is long after all the dads, aunts, uncles, and grandparents had done their time watching them swim.  This was finally that evening when they were both left with me (the only non swimmer of all of the adults) to watch.  This is why the scene is painted at the water's edge playing with miscellaneous toys and clam shells.  Still in the water. The evening gave me some great lighting so I'm not complaining. SOLD

5"x7" acrylic on hardboard I love it when I learn something new while collecting information for a painting. I have always loved this painting. I hadn't realized until now that the artist painted this model several times in almost the exact same position draped leisurely across the furniture in her pattered room. I was actually trying to look up the title using Google when I continually pulled up the painting that I was not looking for. Here, where I live we have a catalog for continued adult learning entitled "Leisure Learning." I thought the title was appropriate given the two women observing the other at their own leisure pace. SOLD

5"x7" acrylic on hardboard I learned a lot with this painting. I've been playing around with figures in motion. I still have to perfect my technique, but I'm one step closer to perfecting what I want to accomplish. I drew the image a couple of years ago and almost erased the drawing when I couldn't find any hardboard for my next painting. I looked at the drawing and thought, you've been waiting patiently for me to finish for a long time now, I guess it was meant to be so I painted it. Looking back now I don't know why it took me so long. $75.00 + $5 shipping

8"x10 acrylic on hardboard When I first began painting and posting my artwork online I was inspired by artists that painted images of people observing paintings in gallerys and museums. They always made it look so easy. I am here to tell you it's not easy. I was always taught that you paint a portrait from the front, backs were a no no. Well maybe I wasn't taught this, but it was just a no no. Now many artists paint gallery patrons. I find I'm more interested in the paintings that communicate a deliberate story between the viewer and the painting being viewed. I find them to be refreshingly clever. SOLD

8"x8" acrylic on hardboard This is Albert, a relative of mine. There is something about old photographs that intreges me. In this image I wanted to take on the white shirt. I love the way it jumps off of the page and seemed so, well fluffy. SOLD

8"x10" acrylic on hardboard This is a car that has sat on the property of a relative for years. I have photographed it and painted it several times through out my life. This is my most recent painting of the car. I guess you could say I can always count on it being around to inspire me. I left the bullet hole out of my first painting. I thought it would seem too gory, but I noticed a fellow artist and blogger recently painted an automobile with the same feature so I painted it in this time. $120 + $5 shipping