"Little Girl in Blue"

8 x 10

acrylic on hardboard

I had a great painting day over the weekend. I was in the zone for most of Saturday. I painted almost all of this painting that day. The portrait alone would have had me pulling my hair out. The little girl has dark skin and because she's back lit, it was hard getting just the right balance of features and shadows on her face. I find painting nature difficult. I guess I am not bad at it because I have some great comments on the way that I handle certain landscapes, but it is not a subject I feel comfortable painting. When your painting nature you have to constantly edit because you can't paint every leaf or twig. So you are constantly asking yourself what is important. Then you paint in the important stuff like it took little or no effort at all.

SOLD

Comments

Little Miss in Blue

11x14 in acrylic on hardboard What little girl doesn’t love trying on adorable dresses? This was the inspiration for my first painting in my Little Miss series. Lately, I’ve been experimenting with brighter colors, inspired by the bold palettes of artists I admire. Yellow, in particular, is a tricky color—it’s incredibly light, applies thinly, and can be challenging to create shades effectively. Navy blue, on the other hand, has always intrigued me, yet I often struggle to incorporate it because I’m always unsure of what color compliment it. I’ve finally found the answer, it’s golden yellow and white! SOLD

Little Miss Cutiful

11x14 in acrylic on hardboard I love pattern! I was immediately drawn in by the polka dots on the little girl’s dress. Before I retired from teaching, I would often remind my students that, just because something looks simple didn’t mean it will be easy. I myself relearned this lesson with this painting. Polka dots are simple enough but making them interesting is the hard part. When painting the polka dots, I had to make the ones on her dress more dynamic than those in the background to avoid a flat painting. It was a painstaking process, but in the end, the effort was well worth it. This piece also taught me patience. I originally started with a much larger version of this painting on stretched canvas, which I was eager to dive into. However, after five days of repainting the face for what felt like the hundredth time, I started questioning my own sanity. I’m not one to give up, but this one nearly broke me. Realizing I needed a new approach, I took a step back. I hadn’t painted in a ...

Turtle Eyes Too

11x14 in acrylic on hardboard The original Turtle Eyes has always held a special place in my heart. Instead of trying to clean up all the little imperfections in the first version, I decided to repaint it entirely. I used to be a messy painter. I think it was because my goals were different ten years ago. Now, I know that if I don’t keep it clean, I’ll have to edit it out afterwards and I have NOT mastered Photoshop…yet. The experience turned out to be incredibly rewarding. It helped me reconnect with my old self, bringing back cherished memories of Zora and our family pool parties, and how much I loved painting the big, bold portraits that break through the space of the hardboard panel. It all just reminds me of a perfect summer day. After completing the first version of this piece, I developed a habit of collecting animal-shaped goggles, inspired by the painting. You can see some of them in my older paintings. Powered by

An Artist's Journal:Paintings by Felicia Marshall

Search This Blog