An Artist's Journal:Paintings by Felicia Marshall

8"x 10" acrylic on hardboard I'm not sure why it took me so long to understand this, but I have just now come to realize, that what is being reflected in a pair of glasses, is as important and interesting as the person wearing them.  Wow, talk about overlooking the obvious!  We have two sitting rooms in our house most people call theirs the den and living room.  Our kids never quite understood that, so our rooms are referred to as the quiet room, which is quiet until I actually sit in it.  Once my kids notice me there it quickly fills with kids and turns into the not so quiet room.  The other room is the tv room.  This room has a great set of windows that gets the most amazing afternoon light all year round.  Even in the winter, as the sun sets low, the light passes through the trees outside and casts the most interesting highlights and shadows on objects in that room as it did this day with Zora and her new blue glasses.

8 x 10 acrylic on hardboard This is the first painting that I actually started and completed in one sitting.  Usually I work on several paintings at one time over several days or a week.  I started on the face, which didn't give me too many problems.  The painting surprisingly didn't come to life until I painted in the glasses.  I asked my kids to help me with the title.  After several suggestions I pulled together the one you see here, "Sunshine on Hope".  I hope it works. $140

12 x 16 acrylic on hardboard My aunt, seen here on the right, is what I call a wonder woman.  She raised seven children while working full time, and upon retiring opened and runs her own bakery. She created my wedding cake, which was gorgeous. Every year my aunt, organizes a musical for her church.  This musical brings people in from all around this big state of Texas.  This year the women all wore gray. It had been so long since I had been a part of their annual musical.  I was in high school the last time I participated.  I asked my parents whom are loyal participants,  how many people belong to my aunt's church now.  My parents thought for a few minutes before offering..."Not many."  My mother began counting each couple and the pastor and his wife finishing at the number eight.  "Are you sure I asked?" I was reminded that they live in a rural community. SOLD

8"x 10" acrylic on hardboard In my life I have a very strong relationship with food, so I have to admit, this one reminds me of butter.  I'm excited and find these last serious of paintings just plain fun to paint.  I love to look at them too. $140

5" x 10" acrylic on hardboard This one reminds me of hard candy because it's bright and translucent.  The crabs stand out on their own as animated characters.  I love the complementary colors red and green.  I wish I could say I planned it, but it just happened. $110

8"x 10" acrylic on hardboard A study in color.  I have been hording this image ever since last summer.  I always knew I would be painting this one.  I'm glad I waited because, I'm not so sure that I could have pulled off the goggles last summer.  I got lost in the reflections, changes in lighting and color as the goggles move across his forehead. It was a challenge to paint, but very rewarding. $140

8 x 10 acrylic on hardboard I took this one from a family photo.  The back of the photo had a few sentences indicating that the picture was taken after church services. The couple had just become a deacon and a deaconess. This is quite an honor for Southern Baptists. I originally left a lot of white behind the two figures, which stayed true to the original photograph, but it just wasn't working. My son walked through and offered his opinion, which he never does because he could care less about art, and painting, and creating.  Girl stuff is how he would describe what I do. He is a young man of simple words and he did not let me down this time. He looked at the painting on his way to the kitchen and said, "It needs more depth." He had never been so right, nailed it!  It needed more depth, so I added more shadows in the background.  We often laugh about him getting a "B" in Art.  He wears his "B" like a badge of honor, because his mother is an a...

8 x 10 acrylic on hardboard I am still working on portraits and light.  I finally got tired of mixing this specific pinkish rosy color every time  I had to use it, which was often.  It never occurred to me that I could just premix an entire bottle or tube of the color.   That was until I read an article that had a painter describing her process.  She mixed some of her own colors so that they would be ready and waiting for her to use. "Duh! how brilliant, simple, and efficient." I went out and purchased some empty paint tubes.  I was shocked that they make these.  "Empty paint tubes!...duh!  It's my new favorite thing. SOLD

8 x 10 acrylic on hardboard I'm really working hard with trying different colors in my palate. I naturally would've painted the little girl's shirt a light brown, maybe a brownish yellow, or a calming blue.  Here you can see, I chose green. It went well with the scenery in which she sits. I'm taking baby steps. I'm also working hard at not modeling everything way too much.  I keep having to remind myself that, sometimes less is more.  I'm fascinated by artists that can show great detail and visual information with a few simple brushstrokes. "That takes great skill!" Here the little girl is sitting on the swing and fort set, which gave her great height, almost putting her above the fence line, which is where the sun was setting. This allowed me to create a fantastic halo around her hair. The swing's gone as of a few summers ago, when a tree remover miscalculated his angle and demolished it. One by one each kid stood at the window in disbeli...

5 x 7 acrylic on hardboard I'm still raiding our family photo album. How can you resist this fabulous smile. It's larger-than-life.   This is one of my grandfather's sisters.  He came from a large family, having eight siblings.  I wanted to be bold with the background, but that didn't work, so I went with a nice calm green.  At least, it's not taking away from the portrait.  I think I wrote before, how hard backgrounds were for me. I guess I'll try to be bold again next time. In the end I went with the soft green. I thought of the colors of my grandmother's bedrooms. When I was growing up, one was a soft pastel green. The other a soft pink. It always seemed dated and never changed. Then at the age of about eighty, she painted every room, and I do mean every room in her house white. When I went to visit and saw what she had done, I asked, who had helped her? She told me her niece, who was seventy years old at the time. $100

5"x 7" acrylic on hardboard I was looking for inspiration for a painting, so I raided our family photo album.  This I was told was a family friend.   $100

8"x 10" acrylic on hardboard This is another painting from my trip through the back roads of La Grange.  I have always enjoyed seeing how the tree branches and vines reach across the dirt road almost touching in some areas.   $140

8 x 10 acrylic on hardboard She's just not that into you....anymore.  I began this painting during my Christmas break.  For the first time I looked under our Christmas tree and didn't find it filled with toys,  but instead electronics.  Christmas shopping had been simplified to several popular gadgets and to some degree I appreciated that,  but it was sad seeing that my kids were growing up.  The grays in my hair were already an indicator.   I really liked buying them toys.  I already miss it. $140

8 x 10 acrylic on hardboard I haven't painted a museum scene in awhile.  These two ladies seem to be more interested in their conversation than the figure in the painting.  It reminds me of all of the time I spent at the Metropolitan Museum of Art as a college student.  It was a common place to have an Art History class meet.  After three and a half years, the grandness of the architecture and the experience had worn off.  I had became more interested in finding the paintings the professor wanted me to compare and write about, so I could get out of there before the kids let out of school.   They had a way of swamping the subway with their outrageous behavior.  I love art.  I love history, but I hated art history.  I was too immature and I'm probably dyslexic.  I found the book which weighed about five lbs. completely intimidating.  I know, I'm really bad, but honestly I just wanted to paint and look at paintings withou...