An Artist's Journal:Paintings by Felicia Marshall

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 ...

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

“11 x 14” acrylic on hardboard This painting’s from a girl’s line.  Each little girl was standing in a line at a party waiting for their chance to play pop the balloon.  I couldn't resist all of the unique expressions on each of the children’s faces as they anxiously awaited for their turn. 

11"x 14" acrylic on hardboard I got half way through this painting about two years ago.   I always knew that I would come back to finish it up, I just never knew when.   Well, I finally dusted it off and finished it.   The hardest thing about it was coming up with a title. SOLD

11x14 Acrylic This is one of my relatives we refer to as Cudd’n Lisha.   She stands tall in the center of the painting.   She was a giant of a woman that married a man barely five feet tall.   I guess it worked.   They were both the most well-traveled and social of all my relatives.   I have no idea why they were all dressed up on this occasion, but I can only imagine it was for some fancy event relating to one of their many clubs and organizations that they were members. Sold

8”x 10” acrylic on hardboard I came across this image that was for a book called "Sylvia and Mrs. Lula Mae" the book’s interior was in black and white.   I thought it would be interesting to create a painting in color.   This is my grandmother, Mama Sissy who lived to be one hundred years old, and so did her grandmother.   I hope to be so lucky. The little girl is a cousin.   I think back now and realize how lucky I was to have such willing and perfect models for that project.   The author’s grandmother, which is who the book was about looked exactly like my grandmother, so I thought I was destined to get the book project and I did.   As I am writing this description, I realize that I probably had a second reason for choosing this image that seems so clear now.   A relative recently purchased my grandmother’s land and home.   Last week it was torn down to be replaced with his own new house.   This was bitter sweet.   I am s...

8”x 10” acrylic on hardboard This is a little gem that I just finished specifically for my portfolio.  I wanted to illustrate an image of children reading books.  It was so cute, this little girl insisted that I paint her holding her own books and not my daughter’s.  She had just began reading chapter books and was so proud.  Lucky for me her books were in the car and she was more than happy to run out to get them. 

9”x 14” acrylic on hardboard I've written before about my aunt’s church, mostly about how small it is.  This is her and some of her members singing during one of their church concerts.   Southern Baptists have a tradition of color coordinating.   This is women in white.   All of the women in the church wear the same color on a particular day.   This happens to be the day they chose to all wear white.   Southern Baptists, like the Brits also have a long tradition of wearing hats.   My aunt loves her hats.  She told me once with a smile, that she had one entire room in her house just for all of her hats. SOLD

8”x10” acrylic on hardboard What can I say, how cute are two little girls taking a break after picking strawberries?   I usually try to avoid painting foliage.   It’s never ending grasses and sticks and branches going every which way. But I took it on as a challenge. SOLD

9”x 14” acrylic on hardboard This is a painting from a very long ago birthday party.  Three little girls pose for a group picture, each in a different mindset. SOLD

11”x 14” acrylic on hardboard This is a painting about what happens after Sunday service is over and members are released.  Upon exiting the church doors, they spend another twenty to thirty minutes talking, joking, and laughing with one another outside.  My father reveled in it, and still does.  On the other hand, my siblings and myself were always ready to go.  We would sit in the car wondering when we would actually leave, while my parents butterflied threw the crowd of members exchanging niceties. In all fairness, we were Southern Baptist, which meant we had already sat in church for at least four hours straight that morning.  Patience is not part of the teenage condition. SOLD

11”x 14” acrylic on hardboard My son hates getting his hair cut.  Even to this day I have to trick him into the car, usually mentioning someplace he wants to go, leaving out where our first stop would be (to get a haircut).  He refers to it as, “The dreaded left.” This is because we turn left into the parking lot.  The only thing he hates more is going to my father’s barber.  This is in a traditional barber shop in an older part of town.  This barber has cut three generations of my families hair.  You won’t find a television blasting sports news there, and instead of waiting minutes, its usually an hour or longer to get the full barber experience.  This is a painting of my son’s first traditional barbershop experience.  Years later, his expression is still the same.  Maybe one day I’ll paint his younger brother’s first time there, he cried the entire time his hair was being cut.

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

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.

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.  

8 x 10 acrylic on hardboard The last time I visited my mother, she surprised me with a photo saying, "I found a picture you would probably love to paint."  To my amazement she reappeared from a back bedroom and presented me with this image.  Wow!  My mother found the picture in a file with some other documents belonging to my grandfather. What a treat it was to paint theses fashionable women. SOLD

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

8 x10 acrylic on hardboard This is the boy's line from the same party as my previous painting.  As you can see the word line is used loosely.   The image reminds me of how I made the decision to NEVER teach at the elementary school level.  At the end of every summer I would help my mother decorate her school's cafeteria.   One of these times we ran out of paper.   In the short distance we walked from her cafeteria to retrieve some paper from the teachers' lounge we encountered a class in line at the restroom.  Not a single student was standing quietly in a single line.  Just watching them drained the little energy I had left.  This made my decision very simple.  Elementary school...never, but if there is one thing I tend to learn over and over again, it is to never say never.  So far so good.

"8 x 10" acrylic on hardboard When your kids turn a certain age you end up spending a lot of time at birthday parties.  Some months like October and December you end up at one and sometimes two every weekend.  My husband and I negotiate elaborate deals so that we get the least unappealing event.   He loves my side of the family, but it's a given that I'll be the taker on that one.  I'm horrible, but I don't even feel guilty that I made my poor sick husband stick with his turn to take our son to his last party.  I absolutely refuse to attend another paint ball party, they are just too dirty for me.  I prefer a nice quiet princes tee party any day, but I am a girl, my daughter often reminds me.  This happens to be one such birthday party.  I love that I was able to capture the expressions on each one of the little girl's faces as they stood in line waiting to begin a game. SOLD

8"x 10" acrylic on hardboard When I was a teen, my family began attending church.  My father was so enthusiastic about going to church that every Sunday we would be the first members there... waiting!  I remember sitting in the car, waiting for someone to open the church many mornings.  Getting to church first also meant we were among the last to leave.  Parking was tight and you would always get blocked in.  This didn't bother him one bit.  Unlike myself, my father is an extrovert and thrives on interacting with people.  So while we are all sitting in the car waiting to start the rest of our day.  He was socializing within the crowd of members in the front of the church. Apparently my memories of this aren't too bleak, because I have chosen to illustrate it with my latest painting.  When I saw this little lady in pink I knew I had to paint her.  You could tell that she put a lot of thought into her attire that day and was as co...