An Artist's Journal:Paintings by Felicia Marshall

11" x 14" acrylic on hardboard One more portrait with glasses.  I absolutely love painting these portraits, and making people smile as many of your comments and emails indicate.  This is Zora again.  She is just as bubbly and enthusiastic as the portraits I paint of her.  Lucky for me she's never met a camera she didn't love.  I learned a lot about hair with this painting.  I always taught to hint at hair and not try to draw in every single string.  I know, easier said than done.  Don't get me wrong, I am just as amazed by those artists that literally paint in every string.  But who has that much time and patience?  The more extraordinary artists make this look easy.  Hair in three brush strokes.  Magic, is the only way I can describe it. I am not there yet, but I got a little closer with this painting.

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. 

8 x 10 acrylic on hardboard This is a painting from an unused reference.  I worked on a book several years ago about a little girl and the largest earth quake in the US.  I had been cleaning up some files and came across the picture.  It made a great painting.  I am always amazed at how my work has developed over just a few years.  In this painting I am particularly excited about how the butterflies and roses on the dress turned out.  I would have never even tried painting them before.  Now I not only painted it but the pink pattern glows off of the dress. SOLD

8"x 10" acrylic on hardboard Wow! I don't believe I actually completed this painting.  I began painting this one some time ago.  Before I began I knew it would be difficult and completely out of my comfort zone.  Usually I try to stick with one or two flowers in a painting at a time.  Painting individual petals drives me CRAZY.  So why would I paint a cluster of tiny flowers that have soft edges placed inside a highly reflective glass jar?  I must be insane. I don't really remember why it seemed like a good thing for me to paint two weeks ago (when I originally started this painting.)    Not For Sale

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...

8"x10" acrylic on hardboard   This is a study of contrasts.  I enjoyed playing with the idea of opposites attracting.  Here you have the reserved older lady in her formal blue dress seated next to the spunky younger woman in her short skirt.  Opposites do attract.  This was another image almost lost forever from our family records.  Had it not been for my father's final walk through of his childhood home, I would not have had this great image as a reference  for this painting. SOLD

8" x 10" acrylic on hardboard This was a fun painting.  It is lite hearted and almost funny.  I was pleased with how it turned out.  I guess the second time's a charm when it comes to painting the pattern in the glasses.  I found it far less frustrating this time around.  This time the process was much easier, but I don't think I want to tackle it again. Looking at this painting in my post reminds me of owl eyes.  I  guess if I wanted to I could have named it "What a Hoot". SOLD

8"x 10" acrylic on hardboard I liked working with this painting.  The portrait was big and the patterns were bold.  I was attracted to the patterns on the glasses, which turned into a challenge that I didn't anticipate.  When you have done a number of portraits you tend to need to experiment a little to change things up.  That's why I cropped in close and placed the person at a diagonal across the painting.  I am glad I did, because it turned out so much more interesting than a straight portrait. SOLD

8"x 10" acrylic on hardboard I found an old photo of my Aunt Tip that I had never seen before.  I can't really explain it, but for me it's like finding a piece of gold. I guess it's because I know that in some ways old photographs are in limited supply. I've painted an image of Aunt Tip before. Those who follow my blog will remember her in pearls, well I guess this time it's Aunt Tip in pink. Pulling this painting off was a little hit and miss at first. I even thought about, dear I say giving up on it or at least putting it down for time. I trudged on and about twelve in the morning all of my work finally paid off and develop into this lovely painting. 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. 

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.

6"x 6" acrylic on hardboard When I'm not sure what to paint, I usually choose a portrait. This painting has a calmness to it that I was feeling at the time, so I guess painting it was some form of therapy for me. She's beautiful, simple, and yes calm. I love it.

8"x10" acrylic on hardboard I think I have gotten these flowers out of my system, for now anyway. The last time I painted flowers I got so frustrated that I thought I would never choose the subject again, but hear I am painting flowers. I fell in love with the way the light separated and illuminated the petals from the back. SOLD

8"x10" acrylic on hardboard I didn't finish this little gem until tonight. I was attracted to the contrast of the light on each petal. I am fascinated with paintings of inanimate objects that are painted in an excited way that makes the viewers eyes dance across the canvas. I hope I have accomplished this with my painting.

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

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 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 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