An Artist's Journal:Paintings by Felicia Marshall

8"x 10" acrylic on hardboard When I paint a gallery scene, I break it into parts.  I begin with the recognizable painting, which has to connect to the viewer.  The viewer (figure) is painted second.  The background wall, and the floor are then painted.  I’m always nervous about how to make a wall of color interesting, but not overpowering at the same time.  Last I paint any reflections or shadows on the floor.  These are the details that make the viewer look as if they are in the gallery.  When it works it works.  When it doesn’t, I keep painting.  This is a study in contrasts.  I thought these three young people cleverly connect with one another.  For me, museum paintings are mostly about the artwork viewing the person.  Instead of the person viewing the artwork. SOLD

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 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.

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 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.

12"x 16" acrylic on hardboard Many of you that have followed my work for a while may remember this painting painted in a smaller 6x6 version.   I liked it at the time when I was concentrated on producing artwork daily. This time around I was more concerned with getting all of it to feel right.   I have been trying to paint larger and now realize that is something that also has to feel right.   It took me so long to complete this painting.   My daughter answered the phone and I heard her tell my sister that I was "still painting that picture."   That was funny because it was exactly how I felt.     I love the way it turned out, but it was a long journey to the end.   I didn't see that coming considering I thought I had already solved all of its big problems.   This time I managed to capture the depth of the little girl both literally and figuratively.   She is not fighting with the crowd in the background for importance. ...

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 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 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 x 10 acrylic on hardboard I love the result I got from cropping the portrait so close.  Sometimes simple is more effective.  I learned a lot from this painting.  First, there is no such thing as too close.  Second, blurring the edges of the hair is far more interesting than painting in individual strands. Third, softening up the jaw line creates a much more rounded face than using sharp edges.

"Zora with the Orange Ball" 8 x 10 acrylic on hardboard I finally finished this painting.  It wasn't difficult, I just dragged it on and on while I completed other paintings.  At different times of the year we get extraordinary lighting through the windows in our dining room and living room.  I usually can't resist taking advantage of these remarkable moments.  They only last about thirty to forty good minutes. 

"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 I enjoy working with portraits.  No big surprise I know.      I thought I was being adventurous with a blue background.  Blue isn't a color I would have naturally chosen for the back, I'm more of an earth tone or neutral kind of girl.  This painting taught me a lot.  I generally think in layers when I am painting.  In order to get the eyes to look correct, I had to layered values and colors like I've never done before.  The eyes have about six layers of paint and gloss medium on them.

8”x10” acrylic on hardboard   I picked up a couple of glasses at a party supply store.   These were called Lennon glasses from the singer John Lennon, unlike Lennon’s, mine are tented a lovely shade of red.     I’ve been having a lot of fun painting what I love, portraits.   I have been pushing myself just a little to do some things differently, like my color choices.   I would have never dreamed of using green like I have been doing in the last few paintings.   I have been pleasantly surprised by my results. SOLD

8"x10" acrylic on hardboard   After painting so many portraits I wanted to challenge myself a little by playing around with a different point of view.   I tend to avoid posses at this angle because… they’re hard!   Even when you get the angle right, it kind of looks weird.   So you end up questioning the marks you’ve made.   I got this orange flower several months ago.   I knew when I saw it I was going to paint it, I just didn’t know when or how.   I really thought it would end up in a still life, but as you can see it didn’t.   I can’t tell you how many times I thought I was completely finished painting this flower,   only to return to it over and over   again, until it finally looked perfect.   I’m so glad I didn’t stop.   Sometimes you get rewarded by your obsessions. SOLD

8" x 10" acrylic on hardboard In this painting I got a chance to play around with some of my favorite colors, red, brown, and black.  Red is my all time favorite, but you can't use much of it in any given place because it definitely screams "Look at me!"  I have always had a love hate relationship with brown.  I grew up in a brown paneled house, so I find the color very familiar to me and calming.  I also hate the color because like I mentioned I grew up in a brown paneled house.  Black is a mysterious color, usually hiding most of the flaws in my painting while adding drama, who can't love a color that can do all of that?

8"x 10" acrylic on hardboard Coming up with titles is either easy or hard. There is no in between. This one came to me at the beginning of the painting process. With "Beauty Queens" I'm celebrating the diversity of my family and the concept of beauty.  I began this painting with each face.  I thought capturing each woman's face would be the hardest part of the painting, so  wanted to get that out of the way first.  In the back of my mind I knew if I couldn't pull off the faces I could just scrap the entire thing.  Then I wouldn't have committed too much energy and time on this one.  I also knew that it takes a lot for me to scrap a painting. I hate the feeling of defeat. Realistically, if I didn't get the faces modeled just right, then I would be obsessed until I did!  That's no fun.  Luckily I was able to paint all four portraits in about three hours. I impressed even myself. SOLD

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