An Artist's Journal:Paintings by Felicia Marshall

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?

5"x 7" acrylic on hardboard I have created several paintings with the same theme, a little girl in a feather mask.  As I complete the last of the paintings I thought I should share a little about what inspired them. I took a workshop at the Museum of Fine Arts.  I usually do this once a year to fill a credit requirement. As usual I put it off  until the last possible minute. But it happened to be my lucky day because not only was the workshop inspired by a painter, it was Henry Tanner a painter that I liked a lot.  The workshop was on a Saturday, actually an entire Saturday, but I was happy to get away from the kids and do some adult stuff for a refreshing change. I didn't know just how much I needed this change. I was really glad that the workshop spotlighted Henry Tanner an artist that was a painter and a realist. I have been a fan, but I didn't know too much about him. I'd only seen copies of his work in books and on the internet.  Viewing T...

12"x 16" acrylic on hardboard I am always excited when I get to use red in a painting, which is one of my favorite colors. I spent a lot of time on the background on this one.  I know your probably thinking, "what  background?"  Well I had a background of thin transparent red fabric with light shining  threw it. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how I was going to pull it off.  Then I  painted over it and everything finally felt right. The background and foreground weren't  fighting with each other anymore.  I guess I should write about what is actually in the  painting since I just explained what isn't.  I enjoyed working with this one, it had everything I like, from the rich red and black colors to the mask itself.  I love masks and can't wait to  paint my next masked figure. Their will always be a next masked figure.

8"x 10" acrylic on hardboard I'm still enjoying my masks.  It took me awhile to post this one.  I finished painting it some time ago.  A friend described it as intimate and moody.  It sounds good to me.  

12"x 16" acrylic on hardboard We pulled out some old Halloween costumes.  I loved the way the dress caught the light from the window behind us.  The feather mask was one of those things that spoke to me when I was out shopping for something else.  I wasn't prepared to make the purchase, but I thought about it for a couple of days and found myself walking right back into the store and sealing the deal.  The best thing was, everything was marked half off.  I didn't have to feel so guilty about the frivolous purchase.  What a difference a few days make! In my own defense  I think this mask has been put to good use already with this painting, or at least that's the line I used on my husband.  I pushed myself with this painting and I got to use a lot of bright color.

5"x7" acrylic on hardboard I am still playing around with masks and pattern.  I've had this mask for awhile now.  I was always going to make something out of it, I guess I did.... a painting.