An Artist's Journal:Paintings by Felicia Marshall

  11x14 in acrylic on hardboard The original Turtle Eyes has always held a special place in my heart. Instead of trying to clean up all the little imperfections in the first version, I decided to repaint it entirely.   I used to be a messy painter. I think it was because my goals were different ten years ago.   Now, I know that if I don’t keep it clean, I’ll have to edit it out afterwards and I have NOT mastered Photoshop…yet. The experience turned out to be incredibly rewarding. It helped me reconnect with my old self, bringing back cherished memories of Zora and our family pool parties, and how much I loved painting the big, bold portraits that break through the space of the hardboard panel.   It all just reminds me of a perfect summer day. After completing the first version of this piece, I developed a habit of collecting animal-shaped goggles, inspired by the painting. You can see some of them in my older paintings.

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

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

11”x 11” acrylic on hardboard In this painting, I was playing around with light reflecting threw and on objects.  Those that have followed my work for a while are familiar with the figure and the black and red polka dot dress she is wearing.        

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

"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 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 We are still loving the Lennon glasses!   The kids love posing with them and I love the reflections they create on faces.   The latest addition is green.   The painting came together fairly easy, which is rare for me.   In this work, I began with the darker browns and built up to the lighter areas that you can see in the forehead, chin, and nose.   Darker colors are always painted in first, then the lighter colors are applied.   I leave the true white highlights for last.