An Artist's Journal:Paintings by Felicia Marshall

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

5"x7" acrylic on hardboard I recently rummaged threw some of my old work.   I can’t stand not completing something I start.   I came across this painting and I knew why I left it half painted I decided to start over with a more centered image, but it still bothered me…..so I finished it.   It was actually a good thing because I was able to see the contrast in my work then and now.

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

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

5"x 7" acrylic on hardboard Having kids of my own I have learned to loath picture day.  Coming across this long-ago image of a distant relative's portrait on what was probably her picture day, has helped me put my own family's picture day into a new perspective. Maybe one of my future relatives will come across a picture of my kids and create a painting to post on their blog. I guess if that were to happen, then all of the last-minute visits to the barber, and the fights about what is going to be worn or even better not going to be worn, and the late-night ironing of the only shirt my son has yet to grow out of would almost be worth the effort. SOLD

12"x 16" acrylic on hardboard This was the painting in which I finally became comfortable with painting soft edges. It seems so simple to do, but after a lifetime of coloring inside the lines it's hard to do the opposite   I originally had an elaborate background on this painting.  I even painted it all, before I painted over it. I quickly realized that even though I spent a lot of time panting the details, in the end it was just too distracting.  I have always had a problem with editing, so this was big for me. SOLD

6"x10" acrylic on hardboard This painting was inspired by a family photograph that was almost thrown away.  My father rescued an entire box of photos discarded in the garage of his parents home.  The home was sold not a week later. I am known in my family as the historian or as one of my books would call the Keeper, which is the keeper of family history.  One day while visiting my parents my mother mentioned that she had some old photos for me. "I love old photographs!"  In this painting I only recognized one gentlemen.  We called him cudd'n (cousin) J.T.  He is the shortest in the painting.  His wife was as tall as an Amazon. He lived to be one hundred years old, so I can safely assume that all the other gentlemen in the painting have passed.  They are standing in front of a series of houses in what we call 6th Ward.  In Houston whenever you hear "The Wards" you usually assum...