An Artist's Journal:Paintings by Felicia Marshall

11"x14" acrylic on hardboard A relative asked me to paint a portrait as a gift to a friend. This painting is the portrait. It took me three times longer to paint than I had projected, but there are really three portraits that I had to paint. This was my first 11x14 painting. I really didn't think the size difference would be challenging at all but it was, what a difference a few inches can make. Not for sale.

8"x10" acrylic on hardboard I have driven past this building for most of my life. It stood as a marker of sorts, sitting off a long stretch of road between my grandmother's house and the closest town. I really never gave much thought to the building until the last time I drove that way. Unlike all of the other times it was night. I was returning home in the middle of the night and for the first time ever, I think I actually SAW the building. I wondered what it was like in its hay day? Did it even have a hay day or was it an business that never took off? I wondered was it a cafe, restaurant, or store of some sort? Was it even functioning as a business at all or was it now just someones house? The one thing I was certain of was that it was incredible the way it was lit up and glowing on the side of a dark Texas road. SOLD

8"x10" acrylic on hardboard I just finished this portrait. The entire time I painted I kept think how cute she was, she reminded me of some of the dolls I had when I was a little girl, all dressed up and eyes twinkling. What a cutie pie. Not for sale.

8"x 8" acrylic on hardboard This year we visited an old friend and his family. We all had a great time as always. At one point he pulled out fireworks and for the next two hours we stood in the cold popping firecrackers, shooting bottle rockets, and lighting sparklers . Good times. This is the first night scene that I think I've ever painted. I was shocked by how easily it all came together. SOLD

5"x7" acrylic on hardboard I married into a family that loves their trains, most of the males in the family have their own train board. Ours happens to be taking up half of our garage. Our kids love going out and running the layout that they created with their dad, but he tends to avoid his creation (did I mention the garage was not heated or air conditioned?) Usually several times a year they manage to pump up their dad long enough to add another few buildings or train engines , usual just before his dad comes to visit so he can show off what he's done. My daughter loves to take the miniature cows and horses from the fields her dad has strategically placed. I can't help but laugh every time he finds them discarded somewhere in the house. Long story short, trains are a passion for the men in my family. I have just discovered that my own father has a special place in his heart for them as well. His father worked on one which should have been no surprise to...

8"x10" acrylic on hardboard Actually this is Saint Patricks Cathedral. I was working with an image I photographed over ten years ago. I loved the grandness of the architecture . It's like a fiesta for the eyes. What the structure lacks in color it makes up for in architecture elements. I really worked hard to make this feel not so much like a paint by number but the more I painted the more I saw to paint until finally I stopped myself before it became too static. SOLD

8"x10" acrylic on hardboard I enjoy the perspective of this painting. The diagonal lines in the street do an amazing job leading the viewer across the the painting. I struggled over introducing more color in the painting but in the end I thought it would distract from the bleak cold winter scene. Growing up in Texas I wasn't accustomed to snow, so I was surprised to find out that snow was only white when it first fell and hadn't been trampled on by commuters. I was also shocked to discover that it didn't have to be freezing or under blizzard like conditions in order to have a good snow fall. When I lived up north the one thing I grew to have was an appreciation of spring. Winters were so grey and cold that the first blossoms to appear on trees were celebrated.