Four Painterly Considerations

May 25, 2021

I’ve mentioned in the past four painterly considerations I find important to my work. They are: light-dark, thick-thin, hard-soft, warm-cool. These are things I look for in my work when I’m nearing the end of the painting process. You can usually, but not always, see all four of these elements in my finished work.

Marshall Noice | Whitewater, Marias Pass | Oil on Canvas | 48x48" | 9,300.

Here’s what I’m talking about. Light-dark is pretty obvious, I think. I like to see light-dark contrast somewhere in the painting. Thick-thin refers to heavy impasto or lack thereof. Hard-soft is about adjacency, I like to see both hard edges and soft edges where colors are adjacent to one another. The edge quality seems to change the way in which colors “speak” to each other. And last of all, warm-cool. Well, here’s a pretty good example of that!

Let’s keep in touch,

Marshall

Mantra

May 18, 2021

Years ago when my partner in crime Terry Nelson and I shared a studio space, our painting mantra was “Think it, Do it."

Marshall Noice | Edge of the Middle Fork | Oil on Canvas | 60x48" | 10,300.

What we were saying to ourselves was: if something pops into your head, don’t question it, don’t over-intellectualize it, act on it! That approach to art making really kept our creative juices flowing. We made hundreds of paintings. Looking back, that’s when I really learned to paint.

Sadly, Terry is long gone now, but his spirit lives with me in my studio. And our words of admonition to honor those creative ideas are ones I still live by.

Let's keep in touch,

Marshall

It's Free!

May 4, 2021

I’m teaching a pastel workshop at Kalico Art Center this Saturday. If you aren’t among the lucky few who will be there in person, you can join us via ZOOM!

I’ll be talking about, among other things, color! We’ll have fun exploring a variety of approaches to creating harmonious color schemes. If you’ve ever wondered what complementary colors are, and how they differ from analogous, split complementary, triad, and tetrad color harmony, join us!

Thanks to Kalico and The Montana Pastel Society for sponsoring this FREEworkshop.

"Bomp, Bomp, Bomp, Bomp, Bomp

I Feel Free"

~ Jack Bruce

Let’s keep in touch,

Marshall