Paint Party Friday: Week 5, Year 2 Check In Featured Artist: Marcia Beckett

image courtesy of Marcia Beckett

Welcome to Week 5 of Paint Party Friday (Year 2) and to the next edition of our Featured Artist Series! (Would you like to be a PPF Featured Artist? Click here for details!) This week we are featuring an artist whose vibrant watercolours with their colourful swirls and patterns are always a joy to look at.  Please welcome Marcia Beckett!

1) Please tell us a bit about your personal history with painting. (When did you start painting? How has your painting evolved since you first started?)

I have painted since I was a child.  I was lucky to be able to major in art education at college and painting was always a joy for me.  After becoming an elementary art teacher, I took a bit of time off from painting, because I was so busy with the day-to-day lesson planning and keeping up with teaching.  In the past couple of years I have made art-making a priority in my personal life.  I try to take local classes and attend workshops when I get the chance.  I'm also enjoying taking online art workshops to get new ideas.  I bounce back and forth between painting and art journaling, often incorporating collage and writing into my paintings.

2) What are your favorite techniques, media, and tools to use in creating your paintings?

My favorite media is watercolor paint.  I love layering colors and painting intuitively (I call it watercolor doodling.)  When creating mixed media paintings, I usually start with acrylic paints, add collage elements and then define certain areas with gel sticks.  Then, I use white paint to go over and lighten up areas.

3) What is your favorite thing to paint? Why?

Insects, birds and flowers are always fun to paint.  I like to be inspired by the shapes and colors in fruit, foliage and flowers and interpret them in an abstract way. You can see the influence in some of my watercolor paintings.

4) What is your proudest painting moment and/or greatest painting achievement so far?

My first memorable piece of art was in college where I was making a realistic painting of the hallway. I took a break from painting, and walked into the bathroom. While I was in the bathroom, I overheard some older art students mocking the painting I was making. It made me so angry and hurt, that I walked out of the bathroom and completely changed the painting. I turned the hallway into an ominous and expressive picture. Instead of painting in realistic colors, I used red paint for marks on the wall, which kind of resembled blood. After it was finished, I was very pleased with the result and entered it into a local juried art show. It won, 2nd place, for the painting category. I know some of those girls who mocked it were at the show, so it gave me a nice sense of satisfaction.

image courtesy of Marcia Beckett

I’m also really proud of being selected to be a contributing editor for the new mixed media art magazine which will be debuting this spring, called Featuring. I get to write articles, interview artists and brainstorm ideas. If you are interested in the magazine or submitting, please check out the website.

5) What's next in your painting future?

Hmm… I’d like to continue my series of “Cabinet of Curious Things” which are paintings in a grid-like composition with interesting little watercolor paintings and collage cut outs in the squares.

image courtesy of Marcia Beckett

Within the next year, I am going to create an online shop for prints and greeting cards. I’m not looking to make tons of money, but it would be nice to earn a little extra in order to sustain my art hobby.

Thank you so much, Marcia! We wish you great success with that endeavour. To learn even more about Marcia and see more of her art, please visit her at:

http://marciabeckett.blogspot.com

http://vividlayers.blogspot.com/ (Chronicles of Marcia's adventures teaching elementary art.)

**Would you like to be a PPF Featured Artist? Click here for details!**

Even with the busy Easter weekend last week, PPF had another fun and hopping party! So great to see everyone painting, and creating such wonderful and diverse pieces! Now, here is our check-in for this week's party:

Please make sure to use your post URL address NOT your blog home page URL address as there are many late visitors who get confused as to which post is for PPF when they arrive (after Friday) at your website. If you are unfamiliar with Mr. Linky, an explanation of how this tool works can be found on Week 1 and Week 2 Check-Ins.

Have a fun time at the party, and a great week to everyone!