Author Archives: admin

January 26, 2021

I’ve mentioned three touchstones for my work that I regularly look for when I’m bringing a painting to the finish line: Warm against cool, light against dark, thick against thin. For decades these have been essential aspects of my painting practice.

This recent painting is a great example of these considerations. Specifically, warm dark red against cool light gray green, warm orange against cool blue green, and warm light yellow against cool dark purple gray. To get an idea of the thick-thin considerations you’ll have to see the painting in person. A photograph can’t capture it adequately.

Let’s keep in touch,

Marshall

January 12, 2021

A few weeks back I posted a very early version of this piece, and I have to tell you, I’m really going to miss having this painting in my studio to enjoy. But it’s off to a new home in Arizona. And happily it’s going to be in very good hands!

I will be sending the collectors our lawyers’ standard visitation agreement. Just kidding.

Let’s keep in touch,

Marshall Noice

January 5, 2021

It feels good to be in 2021! I hope it’s a wonderful year for you.

Lately I’ve been enthralled with the combination of Cadmium Red Light adjacent to Quinacridone Magenta. Side by side, one over the other, no matter how you get those two close together, it’s a jangly pairing of colors that almost vibrates on the canvas. Talk about activating the painting’s surface!

In pursuit of giving credit where credit’s due, here’s the pastel sketch that got me moving my brush in that direction a few months back. The subject is a Norway Maple that grows on the west slope in front of our house. It’s a bit of a scrubby specimen, but more than makes up for its lack of shapeliness with a spectacular display every fall. You already know what color it is!

“Got a feeling 21 is gonna be a good year”

~ Pete Townsend

Let’s keep in touch,

Marshall

December 22, 2020

I’m a firm believer in taking inspiration wherever you find it. I think my morning on the mountain with son-in-law Austin will result in some wonderfully soft colored paintings! Stay tuned for shades of Payne’s Gray with just a hint of Cerulean Blue and Cadmium Green Light.

How’d I ever come up with that idea!

Let’s keep in touch,

Marshall

December 8, 2020

Hey pastel lovers. We have been busily framing smaller works just in time for holiday gift giving! Stop by the studio and take a look. We have a very nice selection

Small works, big color.

I can help tick off some names on your list.

Thanks (in advance) for your support of the arts!

Let’s keep in touch,

Marshall

December 1, 2020

It makes me very happy to see the article about my work in the winter issue of Big Sky Journal. Who doesn’t like to see their name in print? It was especially enjoyable to work with Rose DeMaris. She is an insightful and talented writer! She wrote a wonderful piece!

If any of the paintings featured in the magazine spark your interest, drop me a note and I’ll point you in their direction.

For your kind words about my work, thanks to Wolfgang Mabry of Ventana Fine Art in Santa Fe and Merritt Miller and Rachel Rubin of Renaissance Fine Arts and Merritt Gallery in Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Chevy Chase. 

Let’s keep in touch,

Marshall

November 24, 2020

In case you didn’t know, Kalispell has a great quarterly periodical. Owned and operated by the talented folks at Highline Design, Go Local focuses on all things Northwest Montana.

The winter issue, “on newsstands now,” features none other than yours truly!

So if you’ve ever wondered (of course you have, haven’t you?) about my roots and the circuitous journey leading to my here and now, this is your chance to fill in the blanks.

Let’s keep in touch,

Marshall

November 17, 2020

It’s a new dawn! A stunning sunrise this morning looking from our deck. The view is to the east, over our pasture, through Lone Pine State Park, above the Flathead Valley and Flathead Lake, toward the Mission Mountains, the Swan Range, and the continental divide in the Bob Marshall Wilderness.

We live just west of the largest wilderness area in the lower 48. A few minutes drive from Glacier National Park, and an even shorter drive from the largest freshwater lake in the west. Not a bad spot for a landscape painter!

“In the absence of light
And the deepening night
Where I wait for the sun
Looking east”

~ Jackson Browne

Let’s keep in touch,

Marshall

November 11, 2020

This is what the road through Bad Rock Canyon on the way to Glacier National Park looks like – sort of. Up around Hungry Horse hundreds of lodgepole pines skitter by as the highway winds through the forest. If you’ve ever driven that stretch of US 2, you know exactly what I’m talking about.

I WILL say I was inspired by that landscape when I started this painting, even though it is, as usual, anything but a literal depiction of that scene. And in the interest of giving credit where credit’s due, I feel obliged to say that Damien Hirst’s ubiquitous cherry blossom paintings were highly influential.

“In the pines, in the pines, where the sun never shines.
And we shiver when the cold winds blow.”
~ Huddie Ledbetter

Let’s keep in touch,

Marshall

November 3, 2020

Sometimes I get myself stalled by overthinking! It’s easy for me to over intellectualize, and it rarely ends up with a painting that resonates for me. The challenge is to keep my heart in the process, and keep my head from getting in the way.

Easier said than done.

The very simple idea for this painting was, and I quote, “I wonder what Cadmium Red Light would look like over Quinacridone Magenta?”

Profound.

Let’s keep in touch,

Marshall