Marshall Noice

July 13, 2021

I just got back from a few days in Santa Fe with our daughter Sarsten. It was a red chile kind of long weekend. And, after tireless research, we’ve reconfirmed that the best red chile in town comes from the kitchen of The Shed, a long time favorite haunt of ours. AND, if the best red chile in the world comes from Santa Fe, and if the best red chile in Santa Fe comes from The Shed. Well, you can see where this train of thought is going

My exhibition at Ventana Fine Art looks stunning, if I do say so myself! It’s alway gratifying to see my work beautifully hung on the walls of a great gallery.

If you’re not able to get to Santa Fe to see the show, tune in to ventanafineart.com on Thursday, July 15th for a virtual guided tour. Wolfgang Mabry and I will be taking a look at the paintings and chatting about the work.

Join us!

Let’s keep in touch,

Marshall

June 29, 2021

Here’s a new look to my landscape painting! This piece started out in a very different direction. As the painting progressed it seemed to need an unusual (for me) approach to bring it to a point where it resonated with a sense of place. The place being the view from a house Jackie and I rented years ago, just north of Santa Fe.

At the end of the day I believe art should please the eye. It sounds simple. And it could be the “newness” of this painting that I’m so attracted to, but I will say, it pleases MY eye immensely.

Let’s keep in touch,

Marshall

June 15, 2021

This painting is about as close to a monochromatic color scheme as I get! I thought I’d try using warm and cool blues over a warm toned underpainting. Admittedly, some of the warm blues snuck pretty close to alizarin crimson. I like it!

Crating this baby and sending it off to find its new life at Ventana Fine Art in Santa Fe.

My exhibit at Ventana opens on July 8th. I’ll be there for the reception on July 9th. Join us!

Let’s keep in touch,

Marshall

June 8, 2021

One month from today my exhibition opens at Ventana Fine Artat 400 Canyon Road, Santa Fe, New Mexico! I would love it if you’d stop by, say hello, and have a look at my thirty eight newest paintings. Whew! Thirty eight, but who’s counting!

I confess I usually feel my most recent work is my best work ever, but the truth is, and it really is the truth, this is my best work ever.
I won’t be hard to spot. I’ll be the guy wandering around the gallery with a big smile on his face!

Let’s keep in touch,

Marshall

June 1, 2021

When I think of the nineteenth century Austrian painter Gustav Klimt’s work, his iconic figurative painting “The Kiss” immediately comes to mind. While this is certainly the best known of his paintings, he depicted a variety of subjects.

Lately I’ve been enjoying looking at his wonderful landscapes. He brings the same highly decorative style to every subject he portrays. The results are inspiring!

Let’s keep in touch,

Marshall

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.

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

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.”

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

April 27, 2021

Come one, come all! If you’ve ever wondered about something, anything, that has to do with my pastel painting, here’s the opportunity you’ve been waiting for (on pins and needles, I’m sure). I’ll be teaching a workshop in pastel on Saturday, May 8th, at Kalico Art Center. Kalico is just four doors down from Montana Modern Fine Art and my painting studio. Talk about convenient.

I’ll be sharing everything I know about pastel: pigments, papers, color theory, composition, you name it. If I know it, you’ll know it too!

AND if you’re a member of The Montana Pastel Society, the workshop is free! In all honesty I should probably mention that it is, in fact, free for all!

Let’s keep in touch,

Marshall

April 20, 2021

I surprised myself recently. As I was beginning a painting, I stepped back to get a somewhat more distant view, and, lo and behold, I was looking at a Clyfford Still. If you don’t know Still’s abstract expressionist work, do yourself a favor and take a look. He was one of the early leaders of that art movement, and his work still speaks loudly today. Be sure to visit The Clyfford Still Museum next time you’re in Denver.

I’m afraid the references to his work are vanishing as I finish working. But that’s okay. I’d like to think he, one of my heroes, would be pleased with how my painting turns out!

Oh and by the way, he and I are both proud sons of The Peace Garden State! He from Grandin, me from Grand Forks.

Let’s keep in touch,

Marshall Noice

April 13, 2021

Sometimes it pays to turn around and see where you’ve come from, literally and figuratively. I rarely struggle with finding inspiration for my paintings, it seems the ideas just keep coming.

Luckily for me, if I DO feel even slightly stuck, I take a walk. There’s no substitute for living in a beautiful part of the world for a landscape painter. Having said that, I imagine if I lived in downtown L.A. I’d be painting the urban landscape, which actually sounds equally interesting. I’m a life long fan of Richard Diebenkorn’s cityscapes.

As I was walking in Lone Pine State Park, which is literally out my back door, I turned around and was staring at my next painting. Here’s the sketch.

“I was looking back, to see if she was looking back, to see if I was looking back at her.”
~John Mayall

Let’s keep in touch,

Marshall