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Marlene Wood
Drawing and Painting Art is History! When I look around I feel the necessity to share the beauty, change, definition of time, and life stories that forever exist and transform in both my personal world and the world I exist in. Oil Painting is my passion! Pastel chalk and pencil/charcoal drawing hold a close second! I love to paint people – depicting their personalities and lives through obvious emotions, stature, and their interactions to their surroundings. I find it more important to paint someone’s essence than to show all their infinite details. One recognizes friends and strangers as they relate to who they are or might be in terms of their individual makeup and character. Landscapes will forever hold me in awe – their beauty, everchanging powers, and how they represent the multitude of diversity that surrounds us. I love to travel, to paint landscapes that depict an area, region, or the personality of what is around me. Water, in the form of oceans, lakes, rivers and wetlands, is my favorite. It seems to embody nature’s diversity, as its movement represents constant change – like our everchanging lives. My recent move to the Lake Superior area in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan allows me to enjoy daily diversity, create plein aire paintings on the shores of Lake Superior, and take in the wonderful art and culture that is so alive here! This is where my heart is, my permanent home, and a special feeling, not just a place, where I have traveled to for over 35 years. I never tire of the endless changes, uniqueness, and sheer beauty of this area I now call home. My personal passion is to continue to grow in my personal artistic endeavors, taking risks, and discovering what I can learn and experience through personal observation, intuition and experimentation. My background includes a diverse art education combined with a past career in clinical psychology. I have studied at The Palette and |
Chisel (Chicago), Studio in the Woods (Wacaunda) and many workshops/instruction with many well-known artists such as Richard Schmid, Scott Burdick, John Naylor, Bruno Serdo, and Jim Pollard. Much of my insight has also come from fellow artist friends, students, and associates. My past training in Clinical Psychology has helped to build and strengthen creativity and motivate my students through the use of a positive and encouraging teaching style. I spent most of my last 30+ years as the owner of Positive Strokes Art School and Gallery in Palatine, Illinois (established May 2000), teaching art to children and adults and directing a successful art school. My philosophy is that “if one can learn to see correctly, all else (in art) is both teachable and obtainable. I strive to teach in a way that elicits personal self-discovery, emotion, and unleashes creative juices.
My paintings have been shown in several Chicago based galleries including The Lakeside Arts Park Dole Mansion in Crystal Lake, Northwest Cultural Center Galleries, Positive Strokes Art Gallery, and The Woodstock Courthouse Gallery and have been part of a variety of fundraising projects and juried public art displays. |