The following is from the Taos Gallery Scottsdale
MARLA EDMISTON
Born 1960: Living in Kalispell, MT
Born in Kalispell, Montana, Edmiston is an award winning oil and watercolor painter, best known for her realistic depiction of floral and pottery still lifes and for landscapes. Her subjects include antique collectible itess belonging to her family, European street scenes, and vistas of her native high country where she spent her childhood on a Hereford cattle ranch.
Her technique is quick, confident and bold; her colors are vibrantly rich and contrasting; and her designs have controlled detail. Of her work, she says: “it is the light that counts. . . . I let my paintings and their subjects speak for themselves. The most important thing is to determine what a painting is about, not force in extraneous bits which would detract from the unit.”
Edmistons earliest art influences were the skilled artists who painted in the Flathead valley area. She acquired her formal art education in Spokane, Washington where she studied Advertising Design and Illustration. Using this background, she worked professionally as a Graphic Art Director and Corporate Designer for businesses in Arizona, California, and Montana. She also taught on-location watercolor workshops in Hawaii at the Kailua-Konas Academy of Art and operated an art gallery on the Kona Coast.
The artist now lives in Montanas scenic Flathead Valley, but her work circulates far beyond her Kalispell studio. Edmiston has received numerous awards including “Best of Show” at Montana Interpretations VIII and “Best and brightest” of the Scottsdale Artists School. She has been involved in many juried exhibitions including events held at the C.M. Russell Museum in great Falls, Montana and the Oil Painters of America Premier Exhibition in Chicago, where she earned a signature membership.
Edmiston asserts that oil painting is art in its most superior form. “paying particular attention to color keying harmony and application of paint, I strive for elegant composition, soothing clarity and atmosphere, trying to capture the look and feel of old world painting. I like the viewer to participate in the feeling that perhaps my canvases emerged from another era, another time and place.”
