Biography Marilyn J. Brown was raised in Des Moines, Iowa, graduated from Iowa Lutheran School of Nursing and lived in Illinois from 1965 to 1987. She was employed as a Registered Nurse and as a Hospital Pharmaceutical Representative with Glaxo Smith Kline until moving to Arkansas in 1987. Ater years being a Winter Texan, they now live in Brownsville, TX. full time. She was interested in art as a teenager but wasn't able to seriously pursue that interest until she was instrumental in starting art classes at Holiday Island, Arkansas in 1988. She began classes with a renowned Arkansas artist, Denise Ryan working in oils and pastels. Following a subsequent workshop with another Arkansas artist, Sheila Bolin Parsons in 1989, she discovered the wonderful world of watercolor. She has since attended many workshops with Ms. Parsons as well as with artists Doug Walton, Maxine Masterfield, Judi Betts, Tony Couch, Dan Bert, Anita Dieibel, Carol Dillard Stroud, Gerald Brommer, Warren Taylor and David Laughlin. These workshops have inspired Marilyn to spend many hours in her studio painting and experimenting with different media and techniques to expand her own creativity. Through my paintings, I can release many inner feelings as well as expressing my joy and happiness to be alive in such a beautiful world". Marilyn is affiliated with the ,Rockport Texas Art Gallery, Laguna Madre Art Assoc. and has been a volunteer instructor at the Brownsville Museum of Fine Arts for the past 20 years. Marilyn has also conducted classes and workshops in watercolor, mixed media, monoprinting, papermaking and collage. Her paintings have been accepted in many juried art exhibits and have won numerous awards in watercolor, mixed media and printmaking categories. Her commissions have included historical buildings, homes, landscapes, portraits and abstract works. Her paintings are among several private collections in the Southwest and Midwest areas.
Artist's Statement "The challenge of experimentation with the fluidity and liquidity of the watercolor media as well as its transparency and luminescence has made this my choice for my personal impressions of the world around me and within me. My subject matter is as varied as my painting style; sometimes I attempt to paint what I see and other times I attempt to paint about how I feel about what I am seeing. The best times in my studio are spent just playing with different techniques and media. . Making art should be fun, playful and full of happiness for the artist. I create because I was created and if others enjoy what I do artistically that is just a bonus.
