Upper Lake >> Linda Marshbanks has never met an item she hasn’t wanted to transform. “I do lots of things. I paint furniture, I paint lamps, I paint whatever I see pretty much,” she said. “I look at something and I think, ‘What can I do to that?’ I drive myself crazy.”
Marshbanks is the featured artist for April at the Lake County Wine Studio in Upper Lake and she’s created pieces fitting for the venue. Paintings of detailed and whimsical chickens and wineglasses adorn the walls in a series she’s called “Fowl Play.”
“I don’t drink wine but I like to paint it,” she said. “So I just had fun with it.” And with cleverly titled paintings such as “Mini Couper” and “Two Chicks Wine Tasting” it would be hard for Marshbanks not to enjoy her work.
At the age of five, Marshbanks entered the art world and never really left. “My mother drew a picture of a woman’s face and I wanted to draw that woman’s face and I kept drawing it over and over until it got perfect,” she said. “I won a trophy when I was five and from then on I’ve been competing.”
Even when it came to choosing a profession, Marshbanks stayed true to her artistic inclinations. She became a hairdresser and worked in the field for 35 years, though she never gave up her artwork. While she was doing hair, she hand-painted jewelry and sold it in her salon.
But Marshbanks isn’t happy unless she is also competing, so she scaled down her work and entered numerous nail painting competitions. She has won 35 awards and in 1987 she took home the World Championship for nail painting.
She can also add “author” to her list of accomplishments. “And then I wrote 21 nail instruction books afterward,” Marshbanks said. For 10 years she traveled the U.S. selling her books, complete with paint, brushes and instruction videos.
Nail painting spoke to the competitive steak in Marshbanks. “I’d done competitions a lot of my life and I keep working until I get to the top. I have so far,” she said. “I always attended all the hair and nail shows. I thought, ‘I can do that.’ So I did it.”
She spent ten years painting at hair and nail shows, honing perfecting her miniature Betty Boop pictures and tropical scenes. “I have over 500 designs and I have over 500 pieces of jewelry designs too,” she said.
The secret to her success? The dot system, a painting technique of her own invention. The method uses dots, letters and numbers to create any image. Marshbanks insisted it’s foolproof. “No matter what size you’re working on … if you follow the dots everything will turn out in perfect proportion,” she said.
By way of the dot system, a flamingo can be created using an “f” with a long tail for the body, a comma for the head and a “4” for the legs. Combine those symbols, plus a few others, and someone will have a perfect pink bird.
It’s clear that Marshbanks possesses a strong ability to think outside the box, which has lead to some interesting pieces. “I paint on paper towels and then I apply them to recycled wood pallets.” she said. “One of my favorite towels was all messed up. So I started painting on a paper towel one day. It was just a trial thing and then it turned out really neat.”
While an extrovert on the hair and nail scene, she reentered this side quietly. Up until a couple of years ago she did painting only for herself, but with a little nudging she began to show her work at craft shows. “I had a lot of art friends and they said, ‘Why aren’t you doing something with your artwork?’” Last month, Marshbanks and a friend were visiting the Lake County Wine Studio where they met Susan Feiler. The friend told Feiler that Marshbaks had a painted table in the back of her car. Impressed by the work, Feiler asked Marshbanks if she would participate in a show at the studio.
Marshbank’s show is something of a chronology of her life, featuring a few of her very first creations. “I have a picture of the first drawing that I did up in the winery,” she said. “I have the first oil painting that I ever did and it won the grand prize at the fair when I was 17.”
Studio visitors will get a taste of everything Marshbanks has to offer. Her first book will be on display, she’ll be selling her jewelry and her own nails will be painted.
But just as she began showing her work, an illness hit Marshbanks hard. “I had a stroke two years ago,” she revealed. “They say I’m supposed to go blind within a year.”
Desperate to create as much as possible until that point, Marshbanks has hardly set her brush down. “So I just started painting like crazy,” she said. “It gives me something to do so I don’t think about things.”
Determined to keep her optimism, Marshbanks found a silver lining to her situation. For a long time, she put her larger paintings on hold and now she’s finally getting back to them. “It happens and you just have to be accepting and be good about it,” she said. “I’m actually better now than I’ve been in a long time. I’ve had to work all my life and now I get to paint and to me that’s nothing but pure joy.”
Even before her medical issues, Marshbanks discovered the many benefits of painting. “It makes you happy. It’s just a very relaxing thing. I love creating things … If anybody needs any kind of a therapy that’s what they should do.” she said. “I do it to calm down, to relax and try and get myself not do so much.”
Marshbank’s tendency toward vibrant hues surely helps lift her spirits as well. “I love colors. Everything I do is really super colorful. In a way it’s almost a cartoonist detail painting,” she said. “I like to make people laugh and I like to make them smile and I like to see their expressions … Sometimes you look at a painting and it’s almost depressing … I like bright colors and cheerful colors. I’m not very boring. I make them fun because that’s like me I guess.”
Marshbank’s artist’s reception is tonight, April 4, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Lake County Wine Studio in Upper Lake. Sol Rouge wines will be served.
Cutline 1: Pear Festival Painting by Linda Marshbanks
Cutline 2: Blue Bird of Happiness is one in a series of acrylic paintings on wine barrel tables by Linda Marshbanks.
