BACKWOODS ARTIST PAINTS THE PAST

Vel Marshall holds a painting called "Blue Window." In the background is the subject of the painting -- an old house on a winding dirt road in rural Patton. Marshal exhibits her work in art galleries around the state.

She lives in a log cabin surrounded by guineas, goats, cattle, cats and a dog, and she paints and sketches in the nearby 120-year-old house where she was born.

Vel Marshall of rural -- very rural -- Patton has known life in big, bustling cities, but it's the historic structures of Bollinger and other nearby counties that happily keep her down on the farm.

"I tell people that if I ever thought I could start something that would fail, it would be being an artist in Bollinger County," said Marshall, laughing.

A starving artist she is not.

But there was a time she needed a job, and she found one in Abilene, Texas. After graduating from Patton High School, she and her husband headed for Texas where she found employment in a big department store

"I was looking for something I thought I could do and I became a sign maker. I worked on what's called a flat bed sign press, it weighed about two tons.

"I made grocery store signs and signs for the department store, then I moved into the advertising department and started doing some sketch work for the newspapers."

Marshall says that as a child "growing up in the valley," she always had a pencil in her hand -- she was always scribbling, drawing something.

Her talent was in demand in Abilene. For 14 years she did fashion illustrations, window displays and other work associated with visual merchandising.

In the early 1970s she moved to San Francisco where she dabbled in free-lance writing, created furniture window displays and became involved with the American Conservatory Theater.

An only child, Marshall returned to the Patton area in 1977 when her mother became ill. She soon found herself to be a prolific painter.

"I'm about as self-taught as you can get, no formal art education, but there are always outside influences you learn from -- books, and just looking and observing."

Although Marshall paints portraits, landscapes and animals -- to include her dog -- her first love is capturing for posterity the looks and atmospheres of historic structures.

"I paint and draw old buildings and houses before they get torn down or the wind blows them down," she said, pointing to a picture of a teetering barn. "And some of them have been torn down or lost since I painted them."

She was able to capture the essence of the "20 Grand" barn on Highway 72 before it was torn down.

"The reason it was important is because it was one of the better examples of what was called the advertising barns where ads and slogans would be painted on the sides and roofs.

"It was called the 20 Grand because on the side facing east was painted an ad for Hillside Tobacco, and on the other side was 20 Grand, which was a brand of cigarettes."

She has painted the old Bollinger County Mill and has done several renditions of the Massey family home that has been relocated to near the courthouse in Marble Hill. The home is restored to its original pioneer look and tours are provided by the Bollinger County Historical Society.

She has painted structures she says are in "imminent danger," such as Hahn Store and Heitman's Mill in Yount.

The Wicecarver building in Marble Hill is quite old but is well maintained, says Marshall, who has, of course, painted it.

She's been commissioned to do the old Bessville Store in Bessville in Bollinger County. She says she'll probably do that as a print.

Appleton Mill on Apple Creek in Cape Girardeau County was washed away in a flood in 1986, before Marshall could visit it and set up her easel. But two years ago she found a photo of it and used it to paint a likeness.

It takes her about a month to produce a medium-sized painting. Although she'll sometimes paint on canvas, she favors masonite. Canvas, she says, is fragile -- if something is leaned against it for very long an impression is left.

"Masonite is more durable and I can get a very detailed look on it. I sand the masonite then take a white liquid called jesso and brush it on eight times. I sand it smooth after each coat.

"If you put the jesso masonite in the sun before you paint your picture on it, it brightens up. And when the colors are painted on, that white reflects through and gives true colors."

Marshall says it's difficult for her to sell a painting of a structure knowing she'll have to paint it again.

"I can not duplicate a painting that's done in color because time elapses and it's hard to achieve the same feeling, outlook and vision you had with the original," she said. "I've done my old barn about five times and every time it's been different."

She does not lack ideas of things to paint, and through word-of-mouth people will suggest she paint certain structures. They'll say to her: "Oh, you've got to do this building before it's gone." And Marshall is happy to oblige.