Marshall Crossman earned her BFA from Colorado State University in 1973. She has been a studio painter for over 35 years, and is still fascinated by the alchemy & expression of paint. She paints primarily in oil on canvas. Her painting process allows for a lot of spontaneity in both paint handling and color. She begins a painting with a basic concept, and wander through many stages of paint action and destruction before arriving at a finish that feels resolved. When Crossman relocated to San Francisco in 1977, she was very influenced by the Bay Area figurative painters. Her figures are abstracted by motion, water and emotion. She works in a series, often on several paintings at the same time. Her series includes: Women Shopping, Swimmers, Class Photo Series, Beach Series, Pacifica and Portugal. She has also explored monotype and watercolor. Marshall Crossman is represented by several art galleries in the US. Her work can be found in private & public collections here and in Europe. Marshall lives on the coast in Pacifica, CA, with her husband. Marshall's thoughts on her Beach Series: "In 2000, my husband, son and I moved from urban San Francisco, to the Pacifica beach. Our new home looked directly out on the Pacific. Across the road was a fishing pier with a bait shop. I was captivated by the dusty, sun bleached Polaroids of fisherman holding up their catch. The humanity of these people inspired me, and thus began the Beach Series. The subject of these beach paintings soon shifted from fisherman to bathers frolicking in the surf. I had to imagine this, as the ocean in northern California is way too cold for swimming. The movement of the bathers related energetically to my past work in the Swimmer and Women Shopping Series. I liked the way these active, wet, partly submerged figures morphed into abstraction."

All work by Marshall Crossman