ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES - MARILYN ROBERTSON

For as long as she can remember, Marilyn Robertson has been creating art. As a child, she recalls that, "Dolls and toys were much less important to me than paints, crayons, scissors and glue." As an adult, Marilyn's passion for creativity first led her to become an art teacher. After the birth of her daughter, she left her profession to focus her varied talents and interests toward designing and publishing greeting cards, graphics and textiles. Marilyn's artistic influences are as varied as her abilities. She names the rich colors and dream-like qualities of Pre-Raphaelite painters such as Rossetti and Burne-Jones as being important to her work. Other influences include the nature-inspired works of the Art Nouveau period, the Impressionists and the free-flowing graphic style of Aubrey Beardsley. Today, in her studio in Nottingham, England, Marilyn loves to paint "the fabulous vibrant shapes and endless rich colors" of flowers and fruit. "They are a source of constant delight and inspiration."

She thanks her daughter for a gift of dry pastels that widened her world of artistic media. Having painted primarily with watercolors and acrylics, Marilyn believed pastels to be "muted and pale, and frankly, a bit insipid." Surprisingly, Marilyn discovered a strong affinity for her adult crayons. "Modern materials give a fantastically wide palette and scope. The imagination is the only limit to subject matter and treatment ­ and that's virtually limitless," says Marilyn now. Marilyn's original works are exhibited and sold in galleries throughout the United Kingdom, and her greeting cards are published worldwide.