DRC/Barron Ludlum Dr. Marlys Lamar’s painting "Not Knowing When the Dawn Will Come, I Open Every Door" won Best of Show at the Visual Arts Society of Texas’ annual juried exhibit.

Her winning work, "Not Knowing When the Dawn Will Come, I Open Every Door," an oil painting, would indicate that it’s more than versatility that makes the artist love oils.

Oils are complex. They can pile up on a painter’s chosen surface, begging to be manipulated, call for some water to lighten its depth. Oil resists being "finished." It stays moist for months, calling the inquisitive artist back to the easel for another go.

"I want to work on getting faster, getting looser," Lamar said.

In this case, returning to the painting, still damp, could have been a factor in Lamar’s walking away from the gallery with enough cash to finance an art trip to Italy.

"Not Knowing" isn’t a painting the viewer can walk away from, either.

The piece is painted on layers of wood. A small figure is depicted asleep, under the covers of a small bed. Her back is to the viewer, and she sleeps in a dark room, under three windows. The dawn is breaking outside the windows, and lush fields bend and twist in the distance. Dark water frames the work.

Lamar’s 13-year-old daughter, Simone Carter, was the inspiration for the painting.

"We were on a vacation in Maryland several years ago," Lamar said. "I got up really early and walked by the room where my daughter was sleeping. She was sleeping on this cot under a window and I could see the crops. I thought the way they curved around sort of followed the line of her body as she was sleeping. I though: ‘I’ve got to capture this moment.’ So I grabbed my camera and took a picture."

She held onto the photo for several years before she finally painted it.

Lamar has a gift for painting light. "Not Knowing" is a mysterious piece, painted so that light appears to be coming through the center window, falling onto the figure and moving out toward the viewer.

It’s a meditative piece, and Lamar did intend to provoke viewers. Water is a recurring theme, and is a metaphor for the unknown in the painting. The windows, the bed, the sleep also represent different realities that the human animal either occupies or tries to reach in an abstract way.

"A lot of people have said they think the painting is about dreaming, but I wasn’t thinking specifically about dreaming, though the dream world is a reality," she said.

The layers of wood are a sort of accident.

"I’ve painted a lot of portraits, but for some reason, I can never fit the top of the person’s head in the painting. I was working on a portrait on cardboard and I didn’t get the top of the head in the painting, so I got another piece of cardboard. I liked the way that worked, and I started using it."

Lamar did some drawing as a high school student, liked it, but decided not to follow that path. She attended the University of North Texas, where she earned a doctorate and eventually established a psychology practice. She specializes in marriage and family therapy, but also has dealt with post-traumatic stress and eating disorders in her practice. Her business was in Carrollton for 15 years before relocated to Denton, where she lives with her daughter and her husband, Steve Carter.

She began painting about 10 years ago, starting with a mini course in drawing and sketching before studying more seriously. She joined the visual arts society, and made it into the juried show two years ago.

This is her first award.

"I’m still stunned," she said. ‘I was really happy to get in this show, but I never expect to win best of show."

Gary Washmon, an art professor at Texas Woman’s University, taught Lamar several years ago, when Lamar enrolled in his introduction to painting class.

"It was clear from the very beginning that Marlys was talented, and that she had a great eye for detail," Washmon said. "She was extremely fastidious in her technique. We love having her as a student over here."

LUCINDA BREEDING can be reached at 940-566-6877.



MARLYS LAMAR

Who: Marlys Lamar, painter

What: Winner of $1,000 Greater Denton Arts Council Award in the Visual Arts Society 36th annual Juried Fine Arts Award Exhibition

Where: The Meadows Gallery, at the Center for the Visual Arts, 400 E. Hickory St.

When: 1 to 5 p.m. Tuesday - Sunday through May 27.

How much: free

For information: call 940-382-2787; visit www.dentonarts.com or www.ntaal.org