Indian paintbrush, bluebonnets and two red poppies; Wildseed Farms, Fredericksburg, Texas Painting

Marciana Phillips-Echavez Poland is a self-taught artist who began painting in early 2018. When Marciana was a child, her mother (who had a bachelor's degree in art and music) would not let Marciana or her siblings have coloring books. Instead, she provided them with paper, crayons, colored pencils and watercolors and had them draw and then color in their own drawings. In the spirit of full disclosure, Marciana did take one sketching class in 9th grade, but afterwards essentially only doodled occasionally between then and now. Why paint now? Marciana always loved and appreciated art and is fortunate to have several artists as friends. She wanted to paint, but was afraid to try and never told anyone of her secret desire. However, after her open heart surgery in early 2017, she realized it was now or never. Marciana's work is best described as realism and modern impressionism. Most of her paintings are snapshots of her life documenting her travels and other interests. She loves working with and expressing color, light and shadow. ​ Previously, Marciana had a 30+ year career as a biomedical research administrator. Marciana is a multiracial Eurasian American (mainly half Filipino and half English/IScottish/German). She was born on the east coast, lived for a time as a child in Katmandu, Nepal and Rangoon, Burma, spent much of her life in Los Angeles, California and now lives in Nashville, Tennessee with her husband, Russell E. Poland, Ph.D. and their three standard parti poodles, Alexandra, Horatio and Theo. In addition to painting, Marciana enjoys traveling, gardening, baking, walking and photography.