An excerpt from Mischief. This 24"H x 48"W oil painting became a poster for this year’s Cowboy Poets Gathering.

Lately, she has concentrated on balancing the loose and tight elements of her work. “Paint too tight, and you might as well take a photograph; too loose and it’s fuzzy. I’ve found that I like to focus tight on the important things and paint the supportive part looser.”

Collectors of Fellows’ paintings reside throughout the Western states. Arizonan Bobbie Grissom says of the artist: “Naturally, her kind of art appeals to me, living in Cave Creek with my horses.” She recalls, “The first painting that captured me depicts horses at ease, cowboys lined up posing for the painting. A careful look reveals that one horse is making dinner out of a wrangler’s hat. That kind of whimsical interplay—the brilliant colors, the storytelling and the strong hand—are what attracts me to Marless’ paintings.”

The work described by Grissom earned Fellows the title of Resident Artist at this year’s Cowboy Poets Gathering held in Prescott, Arizona, in August, only the third woman to be so honored (her hero Bill Owen is a past honoree). Titled Mischief, her work was reproduced as a poster illustrating the cowboys’ theme, “Up to No Good.”

Fellows is a perennial exhibitor at such Arizona venues as the Hidden in the Hills Studio Tour in Cave Creek, the Phippen Museum Western Fine Art Show in Prescott, and the Arizona Fine Art EXPO in Scottsdale. Her work has attracted attention. Judy Long, EXPO director of sales and event manager, says, “Marless is one of those artists whom you can find creating wonderful masterpieces every day.”

Fellows feels that she has gotten her wings now. “I can be freer with my painting,” she explains, “open to express myself and allow my viewers to get involved. Look at the colors: Are they real? Can you finish the brushstroke in your mind? Like artists, viewers interpret what they see with their own eyes.”


Sherry Blanchard Stewart, an artist and owner of Scottsdale’s all-Western gallery Open Range, discovered Fellows’ work last spring and now represents her. Stewart agrees with the artist’s assessment of her own work, saying, “Marless’ paintings are looser, freer than much of Western art—contemporary but not at all abstract. They’re a little unusual, and that makes them interesting.”

Fellows says she intends to keep painting what she loves and sharing it with others. Her desire to convey what she sees comes from a spiritual place as well as an artistic one, she reflects. “God inspires me with the beauty that surrounds us every day.”

Excerpt of Shut Eye, oil on linen, 24"H x 48"W

Mare and Colt II, oil on linen, 30"H x 40"W

Streams of oil paint in a rainbow of colors stand ready for the artist to mix.

Women of the West, too, become immortalized by Marless Fellows, as in Blue Shawl, oil on linen, 48"H x 24"W.