A little fatherly encouragement can go a long way. For Marlene Jantzen, just a few well-placed words of praise from her father catapulted her into a passion for art at the tender age of nine.

Ms Jantzen will be one of six Bermuda Showcase artists featured in the ?Different Strokes? exhibition opening on Thursday at the Lighthouse Tearoom at Gibbs Hill Lighthouse in Southampton.

Ms Jantzen has shown her work before in a couple of exhibitions, but is still relatively undiscovered on the Bermuda arts scene. This was her first newspaper interview about her work.

?I am from Winnipeg, Manitoba, originally. I come from a family of eight and I was the artist in the family,? said Ms Jantzen.

?In grade four I came home with a self-portrait. My father made such a fuss over it. He told everyone ?this is my daughter the artist?. It changed my feeling of myself. He wanted me to enrol in a commercial art school. He saw an advertisement in the paper and he had someone come to the house. It cost a lot of money and we couldn?t afford it.?

After high school she met artist and future husband Chris Marson. He gave her the encouragement she needed to study fine arts at the college level. She studied at the University of Manitoba. Today, she says her specialities are watercolour landscapes and portrait paintings.

?With the watercolours I have probably been painting for ten years off and on,? said Ms Jantzen. ?I have been with the en plein air group for about three years. We paint every two weeks. People offer their homes to paint, or we just go to a park or Devonshire Bay or to somewhere we think has potential.?

The outdoor painting group was started by artist Jonah Jones. People of any skill level can paint with the group. There are at least fifty members, but usually only a dozen artists like Ms Jantzen, go out for painting sessions. One of the advantages is the opportunity to get advice from established artists like Mr. Jones, Mr. Marson or Rhona Emmerson.

?When you are not art trained, or don?t draw or paint yourself you feel inadequate about drawing,? said Ms Jantzen. ?Anyone can learn to draw. To be an artist and be creative is a whole other level. I believe that. I pass that on to my students.?

Ms Jantzen was invited to participate in the ?Different Strokes? exhibition by Showcase organiser Deirdre Furtado.

?Deirdre called me a couple of weeks ago asking me to put something in the show for June 1,? said Ms Jantzen. ?I thought, okay, I might be able to dig up a couple. Then she emailed me and said she?d like four. Then she emailed me a day later and said she?d like six paintings. Oh my God!?

The result was that Ms Jantzen spent all of Bermuda Day painting after taking a break to watch the marathon.

?One of the paintings I did that day is showable,? said Ms Jantzen. ?My husband very kindly offered to frame everything for me. He is very encouraging. The exhibition is an opportunity, and I have to seize the moment.?

Ms Jantzen has had a good run of luck, recently, selling several paintings very quickly. They were all cloud studies.

She said that having a husband who is already well-known for his art, has its advantages and disadvantages.

?I think it is great because I have a mentor,? she said. ?He is very good about helping me with where I have gone wrong. I start off with thumbnails and go through the process. He makes me think about values and things like that. He is always mentoring me.?

The downside for her has been coming out from under his shadow.

?It can be difficult to establish your own style,? she said. ?I think I am very much influenced by Chris? style. Apparently I do have my own style, but some people mistake my paintings for Chris?s. I am complemented by that. It doesn?t really bother me very much. I do know that eventually my style will come out. I am geared towards portraits. Most of the work I do is landscapes but when I have done portraits I really enjoy doing them.?

Also on show at the Bermuda Showcase exhibition ?Different Strokes? will be Otto Trott, Joyce Joell-Hayden, Kevin Morris, Ruth Vallis and Brenda Gitschner.