John Marshall Dyke, AKA John Dyke, Jack Dyke, J. Marshall Dyke and Marshall Dyke has always been interested in painting. In junior high school his first experience was with oils. In High school he became more intense in his drive to paint; taking private lessons after school and while still in high school he took Saturday classes at Massachusetts School of Art. This seems to be the beginning of his interest in color. After graduating from high school he attended the Art Institute of Boston. He became frustrated with the confines of the strict program and left after two years to enter the Air Force. He was fortunate to be placed in a position as an illustrator in the service and quickly surmised he had learned skills in art school which had transposed to his current position as an illustrator. He eventually secured a position in the Boston VA Medical Center as a medical illustrator and some of his illustrations were published in medical books.

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After serving time in the Air Force, he continued to study his passion, painting. He graduated from the Art Institute of Boston, became involved in art associations on the south shore, such as, Weymouth, Quincy, Cape Cod, North River, Braintree etc. He continues to teach at Braintree High School Adult Education and Quincy Art Association and he is sought out by these associations to perform Art Demonstrations for its members. His work has been entered in juried and non-juried art shows and has received multiple ribbons for his amazing work. He has exhibited in galleries around the South Shore and since 1982 has had a one-man show at Avon, MA library.

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John‘s favorite mediums are Oil, Watercolor and Mixed Media and recently experimenting with acrylics. However his main interest is COLOR! For his classes, he’ll spend hours just preparing the (oil) palette asking himself “what are the possibilities?” This process has developed over time, preparing for class. He has to have the right color/value that each of his students need, without stopping to mix the paint, all the options are laid out for him, as he says “perhaps it could be called micro-managing the palette?”

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John’s subject varies, from beaches to lighthouses to landscapes to mixed media and sometimes just from swirling color on the canvas. He displays keen observation ability and will wake up and paint something from a collection of his prior observations. John likes using his imagination and his curiosity continues to create amazing works. He says “Subject matter can be anything, it is a challenge to paint a summer landscape and wonder what the subject would look like in winter.”