Marlene O'Neill works primarily in oil or watercolor but she also enjoys pencil, charcoal and occasionally creates paper mache masks. Marlene sees art as a timeless expression and communication that transcends all that divides humankind and she strives to paint an expression of light.

As most artists, she has enjoyed drawing pictures since she was a child. As a young artist her more serious drawings were pastel portraits. She began studying art when her parents encouraged her to take a correspondence course from Art Instruction Schools in her mid-teens. She has taken workshops from Ladd Arnoti, Stan Miller, Robert Hagan, Gloria Dawson-Teats and Valeria Yost. Her favorite artists are the impressionists. 

Besides artwork, she has enjoyed singing in a San Francisco Gilbert and Sullivan theatre group - The Lamplighters, the Novato Community Players, the Presidio Players- all in California. She has recently joined a writing group. O'Neill was born in Idaho.