Julington Durbin 44

“Julington Durbin 43″ 5×7″ pastel landscape, ©Marie Marfia

I have to share these little heads that my husband Steve makes from the concrete that’s left over whenever he’s done working on his bottle wall. I think they’re cool. They’re about 6-7 inches tall, all different. We’re trying to figure out how to attach them to chain link fencing, which we have a lot of.

Here’s a new pastel of the Julington Durbin Preserve, number 44. Available on ebay.

Green Lizard

“Green Anole Outside My Window” 5×7″ pastel ©Marie Marfia

I couldn’t help but notice that the green anoles are back in force outside my kitchen window. Mornings, when I’m making coffee, one or the other of them is patrolling the window screen, eating the moths and beetles that are drawn there every night by the light over the kitchen sink. Neither one has tried to tackle the big, fat june bugs also hanging out at the window. Too big to eat or maybe they just taste terrible? Or maybe june bugs are more what you’d eat for dinner  instead of breakfast?

Available on ebay.

Lucy on the Stairs

“Lucy on the Stairs” 5×7″ pastel dog, ©Marie Marfia

Nothing at all like Lucy in the Sky, with Diamonds or without.

I got a book today, “Finding Your Visual Voice, a Painter’s Guide to Developing an Artistic Style” by Dakota Mitchell with Lee Haroun. I just got through the first chapter and I already like it a lot. It’s encouraging to read the advice of other painters, which basically (so far) boils down to: paint what you like and let the rest go hang. I’m all for that!

And guess what? I sold one of the Skelly Dancers at the Starving Artist Gallery in St. Augustine. Huzzah! I don’t even know which one it was, but since there are only five of them, and I brought another one down (the one with the scarf), it shouldn’t be that difficult to figure out. I merely have to subtract today’s and find the other three and that’ll give me my answer. Who cares? I sold one!

Lucy on the Stairs is available on ebay.

 

Peaches the Parrot

“Peaches the Parrot” 5×7″ pastel bird, ©Marie Marfia

Finding inspiration is a daily practice. Sometimes it comes to you and sometimes you have to go seek it out. I watched an old movie about four animators from the Disney studios today. In it, they each painted an old oak tree, in their own individual way. Fascinating and encouraging at the same time. It means I can do things in my own way without thinking about whether I’m “doing it right” or not.

This is a pastel of Peaches, a conure parrot who is owned by a friend. Available on ebay.

Pirate by Howard Pyle

Pirate by Howard Pyle, 5×7″ pastel portrait, ©Marie Marfia

Well, I love Howard Pyle’s pirates, so I thought as long as I was going to practice drawing buccaneers I would try to learn from the master. This is based on one of Pyle’s paintings. I cropped in on his face for this attempt. Available on ebay.

Two Dogs in the Creek

“Two Dogs in the Creek” 5×5″ square pastel dogs, ©Marie Marfia

Today I worked on a pastel for my sister. She had two Brittany Spaniels, Desi and Lucy (Desi died last year at the ripe old age of 14, so Lucy is a solo act now), and she wanted a painting of the two of them enjoying the creek at Pennypack Park in Philadelphia, PA.

Really nice picture to work with and I loved the yellow and green against the coats of these dogs. I rearranged them since they were both facing away from the middle of the photo, and then, after trying a number of times to do a rectangular composition and failing, I squared it up and everything fell into place. I was so happy with the final painting that I decided to do a small study to match it.

This study is available on ebay.

 

Man and Woman Tango

Well, it takes two. I did a little sketch of this couple yesterday while I was hanging around at the Starving Artist Gallery in St. Augustine, and then I worked up a pastel, too. I

“Man and Woman Tango” 5×7″ pastel figures, ©Marie Marfia

got it home and took a picture of it and thought, hmm, there’s just not enough contrast between the couple and background, and then this morning I thought, why not make it blue? So that’s what I did and I like it much better now.

I took inspiration from some videos of Argentinian dancers. They are so fast in their movements. I really like when they whip their legs between their partner’s legs. How do they not all end up in a heap? It’s magic, of course. And probably lots and lots of practice.

Available on ebay.