the business of art vs. the art of art
There is an anecdote about Vincent Van Gogh that I’ve heard and even repeated myself. Van Gogh only sold one painting in his lifetime. It’s often used as an encouragement to struggling artists. If his work, which was so unique, brilliant, and beautiful, wasn’t appreciated, then you’re in good company if you find yourself in […]
four things | seventy one
We’re in the middle of a mid-April heatwave. This time of year, I will wear a hoodie in protest when summer weather rears its head early, which is sort of ridiculous. I’ve still been making a point to get outside by walking in the morning before it gets hot and then spending about 15-20 minutes […]
styling pet portraits in interiors
I received a question a couple of weeks ago about how to style a pet portrait in a room without it looking like a shrine to your dog, cat, hamster, or horse. Good question! I’m so glad you asked. Let’s talk about animal art in interiors and how to make it work with your decorating. […]
Move Slow & Make Things Book Bonuses Available!
I am so excited to share that the preorder bonuses for Move Slow & Make Things: Pursuing the Delightfully Fulfilling Creative Life are now available! If you’ve already ordered the book, thank you! You can enter your order information on THIS to claim your bonuses. If you haven’t preordered the book yet, you can do […]
four things | seventy
It’s been my favorite early spring weather. Cool enough for a hoodie, but warm enough to spend lots of time outside. I donned my overalls for the first time this year, and Jeff and I worked together in the backyard on Tuesday. We pulled weeds, mowed the small patch of grass, pruned the hydrangeas, trimmed […]
the Gibbes Museum
When we planned our Charleston outing for our anniversary, we were going to visit a few antique stores and then have a nice dinner. My aunt’s proposition changed that, though. We knew we would be transporting two large paintings in bulky frames home, so space would be at a premium. (We won’t mention all of […]
Recent Blog Posts
the non-art parts of selling art
When I use the word “art”, I am referring to art in the broader sense – something that is made by human hands. My art has changed over the years from painting murals on walls to painting furniture to painting on panels with all sorts of other artistic endeavors and experiments mixed in. So, when I’m writing about the non-art part of making and selling art, I’m referring to both my art and yours, whatever your art may be. Even
2025 Home Project Recap
When I first started putting this post together, I felt like we didn’t do many home projects in 2025. We did a lot of landscaping and had new windows installed, but did we do anything else? Well, once I started to look back through the year in pictures, I realized we did a ton of work on our 1970 house in 2025. We did most of the big renovation projects in our first two years in the house, so this
snow day 2026
I love snow. Even living in the Bavarian Alps and in Minnesota didn’t make me tired of it. Living in Florida made me love it even more. So, I was cheering on the snow totals in our area as the forecasts were coming out. We ended up getting much more sleet than they initially thought, but it was still a substantial snow event that cancelled all our normal activities for two days. It’s rare for a pastor to have a
four things | fifty-nine
I know I have a reputation for being a highly productive person here on this blog, but there are days when I faff about and waste time with the best of them. I’ve been glued to the weather reports, surfing blankly online, and generally piddling the morning away. I did catch up with my parents, shipped out a commissioned painting, and varnished another. But I’ve been avoiding diving into actual work. I think the anticipation of a significant snow event
solving the problem of the changing online landscape
A couple of weeks ago, I shared a review of my business for the start of 2026. You can read that HERE if you’re interested in getting into the nuts and bolts of a creative business. One section I skipped was Solving Problems, so I could share about it in a separate post. If you’re puzzling through some of your own in a creative business, you can find the Solving Problems Worksheet HERE. I thought it was important to share
Shopping at the Siena Maket
I was going to share about our day trip to Siena all in one post, but as I was uploading the photos, I realized the post would be ridiculously long with a million photos! So, I decided to break it up into a few shorter, more easily-digestable posts. Our group was going to Siena to shop at the weekly market, tour the city, and meet in the afternoon for tea at the home of one of our Italian hosts and
four things | fifty-eight
As a reminder, my next original art sale is tomorrow, Friday, January 16, 2026, at 1:00 EST. You can see a sale preview HERE. This week has been a busy one for me! I came home from helping my parents on Sunday afternoon, so I had to hit the ground running Monday morning to catch up on things I couldn’t do last week away from my studio. I’ve been catching up on photography, painting, and other things that require more
As seen on HGTV’s Fixer to Fabulous
This summer, I worked on my largest-ever commissioned pet portrait project – a collection of five original oil paintings for Jenny Marrs, to be featured in a home makeover on Fixer to Fabulous on HGTV. It started when Jenny reached out to ask me to write an endorsement for her new book. As much as time allows, I try to say yes to those requests to support other writers and creative entrepreneurs. As I was reading through the digital sample
Dinner in a Castle | Tuscany Creative Retreat
The last time I posted about my time in Italy, I shared about my day spent “home” catching up on rest, writing in my journal, exploring, taking pictures, and sketching and painting. If you missed that post, you can read about that day HERE. In the early evening, the rest of our creative retreat group returned from a day visiting a local organic farm and making pizza from scratch. As much as I didn’t want to miss out on that
January 16, 2026 | original art sale preview
I’m so excited to share the latest round of original oil paintings for sale. It is the first of many collections (I’m sure) that include pieces inspired by my trip to England and Italy last fall. The original art sale is scheduled for Friday, January 16, 2026, at 1:00 p.m. Eastern (New York). In this original art sale, I have pieces ranging from 4 x 6 hand-painted color charts on antique linen ($50) up to a 16 x 20 painting
four things | fifty-seven
I’m at my parents’ house for a few days to help them as my mom recovers from surgery to repair her broken wrist, so my work has been a little different for a couple of days. That’s also why this blog post is coming out a day late, but hopefully you’re too busy with life and your own creative work to notice. I did bring along things to do, though, as I continue to plan for 2026 and prepare to
A review of my business for 2026
As I’ve been taking some time to plan for the new year, I decided to revisit the Creative Retreat Guide for Business Owners that I created a few years ago. I based it on questions I asked myself as I reassessed my own business during a time of upheaval, as well as those I asked clients during one-on-one coaching for creative business owners. I honestly didn’t know how effective it would be, since I wrote it myself, but my past
christmas gifts
Well, this has been the Monday-est Tuesday I can remember! I spent almost my entire morning on the phone with tech support because of a Carbonite (backup) glitch that put a 4.2 terabyte log on my hard drive, taking up over half of my enormous hard drive and choking my computer. Anyway, I’m relieved it was a simple problem, but it’s thrown my day off schedule. Anyway, such is life. I wanted to share a few of the gifts I
What I did on my 2025 Christmas Vacation
I hope you had a wonderful Christmas with your loved ones, and a restful time during the (generally) quiet week between Christmas and New Year’s. My Christmas vacation, like many things in life, was a mixed bag. While I wasn’t sharing online, I still spent a lot of time working – planning for 2026, working at my easel for the next original art sale, reading, and writing. That was balanced with rest, though. We watched movies and TV series, ate
Christmas Break 2025
When I first started posting on this blog in 2009, I posted every single day. I enjoyed it and was excited to share, but I also saw this blog as a commitment. I wanted to take it seriously. I posted when I was sick, when I traveled, when I had surgery, when I worked at an antique fair all day, and on Christmas Day. Finally, in 2015, after six years of posting daily, I took time off between Christmas and
Christmas Kitchen 2025
I’m squeezing in the last room decorated for Christmas just before Christmas Eve. When I started sharing Christmas content in November, it felt really early, but now I remember why I do! I end up crunched for time in the last week and don’t have the time to share everything I had planned. Sadly, I have a few project ideas that I didn’t photograph. Those will get kicked to next year. Anyway, I wanted to show you how the kitchen
Christmas dining room 2025
I wasn’t sure I’d get my dining room decorated before Christmas this year, but I took some time Friday morning to finish it up and photograph it. Until then, the tree was up, but I was using the table and corners for incoming packages, storing bins of decor as I worked on other rooms, and wrapping presents. So, I tidied up the mess and finished decorating. We have our Christmas brunch in this room, so it’s nice to have it
four things | fifty-six
I cannot believe we are a week away from Christmas! When I was a kid, I felt like December would last forever. It was torturously long. As a middle-aged adult, it flies by. I blinked, and over half of it is gone. Such is life, though. The hours are long and the years are short. I’m looking forward to the quiet, slow days between Christmas and New Year’s, though. I think that might be my favorite week of the year.
straddling creative fences | creative business
In my creative work, I’ve often straddled fences. One foot in refinishing furniture and another in writing a book. One foot in managing a paint brand, while the other is in freelance articles and photography. I have always enjoyed the flexibility and stimulation that comes with hopping from one side of the fence to the other. I have also learned over the years that one creative endeavor often speaks to another. I get writing ideas when I’m working in the
Christmas 2025 Living Room
If you missed it, I shared the details about our 2025 Christmas tree HERE. In this post, I’m sharing how the rest of the living room looks dressed for Christmas this year. Here is the view through the doorway from the kitchen… curtain rod | curtains | rug | pillows | sconces | paint color I do need to say that we don’t usually have this many pillows on our sofa! I learned a long time ago that sofas and
I’m Marian, a painter, writer, and lover of all things creative. From art and antiques to home projects and everyday life, I share my journey in hopes of inspiring you to embrace your own creativity and make beauty in the spaces you live.
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More from the Blog
From the very first coat of paint to custom cabinetry, Marian has been slowly transforming her 1970s split-level into a home filled with charm, character, and creative vision. Explore room-by-room updates, clever DIYs, and the stories woven into each renovation project. It’s a work in progress—and that’s part of the beauty.
In the Studio
Artistic Endeavors
My new book | Cover & Title Reveal
I am so excited to finally reveal the title and cover for my new book – Move Slow & Make Things: Pursuing the Delightfully Fulfilling Creative Life. This book was born out of hundreds of conversations I’ve had with people over the years, in person, in small groups, and online, about creativity and what it means to be an artist. Sometimes, the conversation starts with a question from someone seeking to make more room for creativity in their own life:
Fine Art Prints available at Marrs on Main
After working with Jenny Marrs on pet portraits for one of her design clients (you can read about that HERE), the shop manager for Marrs on Main reached out to me about carrying some of my prints in the store. I was naturally excited about the opportunity, but I had never sold prints directly, so I had a lot of logistics to figure out. The first step was finding a printer I liked, so I ordered a bunch of
Encouraging words from Degas about AI
“Without a heart, can one not be an artist?” – Edgar Degas I heard this quote in Sebastian Smee’s book The Art of Rivalry. It was in the context of Degas’s reputation for being a misogynist and having an aversion to love and marriage. He said and wrote things that seemed to show at least some sentimentality and softness, including the quote above, and an anecdote about when he and Monet argued about who cared for Berthe Morisot more as
As seen on HGTV’s Fixer to Fabulous
This summer, I worked on my largest-ever commissioned pet portrait project – a collection of five original oil paintings for Jenny Marrs, to be featured in a home makeover on Fixer to Fabulous on HGTV. It started when Jenny reached out to ask me to write an endorsement for her new book. As much as time allows, I try to say yes to those requests to support other writers and creative entrepreneurs. As I was reading through the digital sample
January 16, 2026 | original art sale preview
I’m so excited to share the latest round of original oil paintings for sale. It is the first of many collections (I’m sure) that include pieces inspired by my trip to England and Italy last fall. The original art sale is scheduled for Friday, January 16, 2026, at 1:00 p.m. Eastern (New York). In this original art sale, I have pieces ranging from 4 x 6 hand-painted color charts on antique linen ($50) up to a 16 x 20 painting
Artists’ Guild Notepads
As I’ve been bouncing around the house, alternating between studio work and decorating the house for Christmas, I came upon a stack of the notepads I had ordered and intended to list for sale earlier this year! You know, when you have an idea in mind, you stick the thing in a closet, and then you forget about it? Well, that’s precisely what happened here. I got sidetracked, and the notepads were a casualty of having my fingers in too
Seasonal
Fall
carrot white bean soup & croutons
When my shoulder pain was at its worst a few weeks ago, local friends from our church and community stepped in to encourage and support us by giving me rides to my appointments and bringing a few meals. You have no idea (or maybe you do) how amazing it was to have jars of soups and a “hot dish” (aka Minnesota for casserole) in the fridge just ready to go. I couldn’t cut food, maneuver pots & pans, or even
easy chicken and dumplings recipe
Today was another snow day for the boys and they’ve already canceled school through Wednesday due to the cold. (The high on Wednesday will be -20 degrees F!) So, it’ll be a bit of a tough work week for me! I need an empty house to really focus and reach my maximum level of productivity. But, while we’re socked in with the snow and cold, I decided to make chicken & dumplings. I made them last week to use up
easy chicken & dumplings recipe
Today was another snow day for the boys and they’ve already canceled school through Wednesday due to the cold. (The high on Wednesday will be -20 degrees F!) So, it’ll be a bit of a tough work week for me! I need an empty house to really focus and reach my maximum level of productivity. But, while we’re socked in with the snow and cold, I decided to make chicken & dumplings. I made them last week to use up
creamy potato soup | simple weeknight meal
Both Jeff and I are big soup fans. I discovered my love of soups when our family went on winter retreats to Beatenberg, Switzerland and they would serve the most delicious pureed soups with dinner every night. (This sounds fancy, but I grew up in Germany when my dad was stationed there in the military.) Now that we’re in the thick of winter and I’m working on eating healthier, soup makes a great dinner as well as leftovers for lunches
No-Fail Apple Pie Recipe
I attempted to make apple pie many times and it never turned out quite right. The dough was tough or the filling was runny or there was a big pocket of air under the top crust or the apples weren’t fully cooked, but the crust was burnt on the edges. I finally threw in the towel. We’ll just buy a stupid pie since I can’t make a proper one. Then, I was taught the recipe and all of the secrets to
early thanksgiving & a thrift store score
Today was one of those days that I tried to pack in more than was really reasonable, but I managed to get it all done! I have two Thanksgiving freelance articles due this week and one of them involved putting a spread together that at least looked like a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. So, in addition to styling a shoot, I was baking pie, roasting a turkey with stuffing, and all of the fixings. I took some shortcuts with pre-made mashed
at home
All Things Home
New Society6 Papers, Prints & More
Surface design is something I’ve played with on and off for a few years and this year, I decided to lean into that interest and create some new patterns for wrapping papers as well as other available products on Society6. While only one is specifically designed for Winter/Christmas, I feel like these designs work well year-round, including for Christmas. (Products are up to 50% off at Society6 for their Black Friday event.) I love Society6’s wrapping paper. It comes in
salt-dough season | traditional salt-dough ornament recipe
One of my favorite holiday projects over all my years of Christmas crafting is making things with salt dough. It started with an impulsive purchase from an Instagram ad. I bought two wooden cookie molds, not really even sure what I was going to do with them. I just thought they were pretty and had good crafting potential. After languishing in my tin with cookie cutters and piping tips, inspiration hit. What if I used those pretty molds with humble
my favorite realistic faux evergreens
I really loved my Christmas decorating last year, so I will probably do something very similar this year. It felt classic and beautiful, and looking back over the pictures makes me excited to pull out the bins and deck the halls. Well, almost. But, while I’m thinking about it and while you might be planning and shopping, and before everything Christmas is sold out, I wanted to share my favorite realistic faux evergreens for Christmas and winter decorating. Years ago,
tucking in the garden for winter
This is our fourth fall in this house, and I think we have finally figured out how to best deal with the leaves from the six large maple trees on our property. The first fall, we had just moved in and were completely overwhelmed by them. Our amazing neighbors jumped in and used their two riding mowers to help us out. Since then, Jeff (primarily) and I have been trying to figure out a system to stay on top of
Handmade Christmas Garland Round-up
The past few Christmases, since our move back to the East Coast, I have been behind on sharing holiday and Christmas posts. After years of working way ahead on Christmas for retail, articles, and blog posts, it felt good to decorate, shop for gifts, and share in real time. I realized, though, that I was often sharing too late for people to make handmade decorations, or that all the products I was using were already sold out! So, I’m going
My Favorite Local Antique Stores
I have been asked several times since I moved back to the mid-Atlantic region if I would share some of my favorite antique stores. I will start by saying, there are a plethora of fantastic antique stores, markets, co-ops, barn sales, consignment shops, and thrift stores all within about an hour from me. There is no way I can give an exhaustive list, but I wanted to share the places I regularly check out that are either in Hagerstown or
Everyday Moments
A Slice of Life
shelling diaries 2026 | part two
While we’ve all been getting lots of steps from walking on the beach. Jeff has been the grand champion with over 24,000 steps each day. (I’ve been clocking in 15,000-20,000.) Since he’s been covering so much ground, we asked him to do some shell reconnaissance for us. He found some gray olives and whelks for me (he’s redeemed himself from his traitorous act earlier in the week ), and some pink whelks for my mom, but he also found a
four things | sixty-seven
It’s Four Things: Isle of Palms edition! We’ve been at the beach since last Friday, so we’ve been going for lots of walks, eating great Lowcountry food, preparing for the annual shell-collection competition, doing puzzles, playing Bananagrams, and visiting family. We always have a grand time, and it’s been a great week. Here are my Four Things… what I’m reading My friend Cheri gave me the book Theo of Golden a few months ago, and I’ve been saving
the top three questions about shelling
Every year, when I’m sharing our shelling adventures on social media, the same three questions pop up, so I thought I would share the answers all in one place. Where are you shelling? We are at the Isle of Palms in South Carolina. We’ve been coming here for Spring Break for several years, and it’s a wonderful area for shelling. I’ve been to the Outer Banks, Myrtle Beach, Wrightsville Beach, and Hilton Head, and this is where we’ve found
shelling diaries 2026 | part one
We are back in Isle of Palms, South Carolina, for Spring Break. We love coming this time of year because it’s still “off season”, so it isn’t crowded, and it’s rarely overly hot. We can still have some warm, sticky days, and we do risk having gloomy, cold days that aren’t great for the beach, but we have found this is a good window for our crew. I’m often asked what the water temperature is here in early March. I
revisiting a special place in Florence
On our last two visits to Florence, Mom and I tried to find a specific place: a piazza where my brother and I each sat for a pastel portrait. We even described it to the private guide who led us around the city in 2019, and she wasn’t sure where we could find it. We figured we would never be able to find it again, given so much time had passed, and our memories of the place were fuzzy, so
four things | sixty-six
A few days ago, we were tempted into thinking we had turned the corner into spring. We had some warmish, sunny days that couldn’t be missed. I enjoyed walking outside without my face turning pink from the cold. But this week, I went out walking in the morning and realized it was in the 20s again, much colder than I thought, and I was back to coming home pink-faced. The last remnants of snow have almost melted, though, and I
Explore painting at your own pace—no experience needed
Free Art Classes for the Creative at Heart
While the world slowed down in the spring of 2020, I found connection and creativity by offering live art classes each Friday—just a simple way to share something joyful during uncertain times. What began as a small spark turned into something truly special. After receiving such kind and encouraging feedback, I decided to turn those lessons into a free online course. Inside, you’ll find nine beginner-friendly oil painting classes covering everything from mixing colors to painting a sweet grazing cow. It’s a gentle, joy-filled place to start (or continue) your painting journey.