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a slice of life

a slice of life

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 has me feeling ready to hunker down and enjoy being socked in. Our efforts to organize the garage last summer have paid off, and we’re able to park two of our vehicles there to shelter them from the snow.  Jeff reved up the generator and filled up the gas cans.  I ordered groceries and charged power packs.  I think we’re set. I know this incoming storm is affecting a large

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a slice of life

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 Carolyn’s dear friend. You can find just about anything at the Mercato di La Lizza in Siena, every Wednesday morning – produce, clothing, coats, shoes, bags, crafts…  The thing our group was most excited about, though, was the “Linen Man”.  Orsa, our Italian host, has a direct line to him, so she let him know a group of American women was coming to shop and he should bring a good

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a slice of life

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 gear than I could take with me.  It’s been a good busy, though.  There are exciting things happening and a lot to look forward to. Here are my four things for the week: Fishing for Elephants, Drops of God, creative stakes, and a manuscript review…     what I’m reading Fishing for Elephants: Insights and Exercises to Inspire Authentic Creativity by Larry Moore. I read this book a few years

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a slice of life

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 experience, the day I took was the one I needed.  It was refreshing and enriching, and I was excited to continue our curated Tuscany experience with dinner at a castle just down the road from the Podere where we stayed. The Folcieri family, who currently owns the castle, farm, and vineyard, bought it in the mid-1980s, when it was overrun with vines and vegetation, and the castle’s interior was an

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a slice of life

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 launch some new things. So, I’m doing this and that between doling out doses, rotating ice packs, helping around the house, and confiscating expired medication (seriously, one pack of Tylenol Cold my dad had in his med stash was over 24 years old).  We had a good laugh about that, and I bought some new cold medicine that will certainly be more effective. Here are my four things for the

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a slice of life

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 received for Christmas since some of you might enjoy them as well…   Manet & Morisot – I was so excited to receive this book on Édouard Manet and Berthe Morisot.  After reading Paris in Ruins a few weeks ago, I was more interested in seeing the “conversation” the pair had in their paintings.  This book shows them side by side and covers their professional and personal relationship in more detail. 

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a slice of life

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 leftovers, and lingered a little longer in bed most days.  I recently learned the Scottish people call that time of lingering “hurkle-durkle,” and it’s my new favorite phrase.  The kitties and I love hurkle-durkling. Our Christmas Day was quiet and slow, thanks to a lot of prep work I did in advance and lessons learned from previous years of leaving too much for the day of.  I also made some

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a slice of life

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. Here are my four things for the week: Manet & Morisot, Band of Brothers, doing instead of consuming, and things that make me smile as a business owner.     what I’m reading I finished Paris in Ruins, and it was so good!  If you love history, impressionism, and a good story, do yourself a favor and read this book.  If I could wish a new period miniseries into existence, it

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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.

next art sale

May 20th, 2026 at 1pm EST

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