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Art

All Things Home

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. First of all, let me say that there really aren’t rules when it comes to style, art, decorating, or aesthetics.  I mean, there are rules (like the rule of thirds, the golden mean, complementary colors, etc.), but people break them all the time with outstanding results.  There are always exceptions.  Hang a portrait of your dog in any room of your house in any way you want.  But, since the question was asked, I will offer some practical tips and lend my opinion on the matter. This first picture is of animal portraits currently hanging

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Art

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 that HERE.  I will be released September 1, 2026, so you still have plenty of time, but I learned through the release of Feels Like Home that preorders have become an important part of a book’s success in the current market. Preordering is one of the best ways you can support an author and champion their work.  It tells booksellers how much interest there is in a book, helping them determine how many to order for their physical and online stores.    It can also put books on bestseller lists once they are released. So,

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a slice of life

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 the shells I was bringing home, too!)  For that reason, we decided not to go to the antique store.  I have a knack for finding impossibly large items at the most amazing prices when I don’t have room to get them home.  So, let’s not even tempt that scenario.  Instead, we decided to visit a local bookshop and the Gibbes Museum. I never would’ve pegged Jeff as someone who would do anything more than endure a museum visit, but he has come to appreciate and even enjoy them.  In truth, I had to learn the

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Art

criticism & what makes you an artist

I received a critical comment on social media a couple of weeks ago.  It happens when you share online, and after over 15 years of posting, I’ve gotten used to it and generally have a healthy perspective.  Most of the time, I can shrug off the comment.  It’s from a stranger on the Internet, and in many cases, it’s not even about me at all.  My inbox, DMs, or comment section is just where someone’s frustration, hurt, or bad mood landed on that particular day.  I usually don’t respond unless it’s necessary and seems like it would be productive. I can’t recall the last time I responded to a private, critical message publicly, but this comment has stuck with me, and I felt it was important to write about it.  The gist of the message was this: the commenter felt compelled to tell me I wasn’t a real artist.  She

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a slice of life

my favorite part of the Uffizi Museum

We are back in Florence, Italy, in today’s blog post, but this story will circle back to Charleston and then to my house in a beautiful, serendipitous story about art. It started with my favorite part of the Uffizi Museum.  Let me start off by saying that I loved most things about the Uffizi.  The U-shaped building with light-filled halls was spectacular, and the art collection might be my favorite of any museum I’ve visited to date.  It’s big enough to keep you busy, inspired, and interested, but it still can be toured in a day. I loved the Brozino exhibit, but I will share about that in its own post.  I will quickly say that it was breathtaking, and will, I think, forever impact me as an artist.    The exhibit that captured my heart, though, was the self-portrait gallery.  I love portraiture and seeing how artists see, interpret,

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Art

my painting style

When you first start a creative endeavor, you’re just trying to do the thing, and you aren’t too worried about what bucket or genre you might fit in. As you grow and start to find your style and voice, you do start to wonder where you fit. When people have asked me to define my art style over the years, I haven’t really been sure how to answer.  I like the impressionists, but my work clearly doesn’t look like a Monet or Degas.  My paintings are more “impressionistic”, though, in that I avoid getting too far in the weeds with detail.  I try to say as much as I can with what I need and no more.  I also usually paint what I see and want my art to look like a painting of a real subject or place.  Even with all the studying and reading I’ve done about art

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Art

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 print samples from several companies in different finishes to find my favorite.  I compared all of my sample prints (I ordered two of my paintings, one light and one dark, in 5 x 7s of each paper) and selected the one I liked best. Then, I needed to figure out the packaging. Prints are a fairly delicate product.  You don’t want them getting smudged, bent, marked, or wet, so they

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Art

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 they organized a retrospective after her death.  I wrote the quote in my Commonplace Notebook for future reference. AI seems to come up in conversation with more and more regularity, especially when it comes to creative work.  Will AI make artists, writers, filmmakers, designers, and the like obsolete? One of my commission clients sent me an AI-produced “oil painting” of her dog, and I have to admit, it was a

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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.

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May 20th, 2026 at 1pm EST

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