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Art

Art

100 meadows project | no. 41-60

I can’t believe I’ve made it over the halfway mark in the #100meadows project!  When I started, I was pretty sure that I wouldn’t even make it this far, but now it looks like I will easily reach 100 and beyond.  I’m already thinking about what my next art challenge will be! I still have a lot to learn, but it’s so encouraging to see how much improvement I’ve made just by daily discipline, practice, and reading up on oil landscape painting. As usual, I’ll share each painting, some of my notes on them, as well as the inspiration picture. No. 41 I was excited about painting another barn, but the shape and color of this barn had me a little apprehensive.  I like how the sky turned out and the overall color and composition, but this one ended up lacking value and depth, so it looks a little flat. 

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All Things Home

art studio organization

This art studio is totally different from my last one.  It’s about a 20th of the size, maybe even smaller than that.  It doesn’t have storage closets, rolling dividing walls, or many zones for different tasks.  This studio is designed specifically for small-scale creative endeavors and photography. No shipping, no office work, no big sewing or furniture projects. Even small-scale creative endeavors require lots of gear, though so art studio organization is vital! I am still figuring out how to maximize the space I do have, but this is what’s working for me so far… The large, antique hardware store cabinet is the focal point, statement piece, and most of my storage rolled into one.  It’s perfectly sized for art supplies – everything from tubes of paints and brushes to canvas and papers. (For those who missed it, I found the cabinet on Craigslist.  It came out of an old

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Art

studio organization

This studio is totally different from my last one.  It’s about a 20th of the size, maybe even smaller than that.  It doesn’t have storage closets, rolling dividing walls, or many zones for different tasks.  This studio is designed specifically for small-scale creative endeavors and photography.  No shipping, no office work, no big sewing or furniture projects. Even small-scale creative endeavors require lots of gear, though!  I am still figuring out how to maximize the space I do have, but this is what’s working for me so far… The large, antique hardware store cabinet is the focal point, statement piece, and most of my storage rolled into one.  It’s perfectly sized for art supplies – everything from tubes of paints and brushes to canvas and papers. (For those who missed it, I found the cabinet on Craigslist.  It came out of an old hardware store in Maryland.) Someone asked and

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Art

100 meadows project | 21-40

Well, I’ve been sticking with the 100 meadows project and I do believe that I will make it to 100!  I am almost halfway there and I found myself getting emotional when I completed #40.  I have grown so much and learned so much.  This has been such a worthwhile artistic undertaking on so many levels and it has pushed me to explore oils and practice them almost daily. If you’d like to see my progress from the beginning, you can check out 1-20 HERE. I’ve also shared about the 100 Meadows Project HERE and what I’ve learned so far about working with oils in PART 1 and PART 2. In this post, I’m sharing paintings 21-40… My second group of 20 was kicked off with a yellow-flower-filled meadow in Switzerland.  I struggled on the tree and the composition of this one, but I was enjoying skies more and I

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Art

oil painting | what I’ve learned so far (pt 2)

I shared all about the paints, brushes, and painting surfaces I’m using in PART ONE of this series following my oil painting journey.  The post was getting really long, so I split it into two posts.  I would suggest reading the first one, if you haven’t, so you hear the story behind this journey.  I also want to restate that I am new to oils, so I’m just sharing what I’m doing and take it with a grain of salt.  I hope that I communicate – If I can do it, you can do it.   And I don’t mean that we’re going to be good all the time!  But we can have fun learning and expanding our horizons. So, let me share about inspiration… I am regularly sucked down the rabbit hole of oil painting tutorials on You Tube, painting blogs, forums, etc. and I’ve picked up a lot just

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Art

oil painting | what I’ve learned so far (pt 1)

One of the things that has been so enjoyable about the 100 meadows project, is how it’s pushed me to learn a medium that, quite honestly, intimidated me.  Oil painting seemed so serious, technical, and with strict rules.  It’s for the real artists, not the aspiring ones.  And if you can even get beyond all of those notions and put brush to canvas, how do you clean up the palette, paints, oil mediums, and solvents? I stuck my toe in the oil painting waters when I was back in PA and my “art friend”, Katie, who is a trained artist (and a very talented one), walked me through some of the basics.  When I moved, though, I was nervous about picking it back up again on my own.  I figured it would be one of those things I got excited about for a brief time, but didn’t continue to pursue.

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Art

barn quilt coloring book & art journaling

I have been working on several projects over the past few months and one of them has finally hit the market!  The Barn Quilt Coloring Book is now available. This project was something totally different for me.  First of all, it involved drawing instead of writing!  But it felt like a project that worked nicely with my brand, despite the fact that it wasn’t like anything I’d done before. I never even thought of doing a coloring book!  But, the company who is publishing the Home Design Doodle Book presented this project and we developed the idea together. I first had to do a ton of research on barn quilts and traditional quilt squares.  Since I live in Pennsylvania, a place where barn quilts are pretty commonly seen, I was familiar with them, but I didn’t know the history.  (For those who don’t know what a barn quilt is, it’s a

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Art

the discipline of art

As someone with a degree in Musical Theatre, you would think I’ve known for a long time that art is a discipline.  I really never thought about that as I was signing into the studio for an hour of vocal scales or filling notebooks with the “inner monologue” of the latest part I was playing.  At the time, I just loved every minute of it and figured, since I was studying musical theatre, it made sense that I was doing things musical and theatre-y!  I never really viewed it as work or practice, but then again, I had loved it since I was four. Even though I worked hard and I took practices very seriously, I didn’t really put the connection between art and discipline together until recent years. Discipline can be an “ugh” kind of word, but in this case, it should be an encouragement.  It means that anyone

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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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