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Oil Painting

Art

Original Art Sale Preview | May 20, 2026

I typically post my previews a few days ahead of an original art sale, but May has been so busy that this sale snuck up on me! The next original art sale is tomorrow, Wednesday, May 20, 2026, at 1:00 pm Eastern (New York) or noon for presale subscribers.  If you subscribe HERE, you can shop the sale before it opens to everyone else.  (This isn’t a blog subscription.  You will only receive emails with presale information for this and future original art sales.) In this original art sale, I have pieces ranging from some Index Card Art Project landscapes ($65) to a 12 x 16 black lab portrait ($650).  This collection includes still life paintings featuring clementines, blueberries, and cherries.  There are landscapes from Maryland, South Carolina, and England.  And I have a few animal portraits available, including Cotswold cows, sheep, and a couple of dogs. As usual, this

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Art

Lucketts Spring Market Preview (available original paintings)

As I shared a couple of weeks ago, I’m heading back to the Lucketts Spring Market as a semi-vendor.  Since my business has changed so much over the past eight years, I’m just testing the waters to see how my original art will sell at that venue.  I’ll be there just one day, Friday, May 15, from 1-4 pm, to do a bit of painting and be available to say hello.  I’m also bringing along some of my original oil paintings to sell.  As is my custom with Lucketts (and my online art sales), I’m posting a preview of the items I’m bringing along with measurements and prices.  I do this so potential buyers have an opportunity to consider the piece without the rush and pressure of the market.  They can consult their significant other, if necessary, their budget, and make sure they have the perfect spot for it.  Since

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Art

growth

Growth doesn’t usually happen in leaps and bounds.  It’s something that sneaks up on you; it’s masked by time and embedded in the act of showing up every day.  One day, you look up and realize you’ve traveled a great distance, closing the gap between where you want to be and where you were.  It was done in increments so small they were barely noticed.  You hope for it, catch glimpses of it, and feel like you’re making some progress, but you don’t really know how far you’ve come until you take the time to measure. I had the chance to do that last week, and even though I know I’ve grown a lot as an artist, I was still pretty excited at the tangible evidence.  This was the second commissioned dog portrait I painted.  I had painted Sebastian and the cats and was toying with the idea of offering

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Art

Pup Club Prints | fine art prints for dog & art lovers

Thank you to everyone who is trying to subscribe!  We had some technical issues, but it’s working now! Also, I decided to offer a big thank you to those who sign up for the first month’s print.  Founding Pup Club members will be entered to win an original 8 x 10 commissioned oil painting (animal, still life, or landscape), a $300 value. I am so excited to finally launch Pup Club Prints, a monthly art subscription I’ve been working on in the background for a few months.  I’ve ordered dozens of prints to find my favorite paper and printing option so I can offer fine art giclee prints directly through my new online shop and on a subscription basis for those who are interested.  I’ve been testing stamps and stickers to label the official prints.  I’ve ordered envelope samples and seal stickers so I can have all my ducks in

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Artistic Endeavors

Spring Break Paintings

Painting really is like any other skill or strength-based activity.  If you step away from it, even for a few days, there is a bit of dust to knock off when you get back to it.  For this reason, I wanted to try to fit in some painting while I was at the beach.  Not only is it good practice in general, but it’s good practice to get better at painting when away from my studio.  I feel pretty confident in saying that I’m much more comfortable as a studio painter, but I do want to improve when it comes to painting in a new environment with different light, and pared-down tools and materials.  It’s also a nice way to fill the time when the sun is too intense for me to be on the beach. I painted on the covered porch at our rental house when the weather was

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Artistic Endeavors

King Louis & Sky Miles | IOP Dog Reunions

Each morning, as we walk and collect shells on the beach, there is also a dog party happening.  At Isle of Palms, dogs are allowed off their leashes to run free for a few hours each morning, and both owners and dogs take advantage.  Dogs are running in the surf, chasing balls, playing with each other, greeting all the other beach-goers (who are there for them, naturally), and jogging alongside their owners.  It finally occurred to me in 2024 that it was the perfect opportunity to gather reference photos of dogs!  I did it secretly for a couple of days, pretending to photograph the beach, clouds, and surf, while also capturing a dog trotting in the water after a tennis ball.  Finally, I got a little braver and asked the owners if I could photograph their dogs.  Everyone I asked was happy to oblige, and most even helped me get

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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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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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