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Oil Painting

Art

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 of a Cotswold cow ($650).  This collection includes still life paintings featuring plums, clementines, limelight hydrangeas, blueberries, and pears.  There are landscapes from Maryland, Italy, and England.  And I have a few animal portraits available, including Cotswold sheep, rabbits, one cow, and a few dogs (one Italian and the rest American).  I always think I’m going to stick to one theme for an online sale, and maybe I will one

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a slice of life

plein air painting at Hidcote

Let me start by saying plein air painting is not my sweet spot.  While I enjoy painting outside and on location, I’m rarely very happy with the results.  I prefer painting in my studio in a more controlled environment.  The lighting is relatively fixed; I have my easel and chair set to my height, all of my supplies are readily at hand, and I don’t have to worry about bugs sticking to my painting.  Whenever I paint outside, I feel like I’m fumbling around a bit, and I almost always feel rushed.  I know I would get more comfortable with practice, but it’s also okay if studio painting is my preference and where I do my best work. That being said, painting on location does a lot for my artist’s heart.  I love the experience of painting in a place.  Whenever I sketch or paint on location, that moment is

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Art

DIY wet panel carrier for oil paintings

In my previous post about traveling with oil paints, I mentioned I would share a DIY wet panel carrier tutorial, and here it is!  If you don’t use oil paints, you may wonder what a wet panel carrier is and why it’s necessary.  One of the wonderful things about oil paints is that they are slow-drying. This gives you a lot of time to blend and nudge the paint around, or even just scrape it off.  I find it’s even more forgiving than a pencil, which is one of the reasons I love working with oils. The downside of working with a slow-drying medium when traveling is that you now have a wet painting to transport home.  That is why artists who work with oil paints need a wet panel carrier.  I usually use premade wet panel cases from Raymar when I’m painting on the go, and they work great. 

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Art Supplies

packing art supplies for international travel

I’ve been bringing along art supplies when I travel for the past few years.  When I went to China in 2017, I had a vision of standing on the Great Wall and capturing the experience in a sketchbook.  I was nervous about it, but I did it!  The sketch was rubbish, but I learned that it wasn’t about the results.  It was about the process, about being fully present, and taking time to observe.  (You can read the post about that HERE.) Since then, I have always brought art supplies with me when I travel.  Both times I visited Europe, I made a point to set aside time to sketch and paint.  Again, I didn’t end up with anything I was particularly proud of, but I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I’ve always just brought along supplies for sketching and watercolors, though, because they are easy to pack and travel with. 

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Art

September 2, 2025 | original art sale preview

As always, thank you so much to all my new and returning collectors!  It is truly an honor that you would hang a piece of my art in your home.  Over the past year, I’ve primarily been working on animal portrait commissions, so I enjoyed shifting gears to focus on still life and landscape paintings.  I loved creating these pieces and hope you find one that resonates with you. My next original art sale is scheduled for Tuesday, September 2, 2025, at 1:00 p.m. Eastern (New York).  In this original art sale, I have pieces ranging from 8 x 10 ($225) up to a framed 16 x 20 ($650).  This collection includes still life paintings featuring clementines, limelight hydrangeas, peaches, mock orange blossoms, and white irises.  I also have a few landscapes based on photos taken around Maryland. As usual, this post provides a preview of all available works, including

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a slice of life

A short trip to MN & upcoming art sale

Jeff is usually the one who takes the boys on trips so they can have some father/son bonding time, but he had recently been on a couple of trips, and it would’ve been a stretch to miss more work.  So, as we planned a trip to Minnesota for Calvin to visit his friends, it was clear I would be the one to take him.  At first, it felt like a minor inconvenience, something I was doing just for him, but it turned into a treat for me as well.  Since Calvin has plans for most of our short trip, I would have time to do whatever I wanted.  I decided to turn that time into a mini-creative retreat.  I would spend two days collecting inspiration, painting, reading, and resting. I had planned to stay in a hotel, but when I reached out to schedule a meal with my friend, Cheri,

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Art

oil painting video tutorial | white irises

After working on pet and animal portraits for most of this year, I decided to take a little break and paint some still life and landscapes.  First of all, I want the practice.  I don’t want to get rusty in those subjects, even though working on one kind of painting informs and often improves another.  These are also the most popular subjects for licensing, so I wanted to create some new works to submit and sell in my next original art sale.  I’ve been working on rural landscapes, oranges, and now irises.  While I’ve been painting, I set up my camera so I could make video tutorials for those who want to paint along.  So, here is a video tutorial on painting these white irises…   This painting is based on a photo I took while on a walk one morning this spring.  One of our neighbors keeps the prettiest

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Art

photo tips for pet portraits

I have been drawn to portraits for years, so it was only natural for me to explore portraiture once I started drawing and painting.  Painting portraits of living people can be tricky, though.  Winston Churchill famously burned a commissioned oil portrait capturing his appearance in his retirement years because he hated it.  It was a good likeness, but he was wounded by how the artist viewed and portrayed him, to the point that he threw a high-quality piece of original art by a celebrated artist into a bonfire.  I like painting and drawing people, but I’ll likely do it for my own enjoyment and not on commission.  Instead, I explored the world of pet portraits about three years ago.  I can still capture faces, personality, and expression the way I see it, without wounding someone’s vanity!  Now that I have quite a few pet portraits under my belt, I’ve learned

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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

August 13th, 2026 at 1pm EST

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