Artistic Endeavors Archives | Page 24 of 58

Artistic Endeavors

creative play | lino cutting & printing

“You can learn new things at any time in your life if you’re willing to be a beginner. If you actually learn to like being a beginner, the whole world opens up for you.” ― Barbara Sher When I was in my 20s, I decided I was going to learn to play the violin. I bought a cheap student violin with a warped bow off of and a beginner’s book with a CD to get started. As I waited for my order to arrive, I had visions of being able to play beautifully from the first stroke. It would be an intuitive talent that was built into my DNA. Well, I pulled my violin out of the case and, just as you would expect, I needed to learn everything. It was disappointingly unfamiliar. I had to learn to set up the bridge, rosin the bow, and the finger placements. I had

September 29, 2021 13 Comments

Art Supplies

Feels Like Home | Giveaway for the Artist

I have another giveaway for you in celebration of my new book, ! It’ll be coming out in just over two weeks!! I’m am so excited that we’re nearing the launch date as this book has been in the works for almost three years. I finished writing it almost a year ago, so I have been waiting for a long time! If you haven’t preordered the book, yet, you can preorder it from any one of these retailers… ||| | And claim your preorder bonuses HERE and find instructions on claiming your preorder bonuses HERE if you need some help. The preorder bonuses include an original art download, a bonus chapter: Feels Like Home the Renter’s Guide, and five video workshops and enhanced tutorials from the book. Today, I am having a bonus giveaway because my friend, Julia of , wanted to join in on the celebratory giveaways and she sent

September 24, 2021 362 Comments

Art Supplies

antique watercolor palettes

Calls with my friend Julia in the UK have become a pretty regular weekly thing. She’ll give me a call or text pictures of some of the latest treasures she found for me. We’ll also just chat about life and family between talks about antique watercolor palettes and other fun art supplies. We are definitely two peas in a pod when it comes to things we love and she’s gracious enough to sell me pieces she loves, too. In one of our recent conversations, as I told her to add something else to my pile for the next box she sends across the pond, she said, “There can’t be much more that you need, right?” I laughed, “First of all, I don’t need any of this!” Art supplies and books have become my vice over the past couple of years and, honestly, there are worse vices to have. I’m sure

September 21, 2021 14 Comments

Art Supplies

back-to-school supplies for mom

Back-to-school is such an exciting time. We make sure the pants are not high-waters, everyone gets a new pair of shoes, and we get to go shopping for pens, pencils, notebooks, and hand sanitizer. But, we also need to take a minute to acknowledge that it’s such a hard time for moms. The house is so quiet and clean and there isn’t anything to do but sit around and be sad until your kids come bounding home from school, ready to eat a snack the size of a meal. It’s just a really rough time and moms deserve some consolation goodies to fill up that quiet, clean hole her kids leave in the house all day. When we get the boys’ supplies ready for back-to-school, we take an inventory of things we already have and then shop for the things that aren’t crossed off the list. Moms are exempt from

September 14, 2021 30 Comments

Artistic Endeavors

start where you’ll start

There’s a popular saying, “Start where you are.” I’d like to tweak that a little bit. Start where you’ll start. That has been the answer I’ve given several different people over the past few weeks who have asked me a variety of questions. “We just moved into a new house and I’m not sure where to start decorating. Where do you suggest starting?” There are a few different places you could start depending on the house and your situation. Obviously, time, finances, and the bandwidth of life all play into working on a house. So, here are a few possibilities… Start where it’s easiest – the room feels like it would take the shortest amount of time to finish. You already have most of the components of the room and finishing it would be relatively quick and low cost. Start where you have the clearest vision. Sometimes we know exactly

September 13, 2021 9 Comments

Decorating

feels like home | preorder bonus two | renter’s guide

It’s Friday! If you have already preordered the book and collected the first preorder bonus I announced (the free high-resolution original art download), then you may have snooped around and discovered the second preorder bonus that I’m highlighting today – a bonus chapter! It’s the Feels Like Home Renter’s Guide. While there are a lot of ideas in that can be applied to spaces that are rented, I felt compelled to write a bonus chapter specifically for renters. Yes, you can rearrange furniture, hang art on the walls, add lots of yummy layers, and textures, but there are limitations when you’re renting. Having been a renter for many years as an adult, I know from experience and was bursting at the seams to paint a wall when we bought our first little townhouse. I grew up in rentals, though. It actually might be one step down from a rental, because

September 10, 2021 7 Comments

my business story

feels like home book launch team

Thank you so much for all of the enthusiasm and support for my new book, ! Writing a book is such a long process and you never know how it will be received, but the feedback I’ve been hearing on the sneak peeks and previews have been so positive and encouraging. I can’t wait until the physical book ships out to all of those who order it! For those who have preordered the book and are super-excited about it, I’d like to invite you into something really special – The Feels Like Home Launch Book Team! Since I’ve never launched a launch team before and you may have never been on a launch team (or heard of one), let’s do a little Q&A. I’ll answer the questions I think you’ll have and then I’ll answer them, too. You can just sit back and read! So, basically, just like usual. What

August 19, 2021 7 Comments

Art Supplies

refinishing a vintage paint palette

I spent much of last week working on some freelance writing projects, so I didn’t have a chance to make more progress on the basement family room makeover. I am planning to install the chair rail this week, though, and get some more painting done. This is a slow and steady project, but I do want to keep some forward momentum going! Since I don’t have an update on the basement, I thought I would share a little project I worked on a couple of weeks ago – refinishing a vintage paint palette. I realize this is sort of a niche thing and not everyone has a vintage paint palette sitting around that they want to refinish and use, but refinishing wood is refinishing wood. This would work for a cutting board, a tabletop, a dresser… anything that is wood. I purchased this palette off of Etsy because I loved

August 17, 2021 8 Comments

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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