Artistic Endeavors Archives | Page 26 of 58

Artistic Endeavors

Art Supplies

vintage watercolor box giveaway

As I was thoroughly organizing the studio through February and March, I came to the conclusion that one person can only use so many antique and vintage art boxes! Don’t get me wrong, I am perfectly willing to extensively explore and discover the true limits of the number of art boxes one person can own, but I wanted to spread the love around to those who might want to explore that territory, too. I currently have two antique oil paint boxes, five watercolor boxes (two English Victorian and three mid-century French), a drafting box, two pastel boxes, and several smaller boxes for pencils, nibs, etc. What can I say? I love art supplies and pretty containers. I will offer no other excuses or clarifiers. The fact is, though, it is important to me to use things I have. It’s okay if using them means displaying them, admiring them, or actually

July 1, 2021 517 Comments

Antiques

marian parsons – hobby historian

“Great thoughts go best with common duties. Whatever, therefore, may be your office, regard it as a fragment in an immeasurable ministry of love.” ― Brooke Foss Westcott I received a new parcel from Julia of Ponder & Purchase. We initially connected through the antique sketchbooks of G. Herbert Kitchin and, since then, she’s been on the lookout for antique art supplies and other goodies for me. It works out great for both of us since she is frequently out shopping to supply her Etsy shop (and selling things directly to me saves her the time of listing the items), and most of the antique and vintage art supplies seem to have congregated in the UK. Maybe Americans just pitched theirs? Maybe hobby art wasn’t as big in the late 1800s – early 1900s here? Either way, she has a knack for finding little antique treasures to outfit my studio –

June 30, 2021 27 Comments

Artistic Endeavors

my first completed sketchbook

For all of the talk I do about journaling and sketchbooks, can you believe that I have never fully completed a sketchbook?! Well, not until a few weeks ago. I have filled plenty of pages in plenty of sketchbooks over the years, but I typically end up abandoning a book, unhappy with many of the completed pages. It’s interesting because I’m not a perfectionist, but I do take creative work seriously. When I was in college, studying musical theatre, my music theory teacher once told my parents at a performance, “Marian is very serious.” And I was. I vividly remember feeling an irritation with my peers who didn’t practice or work hard during rehearsals or focus during classes and workshops. I cared about doing things with excellence. So, when I’d go to fill a page in a sketchbook, I would look back at the previous pages and cringe at some.

June 16, 2021 18 Comments

Artistic Endeavors

isle of palms | part three | painting & sketching

Our trip to Isle of Palms in May was primarily about visiting with family and celebrating my parent’s 50th anniversary (51st now since it had to be postponed for a year), but it was also our first vacation in a long time, so I wanted to take intentional time to do things that were restful and restorative. Being at the beach and gathering shells were a part of that, but so was painting and sketching. Not only are those endeavors relaxing, but they help me really pay attention, be observant, be present, and appreciate the beauty around me. So, I made a commitment that I would paint or sketch every day, even if it was just a quick pencil sketch while sitting at the beach. And I stuck to that, even doing some quick landscape sketches in the car ride. I also wanted to work on watercolor sketches and drawing

June 7, 2021 36 Comments

Art

creative play | sketches with Calvin

Calvin has expressed an interest in art off and on for the past few years. He’ll ask to paint with me or request that I buy him some art supplies or a sketchbook, but he hasn’t stayed motivated in that arena. But, anytime he asks, I say yes. I can see he has a natural inclination for it and I think his mind is well suited for creative work in some shape or form. So, when he asked me if we could take an illustration class together, I pulled out my laptop and we started watching course trailers immediately. We found a class on Domestika – The Art of Sketching; Transforming Your Doodles into Art and it has been so much fun working on it together. He took notes as the instructor was going over his influences and wanted to make sure we had all of the right tools to

May 14, 2021 19 Comments

design

creating a book cover | feels like home

If you missed it, I have a that is all about customizing your house (or apartment, condo, townhouse) so that it feels like home. I would definitely consider writing a book a labor of love, but this book wasn’t a slog or a tiring push to the finish line. It wasn’t, as they say, like “cutting myself open to let the words bleed out.” It did demand a lot of me, but it came easily and I thoroughly enjoyed the work and the process. I overshot my word target by a mile and we had more pictures than we had room for! In my creative joy, I was able to produce an overabundance of what we needed and I hope the result is a book that is enjoyed by many. One of the places where I got a little stuck, though, was shooting the cover of the book. I wasn’t

May 12, 2021 25 Comments

Artistic Endeavors

may 12 art sale preview

Despite putting a focus on custom paintings over the past 2-3 weeks, I also accumulated enough paintings to have an art sale before I work on the next round of commissions and the next series. We’ll be going to the beach for my parent’s 50th (now 51st) anniversary, so I am planning on focusing my next sale specifically around inspiration I pick up from that trip. Of course, there will be lots of beaches and skies, but I hope to get some pictures of sailboats, lighthouses, and beautiful buildings and street scenes from around Charleston. I’m really excited about creating a collection around one specific theme. Aside from the 100 meadows and 100 still lifes, I am sort of all over the place! I paint whatever inspires me, which could be people, landscapes, still life, a master copy. I don’t want to box myself in too much, but it’s also

May 11, 2021 26 Comments

Creative Play

creative play | customizing a sketchbook

I’ve been spending a lot of time with my Kitchin sketchbooks, reading them, doing pencil studies of the sketches, and scanning each page. Handling them has made me think about my own sketchbooks and how I approach keeping a record of how I see the world. Beyond admiring the artistry, I love how the sketchbooks are a uniform collection. Aside from one that is a little larger, all of the books are the same size and covered in linen. He signed the interior and put his address in addition to labeling the cover and spine with the year(s) the book was filled. It inspired me to go through my sketchbooks and be more intentional about seeing them as a part of a larger collection instead of as individual books. I still like to have separate books for different mediums and purposes, but I want to be mindful of how they

May 7, 2021 16 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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