Artistic Endeavors Archives | Page 37 of 58

Artistic Endeavors

All Things Home

designing fabric & papers for spoonflower

A few weeks ago, I shared that my second quilting fabric collection with FreeSpirit Fabrics wasn’t going to be produced. (You can find that post HERE.) Thanks for all of your encouragement on that, by the way! The brief feeling of failure that comes with any news like that quickly shifted into excitement. This means I can take my designs and what I’ve learned and translate them into the world of home decor fabrics and papers. I am in the very beginning stages of reworking my existing designs and putting some plans together for new collections and colorways. Once the designs are ready, they will be for sale on Spoonflower. One of the challenges with designing fabrics (or anything, really), is finding a way to communicate the ideas and concepts that live in your head with other people. That sounds like a no brainer, but it’s more challenging than you

April 25, 2019 23 Comments

All Things Home

the toledo drafting stool & equipto cart

There are two things that have been on my shopping list for a while – an antique adjustable drafting stool and a rolling cart, both for my studio. I’ve been trolling craigslist and looking at local antique and consignment shops and haven’t found anything that was just right. Well, I hit the jackpot at Junk Bonanza and found both! A rolling cart (green, no less) by Equipto and an antique Toledo drafting stool. One of the reasons it took me so long to locate these items is that I was being very picky. The cart had to be the right size, the right configuration, the right color, and it had to roll well. The chair had to be comfortable, sturdy, and all of the parts had to work properly. Let’s start with the antique Toledo drafting stool/chair. It was my most expensive purchase at $129. I paused for a moment

April 22, 2019 26 Comments

Art

index card art project update

Through the month of March, I’ve been working on the #indexcardartproject with two of my Instagram friends – @mishwooderson and @openfieldmercantile . It’s been such a great exercise for me in a lot of ways and I thought I would share my thoughts and takeaways so far. First off, if you want to get into art in any capacity, a project like this is a great way to do it. It’s a commitment to consistency, not to creating anything great or frame-worthy. It’s about learning through putting pencil-to-paper so to speak. And, with just 17 cards done, I have already learned a lot. Here are five of the areas where I feel like I’ve grown the most. one | shapes I’m learning to focus on the larger shapes of a subject. I seem to be able to do this with certain things, but I get bogged down with the details

March 20, 2019 50 Comments

Art

#indexcardartproject

My whole oil painting journey started with a challenge. Michelle Wooderson, a watercolor artist I took a class from through Jeanne Oliver’s artist network, started the #100meadowsproject as a way to dive into oil painting. I really wanted to learn and I figured the best way was to put paint to canvas, so I joined her. Another Instagram friend, Page Ellis, took on the challenge as well and the three of us encouraged each other and shared our research, trials, and victories. I sent them so many pictures of bad paintings and they always found something nice to say! Anyway, I learned a lot during that project… everything from the discipline of creating daily to how to handle the paint better. I followed it with the #100oilstills challenge I set for myself. And I learned even more from my mistakes and successes, as well as from online classes and art books. Lately,

February 27, 2019 37 Comments

All Things Home

picture ledges

There are some decorating decisions you make that look nice and you think they will function well, and then they don’t. Such is the case with a few areas in my studio. I shared the overall plan HERE and we will start rearranging the furniture and working on those larger projects soon, but I’ve started on some of the smaller changes. One of those changes was making this skinny wall between the two doors work a little smarter… I hung two bulletin boards with the intention of pinning resources, inspirational pictures, color charts, etc. I’ve pinned this and that, but I never really use it. I also realized the top bulletin board was too high for me to reach all but the lowest part of it, so it remained mostly empty. With wet paintings leaned up all over the studio, I really needed some picture ledges to use for paintings

February 3, 2019 109 Comments

a slice of life

curiosity killed the cat…

…but I am not a cat. And neither are you. When I was on my creative retreat last March, there were a few themes that kept coming up. They were from different authors and podcasters and, if I heard them more than once, it really made me take notice. Enthusiasm, showing up, schedule, and routine were some of those themes. Another one was curiosity. Since then, I’ve heard curiosity brought up in many creative business podcasts. Follow your curiosity. Be curious. Stay curious. I even heard it in a sermon about cynicism. One way to combat cynicism is to be curious…to not assume the outcome, but to approach life with a sort of wonder. “What would happen if…” It’s the triumph of hope over experience. (Does anyone recognize that period drama reference?) I realized, as I’ve been listening to all of this talk about curiosity, that I meander through my creative

January 18, 2019 51 Comments

All Things Home

the Carlisle & the Hanover

Remember the Dash & Albert rug design competition that happened back in the summer of 2017? Well, samples of the rugs were made, approved, and now they are finally for sale on the Dash & Albert website! If you remember, both of these designs were based on elements of an antique coverlet I bought a few years ago. The Hanover rug is the all-over coverlet pattern in a repeat, simplified to work for a rug… …and the Carlisle is an enlarged section of the border. They are named after two towns in Pennsylvania – Hanover and Carlisle. I found the coverlet in an antique shop in Carlisle and I often frequented antique stores in Hanover, so those names seemed fitting. Here is the Hanover in my office… That was just the sample and I now have a smaller version of it in our guest bathroom downstairs. And here is the

December 18, 2018 23 Comments

Art

no. 100 & manet master copy

In case you don’t follow me on Instagram (or you missed it), I wanted to share that I finished number 100 of my #100oilstills series! It’s pretty amazing to think that I have painted over 200 oil paintings in the last year, especially since it’s just a side hobby. And, I was so pleased that number 100 turned out as well as it did and I could clearly see how all of the hours put in at the easel between numbers 1 and 100 have paid off. One of my followers on my art Instagram account said it was like a bouquet of yellow fireworks, celebrating the achievement. I loved that description of it. As a comparison, here is number 1 and number 100 side by side. Since progress is my goal, I would say that goal has been met. I have continued doing still life paintings since I have

October 23, 2018 58 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.

next art sale

August 13th, 2026 at 1pm EST

Now Available

Move Slow & Make Things

A book about creativity, intention, and making things with care. Sign up to receive updates, preorder details, and exclusive bonus content.

From the Studio

Artful pieces for your home and everyday life.

From original paintings and art prints to Pup Club releases and curated goods, each piece is created or chosen to bring warmth, creativity, and character into your home.

From the Studio and Home

Shop the Feed

A handpicked collection of items styled and shared throughout posts, projects, and social feeds. Every product is thoughtfully chosen to reflect a timeless, collected aesthetic.