Between Thanksgiving break spent with family and trying to get my gift guides posted, I didn’t share my four things last week! It’s that time of year when I start feeling a little crunched to post everything in a timely manner. But I really love writing this post each week. It gives me a catch-all place to share bits and pieces of my work and life.
Here are my four things for the week: Art & Fear, Dickensian, “they call it art”, and more pet portraits.
what I’m reading
Art & Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland. Oh my goodness, this book blew my socks off, and I plowed through it in two days, taking copious amounts of notes. This book was first published in 1994, when I was in high school, but it still felt so relevant. There were some clues that the book was older, but some of the challenges and rewards of being an arist in the digital age seemed to be addressed even though most homes didn’t have internet. I can’t recommend this book highly enough for working and hobby artists.
what I’m watching
I actually haven’t been watching TV very much lately, so I will recommend a series I love to watch this time of year – Dickensian. It is a prequel series set in the world of Dickens. It specifically features characters from Great Expectations, Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol, and Bleak House. It is helpful if you are familiar with those stories, but it is not necessary. I love this series and, if you haven’t seen it, I would add it to your watch list!
what I’m loving
“In a darkened theatre, the man in the tuxedo waves his hand, and the pigeon appears. We call it magic. In a sunlit studio, a painter waves her hand, and the whole world takes form. We call it art.” Ted Bayles on Magic in Art & Fear
what I’m working on
Even over Thanksgiving break at my in-laws’ house, I worked on pet portraits. I’ve been completing about one a day, so I can get all my Christmas commissions sent out by mid-December. Once those are done, I’m going to spend a bit more time on some fun Christmas projects as well as paintings for my first original art sale next year.
Here are a few of my recent pet portraits…
If you’re interested in learning more about my process or just watching these paintings come to life, I’ve started sharing over on TikTok (just to test it out) and on my @marianparsonsart Instagram page HERE.
What have you been reading, watching, loving, and working on?
12 Responses
My husband and I are about to watch the final episode of Ken Burn’s “The American Revolution” tonight. Watching it has made us realize what a miracle it is that this country even exists. The Founding Fathers were such a querulous, opinionated bunch!
Yes, we’ve been watching that, too. We haven’t finished it, yet.
I agree! It’s a wonderful series as is anything Ken Burns does.
If you enjoy watching Charles Dickens shows, you may enjoy the Christmas movie The Man Who Invented Christmas. I really enjoy watching every year.
Yes! I love that movie. 🙂
Your pet portraits are stunning.
Your pet portraits are so beautiful, so lifelike! The Yellow Lab portrait especially touched my heart as it looked a lot like my Abby who passed away earlier this year at almost 16 years old. She was my soul dog.
Aw, I am so sorry. We lost our dog this summer and it was so hard. I still cry about it and miss him.
Thank you for the recommendation of Dickensian! I am in rehearsals now for my second year in an interactive and immersive production of A Christmas Carol – 4 actors playing as many as 10 roles each. I’ve always loved Dickens but speaking his words as an actor makes me appreciate the beauty of the language and the timelessness of his tales even more. If you really want to nerd out on Dickens (and A Christmas Carol, in particular) there is a daily advent podcast by a group called The Merry Beggars which is wonderful, an online course with Hillsdale College and a hilarious BBC production of A Christmas Carol Goes Wrong on Tubi. I’m always doing my research with any role and there is SO much out there where Dickens is concerned. Your pet portraits are just wonderful, as always. The recipients will cherish them, I am sure.
Oh, that sounds so cool – the production and the podcast. I’ll have to check it out.
I’m a cat-person, so I was so happy to see a kitty. I wasn’t sure if you specialized in dogs, and didn’t do cats at all!
I actually paint all sorts of pets! I’ve painted cows, horses, a chicken, cats, and dogs, but dogs outnumber them all!