Category Archives: skelly

All Gussied Up

Click to bid • 10x8in. • pastel on paper • starts at $100

Getting my Halloween on!

Sign up for my Bone Appetit newsletter! You’ll get regular updates about my latest work in the studio and insights into my process. Plus, get a free downloadable print just for signing up!

Sign up for my Marie Marfia Fine Art newsletter! You’ll get regular updates about my latest work in the studio plus insights into my process. Plus, get a free downloadable print just for signing up!

You can buy my art imprinted on all kinds of cool stuff in my Fine Art America Shop. You can purchase my original art on Daily Paint Works.

Curtain Call

Messing around with my new skull and some dried roses I have leftover. Doesn’t she look happy?

Sign up for my Bone Appetit newsletter! You’ll get regular updates about my latest work in the studio and insights into my process. Plus, get a free downloadable print just for signing up!

You can buy my art imprinted on all kinds of cool stuff in my Fine Art America Shop. You can purchase my original art on Daily Paint Works.

Orange is My New Black

Anyone else wearing florescent hunter orange absolutely everywhere they go these days?

Sign up for my Bone Appetit newsletter! You’ll get regular updates about my latest work in the studio and insights into my process. Plus, get a free downloadable print just for signing up!

You can buy my art imprinted on all kinds of cool stuff in my Fine Art America Shop. You can purchase my original art on Daily Paint Works.

Nose in a Book

I’ve always got my nose in a book! You?

Sign up for my Bone Appetit newsletter! You’ll get regular updates about my latest work in the studio and insights into my process. Plus, get a free downloadable print just for signing up!

You can buy my art imprinted on all kinds of cool stuff in my Fine Art America Shop. You can purchase my original art on Daily Paint Works.

A Toast to Old Friends

Well, well, well. We meet again! Skull still lifes throughout the spooky season. This is fun!

Sign up for my Bone Appetit newsletter! You’ll get regular updates about my latest work in the studio and insights into my process. Plus, get a free downloadable print just for signing up!

You can buy my art imprinted on all kinds of cool stuff in my Fine Art America Shop. You can purchase my original art on Daily Paint Works.

The Great Summer 2022 Print Giveaway

Did you know that I’m giving away as many as 72 prints this summer? Amazing, right?

Here’s how it works. I have a booth every Thursday at the Artisan Market this summer in downtown Ludington, MI from May 26 through September 22, 2022. Every week I offer a giveaway of either a landscape or skelly print to anyone who signs up. No purchase necessary! Pretty cool!

But there’s more! I am also randomly drawing names from my existing email list to send a print, either skelly or landscape, by mail. So just by being a subscriber you are entered to win either a beautiful landscape or a fun skelly print each week this summer. So by signing up early, you have more chances to win!

So, come on out to the Artisan Market this summer and get in on The Great Summer 2022 Print Giveaway! Or sign up here on my website. Either way, you’re entered in the giveaway. It’s my way of thanking my subscribers for hanging with me. You’re all awesome.

Sign up for my Bone Appetit newsletter! You’ll get regular updates about my latest work in the studio and insights into my process. Plus, get a free downloadable print just for signing up!

You can buy my art imprinted on all kinds of cool stuff in my Fine Art America Shop. You can purchase my original art on Daily Paint Works.

Waving bon voyage

I took Bonnie down to the Waterfront Park in Ludington to wave at the S.S. Badger the other morning. I remember back when my kids were little and I would take them to go watch the carferry sail off on her maiden voyage of the season. One year my mother came as well and a picture of us all waving at the boat was published in the local paper and then subsequently picked up by the Associated Press. Mom told me that at mass the next Sunday, a friend of the family told her he’d recognized her in the picture, even though none of us was id’ed in the photo. I said, “Just goes to show that lech has been looking at your butt all these years.” She laughed.

Bonnie waves to the *Badger* as it sails out of port.

Bonnie and I were the only ones waving to the passengers on the Badger this day. No surprise, since we were a few days into the season already and it was kind of cold out. Bonnie never minds the weather, though.

Sign up for my Bone Appetit newsletter! You’ll get regular updates about my latest work in the studio and insights into my process. Plus, get a free downloadable print just for signing up!

You can buy my art imprinted on all kinds of cool stuff in my Fine Art America Shop. You can purchase my original art on Daily Paint Works.

New skeleton painting in progress

Hey everyone! I’m working on a new skeleton painting, another in the Old (Dead) Masters series. This one is based on Maxfield Parrish’s illustration for the Dinkey Bird poem which features a beautiful figure swinging from a tree limb with a magical looking castle in the clouds behind. It’s a lovely picture and I am delighted to skeletonize it. I’ll be posting time-lapse videos of my progress here so check back often.

I am really loving all the colors in this piece! All my favorites in one painting. I’m over the moon.

Blocking in the painting.

Adding more color.

Working on the castle, sky and foliage.

Narrowing my focus a little bit.

Working on the skeleton.

Getting a lot closer now!

Sign up for my Bone Appetit newsletter! You’ll get regular updates about my latest work in the studio and insights into my process. Plus, get a free downloadable print just for signing up!

You can buy my art imprinted on all kinds of cool stuff in my Fine Art America Shop. You can purchase my original art on Daily Paint Works.

Travel diary

While I was out in Tucson last week with Steve, visiting his brother, Will, and our friend, Pam, I made a point of doing a small sketch every day. I brought a watercolor sketchbook to make a visual record of the trip because I think using different mediums is fun and it gives you a chance to stretch your brain a bit. I’ve noticed that as I’ve gotten older I am reluctant to take chances, and while it’s understandable, it doesn’t mean I have to go along with it all the time.

The portable watercolor kit I have is very small, pocket-sized, and I use a small brush with a water reservoir in the handle. Once I exhausted the water in the brush I was done for the day. Each piece took no longer than a half hour to do, so it was easy to fit into my schedule, especially since I was the only early riser in our group! I would wander out with my kit and paint the first thing that caught my eye.

Pam’s place, where we stayed, buts up against natural desert habitat and she also has horses, so there was plenty of subject matter to play with.

Hungry Horse, watercolor on watercolor paper.

Cast shadow, watercolor on watercolor paper.

Pam’s Cacti, watercolor on watercolor paper.

Steve by the Pool, sharpie and watercolor on watercolor paper.

Carolyn’s Tree, watercolor on watercolor paper.

Skeleton Face with Flowers, watercolor and sharpie on watercolor paper.

Hope you enjoy these postcards of my trip out to the warm southwest!

Sign up for my Bone Appetit newsletter! You’ll get regular updates about my latest work in the studio and insights into my process. Plus, get a free downloadable print just for signing up!

You can buy my art imprinted on all kinds of cool stuff in my Fine Art America Shop. You can purchase my original art on Daily Paint Works.

End of the year online show!

Picture this: A virtual online exhibit showcasing eclectic, imaginative artworks! Sounds like a pretty great event, right? 💯But what if I told you that I was able to be a part of something really cool like this? It’s true! The @GristleartGallery has invited me to be a part of Toy Box, their end of the year online show. I’m in creation mode for the event that kicks off on November 20th. I’m working on 3 – 6” x 6’ collectors canvases. Life is good, don’t you agree?

And now they’re all done! Yay! Who doesn’t want skeleton Christmas paintings? No one, that’s who! Hope you like them! See below for info about pre-show sales.

UPDATE: All my original Skel Noel paintings have now been sold! Thank you to my collectors for all your support! They’re now available on my Etsy shop as a downloadable print, in my Square shop as a greeting card, in Signed cards as, what else? a signed card, and in my Fine Art America shop as anything you can imagine. Happy Holidays, everyone!

Dashing thru the Snow, acrylic on canvas, 6×6″, sold.

From Our Crypt to Yours, acrylic on canvas, 6×6″, sold.

Joyous X-mas, acrylic on canvas, 6×6″, sold.

I am so thrilled to be a part of the Toy Box show!

Special pre-show sales available

Gristle Art Gallery’s Toy Box show is open to the public starting on Saturday, November 20, 2021 at 12 noon EST, but you can purchase in advance by contacting Gristle Art Gallery starting Monday, November 15, 2021! To get first dibs on any of the artwork featured in Toy Box, send an email to gallery@gristletattoo.com or visit Gristle Art Gallery online at https://www.gristleartgallery.com .

First in a series of 3 pieces for Gristle Gallery’s end of the year show, Toy Box!

It was fun to find old fashioned Christmas greetings to skeletonize for this show! I enjoyed painting every one of them. I hope you like them as much as I do.

By the way, there will be a card featuring one of these Skel Noels coming to your mailbox soon. If you’re not on my snail mail list yet, now’s a good time to fix that!

Sign up for my Bone Appetit newsletter! You’ll get regular updates about my latest work in the studio and insights into my process. Plus, get a free downloadable print just for signing up!

You can buy my art imprinted on all kinds of cool stuff in my Fine Art America Shop. You can purchase my original art on Daily Paint Works.