Category Archives: Uncategorized

Staying busy

me with black paint on my hands
Back in February we stopped for beer and pizza after a day painting the gallery. Forgot to wash up before I left the studio!

Like everyone else, I’ve been trying to keep myself occupied while staying at home. One day I sewed masks for the local hospital. They were lime green and matched the outfit I’d made earlier for Violet, my porch vulture.

Violet my porch vulture
Violet, my porch vulture rocking lime green and black lace for Easter.

And then I made a black cape for my skeleton rat, Ralph. I still need to fashion a scythe for him. Any Terry Pratchett fans out there? He’s supposed to be the Death of Rats from the Discworld series.

Ralph, my skeleton rat.
Ralph as the Death of Rats. Scythe to come.

I’ve been reading. A lot. Sometimes two books a day. I find in times like these, when my mind is running around like a headless chicken, that I prefer to read books that have happy endings. I recommend Connie Willis’s time travel series, especially Blackout and All Clear. Her stories celebrate every day heroes and the ways we support each other when things are falling apart. Her writing makes me feel hopeful about the future.

I’ve been painting, too. There’s a show scheduled at LACA in Ludington in July that will feature local art work done during the pandemic. I plan to submit a couple pieces for that and I’ll get you more information about it at a later date, so stay tuned.

Before the stay at home orders for Michigan were in place, Steve and I were working to get my new gallery space painted. We got it done in the nick of time, but had to stop with the rest of the renovations until it’s safe to go out again.

Steve painting the gallery.
Steve being awesome. So. Much. Black.

There’s so much left to do! Put up some tulle and twinkly lights. Get Laurie’s Dolloween art in there. Paint skeleton foot prints on the floor, and a few other spooky, fun things. It’ll be cool when it’s done. I hope everyone will have a chance to come and see it this summer, but if not, maybe I can make a virtual tour? I’ll ask my son Nick to help me. He’s very good at figuring stuff out.

Back in early March, Nick was hanging skeletons in my newly painted gallery.

I’ve also been working on a brand new website that will just have skeleton art on it. Slowly getting all the skellies up there. I’ll let you know when it’s fully functional and ready for business. Meantime you’re always welcome to shop for them here on my website. Oh, and I just added a Gift Card option, so please take advantage of that.

Here I am back in February, when Steve and I got to babysit our granddaughter. I can’t wait to have her in my lap again.

Of course, the hardest part of all this is not being able to reach out and hug your family. I have a granddaughter in Kalamazoo who’s growing up so fast!

I still have plenty of things to do to keep me occupied. I have basement walls to paint. There’s a garden to put in. Dogs to walk. You know, stuff. And there’s always more art to make.

I hope you’re all staying busy and healthy and safe. Take care, everyone. We’ll all get through this together.

Share

Skelly Godiva – skeleton pastel painting

Skelly Godiva, finished pastel painting of a skeleton on a horse, homage to John Collier's famous work.
Skelly Godiva, 17×22″ pastel on sanded paper by Marie Marfia. Sold.

Yay! All done. That was quick. Sort of. Compared to the last one, I mean. Skelly Godiva was a challenge in more ways than one but I’m very pleased with how she turned out.

Actually, it might have been worse. Fortunately for me, Collier’s original included a beautiful red blanket covering most of the horse, so I wasn’t faced with a second ribcage to render, hah! It’s the little things that keep me from going insane on these pieces.

This probably took me close to 40 hours to finish. The Old (Dead) Masters paintings often require a lot more craftsmanship, just because I’m going for a pretty accurate copy, otherwise the joke falls flat. Well, maybe it does anyway for some people, but those aren’t the ones I am painting for!

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 or in my Etsy shop.

Thanks again, Megan, for the idea to do a Lady Godiva skeleton painting!

Here are some time-lapses of my latest work in progress, Skelly Godiva. This is number 19 in my Old (Dead) Masters series and it’s based on a classic painting of Lady Godiva by John Collier. Enjoy!

There are more time-lapses for this piece are on my YouTube channel.

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!

Share

Subscriber only sale!

Happy Holiday Savings! Sign up for my newsletter to get 40% Off everything in my online shop through December 16, 2019!

No, I’m not selling subscribers! But if you are a newsletter subscriber, watch your email today for a coupon code worth 40% off everything in my shop through December 16!

Not a subscriber yet? Sign up and I’ll email you the 40% Off coupon code. Ho ho ho!

Share

Skeleton window art

the final skeleton art window painting
This means you! Final window art over my office.

Ever since I moved into my space at the back of 307 S. James St. I’ve been meaning to put something in the window that overlooks the office where I work. The truth is I like to take naps in there every once in a while and it makes me feel a little too exposed to lay on the floor on a yoga mat and know that anyone walking by the window can see me snoring in there. I could have just hung up a curtain but why settle for fabric when I can make something awesome instead? So naturally I decided to make some skeleton window art.

It took a little longer than I hoped and this was because I had to order more leading strips and paint colors directly from the manufacturer (Plaid Gallery Glass) and their cheapest shipping option turns out to be very slooooooooow. But oh well. I was busy doing other things, if you recall. It got delivered eventually and then the whole project was finished up quickly after that.

Step 1: Make a sketch

sketch
I changed the bottom line to “for the skeleton army” because it’s closer to the original. Also I didn’t want it to seem like I was being a money grubbing jerk.

First I needed a design for the window. I settled on the classic Uncle Sam army recruiting poster as a starting point. Not hard to convert to a skeleton version. If anyone is interested in doing the same thing for themselves, just let me know and I’ll send you a scalable pdf file that you can use as a template.

Step 2: Convert to scalable vector art

template

This is what my template looks like. I have the colors on separate layers in Adobe Illustrator. It took about 16 letter-size pages which I then taped together.

Once I printed out the template I taped it up to the back side of the window and then started putting leading strips on the front side of the window, cementing them in place with a drop of liquid leading.

Step 3: Do the fiddly bits

I made the skull, hand, stars and lettering separately on clear plastic sleeves using the liquid leading. That’s because they were too detailed to do using the leading strips on a vertical surface. You can bend the strips into large, simple shapes but anything smaller and they don’t hold the curves. They peel off the glass when my back is turned and it’s frustrating as hell.

making a skeleton art window painting
I am using an exacto knife to trim away the little blobs of dried liquid leading that I used to anchor the strips. See my office through the window? I have plans for later on next spring, so stay tuned. All I’ll say right now is it’s not going to be white when I’m done with it.
skeleton art window painting
Here he is with the head, hand and lettering on the window. See all the little blobs of trimmed off liquid leading on the sill? The floor was covered with them by the end.

Step 4: Decide on a background

The next question was what to do with the background? It needed to cover the whole window, but the original Uncle Sam poster was just plain white. I wanted something kind of gothic. So I ended up using radiating stripes in purple and lilac.

skeleton art painted window
Here’s where I had to stop because I ran out of leading strips. Also, I needed more colors to finish than what I had in my studio.

Step 5: Break up the big shapes

I’m breaking up the big shapes in order to be able to apply the paint and not have the weight of it cause it to drip down the window. This meant there were a lot of places to dab the liquid leading and subsequently a lot more trimming to do.

Step 6: Fill in the rest of the color

Finally filling in the colors! This is the fun part and it goes pretty quickly, although my right shoulder needed a long soak in the tub after I was done. The guy that appears at the end was asking whether I liked the idea of food trucks parked on Filer St. next summer. I said I was all for more food choices in town ;).

Step 7: Enjoy my cool window art!

So this is it! This is my Uncle Skelly Wants You for the Skeleton Army window. What do you think? Pretty cool? I think so, too. And best of all, I can nap in peace!

skeleton art window
I Want You for the Skeleton Army painted glass window, 34″x34″, by Marie Marfia, ©2019.
detail of skeleton window art
Detail, I Want You for the Skeleton Army window art by Marie Marfia
looking down the hall from skelly window art
Detail, I Want You for the Skeleton Army window art by Marie Marfia

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!

Share

Boom! time-lapse pastel painting of a tree in my back yard

Watch me work on Boom!

This is a pastel painting of a tree in my back yard. I should say, my new back yard.

I am really enjoying the changing scenery right now. You know what I like best? There’s so much space. I guess I didn’t realize how closed in I felt walking in the woods until I had a place to walk that’s a mix of wide open spaces and clusters of trees. I could wander around here all day. The dogs sure wouldn’t mind it.

It’s so beautiful that it’s really hard to make myself go in to my studio in the mornings. But go I must because that’s where all my pastels are!

And of course the biggest reason to go is I get to paint stuff like this! So, yes, it’s a compromise, but it’s worth it.

Man. I can’t wait to see how everything changes once the snow comes…

Boom! pastel painting of a tree in morning sun

Share
plank with a saying on it

I can sing the national anthem in 1:30

I know this because I’ve added planking to my morning routine and it takes me exactly a minute and thirty seconds to get to the end of the The Star Spangled Banner. To get to two minutes I have to sing it over again, up to “…were so gallantly streaming.”

This is all occurs in my head, mind you. I don’t sing it out loud because Steve is still asleep and he’d be cranky if I woke him up, no matter how patriotic I’m being.

Every time I do this I flash back to the days when I would tell my children to brush their teeth while humming the anthem. The dentist recommended two minute long brushing twice a day and I thought that having them sing a song they knew would be more fun than a timer.

I settled on the Star Spangled Banner because, a) it was a song they ought to know, and b) I was pretty sure the song was two minutes long.

I’d tell my kids to sing it “with reverence,” hoping if they sang it like a dirge it would be enough time for their teeth to get thoroughly clean.

It worked well enough, I guess, although now I bet they probably can’t sing the song at all unless they have a toothbrush in their mouths.

Funny how the things you do because you’re being a mother of invention come back to haunt you. Sorry, kids! I didn’t mean to make you associate the national anthem with dental hygiene for the rest of your lives! I should have done more research and found a different song! One that was longer and that you’d probably never hear again except in an elevator sometimes!

As for me and my morning planking, the anthem works to take my mind off the burning in my stomach muscles, so I’m sticking with it until and if I ever make it to 3 minutes of planking. And then I think I may switch to Tim Minchin’s – 3 Minute Song.

Share

Walking a new path

This morning I slipped on my old shoes, gathered up the dogs and stepped outside to wander around my new back yard. Steve and I moved last weekend to a house sitting on ten acres of what feels like park land. There are trees and deer and grass and It. Is. Awesome.

No one else around. The world is brand new. There are scenic vistas everywhere I look that just beg to be painted. So many maples! This fall will be gorgeous. And I can’t wait to see it in the winter.

I could get used to this.

I just wanted to share some pictures I took this morning, one or two of which are soon to be landscape paintings.

Take a break with me and just breathe for a while.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/CekKTbWtRp6yVrEo9

Photo from my new back yard.
Click to see more of my new back yard!
Share