Tag Archives: art for sale

My art is on Ebay!

Road Curves Left, 5x7" pastel on paper inspired by the Manistee National Forest. ©Marie Marfia. — Road Curves Left, 5×7″ pastel on paper, available in my Ebay store starting 1/14/19 at 9pm.

I have been selling my original art on Ebay for about five years. I don’t do it all the time, but once or twice a year I get the urge to start posting paintings. Why do I do this? A few reasons…

It reinforces my daily painting habit. I am under a compulsion to paint every day so that by the time I’m 80 I’ll be freaking awesome at it. Since I’m splitting Ebay sales with a worthy cause (see next paragraph), boom! there’s built-in accountability to keep me on the straight and narrow.

It helps others. This year 10% of my landscape sales go to AFFEW, which is a local environmental group. I spend a lot of time wandering around Mason County, gobsmacked by the scenery, and I want to make sure those beautiful views are around for future generations. Happily, AFFEW does too, so they’re an organization I am happy to support.

I. Need. More. Space. I realize pastel paintings are flat, but when you’re painting every day, they pile up. I have boxes of paintings stacked in the corners of my studio as well as my storage space. So selling daily paintings on Ebay keeps the stacks to a minimum.

It’ll make me famous! Not really, but I enjoy the idea of my art being dispersed to all four corners of the planet. I’ve sold pieces to people living in just about every state in the union plus a few overseas. Frankly, my art is more well-traveled than I am, which I find both sad and hilarious.

It fits my impulse-driven lifestyle. With Ebay a painting sells or it doesn’t within 7 days. If it doesn’t sell I throw it in a re-work pile. Then sometime during the next six months I pitch the re-work pile, usually because I’m trying to make room for a pile of new stuff. Problem solved!

It’s my drug of choice. I get the same dopamine rush when someone bids on one of my Ebay paintings as I do when eating an entire bag of Lays potato chips, but this is better because not only does it mean another painting is leaving my studio, it’s also not making me fat(ter)! Since my goals this year include reducing my weight and my inventory, Ebay is a win-win.

So there you have it, some of my reasons for using Ebay as an art sales outlet. Here’s the link to my Ebay store. Thanks for looking and happy bidding!

Inspired

pastel painting of trees and dunes, grass and sky and snow.

I met the nicest couple today. I was just putting a few final touches on a larger pastel and getting ready to begin work on this one, when I turned around to see them looking in my picture window. I poked my head out to say hello to their two little dogs and they all came in and we got to know one another a little better.

Dick is retired but has been painting for quite some time. “Just for fun,” he says. But he’s also managed to get 600 paintings done, so obviously his fun is pretty focused! He’s been accepted into several Art Prize exhibitions, so if I needed proof that practice makes opportunity, here it is. His wife, Kathy, is so supportive of his painting, kind of reminds me of my own beloved, Steve.

Dick, intrigued by my pastels, said he was going to go right home and order a set to play with. On their way out the door he thanked me for inspiring him. I should have told him it works both ways.

This painting is on ebay as of 9pm tonight. Bidding starts at 99¢.

SaveSave

No House of Flavors Today

pastel painting of a path between two snow covered dunes, Lake Michigan in the background.

My mother-in-law had a doctor’s appointment today and Steve and I planned to take her out to House of Flavors restaurant afterward for lunch. But the staff at Ludington Woods called and said they were quarantining the residents because there was a flu outbreak there. So we’re not going after all. Steve’s going to stop in to see her if they’ll let him. I brought a lunch.

At least she probably doesn’t remember that we were going to take her out today. That’s the curse and the blessing of losing your memory, I guess.

And of course, it’s more important that she stay healthy. Still. Ice cream would have been nice. I think this painting looks like a couple of scoops of ice cream with some sort of sauce on top. Yum! Except it’s kind of hairy looking with all the dune grass. Ew.

This painting is on ebay as of 9pm tonight. Bidding starts at 99¢.

Good One

pastel painting of a sunset at the end of US-10 in Ludington, MI

I love this town, partly because if it even looks like there might be a nice sunset, everyone jumps in their car and heads down to the beach to watch it happen. This painting is a result of noticing the rush to the lake and joining in.

I had to be quick. The good parking spots at the end of US-10 get taken early.

And then, of course, it took three tries to get a painting that I liked. I don’t mind re-doing them when they’re this pretty, though. All those candy colors make me happy.

Here’s a video of my process. Just so you know, there’s a little bit of a lag in the middle where someone came into the studio to chat and I had to stop for a few minutes.

This painting is on ebay as of 9pm tonight. Bidding starts at 99¢.

Paths to Water

pastel painting of a path through snow cover dunes to Lake Michigan

You can lead a person to water, but you can’t make her drink. Well, actually, in my case, you don’t have to make me drink. I’ll do it all on my own.

I like how the light comes right up to the lip of the dune where all the footprints are leading up to, and then it stops and everything from that point to the foreground and right off the edge of the paper is in shadow.

I have spent a lot of time painting landscapes with roads or paths in them. Recently I noticed that the roads all end somewhere about a third of the way or two thirds of the way up the picture plane, and the end of the road is usually obscured by clouds or distant trees. This is probably something to do with me thinking about my future and wondering whether I’m going to go like my dad did, via Alzheimer’s, or if I’ll get lucky and be like my mother, who died with most of her faculties still intact.

I like these dune pictures because the paths all lead to the water. I read somewhere that water represents spirituality when you dream about it. My water dreams aren’t very nice, but maybe if I keep painting water as a final destination they’ll change.

Did I mention? We just moved my mother-in-law up to a memory care unit here in Ludington. It’s a lovely place. She’s doing well there. I stop by to see her a couple times a week, Steve does, too.

It’s hard to watch someone you love losing their mind like this. And wondering if it’s going to happen to you, too.

Nothing I can do but paint it out.

This painting is on ebay as of 9pm tonight. Bidding starts at 99¢.

Dark Clouds

pastel painting of clouds over Lake Michigan with dune grass and snow in the foreground.

Had a delightful lunch with the woman who used to be our mail carrier when we lived here last. Small towns are like that. You know everyone and everyone knows you. Since we moved back it’s been fun renewing old friendships. Marcie was the person that my daughter Alice brought with her to Special Person day in something like first or second grade. They got along pretty great. I know Marcie was tickled to be asked.

After lunch we looked at pictures of my kids, including a video of Nick playing with fire. And did you know my other daughter Sam has a book on Amazon? I forgot to tell Marcie, but I’ll mention it next time I see her.

This painting is a result of me seeing a bright light out on Lake Michigan while I was driving past the dunes on the way out to the state park. Turns out it wasn’t aliens, which are always a possibility in my mind, but the reflection of the sun peeking through dark clouds. I love living here, have I mentioned?

This painting is on ebay as of 9pm tonight. Bidding starts at 99¢.

2 Beers = Foggy Morning

pastel painting of a bank of dunes with bluffs and Lake Michigan in the background.

The title refers to me and not the painting, BTW.

I should really know better. I didn’t need the second beer. I was already losing at pool anyway. And then we got home late and I had to get up early for a meeting this morning. You’d think, at 57, I’d be better at regulating myself. Well, nope, not really.

This painting makes me feel better anyway. That’s a bright spot in my day. I love this scene with the wild and wooly dune grass in the front and the hazy blue bluffs in the background standing over the big lake. This is such a cool place to live. I love it here.

This painting is on ebay as of 9pm tonight. Bidding starts at 99¢.

Marie Marfia Fine Art

Skellies and more!

Tag Archives: art for sale

My art is on Ebay!

Inspired

No House of Flavors Today

Good One

Paths to Water

Dark Clouds

2 Beers = Foggy Morning