It made my ears ache.
This painting is on ebay as of 9pm tonight. Bidding starts at 99¢.
The Wind was Bitterly Cold
The Wind Was Bitterly Cold, 9×6″ pastel on sanded paper. ©2018 Marie Marfia
Tag Archives: blue
Pinked
Pinked, 5×7″ pastel on sanded paper by Marie Marfia. $90.
I was driving into town to work today and was gobsmacked by the flowers on all the trees. You know those pink ones with the really giant blooms on them? I love those things. If I had one in my yard I think I’d just stare at it all day so long as the flowers lasted. I took a lot of reference photos just in case the wind blew all the blooms away and then I did this little painting when I got in my studio. It’s fluttery and windswept and pink, just like those trees.
Untitled Lake
Untitled Lake, 5×7″ pastel on sanded paper by Marie Marfia. $90.
This is a painting from a little lake that Steve and I circumnavigated on Saturday. It was one of the many bright spots in a four hour span spent wandering around the Manistee National Forest, not looking for mushrooms.
As much as I am grateful for more people wandering around out in the woods, sometimes I just want to be out there alone, you know? Saturday we decided not to join the throngs of morel mushroom seekers and just go someplace quiet. This little lake, or pond, really, fit the bill nicely. We brought out the binoculars and watched some turtles sunning themselves on a little hummock out in the middle of the water. The sky was deep blue and reflecting off the surface of the lake. We listened to the birds. Then we walked all the way around it, finding a hollow beech tree off the path with a mound of pretty fresh porcupine poop all on one side. The dogs were very interested.
If you would like to purchase this painting, please email me.
No. 2, 100 Portraits in 100 Days
Here’s Kennah, my second portrait in this series. As usual, these are more fun the more I do them. I liked her pale hair and the tender expression on her face.
Kennah, No. 2, 100 Portraits in 100 Days series, 6×9″ pastel on mat board with pumice ground. Available $100 plus $12 shipping. Contact me to purchase.Here are the progress shots:
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- Initial sketch and block in with green.
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- Rubbing in the green underpainting.
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- Block in with local color.
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- Blending.
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- Tweak.
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- Tweak.
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- Done.
Cloudy, Chance of Rain
Pink Gloaming
Today’s sky painting is the 4th in a series of 21 that I’m doing as a result of a wonderful mini workshop with Karen Margulis.
I remember being on the beach in the late afternoon when I took the picture that this painting is based on. I was there with a few friends and we just didn’t want to leave yet. The sun went down behind us and then the real fireworks started. All the contrails came into high relief against the blue and pink and aqua in the sky. The sand glowed orange. It was wonderful.
I’m looking forward to being back in Michigan, hanging out at the beach for sunsets and then painting them, every one that I can.
Pink Gloaming, 5×8″ pastel on Canson mi tents paper by Marie Marfia. $75, unframed. Contact me to purchase.
Clouds Roll In
Today’s sky painting is the 3rd in a series of 21 that I’m doing as a result of a wonderful mini workshop with Karen Margulis.
Clouds Roll In is taken from a photo from an afternoon at the beach, probably at Mickler’s Landing but it might also be from a bit farther south at Guana Beach. Both places are fairly close by and Steve and I like to get out to walk along the surf as often as we can. On this day, I got lucky because there were big clouds on the horizon. Looks like there was a little rain coming down out over the water.
I am enjoying the process of creating my own grays using tertiary and secondary colors layered on top of each other. This painting was done on Canson mi teintes paper.
Clouds Roll In, 5×8″ pastel on Canson paper by Marie Marfia. $75, unframed. Contact me to purchase.
Day at the Shop
Day at the Shop, 5×7″ pastel on paper by Marie Marfia. $75, unframed. Contact me to purchase.
Last Sunday was a good day to be at the Attic. There were a lot of people coming in with their kids to look at the Fletcher Middle School artwork—jellyfish, portraits and sculptures hanging from the ceilings, on the walls, and along the perimeter of the room. Some of the kids weren’t crazy about having their pictures taken in front of their creations, but were persuaded that it was for their mom, so that made it all right.
Towards the middle of the day, a pair of sisters came in wearing pretty hats and with flushed cheeks and snappy repartee (“We had wine with our lunch today!”) and bought three skelly greeting cards. That, and a bracelet of Bonnie Beaver’s (beautiful earth tone glass beads with a tiny gold heart clasp) were the sum total in sales for the day.
I don’t mind when it’s not busy. I like to talk to the people who come in to browse, or who ask about how they might become one of the artists there. And it gives me a chance to work on a pastel in between posting to Facebook and sweeping, dusting and wiping off the table and chairs out front.
I did this pastel just before packing up all my stuff to leave. I chose from colors that I used while working on “Ground-skel,” my parody of Edward Hopper’s classic painting.
Hello, it’s me
Self portraits are maddening. And interesting. And fascinating. And kinda fun.
I spent a few days working on this one, and I think I’d like to do more. It’s my nose, dammit. I have such a hard time getting it right. And there’s too much chalk on the paper. It’s like I circle around and around until I find the right color/value/shade.
Maybe the next one won’t be so difficult.
Marie in Blue, 8×8″ pastel on paper by Marie Marfia
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- Grid, charcoal sketch, blocking in the darks.
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- Adding colors.
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- Working in more detail.
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- Final tweaks.
Yellow Bikini
I painted this last week, while I was working my shift at The Attic. I liked the contrast between the woman’s dark skin and the bright bikini and really, really liked both against the cool blues of the water. She was so relaxed, sitting in the surf and letting the waves wash over her. I think I was wearing shorts or jeans or something and I remember feeling a little jealous. Why wasn’t I sitting in the water like her?
Yellow Bikini, 6×9″ pastel on paper by Marie Marfia
Yellow Bikini, matted and framed, $269.
Yellow Bikini, 6×9″ pastel on paper, matted and framed, $269.