Shall We Dance, pastel painting of a couple dancing on the beach. ©Marie Marfia.
“Shall We Dance?” my pastel painting of a sweet skeleton couple dancing on the beach is on sale this week from now through Sunday, September 30, 2018. I’m celebrating National Love People Day this week and you can, too! I’ve taken 25% off all prints and cards featureing “Shall We Dance?” for this week only. Check it out!
This was another challenge because William is almost completely in shadow and his lovely wife’s hair is almost completely blown out by the overhead lighting.
This is how selfies arrive, though. You can’t say, “Take another one!” because that would be cheating.
This also took me two days to complete but I’m pleading a trip to the dentist for a crown as my reason for not finishing it yesterday. I got back from that ordeal and just could not muster any enthusiasm for art making.
I like my dentist. He’s capable and a bit quirky and I realize that I’m lucky to be able to pay for his services, thanks to insurance through Steve’s job. So I’m not complaining. But my jaw is a little bit sore yet today. It sort of felt like they were using the right side of my mouth for taffy pulling practice there toward the end.
Anyway, this is it. This is the last of the 30 Friends in 30 Days series. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did. I’ll post a complete write-up of it later this week, promise.
William and Co., Nos. 32-33, detail, 30 Friends in 30 Days, 10×8″ pastel on illustration board by Marie Marfia
William and Co., Nos. 32-33, detail, 30 Friends in 30 Days, 10×8″ pastel on illustration board by Marie Marfia
William and Co., Nos. 32-33, detail, 30 Friends in 30 Days, 10×8″ pastel on illustration board by Marie Marfia
William and Co., Nos. 32-33, 30 Friends in 30 Days, 10×8″ pastel on illustration board by Marie Marfia
Here are the progress pics:
This is my 30 Friends in 30 Days series. Each day I take a friend’s selfie and make a pastel painting from it. Then I post it to ebay at auction for 7 days. Follow my progress as I learn to paint pastel portraits with a little help from my friends.
This handsome couple is Dillon and Ann, my friend Mary’s son and his wife. I am not sure where the reference photo was taken, but they were hiking in the mountains somewhere. I like their strong features and big smiles. They must have been feeling very good about their accomplishment!
Dylan and Ann, Nos. 20-21, 30 Friends in 30 Days, 9×12″ pastel on paper by Marie Marfia
Dylan and Ann, Nos. 20-21, detail, 30 Friends in 30 Days, 9×12″ pastel on paper by Marie Marfia
Dylan and Ann, Nos. 20-21, detail, 30 Friends in 30 Days, 9×12″ pastel on paper by Marie Marfia
Dylan and Ann, Nos. 20-21, detail, 30 Friends in 30 Days, 9×12″ pastel on paper by Marie Marfia
Dylan and Ann, Nos. 20-21, detail, 30 Friends in 30 Days, 9×12″ pastel on paper by Marie Marfia
Dylan and Ann, Nos. 20-21, detail, 30 Friends in 30 Days, 9×12″ pastel on paper by Marie Marfia
Here are the progress pics:
This is my 30 Friends in 30 Days series. Each day I take a friend’s selfie and make a pastel painting from it. Then I post it to ebay at auction for 7 days. Follow my progress as I learn to paint pastel portraits with a little help from my friends.
Shall We Dance? 24×18″ pastel on paper by Marie Marfia, $645.
I admit it, I’m a sucker for romance. Old movies, fairy tales, dancing with your baby after dark. I love all of that. How about you? Do you like to watch the same old happy endings over and over again?
I think that’s why I love doing these skeletons. They aren’t embarrassed to get caught gazing into each other’s eye sockets. They just do as they please, and if that’s a beach bop on the shore in front of everybody, so be it.
When I thought of the name for this piece, I immediately began hearing “Shall We Dance?” that song in “The King and I,” an old musical with Deborah Kerr and Yul Brynner. I used to watch that movie every chance I got when I was young, and then later with my daughter. I loved how they kept dancing faster and faster until Miss Anna was quite out of breath and the King of Siam had a particular look in his eye, maybe thinking, “Hmm, there’s more to this dancing stuff than I thought.” It sure seems to get the everyone breathing hard, doesn’t it? Of course, that’s not an issue when you’re a skeleton. You could dance all night and never get tired.
If you’d like to purchase “Shall We Dance,” it’s available for $645. Contact me via email and I’ll get right back to you with purchasing and shipping info.
New to pastels? Read about their care and feeding here.
Shall We Dance? detail, 24×18″ pastel on Canson mi teintes paper by Marie Marfia.
Getting closer. I’ve already put my signature “M” on this one, but I will probably continue to tweak it a little during the day. I’m leaving it on my easel so I can let it bug me when I go by. I can already see little things that I will want to fix before I let it go out into the world.
Finishing up the water, added pink to the sky and the sand.
Putting in more detail on the clothing, working on their heads.
Finishing the rest of the bodies, clothing details, adding interest to the sand.
Close up of the smiling couple.
More progress on the couple dancing on the beach. I got to thinking about all the fun I have had in my life while I lived near the water. I still live pretty close here. I mean, 30 minutes isn’t bad at all, but I still wish I lived closer. When I was a kid, Lake Michigan was 5 minutes away by car and Hutchin’s Lake was a quarter mile down the road from our house. In Ludington, I lived 11 blocks from the beach and I used to walk my dog down there every single morning. I’ll get back to the water again, see if I don’t.
That’s probably not the final name for this one, but it’s coming along and I thought I’d share the first few steps in this painting. A skeleton couple dancing together makes perfect sense to me. Double the pleasure, double the fun!
