Yellow Bird, No. 9, 6×6″ acrylic on canvas. ©2018 Marie Marfia.
Egyptian-eyed Dog, No. 10, 6×6″ acrylic on canvas. ©2018 Marie Marfia.
Pink Flower, No. 11, 6×6″ acrylic on canvas. ©2018 Marie Marfia
Humming right along. I don’t always like what I’m ending up with but it’s okay because I’m learning! I’m excited to try again every day. Onward and upward. That’s the ticket.
Sad-Eyed Dog, 6×6″ acrylic on canvas. ©2018 Marie Marfia
Iris Eye, 6×6″ acrylic painting on canvas. ©2018 Marie Marfia.
Oh yes, I was posting every day about my 100 Acrylics in 100 Days project. Whelp, there have been developments and suffice to say, I’m still doing these, but there may be interruptions from time to time. Please bear with me. I appreciate your patience.
…someone gets their wings. I was asked to provide a pair of wings for the Pride Festival coming up here in Ludington, Michigan on June 10 at Rotary Park. So here they are. I painted them on a gessoed tablecloth stretched to about 4’x5′. Hope you can come out and get your picture taken with these lovely rainbow wings. I’ll be there!
Purple Dog, no. 4, 6×6″ acrylic on canvas. ©2018 Marie Marfia
I remembered this morning that I had the Anderson Creek Kennels facebook page to use for inspiration and sure enough, there was a sweet pit in today’s pictures. I’ll probably do a bunch of doggy portraits. They’re really perfect for this size.
Also figured out what to do with the background on this portrait of my brother Joe and his wife Anna. Two of my favorite people in the world. This was a pleasure to complete.
Joe and Anna, 11×14″ pastel on sanded paper. ©2018 Marie Marfia.
Where’s My Ride? 6×9″ pastel on sanded paper. ©2018 Marie Marfia
I like to watch people walking along the street in front of my store. Sometimes I hit the jackpot and they leave their big, friendly dogs parked in a truck. Cool!
This painting is on ebay as of 9pm tonight. Bidding starts at 99¢.
Where’s My Ride? 6×9″ pastel on sanded paper. ©2018 Marie Marfia
Whenever I’m at the studio I am entertained/dismayed/fascinated by the people walking by my window. Today I got lucky because someone left their big handsome bulldog in the truck across the street from me. He was a good boy, didn’t bark at anyone or anything. Just sat there calmly waiting for his ride to come back and take him home. Best doggo ever.
This painting is on ebay as of 9pm tonight. Bidding starts at 99¢.
At least it gets me off the couch in the mornings. Truthfully, if I had my way, I’d spend all day on the couch eating bonbons and flipping through Imgur on my iPad, but the dogs aren’t going to let themselves outside and since our yard isn’t fenced (yet!), I have to go with them.
This involves piling them into the back of my minivan and driving out to the woods. See, I’d walk them around the neighborhood but there are too many potential pitfalls involved with this, i.e. other loose dogs. So my preference is to drive about five miles south on Walhalla Road, turn off onto any one of half a dozen “seasonal roads” and tromp around the Manistee National Forest for an hour.
The dogs get to sniff and dig around, I don’t have to clean up after them (although I’ve unofficially adopted the first two miles of 6890 because, let’s face it, people are pigs), and we all get some fresh air and exercise.
Sometimes we see deer, sometimes a dead snake, and once Roger thought for sure a cat walked out of the ferns not six feet in front of him, but it was a skunk and he was not allowed to get any closer to it although he fussed a bit about my decision. I held firm, though. You should see the divots my feet left in the road even two weeks later. I held on for dear life, I’m telling you.
So how does this make me a better painter?
It provides subject matter, of course. I won’t tell you how many pictures of my dogs are on my Google drive right now, but it’s a lot. Like thousands. Sometimes I keep my finger on the camera button, snapping pic after pic of Roger digging in the dirt just to get that one glorious moment when he leaps back into the road to try to catch up to whatever he’s smelling off in the distance.
It lets me paint wonderful scenes of my dogs enjoying the great outdoors. I used to think I went out to the woods for me, but really, I go out there for them. They’re the ones that are having the great time.
I guess I’m jealous. Here I am, covered in Deet to keep off the bugs and checking for ticks and bears and swiping at deer flies and those two are just loping along with their tongues hanging out, having a grand old time. Every. Stinking. Morning.
I love it. I love them. I’m a lucky girl to have these lucky dogs.
©2017 Marie Marfia “Roger and Out” 6×9″ pastel on paper.
©2017 Marie Marfia “Daisy in the Dark,” 9×6″ pastel on paper.
You can find more of my daily paintings on ebay including the ones pictures here. They start at 99¢ and the auctions last for 7 days. Good luck and happy bidding!
Three Gingers, 6×9″ pastel on board, $110.
I saw this young man with his two sweet dogs walking out in front of my shop and asked him if I could have a picture. He said they were two rescues. Cute pups. One of them needs a hernia operation and he was visiting the pawn shop nearby, presumably to come up with the money for her? I couldn’t resist their faces and they seem so calm and happy with him. I called it Three Gingers because the little dogs each have ginger colored patches that matched their master’s hair.
Here’s my daughter Alice and her wife Sandra’s dog, Panda. He’s running through the woods at a park where they like to take him for walks. He’s such a good boy. They have been training him to do “nose” work. That’s where you teach your dog to find things based on the smell. Alice says it’s a lot of fun and it completely wears him out to go to the classes. This is a good thing because Panda is a very energetic doggy. Whenever I visit them Panda knows that he’s going to be asked to run through all the tricks he knows and then there’ll be treats!
I’m Gonna Run to You, 6×9″ pastel on board, $110.
If you’d like a portrait of your or someone else’s best friend, please check out my commissions page for more information. Pet portraits make great gifts!
I made a few new furry friends over the weekend when Steve and I went to visit his mom. She lives in an assisted living facility in Flint, Michigan. As soon as we arrived we hustled her down to the lobby because there were puppies!
Well, they’re probably grown dogs, but they’re miniature dachshunds so they look tiny and are so much fun to pet and hold! Miss Diana likes to pet them a little but she’s mostly there to spend time with Johanna, her friend. Johanna loves the dogs and she makes a point of coming to see them whenever they visit. She has a particular favorite, Shelby, who sits on her lap like a little queen and allows herself to be petted by no one but Johanna for the entire hour. It’s cute and sweet and makes Johanna so happy.
Kippy, the puppy I painted today, was off being held by someone else. I snuck in a picture of him to paint later and here it is.
Kippy, No. 84, 100 Portraits in 100 Days, 6×9″ pastel on gessoed mat board by Marie Marfia. Available here.
I did these two studies while I was working at the Attic last weekend. I combined two different photos for the reference and then tried it twice, once on warm toned paper and once on a cool toned paper. Which do you like best?
Nick and Abby, warm, 5×8″ pastel on paper by Marie Marfia. $75, unframed. Contact me to purchase.
Nick and Abby, Cool, 5×8″ pastel on paper by Marie Marfia. $75, unframed. Contact me to purchase.
