Tag Archives: skeleton art

Trunk show coming up in October

I and my skellies will be at “A Walk in the Woods,” pop-up art show in Grand Haven on Sunday, October 10, 2021. Rain date is Sunday, October 17.

This is going to be a fun show! I will bring all my skeleton prints, cards and stickers, plus one original (see below) and I hope to see a lot of people coming out to browse the trunks.

Frida Skelly with Monkeys all dressed up for the show!

I spent a morning figuring out how to use my Ford Focus to best advantage for this show. I especially loved making an ofrenda for Frida Skelly using some battery operated candles and lights under the hatchback. I wonder what kind of foods she might like? Bonbons, of course! I plan to add some more things to her altar to make a fitting tribute to her life and work.

Bonus! I will be giving away a Frida Skelly with Monkeys print at the show to some lucky person who fills out an entry for the drawing. I will also be drawing a random name from my subscriber list for the same prize, so keep an eye on your inbox for an announcement of the winners.

The show will go from 1 until 4 pm, and there will be lots of other artists participating, so please come if you can and show your support! Here’s some more info about Duncan Woods Park.

UPDATE

What a great time! I met a lot of new skelly art fans and sold some stuff! Also, congratulations to Kylee on winning the Frida Skelly with Monkeys print that was on display. Check your email Kylee! Plus, if you’re already a subscriber to my email list you may have won the exact same signed print, so look in your inbox for an email from me.

Thanks everyone for supporting me and my art! You’re the best.

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.

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!

Nicolette and Aucassin progress

Thought I’d share some progress on the the latest skeleton Old (Dead) Masters painting. It’s coming along. I’m doing some refining right now, and that’s going to take a bit. I like doing these because they’re like a real intense workshop on the style of the artist whose work I’m copying. That’s definitely the case with this one.

grid and sketch of Nicolette and Aucassin — Grid and sketch of Nicolette and Aucassin

Here’s a video tour of where I’m at with this one. (Can you tell I’m listening to NPR?)

Here’s the final!

Marie Marfia, Aucassin and Nicolette, soft pastel on sanded paper, 12x16.375 — Neverending Love Story (Aucassin and Nicolette parody), soft pastel on sanded paper, 12×16.375″.

Finally! These parodies always take forever to finish. I have so much respect for the original creators of the pieces I copy. And I learn a ton while I’m working.

So, no official title for this one yet. If you have a suggestion, please send it along. Of course, puns are given first priority and if I pick your title to use, I’ll happily send you a print as a thank you. Email me, marie@mariemarfia.com, and tell me your idea!

As soon as I have a title for this one I’ll be adding it to my Etsy downloads and my Fine Art America shop, so I’ll keep you posted.

UPDATE! I have decided on a title. It’s going to be Neverending Love Story. It’s because it’s all about the story that never ends. Also, this particular couple is based on a story–Nicolette and Aucassin–which is also referenced in one of my favorite series of books ever.

Thanks to everyone who submitted ideas for the title. They really helped me a lot to come up with something that I liked and seemed fitting. You’re the best fans ever!

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!

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

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

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!

Gold Coast Artisan Fair is this weekend!

I’m kind of excited.

As you can see, I’m still trying to work out the flow in my booth… Flow is so important.

I kind of like the idea of hanging cards on paracord, like little flags waving in the wind. (Oh, god, I hope there’s not too much wind!)

To bring the skeleton table and chairs or not to bring the skeleton table and chairs… It’s a conundrum.

The question that still haunts me

I am still gathering together the inventory for this show. I have never exhibited here so I don’t know quite what to expect. Should I bring mostly Old (Dead) Masters? Or skeleton couples? Skelvis? I just don’t know. I guess I’ll bring a little bit of everything and see how it goes!

The giveaway

I’m going to give away a large print of one of my skellies after the show. I haven’t decided which one it’s going to be or whether I’m going to let the winner choose. (Email me your opinion and possibly confuse me even more!)

To enter, just stop by my booth (Section B, space 8) and fill out a form. While you’re there you can also get on my mailing list, but that’s totally optional. You don’t have to be on my mailing list to enter the contest. (But it’d be awesome if you were.)

The important stuff

What: Gold Coast Artisan Fair
Where: Rotary Park, downtown Ludington, Michigan
When: Saturday, August 10, 10-5 and Sunday, August 11, 10-4

The call

Come on out! Say hello! Sign up to win a skelly print! And tell all your friends!

I am spookily delightful!

Here’s a sweet article about my “Greetings from St. Augustine” series in EU Jacksonville magazine. Thank you, Jennifer! It’s fabulous!

Marie Marfia’s Quirky Skeleton Art is Spookily Delightful

To celebrate, I’m putting “Still Got It” on sale this week in my web shop. All iterations of this skeleton piece are 25% Off through Sunday, October 21, 2018. Happy skelly shopping!

I’m reading about corpses, coffins and crypts

Corpses, Coffins & Crypts–A History of Burial by Penny Colman

Love the pictures and the author’s conversational style. I found it at my local library. Libraries are so cool. Usually I let Steve pick out books for me but every once in a while I make time to visit the library and I’m always amazed by what I find there. Additional craziness about a dutch embalmer, child skeletons and the tsar of Russia here!

Like this blog? Sign up for my newsletter to get a free wallpaper plus access to special subscriber-only sales on my skelly art!

Skelvis!

pastel painting of Elvis as a skeleton doing the Jailhouse Rock

Skelvis rocks!

When I was in college I did a lip synch video to Elvis’s immortal “Devil in Disguise.” I enlisted the help of my sister and a friend, dressed one like an angel in a pretty white frock and the other in red flannel underwear with a tail and horns. They took turns dancing on my shoulders throughout the song through the use of video magic (well, it was magic back then). I was dressed as a tele-evangelistic minister in a sharp suit and tie, with my hair slicked back and holding a leather-encased bible.

Flash forward to this week when someone asked me if I’d yet done Elvis as a skeleton. The suggestion immediately brought back all the fun we had making that video. Truly, it was the highlight of my college career, not even kidding.

When my dad saw it later, I heard he laughed himself silly. High praise indeed.

To paint The King, I needed just the right reference photo. I didn’t find Devil in Disguise but I did find Jailhouse Rock. Looking it over, it occurred to me that a ribcage can look a lot like a striped uniform shirt, and well, he came together pretty quickly after that.

Here’s a couple of videos of the process:

And now all that hip-shaking sexiness is available for you to have for your very own! The original (18×24″ on paper, unmatted and unframed) is $600 and in my shop. You can also have him to grace your walls as a canvas wrap print, paper print, or a greeting card.

Do you know someone who loves the King and skeleton art? Please share.

If you like what you’re seeing and reading, sign up for my newsletter, Bone Appetit (on the right). You’ll get regular updates on what’s happening in my studio plus exclusive access to twice yearly sales on my originals, prints and cards.

SaveSaveSaveSave

SaveSave

Madame X-Ray has a new home

happy couple holding Madame X-Ray and some prints — Stephanie and James with Madame X-Ray and prints from my show at The Red Sable, October 2015.

Madame X-Ray has a new home! Congratulations, Stephanie and James, on your newest acquisition to your skeleton art collection! It makes me happy that you loved Madame X-Ray so much that you just had to take her home with you! May she bring you joy.

I enjoyed talking with them about skeleton art and I’m excited about making plans for next year’s Day of the Dead Festival in St. Augustine, Florida. It’s gonna be great! Stephanie and James, hope to see you there!

Pastel painting of a skeleton posing in a formal gown — Madame X-Ray by Marie Marfia. Sold. See alternative purchasing options below.

For Madame X-Ray fans, please note. You can purchase a version printed on practically anything in my Fine Art America shop. Enjoy!

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!

Sign up for my Marie Marfia Fine Art newsletter! You’ll get regular updates about my latest work in the studio plus insights into my process. Plus, get a free downloadable print just for signing up!

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.

All framed up…

….and some place to go. She’s such a little drama queen. I think putting her in an ornate gold frame was a good idea. It’s the perfect finish and gives her a truly Old (Dead) Masters feel. I took a picture of her in the garden behind my house. She’s looks quite the coquette, hiding behind those purple leaves.

Madame X-Ray, framed up and ready for the show! Sold!

Madame X-Ray will be at The Red Sable beginning on Tuesday, September 29, 2015 along with three others from the Old (Dead) Masters series, plus seven paintings from Greetings from St. Augustine and three Skelly Dancers. They’re going to be there all October, along with matted 5×7″ prints and small notecards. I’ve already sold one piece from the O(D)M (I’ll tell you all about it on a later post), but Madame is available for $270, which includes her splendid gilded frame. Contact me if you’d like to purchase her.

You’ve got some place quiet and secluded for her to be, don’t you? She won’t want to compete with anyone else for space. And even though she’s small, just 10 inches wide by 14 inches tall with the frame, she’s going to command a lot of attention. Drama queen, remember?

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!

What’s in my head?

I’m not sure, but I have a sneaking suspicion it’s trying to get out. Up next is my skelly version of a lovely Edward Degas Blue Dancers painting. Since I love them so much, it’s only proper that I flay them down to the bone for my own amusement. Wonder if there’s an easier way to draw a rib cage? Maybe model the thing as a solid form and then put in the negative space? These are kicking my behind for sure. Glad I got the deluxe skeleton model from American Science and Surplus, otherwise I’d be truly lost.

Original art — Blue Skelly Dancers, Marie Marfia, 16×16″ pastel on paper. Sold.

Report on the Steampunk Art Show

Success! My friend’s crafty steampunk “Ladies ARTillery” display drew lots of people who took pictures and signed up for a mailing list and bid on the silent auction item. This Airship Purse in particular got lots of oohs and aahs all night. Not surprising, really. She makes awesome stuff.

First Coast Pastel Society Member Show at the Jewish Community Alliance, September 4-30, 2015

I’m submitting two recent skelly paintings to this show, Skelly Dance at Bougival and Madame X-Ray. If you’ve never been to the JCA, it’s a beautiful facility on San Jose Boulevard, just north of Baymeadows. Here’s the address: 8505 San Jose Blvd., Jacksonville, FL 32217. There is no opening reception for this show, so check the hours, and then come when you like to enjoy wonderful pastel art by local artists.

Coming up

Here are some pics I took at the beach last night, while out enjoying the cool breezes with my beloved. I will get busy turning them into awesome pastel paintings, so stay tuned. And then after that, I have ideas for about a dozen more skelly paintings, and then there’s the show at the Red Sable in October, plus a half dozen other ideas stewing around in my brain pan. It’s good to be busy.