Creating art is just one aspect to being a painter....making a living doing what you love can throw a kink into the whole process.  There is a romantic conception that all artists spend endless hours in their studios doing nothing but painting and creating.  That they don't have time to eat, lose track of time,  are quirkie, dress strangely and drink a lot waiting for someone to come by and buy something.  While some of that may be true some of us actually have to earn money while being one of these strange beings.  I've been blessed to have found a way to collect income by licensing my art to commercial entities.  

West of the Wind Designs, an international wholesaler, has now licensed 44 of my paintings that they reproduce in their  outdoor all weather canvas art line, 14 of the new images are being unveiled at Navy Pier this August and I get to be there :) 

Seven of my paintings have also been selected for reproduction by American Furniture Warehouse, the largest furniture and accessories retailer west of the Mississippi.  Just this past weekend I received notice from the company that they have just added 2 more of my paintings to their line....bringing the total to 9.   You can see the new ones in this blog!

The reason I'm doing the happy dance is that each time one of my paintings is licensed I have the potential to get a bigger check in the mail for doing essentially, NOTHING!   Which leaves me more time to be a quirkie artist that creates endlessly and doesn't have time to eat...oh, woops.  That is something I obviously never forget to do :)  Ciao and have a fabulous day!

If you would like to see more please visit my website www.mariannaduford.com

I took a half day workshop from master painter, Don Sahli.  He studied with a Russian School master and is now passing along "secrets" of the technique, which take a lifetime to learn.  Part of the requirement for the class was to paint on a 16x20 canvas with a HUGE #12 bristle filbert.  Jeeze Louise...it was a tough assignment.  Most plein air painters paint on panels 11x14 or smaller using MUCH smaller brushes...including myself.  After the grueling morning with Don I went out again in the afternoon to try doing it again on my own, painting on a 16x20 panel.  I painted this in 1.5 hours...a record for me.  I didn't include the time it took to keep picking out the little corpses of the platoons of damsel flies that kept flying into my "scene"  ...or batting the clouds of mosquitos away.  Just another day in the great outdoors!
Cheers...I'm off today to plein air paint with friends here at home this evening and hoping we don't encounter what seems to be the daily mountain monsoon.

Another painting friend and I went out  Sunday morning to paint in the Crested Butte wilderness.  The Plein Air Artists Colorado were gathering for 4 days of painting during the Wildflower Festival and we had arrived early.  Crested Butte is known as the wildflower capital of Colorado...and it was breathtaking to experience first hand again!  This pretty scene presented itself to me on the way up to the old mining town of Gothic.  We needed to join the rest of the 68 artists that would be gathering at noon to have the back of our canvases stamped.  This is to have proof that you hadn't painted ahead of time and that the painting was really produced during the paint out.  Of course...this one wasn't stamped yet as we went out before the noontime stamp gathering so I couldn't enter it into the show, dang it, as it was one of my favorite paintings of the outing!  Oh well, I'm still happy!  It's better that staying home and cleaning house any day.  Stay tuned and enjoy:)

Oh Be Joyful is the name of some spectacular waterfalls in Crested Butte.  It is also the name of the beautiful gallery in "downtown" where tonight's art show is being held.  I submitted 2 paintings and they were both selected for the show! WOOT...happy dance and Oh Be Joyful indeed!  It's been an amazing week with 68 amazing and accomplished artists.  Tomorrow it is back home to reality!  I'm actually inspired and excited to paint more in my own back yard.  Happy Wednesday to you all! 

Plein air...day 2, late afternoon's partially finished painting.  After a fabulous beginning, I'm being sarcastic,  the day actually ended up a winner!  I was up at the crack of 5:30am dressed and ran out the door to capture the first light of the day.  Drove up Washington Gulch and set up my painting equipment to capture the first light on the wildflowers and mountainside.  I sketched the view on my canvas panel and was ready to schmeere on some paint.  Well...I forgot my paint in the freezer in the condo.  Luckily I remembered having a bag of back up tubes in the car.  I started laying out my paint and then figured out that all my paintbrushes were in my other easel.  Dang.  I packed up and headed back to the condo and had some coffee.  That's the problem...I should have taken the time to have coffee before trying to think!  Note so self...tomorrow have coffee before heading out to paint the first masterpiece of the day!

I belong to Plein Air Artists Colorado and I'm off to my old stomping grounds for a plein air paint out.  This coincides with the Wildflower Festival as Crested Butte is known as the wildflower capital of Colorado.  I used to live in Crested Butte in the early 80's when there were only 52 year round residents.  A time when they joked that the men were men and so were the women.  We wore granny skirts and hiking boots and worked and played hard.  I opened a cheese shop and deli on the corner of the Stage Stop Building and brought in delicacies that couldn't be found for a hundred miles around us.  I also played the piano at a restaurant called Penelopes at night.  What a crazy fun time.  Any hoo...back to the project at hand :)  I feel like I've packed to be gone for the rest of the summer.  Panels...check, paint boxes...check, paint brushes...check, bug spray...check, easel...check, sunscreen...check,  framing equipment...check, frames...check, rain coat...check, yucky painting clothes...check....AND tequila...check!  63 painters are signed up for 4 days of intense outdoor painting and then what is called a wet wall show at the Oh Be Joyful Gallery on Wed. night where we can enter up to 4 new paintings, created at the event, for jury into the one night show.  Wish me luck...Im com'n home, Crested Butte, for some new fangled fun in my old fangled memory world!

What a great day to go paint en plein air with friends.  Four of us loaded up all our gear and rode together to Cataract Lake for a morning of painting.  It is the first time since the end of the "Little Gems Project" that I got to go to work in the great outdoors again...on something bigger than a 5"x7" canvas!  The wild flowers are absolutely stunning and it was hard to narrow it down to just one viewpoint....and here it is!   If you get a chance to come to the mountains make sure you stop, get out of your car and check out the wild flowers.  Trust me...it will be worth it!  Hope you are having a fabulous day.