Since I just mentioned Christmas: Mine was amazing and I am always blessed and thankful. I received a couple of art related gifts from my loving wife. I received a Masterson wet palette. I got the large yellow one. For anyone not in the know, it’s a large low flat plastic container with an airtight lid on it. It reminds me of Tupperware. It has a large flat sponge that sits in the bottom of the tray, over which you place a thick tough palette paper which holds paint but doesn’t tear easily even when wet. You wet the sponge with water, wring out the excess water, and lay it in the bottom of the tray. You want the sponge more than just damp, but less than saturated. You don’t want water to pool in the tray. You then wet your palette paper and after letting the excess water drip from that (again you don’t want water pooling in the tray), you lay that on top of your sponge. So the sponge and paper are not swimming in water, but they are moist. You then would squeeze or scoop out your paints onto the palette paper.

The water in the sponge and paper, combined with the airtight lid, keeps my acrylic paints moist and workable for longer periods of time. In the past I’ve always had a tendency to dispense too much paint onto my palettes, and then I will step away for long periods, and my paints would dry out. Using this wet palette, I’ve stepped away for 3-4 days, opened the tray and found my paint still workable. It’s been working out great so far and I think it will eliminate a lot of wasted paint.

The other art supply that I received for Christmas was a small travel watercolor set that I can carry in a backpack or in a pocket. It’s a tiny palette box, that came with paints and little water brushes (the clear plastic kind that you fill with water). I think it’s really neat and fun and I’m eager to use it. It came with a 1.5 inch square book of blank watercolor-paper (like a micro journal), to paint in. The book is about a half inch thick. The palette box is two magnetized lids and that’s what holds it closed, and also what holds it open and together when you put the lids together. On one lid are 8 paint pans, which you can fill with the colors of your choice, and the other lid acts as a tiny mixing tray, A little metal clip helps keep it all together and acts as a small handle to hold the palette box as you paint. I’ve attached a photo to show better what I am talking about.

I’ve not blogged about any of this, obviously, but I have completed several paintings over the last half of 2025. So, I’ve been keeping busy.

The first painting I’ll talk about is a study in gray scale values. It’s a painted rendition of a sculpted rendition of Jesus Christ that stands in a cemetery, not far from my home. The full statue is of a standing Jesus with outstretched arms; his hands pierced with wounds. The statue is painted completely white, so it details light and shadow really well. I chose to paint a closeup of only the face.

The small Jesus painting was so quick, that I did another painting right after it, and then realized I had a small stack of these 5 x7 panels and I wanted to use them all up to make a series.

So the paintings that followed were a great horned owl, and a couple of my garden friends – a bumblebee, and an orb weaver spider. For the spider painting I tried using the edge of a piece of white card stock to create the webs. With a brush I would apply white paint to the edge of small piece of card stock and then press the cardstock edge to the painting, much like you would a rubber stamp, It worked out well, but I could practice it some more.

After I created this small series of gouache paintings, I got back into the larger acrylic paintings. I completed three more paintings, one of them on a round canvas, because I wanted to try something new. The round painting is of a bumblebee feeding from a bright marigold. Obviously, the round shape of the flower head filled the round canvas very nicely, and that was the catalyst for painting that particular subject. The bee was icing on the cake.

I then tried another odd-shaped canvas, this time an arc shape, painting a gardening scene which I titled “Springtime Planting” (a favorite time of the year, therefore it’s a self-portrait). Those are pepper plants, bells and jalapenos.

I then got back into rectangular canvases (I ran out of odd-shaped ones), with a scene of a rocky stream in an Autumn forest (which is The Smoky Mountains, in The Sugarlands, to be exact), which I aptly titled “Mountain Stream”. I found this one to be a challenging piece, with all of the foliage detail.

I have another new painting on the easel right now. It’s acrylic on an 18 by 24 inch stretched canvas. The subject is chess. That’s all I got. You’ll see that painting later.

Currently, it’s freezing cold where I am. It was 12 degrees yesterday, and zero the day before that, so I’m spending my days making art, peppered with moments of clearing snow.

I should wrap this entry up and get back to the painting. Until next time… which will be who knows when? It could be soon. It could be later. I wish that you, my readers, will have a great day! Thank you for coming by and checking on me. I appreciate your interest in my artwork.

I painted the other piece, “Burger Friends”, in the weeks before the 4th of July (Independence Day, in the USA). I had to step away from the painting many times to work on projects around the house, so it took longer than it should have to complete it. ”Burger Friends” is evocative of summertime grilling and the toppings we put on a burger around here. I enjoy smoking and grilling food and I do a lot of it for my household in the summertime. Aside from brisket, ribs, kabobs, chicken, grilled hot dogs and hamburgers are a common staple food during the summer months. It’s easy and delicious. Who doesn’t love hand patted quarter pound “Dad burgers”? I particularly like lettuce, tomato, red onion, cheese, and mayo, on mine. I can’t help but admire the beauty of freshly sliced vegetables, brightly colored, crisp, and juicy, just before I destroy the presentation by piling up my cheeseburger.

I’ve already started a timelapse video of another new painting, in between painting my bathroom and garage (different kind of “painting”). The projects keep coming.

Prints of “Early-Autumn Zinnias” and “Burger Friends” can be purchased in my online store. Thank you for stopping by and reading my blog!

I’ve made several new paintings over the past few weeks. I began filming timelapse videos showing the creation of these paintings. My first painting was a garden gnome standing next to some black eyed susans. I painted it with gouache paints on paper and named the piece “The Gardener”.

The next one, also gouache on paper, was a grasshopper.

And the painting after that was some bleeding heart flowers, which I painted on a larger stretched canvas with acrylic paints.

The bleeding hearts was a painting that I had started about a year ago, but I lost interest in it as I instead got into a different painting. So I decided to break it out and finish it finally, and I made a timelapse video of it, and started a YouTube channel to collect the footage and more timelapse videos of my paintings, for people that like that sort of thing. I think it’s interesting to watch a piece develop and morph in fast motion. I try to put nice music to the videos or some pleasant ambient background noise. You can watch the full videos from beginning to end on my youtube channel at www.youtube.com/@marjasallproductions. Subscribe to my channel and you’ll receive notifications of when I post new videos.

These new paintings I just mentioned, “The Gardener”, “A Grasshopper”, and “Bleeding Hearts” are now available as archival prints in my store.

I put together a slide show several weeks ago of most of my current collection of artworks. I think it’s an entertaining way to view the collection quickly in one place. Enjoy!

I’m about to begin work on another yet-unfinished painting and time-lapse video. I want to keep the creative momentum going. It’s another painting that I started about a year ago and I’ll reveal what it is when I release the video.

April is the time when nature gets creative. It’s planting season and nature comes back to life. Summer will be here before we know it. The warm weather gets me outdoors more, which means more energy, and that I will be surrounded by inspiration and new things to paint.

That’s all the news I have for the month of April. Peace to you and have a blessed day! Thank you for reading my blog!

The previous two weekends were spent in downtown Racine, Wisconsin, checking out the art galleries and shops. Racine is an art hub. There is a huge artist community here. My wife and I visited some galleries, and I talked to someone at a co-op gallery about joining. I have their paperwork in hand and will follow through once the remodel is out of the way. Also, that same day, my wife and I visited a glass blowing shop downtown called “Hot Shop Glass”. I love colored glass, so I purchased a purple sandblasted ornament to hang in my studio window. They hold glass blowing classes there. I plan to pay them another visit soon.

The previous two weekends were spent in downtown Racine, Wisconsin, checking out the art galleries and shops. Racine is an art hub. There is a huge artist community here. We visited some galleries, and talked to someone, at one, about joining. I have their paperwork in hand, and will follow through once the remodel is out of the way. Also, that day, my wife and I visited a glass blowing shop downtown called “Hot Shop Glass”. I love colored glass, so I purchased a purple sandblasted ornament to hang in my studio window. They hold glass blowing classes there. I plan to pay them another visit soon.

On Saturday, April 29^th, my wife and I attended the 16^th Street Studios Open House, in Racine, which was inspiring and enjoyable. It’s an immense historical industrial building (built in 1865) converted into art spaces. Four sprawling floors of artists’ studios and art stores — pottery, paintings, sculptures, photography, sewing. There’s a lot there. You can roam the halls and into the personal studios of dozens of artists, ask questions, and purchase their works.

That’s all the news that I have for right now, but I’ll have more soon. I still plan to get some original paintings up in the store. Thanks for stopping by.