Prints – Marjasall Productions – The Artworks of Mark Jason Allen

Saddling Up!

marjasall — Sun, 09 Mar 2025 03:00:06 +0000

Hello! I am still here and I’m still making art, but sometimes I have to do other things.

I started another acrylic painting back in July and I worked on it for a couple weeks and then ended up putting it down (a familiar story from me) and I didn’t pick back up on it until February of 2025. I just finished it this past week. Better later than never! I made a time-lapse video of the process (see below), as some folks like to see the process of creating a piece of art, and some folks just find it relaxing to watch. I enjoy watching them myself.

I’ve named the painting (simply) “Dryad’s Saddle”. For anyone not in the know, “Dryad’s Saddle” is an edible shelf mushroom that grows on dead decaying trees. You will easily find them in wooded areas (obviously). They’re also known as “Pheasant Back”, because the pattern on them resembles the feathers on a pheasant’s back.

The small young Dryad’s Saddle are tender and the most edible. My wife and I harvest Dryad’s Saddle from a decaying tree stump in our own back yard, every Spring and Summer, and she cooks them up in a frying pan. The larger they are, the tougher and woodier they are, so you want the small young ones which are softer. Freshly picked, they smell like cucumber or watermelon rind, and when chopped up and cooked in a skillet with some butter, garlic, and a dash of salt they fry up much like any mushroom does. Its texture reminds me very much of cooked chicken (the tender dark meat) and it has an earthy flavor. I’ve read that they are high in vitamins, protein, and anti-oxidents and are very healthy to eat. There is a lot of information on the internet about Dryad’s Saddle and how to prepare them.

Also in my painting are hosta plants. Did you know that hostas are also edible? You can eat the shoots, the leaves, and the flowers. There’s lots of info about that online as well. Perhaps I should have named the painting “Forager’s Delight”.

This painting has gotten my creativity going again and reminds me that Spring is just around the corner. We’ll be seeing lots of “Dryad’s Saddle” soon, and I have already started working on another painting! I hope we’ll be seeing more of those on a regular basis too!

Prints of my new painting “Dryad’s Saddle” are now available in my store. This open edition hand-signed giclee print is digitally printed in high resolution with waterproof archival pigment inks on 19 mil, 260 g/m2, archival textured matte velvet fine art paper, 100% cotton fiber and acid free.

Thanks for reading my blog post!

Sights of Summer

marjasall — Sat, 20 Jul 2024 16:11:11 +0000

It’s time for another bimonthly installment of “what can I tell you about?” Well, I can tell you about some new artwork!

Throughout the weeks of May and June, I worked on a couple of new acrylic paintings and made new time-lapse videos of these. The video shorts are shared below, but you can watch the full videos from beginning to end on my youtube channel at www.youtube.com/@marjasallproductions. If you haven’t yet, Subscribe to my youtube channel for quicker updates on my painting videos. It’s free. As I was saying, one of the paintings is an acrylic painting of zinnia flowers, and another is an acrylic painting of fresh sliced vegetables, which I titled “Burger Friends”.

The zinnia painting was derived from the zinnias in my backyard. I love zinnias. They’re one of my favorite flowers, along with sunflowers and snapdragons. I admire their over-saturated neon colors. They scream psychedelia and they bloom all summer long. To my knowledge, there are two types of zinnia – one type is a tuft of brightly colored petals, and the other kind is like a daisy, with a single row of petals around a center disc. I particularly like the daisy-type variety the best. I had started the painting a year prior to the making of this video (before I began making painting videos), so the beginning of the painting was not recorded in the full video. I titled the piece “Early-Autumn Zinnias” because summer was over, and the petals were beginning to fade and wilt. It’s mid-July right now and our backyard zinnias are still very vibrant, by the way.

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!

April is the time when nature gets creative

marjasall — Tue, 30 Apr 2024 20:26:11 +0000

…and I have followed her lead. Earlier this month my wife and I went to the Kenosha Public Museum to see the Kenosha Unified District Wide Student Art Show. The exhibition featured artwork from area grade school kids, elementary through high school. The exhibit was open to the public and ran for three weeks, but this particular night that we went was the meet and greet event. Our niece, who is in high school, had am art piece on display in the show and we went to support her and to see all of the cool art.

There were sculptures, paintings, and drawings, oh my! I also saw a lot of really unusual and creative mixed media pieces. It was a really nice event. It was very colorful and inspiring. I smiled the whole time. I saw so much outstanding work there, but one of the most enjoyable to look at was the work from the elementary school kids, K-5. The imaginations and the colors were outstanding. Cute kitty cat and pumpkin drawings in a variety of styles and scenes. As I said, it made me smile and it was a fun event. It also reminded me of when I was a youngster and had artwork in art shows, and the work was shared, acknowledged, and sometimes rewarded. I think I might know the kids’ excitement that had work in the show. I also got to revisit creativity and art through the eyes and mind of a young person. I think I still have some of that kid in me when I create. I must. I hope so. At any rate, here are some pics from the meet and greet event. Maybe you’ll see what I mean. Check out all of that enthusiasm for expression on display, and the adventurous ideas.

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!

New Store Items Added

marjasall — Mon, 17 Apr 2023 15:12:17 +0000

Here’s a sample of some of the prints. These are 8” x 10”. I am very grateful to fill orders. Get yours!

I’ve added 7 different sets of greeting cards, to the shop. The sets are 5 cards of the same print, folded 5×7, printed on 85 pound card stock. The interior of the card is blank so you can write your own message within and give them to your friends or family. They could make a nice gift for framing. Card envelopes are included. The card images were painted with acrylics, on small stretched canvases.

I have also added some prints of drawings made with charcoal (“Hog Pen”, and “Wilting Sunflower”), and one drawing in oil pastels (“Jars of Hot Peppers”).

I have many incomplete paintings to finish, so today I will work on one of them, which is a painting of a grist mill. I may post something about it shortly.

Wishing you all a happy day. Keep a good attitude in your heart.

~Mark

Above are camera closeups of some of the actual prints, showing their quality.

The Marjasall Productions Online Store Is Now Open

marjasall — Tue, 11 Apr 2023 23:36:09 +0000

It’s been nearly a week a since my last post. I’ve spent that week adding products to my online store.

So far, I have added 28 different open edition prints to the store. There are three different sizes to choose from – 5″ x 7″, 8″ x 10″, and 11″ x 14″. The images are reproduced digitally, in high resolution, on high quality photo paper. I did not want to enlarge any of the images, larger than I originally painted them, as that would affect the quality of the print, so for the current prints available, the largest one I offer is 11×14. When I do larger paintings, I will offer larger prints of them.

The gouache paintings I created are all untraditional sizes. I would use a large sheet of watercolor paper and would split it in half to get two paintings out of one sheet of paper. This way the painting fits my scanner bed also. But in splitting the paper in half, it creates paintings that are not a standard size. So to translate the images to a standard size print, there is a wide white border either top and bottom, or on the sides. Customers can choose to leave this extra white border as is, or the customer can trim off the extra white border. I think leaving the extra white border offers some flexibility. Browse the store, to see what I mean.

At the moment I only offer loose prints — they are unmatted and unframed. But they will be packaged well, and mailed flat, in a rigid mailer so that they cannot be bent. I do not have the time or resources for matting and framing prints (I should be creating new art), but there are many places that will matte and frame your prints for you, if you are not able do it yourself. Michael’s and Hobby Lobby are just two stores I can think of, off the top of my head. There are also businesses that cater only to matting and framing art.

I’m working on some greeting card sets at the moment, and some limited-edition prints. I plan to sell some originals here also.

I’m still working the bugs out of the website itself — some text colors, links, clearer navigation menus, etc.. I am confident with more time and experience I can make this site even better. I hope you like what you see so far. I need to get back to creating new art.