ASI 45 "Artist Spotlight - MazArt Studio" Interview with Marion Dutton

Jeff00:02

Welcome back to Art Supply Insiders. My name is Jeff Morrow, and today we are in Artist Spotlight and we're talking with Marion Dutton, and many of you may not know her by this name. If you go on YouTube and you watch any of those terrific teachers on YouTube, you may know her as MazArt Studio. Marion, how are you today?

Marion00:26

I'm fine, Jeff. Thank you very much for having me on the. Well,

Jeff00:30

gosh, I, I can tell you that I've actually been watching you for years and, uh, I am excited as heck. And you have been, you, you do a lot of things. You're an oil painter and acrylic painter, a watercolored painter. Kind of take us back to the beginning.

How did you, how did you to get into all this stuff,

Marion00:52

Well, you know, I'm somebody who really likes lots of variety and, um, so going right back to the beginning, um, obviously I did art at school and, um, won a school prize, was kind of not very good at many other subjects. Art and English were the two. Sort of things I was really good at.

Um, and then really after school, I went on to college to do, to do a level art, um, what we call a level art, um, which was like a preview to going on to do a degree. But sadly I lost my father when I was 17. Um, and when he died really after that, I had. Particular interest. I just wanted a job. I was 18 years old and just wanted a job, so I kind of left art together and, um, sort of didn't pick it up again until I was about 36, um, doing a school project for one of my, for my daughter actually.

Um, and sort of picked up the. The things that I needed for this particular project. And at the same time I thought, Oh, I wonder if I can still draw and I wonder if I can still paint and picked up a load of things for myself. So kids, the kids were a little bit old by then. So when they disappeared to the rooms, I've started drawing and painting again.

Um, I was absolutely rubbish, . It really did open the flood doors again for me to sort of get really into it all again. So, um, and sort of really enjoy it, you know, remember how much I used to enjoy it as a child. So I feel like I've kind of gone full circle to be doing things that I used to enjoy as a child.

I mean, we didn't have plays, stations and things in them days. Yep. So for me it was all about sitting there, coloring and drawing and making pictures. So it's kind of nice to be going back.

Jeff02:46

Is it, you know, art is just really something. It's, it's almost like riding a bicycle. You know, you, you, you, you get on a bike when you're a kid and then you don't do it till you're an adult.

You get on it again, you almost fall off, but not quite, and you just find it yourself going right down the road.

Marion03:03

. Absolutely. Yeah. It's, I think the thing is for me, people say, Oh, you're talented, or whatever. If I think it's more about an inclination towards something, and it's something that I've always enjoyed to.

You know, doing is being creative and making things. Um, and so really sort of getting back into that once the children were getting a little bit older, um, it just opened the floodgates a little bit for me, really. And then from there you go on and start exploring buying books, going on courses, and, you know, it, it just sort of, um, snowballed from there really.

Now,

Jeff03:39

you know, a lot of people seem to think that you have to. an artist you naturally know how have to know how to draw. That's not true. You can get in there and you can help almost anybody to find their creative self.

Marion03:55

Ab, Absolutely. I, I'm a huge believer. Um, again, it's, you know, where people say, Oh, you're talented.

I do think you can have a natural inclination. Some people wanna play the piano, some people wanna go dancing. Whatever that creative outlet is, I think it is important that we all have something, whatever your job happens to be, year nine to five happens to be. It is nice to actually have that creative outlet.

Um, but no, I don't believe we're born. Talent. You know, if you'd have seen me at 36 when I restarted , um, you know, the stuff I was doing at sort of 15 and 16 was way better than what I was doing at 36. I'd really lost touch with it. So from there, it's really about studying and getting your head down and going back to the basics, the fundamentals, and I'm working your way through that If anybody's wanting to do it.

They'll do it.

Jeff04:50

I think that's incredibly sage advice. You are right. It's, It's more about the desire than it is about

Marion04:57

the talent. Absolutely. Definitely. Talent comes from decades of, you know, oh, years of hard work, just putting the time into it. So when people say, I make it look easy, it is because I've just.

Painted that thing hundreds and hundreds of times. So, or something very similar. So there's never really any surprises that way. It's always just digging into sort of things you already have inside of you and the, it's all relevant. You know, you mentioned about sort of oil acrylics, It's all relevant.

I've found. I, I was really against what color in the beginning. Um, I just really couldn't work the medium, but once I got my head down, went on courses, studied with some of the teachers, I have actually found my oil paintings are so much better because I've introduced another medium into the mixture, and I think that they all affect each other in one way or another.

If that makes sense. Oh

Jeff05:55

no. You know, it makes total sense cause I know a lot of artists will start doing something, myself included. Um, I tried watercolor one time and cuz I was more of an oil painter and I didn't know how to move the color around, so it frustrated me. So I, it sounds like you just gotta kind of stick with it until you get it.

Marion06:18

Absolutely it, it is the frustration that I think that you then are able to bring to, For example, for me, I'm, I love oil paint. Oil paint's my first love, but I find that because of the watercolor, because you don't have the control, I. I'm able to bring some of that looseness into when I do the oil painting that my strokes these days are a lot looser than maybe what they were five, six years ago.

So for me, I think everything's all relative. I think, you know, color and having fun and, and being willing to always be the student, which is something I really do. I love learning.

Jeff06:58

Yeah. Boy, it sounds like we're, um, we're kindred spirits cuz I know the more I go out and train people, the more I find, I don't know.

Absolutely

Marion07:08

. Right? Definitely. Absolutely. You know, we, we, you know, and if we can have that and bring that sort of childlike curiosity, bring that willingness to learn, um, to everything we do, you know, of, you know, it's, it's, I think it's just a really exciting way to approach life.

Jeff07:28

Boy, I, you, you were right.

And so let's kind of go back. So you, you quit for a while. Life came in, you got involved, the kids start getting a little bit older. You're 36, you start painting again. How did you get into teaching? So other

Marion07:42

people. So it is kind of crazy. I, I did several. Um, I was, my big plan was to be, my first love is pet portraits, portraits, animals.

Um, that's my number one love. Um, and again, when I look at stuff that I did as a child, it was all painting dogs and things like that. So that's always sort of stayed with me. Um, so that was my great plan. I was going to, Sit down and be inundated with commission work, and that was gonna be my life, you know?

But nobody was buying . Yeah. Nobody was commissioning me. And, um, I think we, we hit a, a bit of a crash as well in the market and economy was a bit difficult, so I somehow stumbled on the Bill Alexander, which is Bob Ross's teacher. Um, and they brought out a certification course which was all done online, which suited me being home with children and things.

So I did this online course certification program thinking, you know, keep me busy in between waiting for them commissions to come in, . Um, you know, so I did the course, but the last two assignments were about teaching and to photograph yourself, video yourself, teaching other people. So I was a little bit like, Right.

Okay. It's not quite what I had in mind. And originally I thought I'll have a few friends around. We'll have some wine, you know? Yeah, . But in the end I decided not to. I thought, No, I'm gonna go for this. So I made a little poster and I put it in our local chip shop, our chippy. And also in the local post office.

And by the time, and basically I was advertising six places. I used to have, I used to make curtains at home and I had, um, a big ping pong table that I used as a cutting table. Mm-hmm. . And I thought, I can get six around here and I'll teach them how to paint some of these projects from the Bill Alexander course.

Um, by the time I'd got home those places, We're booked. So I'd only been out the house 15 minutes and you know, the, the spot and it really, it surprised me, you know, I was a bit like, wow. But obviously it was free. So that's why, you know, , I had to be that reason. So anyway, I did these two, I had two classes, um, and I did one, one week and won the following week.

Both were, were booked. and I absolutely loved it. And that was the start of it, Just being able to do a bit. I mean, I was quite a novice myself back then. Yeah. So I'd be doing a bit, They'd be doing a bit, I'd be doing a bit, they'd be doing a bit. And everybody was absolutely delighted with their final paintings.

But it were more than that. It was that gathering and you know, having shared interest with somebody and, and it felt really good being star of me own little show . It's

Jeff10:41

kinda fun,

Marion10:41

isn't it? It was really good fun and so that really surprised me. So I got my certification July. 2011, and that was the July.

And then in the September I started offering classes, paid for classes, and they still kept filling and they kept filling and they kept filling. Um, really that was it, , you know, From there I just, just continued doing it from there and adding a bit more to YouTube and, and stuff like that. It, it's being a bit of a surprise because I, I never intended it.

But it's been one of the greatest joys, really.

Jeff11:20

Well, you know, some of the greatest successes in the history of the world. They never intended to do something. They just followed their passion and it just happened naturally.

Marion11:32

. Yeah, it did. It just, you know, it started to evolve and initially I was doing quite a lot from the Bill Alexander landscape, flowers, things like that.

But I then introduced, because I'd been painting pets and portraits, um, I then introduced doing workshops with those, like longer workshops. And again, they kept filling, you know, and. Even when I kept putting my prices up a little bit, cuz I was really, really cheap to begin with. Um, to the point where actually, you know, I was paying for all the pay, the canvases, the material, everything a full day for, you know, something like 20 pounds, which was just crazy.

Um, but I started pulling the prices up and this still kept filling. So, you know, it was, it was really exciting.

Jeff12:20

Well, it helps when the way you teach is so easy to follow. Um, that's what attracted me to you. When I first started looking at YouTube years ago. Um, it was the fact that you created things that were of interest to me and you were easy to listen to and easy to follow the instructions.

Marion12:43

Thank you. I have to say, I get that comment quite a lot is that people do enjoy the way I, it does make me laugh cuz I get a lot of comments about my accent . Um, I'm Alan Shala, so I do have a very broad accent. Um, but it does surprise me that I do. Get a lot of comments about the pace and the way I teach.

Um, and I would class that really as probably my superpower is that I enjoy the teaching. Yeah. Immensely. It matters to me when students are sharing the work that they've done it, it's so, I find it's so exciting to see what they've actually achieved based on something. I've instructed. It's very exciting.

Jeff13:27

Yeah. It, it, you know, if we take a look at some of your YouTube, you know, numbers. You've got, uh, almost 90,000 subscribers. Uh, you've had 5.8 million views since 2011, 5.8 million ever in your wildest days, did you think that many people would be watching.

Marion13:51

No, I didn't even know. I had a following on YouTube, which is quite, I originally, um, hired somebody to do some filming for me and he filmed five, um, lessons, but I was never quite happy.

I'm a bit of a perfectionist. Everything has to be exactly what I wanted, so I never felt like I could charge or create an online course with these lessons. So I just put 'em on YouTube. I just, Put 'em on there just to see

Jeff14:21

. So you're, you've got basically two things. You, you go onto your, uh, YouTube page, which is the, Well let me ask you this.

How did the term MazArt come up?

Marion14:33

Okay, so Maz is a nickname, . So I'm named after my mother. So we, you know, I share the same name as my mom. So growing up it. Little Marion, Big Marion. My mum hated that . So then we got Young Marion. Old Marion. She hated that even more . So then I got Maz. So that's where the ma the ma art comes from is um, you know, it's how they differentiated between my mom and me.

So

Jeff15:03

I, I love it. So there's, there's really kind of two parts to, to your, the Maz Art Empire. You've got your YouTube page, and then you've got your Maz Art studio. Academy. What is a Maz Studio Academy. Tell me about that.

Marion15:21

So the difference with YouTube, I go on, I put some full length tutorials on, I put hints and tips snippets, but the YouTube platform is quite limited.

You know, it's all based on watch time. Sometimes you can put a long tutorial on there and it actually can damage. YouTube algorithm because it's all to do with the watch chime. So the things that do better on YouTube are smaller, shorter, more digestible videos. Um, but there are those who want. Full length tutorials from me.

They want to be handheld all the way through different courses, uh, or different classes. And that's where the academy comes in. That's my premium, uh, platform if you like. Um, of course it's a paid for platform, whereas YouTube is completely free. But I do have. Full courses on there, um, that do take probably several months for people to work from start to finish.

So for example, I have a pet portrait course, um, and it takes you through six dogs, three cats and a horse literally from start to finish under painting first colors and final details. So it's a big course far too much that you could ever put on YouTube. Um, but if anybody wants to. How I do pet portraits and wants to learn a spec, a particular skill set, then that course is for them.

I have the same with a portrait course as well. Um, same thing, taking you through six full length portraits. Um, so there's a difference. It's, it's more premium content and it's for those who are, it's an academy for those who are ready to sit down and want to start learning. And it's all online, so it's all done.

The comfort of your home, which is amazing.

Jeff17:12

, what is the, uh, the web address for the, uh, the academy?

Marion17:17

It's, um, www.mazartacademy.com.

Jeff17:24

So say that one more time. That's www Maz and that's m a z

Marion17:29

Art. MazArtacademy.com.

Jeff17:33

academy.com. Yeah. Great. Now let's talk a little bit about some of your favorite, You know, cuz this is Art Supply Insiders, some of your favorite go to tools and mediums that you use.

Let's start out in with oils. Do you have a favorite brush? Do you have a favorite oil line that you like to use?

Marion17:55

I, uh, you know, I, I've used Georgian oils for decades, absolutely years. Um, and in terms of the daily roundy, um, Georgian, it's a student grade and it's something I would highly recommend to students when they're beginning because it's very affordable.

It's very creamy. It's, it is a lovely student paint, but during the pandemic, I started to think, right, okay, I want to experiment a little bit. I use some Michael Harding, which is just lush paint. Um, but I have sort of settled on gambling. I'm really starting to, It's, it's great quality, super quality, but it's a little more budget friendly than say the Michael Harding, for example.

The mediums I tend to stick to. I love ZTE Mediums. I don't know if you've heard of them. No, I have not. Yeah, it's ba basically it's um, like a non-toxic medium. It's a bit like Gambling's. Um, they have their own, Is it gum? Va Gavir? I'm not sure. A game bar

Jeff19:05

Varnish. Yeah, yeah,

Marion19:06

yeah. They have their own version.

Um, well the Zest it medium, something I've been using for years. There's no smell to it, or if it has, it's got a slightly citrus smell to it. Um, and it just, it just suits me. So, um, it's something I tend to use a lot of.

Jeff19:24

And how about brushes? Do you have a, a specific manufactured or do you kind of use all brushes from everybody?

Marion19:31

Yeah, I, I have a slight obsession about all brushes. , as you probably conceivable all that. Yeah. Um, but yeah, I, I have my own brush set, which I imported many years ago. Oh. But I am actually down to the last few boxes and I won't be bringing any more in, um, just since the pandemic. It's got very confusing and I'm like, you know what?

I don't. Um, and then now really I go to Rosemary for a lot of the brushes. Um, she's got an ivory range, which I think is excellent. You know, her ivory range is a brilliant, sort of all rounder for oil and acrylic as well. So I have played around with quite a lot of the Rosemary brushes and I do love them.

She, she does super

Jeff20:16

brushes. That she really does. And, and how about, uh, on, uh, acrylic paint? Do you have a, a go-to acrylic paint

Marion20:23

that you like? I've used a variety and again, sort of cheaper, um, daily roundy, acrylics and things like that. But my favorite at the moment is the Liquitex, soft bodied acrylics.

Oh, I'm absolutely loving the way they flow. Um, just really, really enjoying and the colors are absolutely stunning. So, and again, during the pandemic, just treating myself, buying some of these more expensive products that are probably wouldn't have been using if I'd have been having students in, um, you know, cuz it's far too expensive to be dishing out to students.

So, um, You know, I was using these cheaper ones, but now I start using the, uh, the aquitex ones, which I really do enjoy.

Jeff21:12

And how about your watercolors?

Marion21:13

I'm using Windsor and Newton watercolors. Yeah. And again, the artist quality, it's the same thing. Just going with that slightly better quality paint, it just renders better results.

So I am enjoying sort of switching from doing a lot of student quality paints to now using more artists quality paints.

Jeff21:35

And I know, um, artists, uh, watercolor artists are very particular about. Brushes, Uh, do you have, uh, any watercolor brushes that your go

Marion21:46

to? Um, I, not particularly. I've been u again, I've been actually using a lot of the SAA branded, They do a silver handle brush, um mm-hmm.

and it's been, it's a really great workhorse. I've got a variety of different sizes, um, and I've been using theirs really. So that's what I've been using for watercolor. Do

Jeff22:08

you have, do you go to any events? Do you host any really big events or is it pretty much you stick with YouTube and do you still teach classes?

Marion22:18

Um, I haven't been teaching sort of from the summer onwards. Um, I'm having a little bit of a break from teaching partly because, um, my equipment has took over the room, you know, for doing. Filming. Um, so originally in this studio I used to be able to get nine or 10 students and it's ended up where I can get five in now because one half of it is all filming equipment and the other half is for, um, students.

So what I'm actually doing at the moment, I was teaching up until June and, um, doing sort of two classes a month. Um, but I'm actually taking a small break really, so that I can put some energy into. Both the academy and the YouTube, I just found like I was being pulled in too many different directions.

Jeff23:07

Yeah, it's, you know, being good at what you do is good news and bad news. The good news is people are coming and the bad news is, People are coming. . No,

Marion23:19

absolutely. Yeah. I, I do love the classes. You know, it, we, um, it's much smaller now with only five students. It's nice and intimate. Um, but it is a lot hard work because obviously you do prep.

Beforehand, there's a lot of preparation beforehand, and then obviously you've got the whole day of teaching and things like that. But I tend to a lot of minor older clients and I think we've had, since the pandemic, it has been a little bit different. You know, there's a lot more sort of fear about coming out, uh, in these close environments.

So, and because I'm dealing with a lot more elderly, I think as the winter starts again, um, I'm sure. You know, Coronavirus may rear its ugly head again and we're gonna end up with more cancellations and, and things like that. So I've just decided to take a little bit of a break for the rest of this year and reassess things at the back end, um, or in January.

Jeff24:17

Makes perfect sense. Now tell me, are your kids, are they painters?

Marion24:22

No, none of them ? No, they're all grown up. I've got a son living in London. Um, he's doing extremely well in London and I've got two daughters who are in Bolton where we are. You know, where I originally came from. And again, they're all working.

They've all got, uh, their careers and everything, and they're all, you know, doing their thing. It's not very impressive when mom comes along and shows 'em the latest painting. Yeah. Like, Oh yeah, that's nice.

Jeff24:54

Oh, mom, that's really good. Yeah, I

Marion24:58

know. I know. Like, oh, another painting. Woo. . You know what?

Jeff25:05

The thing that I like from you is a, again, you are very, very easy to talk to.

Um, your, your, your accent is absolutely delightful, , and I think the key here is, is just to go out and try. Whatever it is. You, you took classes from Bill Alexander and and, and Bob Ross. There's nothing wrong with you, just start someplace,

Marion25:32

right? Absolutely. And you know, like the Bob Ross thing, you know, it gets a bad reputation.

Yeah. It's cheap art. I absolutely disagree with that completely. You know, it is how I started it. It set the snowball, you know, rolling for me. I have since been with lots of other different teachers, you know, I've traveled to America as well and, and been with Robert Warren and a few other different artists down there, Mary Carol, and people like that.

So, um, Even Jerry Yarnell. I had a weekend at Jerry Yarnell's place, which was, Oh goodness. Good. Yeah. Bit of a dream come true. Um, so I'm somebody who is willing to. Um, invest in my education by visiting. I think if you can see lots of different artists and experience lots of different artists, that's how you suddenly start to pick a little bit from here and a little bit from there.

And, you know, you develop your own style by learning really.

Jeff26:33

Is there anything I've forgotten to ask you?

Marion26:36

No, I don't think so. I think we've covered everyth. Well, I've

Jeff26:39

gotta tell you, this has been an absolute wonderful interview and to our audience, um, please go to the YouTube page. Uh, go to MazArt.

Studio, type in Marion Dutton and check her out. You are in for an absolute delightful time, and if you have any interest whatsoever in picking up a paintbrush or drawing or doing anything, um, you can't go wrong by, uh, following, um, MazArt

Marion27:17

Art Studio. Thank you very much, Jeff. It's been a pleasure. You've

Jeff27:21

been listening to the Art Supply Insiders.

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