marinalippincott.com
Framed charcoal portraits on the studio wall

Venice, Florida

Portraits in charcoal and graphite

Drawn by hand, one at a time. Original work for collectors, and a small number of commissioned portraits each year.

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Originals on paper · Commissions open · Ships nationwide

A portrait is mostly looking. The painting is what is left once the looking is done.

Marina Lippincott moves between two creative languages: code and art. As a full stack developer, she loves the structure, logic, and problem-solving of building with code. Painting and drawing offer a different kind of outlet, one shaped by intuition, observation, and emotion.

She is especially drawn to portraits, where subtle shifts in expression can completely change a likeness, but she also works with the human figure, exploring gesture, anatomy, movement, and atmosphere.

For Marina, coding and art are not opposites. Both begin with an empty space and grow through hundreds of small decisions. Her work is shown at M and N Art in Venice, Florida, where she also teaches.

Available work

Selected art

Each piece is an original on paper. Sold unframed unless noted, and framing can be arranged.

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In the studio

The studio: brushes, plaster casts and jars beside the wall of work

In the studio

Charcoal forgives nothing and forgets nothing. Every decision stays on the paper, which is rather the point.

Drawings begin as a loose block-in, often in vine charcoal that lifts off with a cloth. Once the proportions sit right, compressed charcoal and graphite go down for the darks, and the highlights are pulled back out with a kneaded eraser.

Nothing is finished on the first day. Work stays on the wall for a week and gets looked at cold before it leaves the studio.

Commissions

A portrait of someone you love

A handful of commissions are taken each year so each one gets proper attention. Single figures, couples, and portraits worked from photographs of people no longer here.

  1. Talk it through

    Tell me who the portrait is of, roughly what size you have in mind, and when you need it. I come back with a quote and an honest date.

  2. Choose the reference

    Send several photographs taken in natural light and we pick one together. Sittings at the studio are welcome if you would rather be drawn from life.

  3. Making and delivery

    You see the block-in before I commit to the darks. Four to six weeks later it ships flat between rigid boards, or framed and crated if you prefer.

Start a commission

about Marina Lippincott

Venice, Florida · visits by appointment

About

About

Marina is a portrait artist working in charcoal, graphite and oil. She co-founded M and N Art, a gallery and teaching studio in Venice, Florida, where original work by Gulf Coast artists hangs in one room and twelve easels fill the room behind it.

She teaches there as well as drawing, which keeps the fundamentals honest: value, proportion, and the patience to leave a mark alone once it is right.

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Before you ask

Commission questions

How long does a commissioned portrait take?

Four to six weeks from the point the reference photographs are agreed. Larger drawings, or more than one figure, take longer and are quoted individually.

What do you need from me to start?

Reference photographs taken in natural light at eye level, without heavy filters. Send several and we choose together. Sittings at the Venice studio can be arranged locally.

What are the drawings made with?

Charcoal and graphite on heavyweight cotton rag paper, finished with a workable fixative. Framed under glass with an acid-free mat they hold their tone for decades away from direct sun.

Do you ship outside Florida?

Yes. Unframed drawings ship flat between rigid boards anywhere in the United States. Framed work ships crated and is quoted per piece.

Journal

Notes from the studio

Enquiries

Start a conversation

Commissions, available work, studio visits. Tell me what you have in mind and I will reply within a couple of days.