A Wilmington couple’s life in art, ‘It’s been an exciting life’ [video]

Marvin and Eve Stone worked as commercial artists for DuPont, now retired they still make art, not for profit, but because they love it.

After meeting in art school the Stones moved to Wilmington where Marvin was already working as a commercial artist for DuPont.

The couple decided to strike out on their own. “We decided to have a mom and pop little graphic design studio,” Eve said. The couple worked on advertising campaigns for DuPont products, brochures and other print materials.

“They just told me to take everything I was working on and just go across the street and finish it,” Marvin said. Stone Design studio was born and the Stones had six months worth of work to get started on. “It was a lot of fun,” Eve said.

After retiring Eve said, “We decided just to something we love for the rest of the time that were here.” So they kept creating art, but this time it wasn’t for profit. “All the years we did commercial art we sold art, we made a living out of selling these little advertising pieces.”

Now free to paint what they love Eve paints in oils and Marvin watercolors. “In art school we tried everything. so I decided I like oils, they are very permanent,” Eve said. “I love watercolor, I wouldn’t even go near anything else,” Marvin said.

The paintings that adorn their Wilmington home are of places they have visited, family and friends and the family dog. Eve takes pictures wherever they go, and Marvin is never without his sketchbook. “Eve calls me the fastest pen in the west. All my life I have been sketching. I’m drawn to nature and buildings, architecture.”

Eve says of their painting, “Its a labor of love. There’s something very exciting about creating something new.”

Art is about communicating, “You are going to show people who you are. You want to sign it, you want to be proud of it. It’s wonderful,” Eve said.

Both Marvin and Eve have their own studios contained within their home and as the saying goes, time flies when you’re having fun. “You lose track of time. I thought it was 8 minutes… where’s dinner? It’s been 4 hours,” Eve said. At this Marvin jumps in “that’s me, I come up there and she is locked in her studio and I’m hungry.”

Art has enriched the Stone’s lives in other ways as well. Eve says, “I see things more and more acutely each year. Colors, seasons, clouds and my mind is thinking colors, my mind is thinking compositions at all times.” “I think there’s a joy, there’s a wonder at everything that you see, everywhere you go. “”I don’t know any other way for me to live, and having been able to earn your living at it, what more could you want,” Marvin said.

Eve agreed, “It has been a very rewarding, interesting, exciting life and continues to be.”