Meet Marsh Sale | Painter/tattoo artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Marsh Sale and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Marsh, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
In the early days of my career as an artist I had honestly never really thought about making a business out of it I just wanted to create and have fun creating art with other artists. So I just followed that passion. Certain opportunities began to present themselves along the way and it just evolved into what it is now. I’m pretty happy with where I’m at and the team that has manifest through the process. There were alot of tough times but those are the times of growth and perseverance. If you just keep going and really visualize what you want to achieve it will eventually manifest into your reality. As long as you stay positive and focus on what you love creating it will work out, and you will meet people along the way to learn from as well.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
This art is created by accessing the Higher Self and through Omniversal art, which expresses our connection and balance between our individual dark and light energies. Most of my art is created with a combination of oils and airbrush. I really like the combination of both modalities, giving each piece a smooth, yet textured look. I would describe my work as either beautiful and elegant or dark and ominous. It may even sometimes be both, or horrifyingly beautiful as Ram Dass would say. Though it is up for interpretation.

I started painting and drawing at a very young age when my mom bought me one of M.C. Escher’s books. I remember being mind blown by his intricate creations. Seeing his work at such a young age definitely sparked my interest in becoming an artist. I wanted to create stuff like that. Most of my family members on my moms side excelled with art. One of my Aunt’s even taught art at ASU. So it was always around. Once I graduated highschool, I went on to work a construction job, which paid bills but wasn’t at all fulfilling. What’s the saying? “Work to live, or live to work?” Living to work…not fun. I want to work to live. So, in my down time I continued to work on my personal art. Then one day, a friend I did graffiti with in high school who had found a profession in tattooing called me out of the blue and asked if I wanted to take on an apprentice position at the shop he worked at. He knew about my passion with my art and thought it would be a good way to get my foot in the door with the arts world. It wasn’t going to be easy. Essentially I was going to trade labor for work. This looked like cleaning around the shop and tending to other artists in return for knowledge about tattooing. The hard part is I wouldn’t be making any money. So it was either I stay up North working a miserable construction job, or move back down to Phoenix to pursue a career in the tattoo industry doing something I love. Creating art. Luckily my friend also offered for me to stay with him in the meantime, so I left with a backpack, some money I had saved and a skateboard for transportation.

The apprenticeship was not easy.There was a lot to learn on top of taking care of everything at the shop. There were many times I felt like giving up, but I didn’t. I’d been through harder times in my life though, such as my dad’s death when I was 16. As traumatic as it was, I learned a lot through that experience. I learned that through loss and grief, comes strength and resilience. So I never gave myself the chance to quit. My apprenticeship was a blessing in it’s own right. I basically got a crash course of many different forms of art. I got to learn from 10 different artists, all of which had completely different styles. So I took those styles and combined them to make a unique style of my own. So another word that describes my work is experimental. Nine months later I was a full time artist. Tattooing along with experimenting with sacred plant medicines, has helped elevate my art and presented some amazing opportunities.

I’ve gotten the chance to attend a variety of art festivals and paint live, and have had pieces featured in a handful of galleries. In 2017, I was invited with 19 other artists from around the world to travel to Wappinger Falls, NY to participate in a week-long painting intensive taught by two of the world’s leading visionary artists, Alex and Allison Grey.

I believe you can achieve any goal you desire/creative endeavor through positivity and trusting the process. Even through the hard times. As long as you visualize it, believe in yourself and have discipline to put in the work; one way or another, it will manifest in your reality. Much love.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
If you’re looking to visit, I’d definitely book an air bnb in Northern arizona. Sedona and Prescott are two of the most beautiful places to visit. Spend a few days exploring the galleries in Sedona, then in the evening grab a bite to eat at Mariposa. Or spend some time in nature. Sedona has a bunch of great hikes, short and long. Devil’s Bridge and Bell Trail are great longer hikes. Chapel Trail is a nice shorter hike, and down by Oak Creek Canyon along the 89A is beautiful with lots of trails too. The variety of trails are endless. Or trying out one of the pink jeep tours if you’d prefer that. A day spent in Jerome and another in Cottonwood visiting a vineyard and grabbing a bite to eat at Merkin.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I think the person who deserves the most credit would be my Mother Lucy Whyman for exposing me to art at a very young age. I remember being four years old when she introduced me to The Magic Mirror of M.C. Escher art book. I think seeing his mind bending works at such a young age really sparked my inspiration to become an artist.

Instagram: @marshology

Facebook: Marsh Sale or Marshology

Image Credits
Xposed capture photography