More drawings are in the works.
FOR THE PAST several years, Ashurst Studios, a two-person shop in Orange County, has struggled to make art pay. Artist Marianne Ashurst and manager Mike Marcon have tried all the traditional ways to sell her art, and have experimented with the Internet and a watercolors catalog as well, to mixed results. But they may well be turning a corner these days, thanks to a new marketing wrinkle that moves her artwork by adding fund-raising, local landmarks and community pride to the mix. It's happening first in Caroline County, where county and town officials have commissioned Ashurst Studio to do four collections of historic county homes and buildings. Marianne Ashurst likes to focus on details, right down to the correct number of windowpanes.